I know better....

I must sound pretty presumptuous.
How do I know more than a special education teacher?  Or an OT with a masters degree?
I don't have a degree.
I've only spent my entire adult life making it my personal mission to understand how to teach my autistic son.  It has been my number one priority....to see the world through his eyes so I can better help him to understand it, cope with it, and be productive in it.

When I started working with autistic children, they were not all like my son.  In fact, they were all different....all had different challenges with their autism that was specific to them. 
So how come I think I know how to teach them?

I spend a lot of time observing them.  I like to see their reactions and read their body language and facial expressions.  Sometimes, I engage them in an activity or a topic by instinct.  Sometimes it's trial and error.

I get a sort of sense of them.  Of who they are, what they like....what motivates them.  I LOVE to discover what their favorite things are and see their faces light up!

Not every idea I have had has worked.  I will try something, and if I see it is not "clicking" and I can't see a way around it.... a way to tweek it to get the understanding needed....we try something else.  There are some things you can get through to them, and some things you can't.

A lot has to do with whether the child cares about it or not. 

I once was asked to work with a child on buttoning their pants.  This was an IEP goal.  This particular child did not care if his pants were buttoned.  He was not embarrassed to be seen in his underwear, and would even shuffle out of the bathroom with his pants around his ankles rather than try to button his pants.  We tried lots of hand over hand and prompting.  But what it came down to was that he simply didn't care.  It didn't bother him, so what was the incentive to do it?

These kids aren't robots.  Sometimes I think educators think if we "train" them over and over and over again, they will just do it out of habit or something.  I have never seen that happen without some sort of reward outcome.

Once I see the path in my mind with all the steps to teach a child a task, I will work on it every day...patiently and tirelessly.  There is so much out there an autistic child can learn if we but give them the opportunity.

It's like nails on a chalkboard to me when I see a caregiver do things for a child they can do on their own simply because they don't do it fast enough.  They are in too much of a hurry to let them do what they can. 

Also, if the aide is more worried about participating in the class discussions herself/himself, or doing odd jobs for the teacher, or socializing, rather than focusing on how to help the child learn what he/she can out of the situation.....these are examples of how caregivers can miss opportunities to teach.

I spent some of my most productive days not talking to a single adult.  When I was able to do one-on-one work, I would smile, nod or say hello in passing to co-workers, but ultimately, my mind was focused on my student.  He needed me to stay focused on him so he felt safe.  He needed to know I was there to be his interpreter.

Is it always easy?  No.  Of course it isn't.  There are good days and bad days, just like everything else.  But we always made it through.

With the right mind-set, we can all work together to help these children reach their full potential.