Autism

II Personal Development
"Think Autism, Think Cure."
B. Elaboration of significant episode:
This morning we had our reading conferences and took spelling and word wall tests. This pretty much went all morning. During math we did a hands on investigation with number lines. The students were all-antsy for break and did not do well behavior-wise with a more active activity.

This afternoon my teacher had a case conference for a kindergartener. I had to fill in as the substitute teacher in that kindergarten room. I was not able to meet the student of which the conference was over because he attends the A.M. class. I met quickly with the "K" teacher at lunch to figure out what the students would do. She had a paper with times and activities of which she explained to me. At 1:00 I left my 1st graders with our aide and I went to sub. The students were in playgroups and the teacher left for the meeting. I looked on the table next to the manuals for the order of events. (This is where the teacher said the plans would be.) There were no plans to be found. I think the teacher might have accidentally taken them with her. I knew what activities we were doing but I wasn't sure how long they would take. I quickly tried to figure out a general time schedule to make sure we accomplished everything. We finished play groups, did reading "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom", watched the "C.C.B.B." movie (2 times because we had extra time), did our math matching shapes game, had a fire drill, etc.

The teacher gave me a heads up that one of her students was borderline Autistic. I was very excited when she told me this. My passion and love is working with students who are autistic. I got to observe him and interact with him. He was very high functioning, but socially adept. When we were picking partners for the shape matching game, he picked me as his partner. We had to include one other boy in our group who responded by saying, "I don't want to be his partner." I am sure this is a common response. I quickly bonded with these boys. During the fire drill, I had to hold on this boy with special needs. It was hard for him to follow directions, especially with events out of the ordinary.

The teacher was gone for an hour and a half, longer than anticipated and we ran out of activities to do. I had been a kindergarten substitute before so I had lots of little games and songs to do with them. Their favorite was "Simon Says." Finally at 2:30 the teacher came back, right before it was time to go home. I am glad that I did not have to do closing especially with no plans.

C. Analysis of Episode:

My first overall impression of today, especially this afternoon was how important flexibility is. Being flexible to work in other classrooms with other students and curriculum. Being flexible and creative to come up with lessons if they were not there. Being flexible to get the students through a fire drill. Etc. Flexibility seems to be a part of my everyday teaching life.

This last spring I was a substitute teacher. I have found that it has helped me in many ways. I have learned to teach with just an outline and scarce or no materials. In the spring I was able to work with many different age groups, which has been great experience to have. Also during the spring, I was hired to be a permanent substitute for a kindergarten class for 9 weeks. I got to the experience of running my own classroom, being totally in charge or work and behavior expectations, be the head of IEP/Speech meetings, and actually be a vital part of the teacher meetings. Substituting today in this kindergarten class was not bad at all. It always is a little hard with no plans, but I hardly use them anyways.

I was also very excited today being in kindergarten because we were reading and using the book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom". I have been looking at this book because I wanted to start using it with my struggling first graders. I have sketched out some center activity for my class to do. It was exciting to work with this book!

The most exciting part of the day was getting to observe and work with this little boy, borderline Autistic. God has really opened my mind and heart to working with Autistic children. For the past 4 years I have taught a special needs Sunday school class of which I have 3 severely Autistic boys. I love these little boys so much and they have taught me so many things. In a few of my other teaching placements I have also had one or two students with Autism. I am fascinated by how their minds work and perceive things. I feel God has gifted me in this area and I am able to connect with these precious students. Today my passion and calling was confirmed when working with this kindergartener. It seemed as if many of the students in his class did not know or want to interact with him. I was excited when he made a quick connection with me and chose me to be his partner. He stayed on task some, but so quickly would move to a random thought, quote or activity. Most students did not interact with him and he did not interact with them. The other little boy in our math group, who did not want to work with him, actually did quite nicely in helping and guiding his partner. During "Circle" time on the carpet, this boy was not able to focus on the directions at all. He was crawling around the carpet and did not respond to his name. He very much displayed the signs of Autism. He definitely lives in a world of his own. This is a world I would further like to explore.