Geordie
Geordie
Autistic kids are extraordinary
As a current volunteer in Pathlight School, I may not had attended the talk, but my experiences in Pathlight had been similarly extraordinary, every day.
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Autistic kids are extraordinary
- Thread starter Geordie
- Start date
Autistic kids are extraordinary
As a current volunteer in Pathlight School, I may not had attended the talk, but my experiences in Pathlight had been similarly extraordinary, every day.
Cerulean
Well-Known Member
Yikes here comes my longest post so far.
When I started working with autistic kids I was surprised at how true this is. Most of the staff of the school seemed to think they were uncontrollable (some like to run) and disruptive (some talk to themselves). But once I started watching them on their own, and thinking "how would I want someone to explain this to me if I was him/her", my experience with them really change for the better. For what it's worth, I have no background in education. At all. The school district I was in tended to think of my position as an assistant as a cat herder, so by having a bachelors degree and a willingness to occasionally be injured, I was qualified.
The ones who were runners were either excited about something or had a lot of energy to burn (they are kids after all)- so we'd give them extra time in the gym to do what they need to do and reduce the running in the hallways, instead of trying to stifle their energy.
For the ones who loved to sing we'd take to music class more. One who is considered by the district to be nonverbal because she doesn't speak directly to us had great success in the school's choir.
Of course we worked on reading and spelling, and once I figured out that one student would rather learn to type words they know than ones they don't, I made flashcards with all the words that we used in our classroom and in the books they liked (an exhausting task) so that they could learn to spell and communicate via typing instead of speech.
None of them were deliberately disruptive without a reason. They all wanted to be good and do the right thing, but sometimes you have to communicate to them how to do that in a different way than you would for NT kids. All of the kids I worked with, despite their limitations, had at least one amazing ability or gift to contribute to our classroom and school, and eventually to society, but the NT teachers usually didn't know how to cultivate it. I saw them go by the book in just about every situation, and it was interesting to see it not work a lot because everybody is so different. I was in an elementary school environment, I'd be thrilled to work with older kids to see how they change as they grow, since in that respect I really only have myself to look at
When I started working with autistic kids I was surprised at how true this is. Most of the staff of the school seemed to think they were uncontrollable (some like to run) and disruptive (some talk to themselves). But once I started watching them on their own, and thinking "how would I want someone to explain this to me if I was him/her", my experience with them really change for the better. For what it's worth, I have no background in education. At all. The school district I was in tended to think of my position as an assistant as a cat herder, so by having a bachelors degree and a willingness to occasionally be injured, I was qualified.
The ones who were runners were either excited about something or had a lot of energy to burn (they are kids after all)- so we'd give them extra time in the gym to do what they need to do and reduce the running in the hallways, instead of trying to stifle their energy.
For the ones who loved to sing we'd take to music class more. One who is considered by the district to be nonverbal because she doesn't speak directly to us had great success in the school's choir.
Of course we worked on reading and spelling, and once I figured out that one student would rather learn to type words they know than ones they don't, I made flashcards with all the words that we used in our classroom and in the books they liked (an exhausting task) so that they could learn to spell and communicate via typing instead of speech.
None of them were deliberately disruptive without a reason. They all wanted to be good and do the right thing, but sometimes you have to communicate to them how to do that in a different way than you would for NT kids. All of the kids I worked with, despite their limitations, had at least one amazing ability or gift to contribute to our classroom and school, and eventually to society, but the NT teachers usually didn't know how to cultivate it. I saw them go by the book in just about every situation, and it was interesting to see it not work a lot because everybody is so different. I was in an elementary school environment, I'd be thrilled to work with older kids to see how they change as they grow, since in that respect I really only have myself to look at
Geordie
Geordie
I was in an elementary school environment, I'd be thrilled to work with older kids to see how they change as they grow, since in that respect I really only have myself to look at
I worked with Auties and Aspies from age 5 to 30, and I have no preferences of age. Every Aspie in every age group is equally awesome to me, just as any NT do. However, I just happen to connect with most Aspies better, because we have roughly similar experiences - bullying, intimidation, family expectations, etc.
So it has been fun working with people on the Spectrum, so far.
