i have always considered myself to be a fairly positive person, yet i definitely have an edge for sarcasm... (yes, my dear daughters i can see you basically mouthing the word "duh" as you read this...)... ;)... but i find that when i am working with the special needs population there are certain things that you take for granted...
1> that the 12 year old autistic boy that i am working with doesn't really care that much about his appearance, or what is said about him...
2> that some things that are fairly obvious to those that do NOT have special needs may need to be explained to those that do...
i have decided that the matter of fact manner and straight to the heart honesty of an autistic/asperberger's individual is actually rather refreshing... i may be a behavioral interventionist but i would hope that i never become so jaded in monitoring behavior that i mistake behavior with part of a child's unique personality...
all of these insightful comments add up to one young lady that i have met in the past couple of months that i think has to be the most delightful, unique and positive person on the planet... if i could have an attitude like her 24/7? i would be heaven-bound... most definitely...
miss stephanie is 12 years old and in our 6th grade main stream, general education classroom.... when i first met her she was sitting atop the monkey-bars at recess, swinging her legs back and forth, she introduced herself and said she was "one of the autistics"... she stated this fact with pride and exuberance and i almost expect her to one day wear a rock star emblazoned t-shirt that emphasizes her autistic pride:)... she continually monitors the other "autistic" boy in her grade, who happens to be my charge, "minh"... he is equally as delightful, but prone to tantrums (that i fear may be more brat based than autistic based...) particularly when he wants his own way... granted his world is colored in a manner i cannot possibly conceive, yet i have the example of miss stephanie who keeps minh in line with phrases like, "off-topic minh", "don't twist the swings minh", "not appropriate minh"... frankly its a wonder she hasn't stolen my job:)...
but the corker to all this is one day last week when we received the pictures that the kids had taken on "re-take" day... everyone dresses up, looks their best, smiles pretty... uhm, no... minh walks in with an argyle vest, an atrocious long-sleeve sweater that clashes beautifully with that argyle vest and hair that hails back to the "flock of seagulls" days in the 80's... oh my... he has a cheezzzze grin and he is squinting at the camera... i look at the picture and laugh, show it to his teacher and a few other adults, we all get a good laugh at minh's "bad hair" day... then i see that miss stephanie has her picture, (it's adorable of course)... i show her minh's picture and she proclaims loudly to the classroom, "MINH, YOU'RE A ROCKSTAR, YOUR PICTURE IS SO COOL!"...
point taken...
and i am greatly humbled...
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