April is Autism Awareness Month

 Anyone who has the privilege of establishing a friendship with a person with autism would probably tell you, it's one of the most rewarding feelings on the face of the planet. Breaking down barriers and figuring out the language encoding system or even just following the lead of an autistic student, sheds a little light on the neat little quirks...and issues that lie just underneath the surface.

This past year, we had a young man come to our school from a western state...which will remain unnamed--he was having a major breakdown in the middle of the hallway on the first day, trying to negotiate a locker and deal with the roar of the hallway first thing in the morning. Within moments, my friend Nancy...a special educator, and I were at his side. We knew.

But...the system had not been informed! This student was in a one-on-one situation in a resource room in his previous school! (They didn't know what to do with him!) But never mind that...we had to get him through those very first moments and set him on the road to coping. What a gem of a boy! Those first few weeks were exceedingly tough...with many meltdowns. But! This guy is brilliant! And now...he's in walking club, which means he walks the halls with other like-minded, bright students, conversing all the way, honestly! (And now? He'd talk the ear off a mule, I swear!) He skipped out of his classroom (He's my next door neighbor this year...fingers crossed that I get him next year.), springing up on his toes and yelling, "This is the best day of my life!" Of course, I was in the middle of a lesson...but I had to bite---so I said, "What happened?" And you know what...he got a 100 on a math test. Made my day too!

On my own turf...in sixth grade, I have a number of kids that are either identified as autistic, or fit neatly somewhere on the spectrum. I LOVE them! They are not islands, but meaningful participants in my classroom. If I don't know something (which...sorry to say is frequent!), they pipe up right away---like Dan, my black tar man...who could tell me immediately about the components of colprovia and the differences between a variety of types. Or my helicopter/war plane officianado...and now my endangered species expert that sits in the third row. All info, all the time. But the best of it all--behind that obsession lies a warm body, a brilliant mind...and a kid who just loves to have someone to talk to. Yup, different IS where it's at. In the middle of a group of sixth graders worried about where they fit in, it's just kind of nice to have a student or two, (well actually four)...who fits in alright--but the puzzle has to be built around him/her first!

Blending in!

Well, Spot, you are not an easy one to camouflage, but I do think you've reinvented yourself in a way that works! Honestly, if you've seen one 'Spot,' you've seen 'em all, right? Wrong! After you teach for a few minutes...oh, all right, a few years, you start to see patterns. You know, kids start to remind you of other kids you've had before. That little bit of attitude? Yeah...that was Christopher James from three years ago. That really sweet little girl, well usually, thankfully, they are always a part of every group. In fact there are many...boys and girls, really sweet kids.

There are the tiggers too, you know that type too. Those are the kids that live on a pair of springs and they need lots of room to move and operate too. I know a lot about those guys...I had my own home grown version to practice on! But the ones that often leave a lasting impression are not the ones that blend...but the ones that stand out. The kids with unusual quirks and memorable habits always stick to the memory, and not just mine, that's for sure.

Today the teacher on the street was watching while Junie made her way around with the other kids during learning lab. Junie is a really neat kid! She gets a LOT of help to organize herself and to keep her focused, but in the social arena, kids love her differences. She's safe...non-judgmental and the kids know it. Friday is game day, Sorry, Jenga, Clue...you know. Junie loves to play board games. On Fridays, nobody cares about her differences, she's the same as everyone else. But. All the other kids, often the boys, want to play. The moment the bell rings, Junie snaps back into character and like Cinderella, she's off! Because, bells and schedules are what she's all about. If I go one second overtime at the end of the day, the alarm in Junie sounds and there's h%$ll to pay! Of course, she's any school kid's dream. She pushes the panic button, and the class knows they'll be dismissed on the spot (oops, sorry Spot!). 

Today Junie raced out at lunchtime and I found one of the many notes she always leaves behind:

Dear Presdient Obama,

Can we have recycling bins in every state? and congratulations on being our 44th president.

I was also thinking of using recyable notebooks.

from,

Junie

P.S. Recycle my letter when done reading it!

You see my girl is the queen of the hasty recyclable letter. (Yesterday I got a recyclable birthday card and a hug, both of which 

came a minute or two after the bell! Junie is upbeat and positive, full of a zest for life I wish I could bottle and sell. But what's 

most important to know about Junie is all that she brings to my classroom. This diminutive outlier is always on, always paying 

attention and for every question I ask, she's always the first to raise her hand and answer a question...Junie style, sometimes from 

left-field, but many times right on target. The unpredictability leaves everyone wondering. But it also has us all plugging for her...

for in that little stutter, you just never know, there just may come a pearl of wisdom. At the end of the day today, when kids were 

packing up, Junie came up to me and said, "So you're coming to 10-'firty' mass right? Because, um...I'm getting my new rosary beads!" 

Well, I've been to basketball games, baseball games, boy and girl lacrosse games, birthday parties and even a Baptism...and Sunday, 

well Sunday, I'll go see Junie be awarded her brand-new rosary beads. Because these are the very special perks of the job! Happy Friday, Spot!