My mom is a teacher. For the past couple of years she has been working with middle school aged kids with developmental disabilities. With all that Cooper teaches us, she has extra insight into what these kids go through that many teachers don’t have. Last week as she sat with one of her autism-spectrum students, another child asked if she would be at the Saturday tutoring session. “No,” my mom answered, “I am going to be at the Autism walk on Saturday.”
“What’s that?” the student asked.
“A whole bunch of people are going to go on a walk to raise money for people with autism.” my mom explained.
“What’s autism?” the student asked.
There was a boy with autism sitting right in front of him in the classroom.
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Perhaps it shouldn’t, but it surprised me that a boy in grade 7, who sat next to a boy with autism, would be in the dark regarding autism. When I was in school, I personally don’t recall sharing a classroom with a child with a noticeable developmental disability (like autism). 20-30 years ago, most of these kids were not in the general classrooms, they had their own education settings. These days, it just isn’t like that. Children are integrated into regular classrooms as much as possible.
Some kids, like Cooper, learn a lot about social behavior from observing other kids. This certainly isn’t the case for everyone. Many become dis-regulated fairly quickly when they have to experience the busy-ness of a room full of kids. For us, however, it is a great scenario. The problem is, if children aren’t educated about the disabilities of the kids who are their classmates, there is a void in the potential for social learning that can take place. If kids don’t understand how to interact with someone like Cooper, then they will avoid him; or worse, act inappropriately towards him. Both types of children suffer. The child with the disability certainly isn’t learning appropriate social skills if they are not being demonstrated to him. The child who ignores/avoids/teases isn’t learning anything either. Ignorance and avoidance are not qualities that will benefit anyone.
Information is so readily available to us. If you aren’t already, what I am suggesting is merely to take some time out of your week to educate yourself and your kids about some of the challenges that others face in their communities. For kids in the schools, “community” is the classroom setting. I don’t think parents willingly or consciously don’t educate their kids, I think it just isn’t at the forefront of our minds. When kids have more information, they feel more capable to step in and be a help for a child who is different. We do our kids a favor when we give them appropriate information and tangible suggestions for how to interact with each other. My hope is that kids won’t be able to be in the same classroom with one another and not know the differences that they face. My hope is that questions like, “What is autism?” “What is cerebral palsy?” and “What is down syndrome?” won’t need to be asked.
My sister rounded up a team of 50 people made up of students, parents, friends and children to Walk to End Autism. Their team, “Cooper’s Troopers” had a blast this morning. “Thank you” to each one of you who participated. My husband and I had tears in our eyes as Krys recounted to us the events of the morning. You guys rock!
Peace.
P.S. Reminder to subscribe to this blog by entering your email address through my site. On November 2nd I will host guest-blogger Craig Lancaster. Craig’s new fictional book, “600 Hours of Edward” is about a grown man with Asperger’s Syndrome and how he copes when his world is suddenly rocked with changes. We will do a draw from all the people who comment on Craig’s Nov 2 blog and the winner will receive a copy of his book. : )
