Sunday, April 6, 2014

Autism Awareness~ From the Mouths of Babes

Autism Fact~
People with autism have difficulty using and understanding verbal and non-verbal language, such as gestures, facial expressions and tone of voice, as well as jokes and sarcasm.

Competition~ Leave a comment about autism and education, or just say hello. One person will will a $10 gift card to Amazon and a book of their choice from my list.
The contest runs until the end of the hop., April 15th. Check out all the great participants here.
April Autism Blog Hop





When I'm not reading, reviewing, or writing, I teach. I love my job; interacting with the kids, getting them to open up and share- not a simple task when you teach high schoolers.  And even more challenging when you have students with special needs. I am not a Special Education teacher but I have students with IEP’s for a variety of  situations that are in my classes. Teachers of IEP students receive a copy in order to know the circumstances and adaptions that must be taken and fulfilled. Sometimes these things are an easy fix- chunk matching to no more than five, only give three choices in multiple choice questions, etc. But other times the “fixes” are not that easy. And to top it off regular education teachers are not given the same amount of training a special ed teacher is.

I have been very lucky in my career. I’ve had some bad experiences and some good ones. But one stands out the most. Let’s call my student Joey. Joey has autism and was in one of my classes a few years ago. He was an extremely pleasant boy, very meticulous in all his work to the point of fixating on one task at a time. I remember one day in particular when we were working on maps and Joey was getting very frustrated. Usually all the students left him to himself, but this day another student “ Danny” went and sat with Joey and offered to help him color code his map. I stood back, ready to jump in if needed, but Joey immediately took to Danny. Joey smiled and Danny looked at me and said, “Don’t worry, Mrs,…I’ll help Joey. Right Joey?” The look on Joey’s face was priceless. 

The boys have since graduated, three years ago. I often hear from Danny and he tells me that he and Joey are still friends.

One kind gesture when you least expect it can form a lasting friendship.

Spread the word~ Autism Awareness

11 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing the story of Joey. I'm glad that someone chose to help him and that they stayed friends. It really can be the simplest gesture that changes so much for a person.

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  2. Ahh that's lovely! What a great story. One little thing that made a difference to Joey's world.

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  3. That is a lovely story... :) Thank you for taking part... HUGS XXXXX

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  4. thank you so much for sharing a great story

    parisfan_ca@yahoo.com

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  5. What a great story kindness is so wonderful when it is unexpected. This is a great Blog Hop highlighting Autism.

    ShirleyAnn@speakman40.freeserve.co.uk

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  6. Such a sweet anecdote!

    Trix, vitajex(At)Aol(Dot)com

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  7. Such a heart warming story. Wish there were more kids like Danny that showed such kindness.
    strive4bst(AT) yahoo(Dot) com

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  8. One of my best friends is a Spec Ed teacher - she works with many autistic children. Loves her job - loves her kids. Thanks for sharing your story of Joey and Danny. lgrant1@san.rr.com

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  9. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful story with us. It's the little things that can make a huge difference in someone's life.

    humhumbum AT yahoo DOT com

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  10. Wow, that's such a special story! Thank you for sharing with us!

    ashley.vanburen[at]gmail[dot]com

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