Loved this post . I fall somewhere in the middle of the two extremes. We need to bring more awareness to ASD, but like Kim, feel that the marketing strategy is not helpful. Very well put - children with ASD grow up to be adults with ASD, and I almost NEVER see anyone discussing or approaching creative ways to integrate - only "fix". Which I also disagree with. The best quote Ive heard is that a child with austism isnt ignoring you, theyre waiting for you to enter their world. Id change it to "a person" to make it perfect, though. We as a society need to stop putting labels on people and trying to fit them into categories. I used to run an after school program for kids on the spectrum between the ages of 5 -13. Social Skills paired with Gymnastics. It was awesome for their self esteem and actually helped with making connections and relationships with their peers. The reason I bring it up though, is because even the special education system needs some eye opening. I had multiple teachers pull me aside and "warn" me about one of the kids who had signed up, telling me she was too disruptive, too out of control, too this, too that. She's being tested for schizophrenia, you dont want her in your class. She turned out to be one of the most focused, helpful, happy children in all of my classes. Those same teachers came to me again and asked what was my magic. I told them I treated her like everyone else. Oh, and having them tumble and roll and jump on gymnastics mats for an hour and a half probably helped too, lol. Moral of the story - we are all people, and just like someone who likes rap music finding common ground with country loving cowboy music people then why cant we do the same with people on the spectrum? oh, and i guess in the end - austism awareness month at least gets a dialogue started.
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That gymnastics program sounds awesome! You should do a post about it. I love that quote about entering a person's world.
thank you so much! Definitely the most rewarding job I've ever had. I'd love to get back to it when finances aren't an issue for me. I felt really bad about the fee I charged for my class, and although most families were able to be reimbursed through the state for the cost, they still had to pay up front for it. Kids are expensive, no matter if they have a disability or not. I had a special deal going on with my boss who let me leave work 3 times a week to teach the class and still retain my full salary. When he left the firm to start his own, I lost the ability to leave work and keep my position. The teaching wasn't enough to cover my rent, let alone eating and all that extra stuff, so I had to give it up in order to keep my full time job.