Thursday, March 8, 2012

Autism

I know I have mentioned a couple of times how I recently started a job working at a preschool for children with autism. It is the only one around me that is government funded through the Autism Scholarship Program. I love love love my job, but before I started working there all I really knew about Autism was the textbook information. I think that's really all a lot of people know about Autism, and from my past week there I have already learned that it is so much more.

  • Textbooks, will tell you that kids with Autism resist contact with others and don't like to be picked up and held. This may be true but I have found that its the opposite in my classroom. Textbooks don't tell you how hard it is to say no to a child that really doesn't speak much but comes up to you and says "up peas" because he just wants a cuddle. I dropped everything I was doing today to give this child a hug.
  • Today we spent time in the gym and the fans were going which I could hardly even hear, but they were over stimulating this one child which was making him hysterical. Sometimes I really want to know what it feels like to be in their shoes because like I said...I couldn't even hear the fans but they were so loud to Jacob that he couldn't be there. In order to be held we try to teach the kids to request it. Jacob doesn't totally grasp the concept so when you say to him "Jacob say up" he repeats "Jacob say up".
  • Textbooks also don't tell you how incredibly insane the kids are. I'm talking OUT. OF. CONTROL. Again, it takes everything in me to not laugh at them...which i normally do. One little boy Kevin needed to be put in a weighted vest the other day because he was way over stimulated and was running around like a crazy person. He heard someone say "We need to put Kevin in a vest" and started running in circles saying "Kevin in a vest Kevin in a vest" at a speed of a million times a minute. You just have to laugh at moments like this.
  • Caden only eats neutral colored food. And nothing that is considered healthy. This include cinnamon pop-tarts, waffles, chips, pretzels, cheetos, cheez-its, etc. At least he's eating.
  • Only in children with Autism would you get excited when a child says "shit". Today Peyton who is considered nonverbal dropped some of her lunch on the floor and goes "shit!" we praised her because she acknowledged what happened and technically used the right emotion by saying shit instead of screaming and acting out.
  • Textbooks tell you that children with autism don't express their emotions correctly, but they don't tell you how cute/hilarious it is when a child is mad and goes "I'm a frog ribbit ribbit" instead of saying I'm mad. Or how a child says "Allegra!" to let you know they are happy.

  • I love my job more than anything. I can't get enough of these kids and love spending time with them. I truly didn't know it was possible to love a job this much. These kids make me smile everyday. They are totally worth waking up early for. This post was really just for myself but sometimes I just really want to brag about the kids I work with and let everyone know how awesome they are. I see improvements everyday and I've only been there a week. I can't wait to see what the future holds!

    1 comment:

    1. Love this! So inspiring. Your blog is adorable. Newest reader!

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