Changing Perspective: Some times you gotta lay on the floor!

It's over!  The first week of teaching.  I knew I would survive but it felt more like thriving being back in the special education classroom.  So much familiarity but also with so much urgency to do and change things to be the way I want them to be.  It wasn't all bells and whistles but I would say it was by far my best first week of all my teaching career.

One of the best stories of the week had to do with one of my new students who I am getting to know. We had gone to PE and our two Leadership students were with us.  At our school, we have a program that is basically reverse inclusion.  Typical students who are juniors or seniors, come into the special needs classes for a block.  While in the class, the students work one on one with students in my class as well as provide support for myself and the staff.  The goals are to help increase socialization with typical peers as well provide opportunities for the typical students to learn more about their peers with autism.  It's not always pretty but it is always beneficial for both!

So, as I was saying, we had come into the gym for PE and one of my students was bouncing a basketball when he decided to lay down on his stomach close to the middle of the gym floor still bouncing the ball.  It appeared that he was looking intensely underneath the ball gripping it with two hands and dropping it.  Over and over he would bounce and catch while looking intently underneath the ball. I walked over and thought in my head, "What is he looking at?"  Now here is the time when I really can't care what a gym full of teenagers are thinking.  Thats not a struggle for me, but it is kind of awkward at times.  So I did what I knew was the only way to find out what he was looking at.  I laid down on the floor next to him and began to watch.  What I saw was super interesting.

Our gym floor had been recently refinished and a clear coat of wax had been added to the floor.  Some new designs and decals were added as well as the three point area now was a different shade.  From where I was standing it just looked shiny and I wasn't really sure what he was looking at.  So I laid down, parallel to him, and began to look under the basketball that he was so rhythmically bouncing.  The newly waxed floor was more than just shiny from this angle, it was reflective.  As I watched, my student was bouncing a ball as if he was opening and closing a window that he was looking through.  But what he saw were students running the perimeter of the gym floor looking like a streak of light.  As the 20-30 students ran and he bounced the ball, the visual light that was coming through the ball was super visually exciting and neat to look at. It was also enjoyable to see the different colored outfits back various colored streak run by as he kept bouncing and watching.  The visual parade of streaks was super enjoyable and very pleasing to the eyes.

Now I had a chance to not only see what he saw, but also to let someone else get a taste of this perspective.  I told my student what was going on at the time.  Now lets face it, I knew I looked ridiculous but sometimes you just gotta get a different perspective to see what they see.  As I shared what I was witnessing, I really didn't expect her to take a first hand look for herself.  I mean this a high school senior girl surrounded by a bunch of students.  But she did.  And she was super excited as she made her own observations of what she was witnessing from this new perspective.  I think one of the most enjoyable parts of my job is not only getting an understanding of my students and their world, but sharing that understanding with others no matter how easy or hard it may be.

Sometimes when teachers see students do a certain behavior we look at it only from our perspective.  We see how we see it and not how they see or even feel it.  We ignore their experience only for our perception and then in turn make false assumptions about whats going on.  That day all three of us got some huge benefits.  For me, I got a better understanding of my student that will hopefully help me as the year goes on.  For my Leadership student, she gained a glimpse into autism that she may have otherwise never seen if she wasn't willing to lay down on the floor and see the world through his eyes.  And for my student in my class, I know he saw a variety of different things, but what I will hope he sees is that others are willing to lay down, watch the floor with him, and maybe just maybe start the beginning of a brand new friendship.  Every perspective is different and to get a better understand of the world of autism, sometimes you may have to lay down on the floor.

Velcro, and Labels, and icons oh my

Creating a space for children with autism can be a daunting task.  Especially if you want to make everything look and appear seamless with all your visual prompts.  Sometimes you have to start from the beginning and label everything.  Every work space labeled, every icon to match, and the velcro that is used to interchange those pieces so that students can manipulate a schedule to make it through their classroom can be so long of a process that you feel like your brain will explode if you see another little colored piece of paper ready to have velcro put on it.  But some of the things that are done are for what all special education teachers goal should be...making the students as independent as possible.

Sometimes success is not measured in complete or incomplete.  In fact, for most of us teach children with disabilities, its more of a how much better can they or do they get with time and practice and prompting.  And with the increase of skill and the greater ability to manipulate a schedule comes a greater sense of independence.  This is what keeps pushing teachers to make the goal from 4 out of 10 right to 6 out of 10 right.  And although a 60% success rate may not look appealing to the outside world, the 20% increase is what makes you wake up the next day and try it all over again.

You may never stop making those labels, or cutting those icons, or putting little pieces of velcro on the back on both.  Because if you are constantly seeking to make them as independent as possible, you never stop trying to get that additional 20%.

First days of School: Don't forget...Remember

For many people, the first days of school are full of excitement.  From school supplies and uniforms to new teachers and even new schools.  To the first day of that special grade or even to the last year of someone's momentous career.  But for some of the families with children with special needs, these days can be a blessing and a curse.  For some parents its the delight of the return to structure and order cause they are just proud of themselves for making it through summer and not hurting their child.  Others enter this day with a heavy heart, not knowing if the teacher in the class is going to love or care about their child in the way they do.  I mean they are aware of the anger that they feel towards their own precious little ones, how in the world will this new stranger treat them well especially if they have a melt down.  No starting school can be both exciting and terrifying for all parties involved but there is one thing that I have learned as a whole.  Remember.  Remember that the more you work as a team the better you can accomplish all of your goals.  Remember that parents and teachers may not see eye to eye, but they need to take time and respect one another.  Remember that the home life and school life may be different, but both need to see that they do exist and have purpose.  Lastly, this is probably hardest for me, Remember that you will not be perfect.  You will strive, try, and aim for that goal, but you will fail.  Both teachers and parents.  You will fall short, fall out, cry in public and private, and you will want to quit.  But remember more than anything that you are doing what you are doing for a reason.  It has value, purpose, and glory in that you are changing lives of kids.  So remember why you do what you do, when you don't feel like doing it anymore, and remember if it wasn't for you some child would be less of cause you weren't their.  Always remember that!