Teaching and Autism

This has been a crazy week.
New student.
Completely new classroom dynamic.
Ignorant comments.
Hurtful looks.
Trying to help other teachers sort things out.
Trying to not make my boss's life more complicated.
My own personal problems.
Fits.
Tears.
Tantrums.
And that was just me....LOL
Like I said, crazy week.

Autism is hard. Really hard. But you know what is harder? Overcoming ignorance. Especially when it comes from, people who ought to know better. My students-all the students in the AU program--are just KIDS, and they have dreams and feelings just like every other kid. And they are cute, funny, amazing, and they teach me stuff EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

I happen to have the absolute greatest principal and assistant principal around; they are both super supportive....I am so grateful for that. They provide the opportunities for my students to be as "normal" as possible while still understanding that trying to do all the "normal" things might have limits or require accomodations. And that is such a relief and takes so many worries away from me.

I'm a teacher. Please don't call me an "educator" because that is a term that sounds ridiculously huaghty and self-important to me. I work alongside other fantastic teachers and support staff every day who are supposed to understand that children come in many different flavors. So tell me why it is that I get "the look" from some people when one of my students has a meltdown? One day this week, FIVE people came out to stare when this happened---and only ONE asked if I needed help or if there was anything she could do. But there WAS gawking and head-shaking by others. It took me by surprise because under most circumstances, our school has the best/most helpful people.

Well, welcome to autism. It wasn't a show; my student wasn't being a brat; and truth be told, it could have happened in any classroom in the building. Kids with autism don't corner the market on meltdowns.

On Friday at dismissal, this very same thing happened. There was a HUGE very public meltdown. And guess what?

IT WASN'T A STUDENT WITH AUTISM!!!!

Also this week, I heard the following words from a district employee who was visiting our school:
"It is just so sad. Can those children even learn ANYTHING???"

Seriously?!? WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. HECK???

 MY husband calls me the autism whisperer. Nothing could be farther from the truth, but I will take it!! :)  I'm no autism expert, I'm not even that good with people. Helping is just in my nature. I'm interested in breaking through walls with kids, and the working of the brain fascinates me. I want to understand people, and I want to meet my students at LEAST halfway.

Let me tell you some things that would help me out:

1. Don't say, "I don't know how you do it...." My job isn't miracle working and I believe anyone COULD do it but not everyone WANTS to do it. And that's OK. But I promise you that if your child had autism, you too could learn to relate and handle children with autism. No magic here.

2. Don't ask me how I get any teaching done. Obviously it is a struggle, but we slog through just like you do. I have to start in a different place than you do, but the methods are the same.

3. Don't ask, "Aren't you exhausted?" The answer is yes....everyday. But it doesn't matter. Aren't you tired every day?
4. Don't ask me questions that you should be asking my students. If you want to know how old the kids are or what they like or how they are feeling, ask them....not me. They have mouths. They aren't pets. If they can't or won't answer, I will answer for them, but you should ALWAYS treat them like they WILL answer. I spend every day teaching appropriate social skills, and it does no good if they never get a chance to practice them.
5. Don't talk t me about their diet/ immunizations/ or talk about autism as though it is a disease.

6. And don't count them out. DON'T. YOU. EVER. COUNT. THEM. OUT.