Upon coming home for the summer, I was faced with one main task – find a job. I had worked plenty of jobs in the food service industry so I figured I would just do something like that again. The only problem was that I absolutely hate the food service industry. I've found that people just aren’t nice when they’re hungry. So I put it off. Two weeks of unemployment and boredom had passed, and my bank account was in the negatives. Then, something amazing happened. I was laying on the couch watching New Girl, wallowing in my jobless self-pity when my older sister Katie called. Katie works at a school for autism. She has a way with children with autism that is purely magical to watch. Well anyways, the school was short-staffed, and Katie knew I was in a bit of a summertime slump so she asked me if that would be something I would want to do.
To be honest, I did not know if it was something I wanted to do. As I said before, my sister has a way with children with autism that is unlike anything I have ever seen. My sister and I are very different. Would I take to these kids the way that she does? Would they take to me? Sometimes Katie would come home with bruises all over her arms and would explain that it was just from a behavior one of the kids had at school. What the heck was a “behavior”? After receiving the unexpected offer, I drilled my sister with hundreds of questions about her job – what was a behavior? How does she communicate with the children who are nonverbal? Would I have to change diapers? What the heck is a “stim”? After sleeping on it, I decided that this job would probably be much more fulfilling to me than anything in the food service industry so I took the opportunity to work as an assistant, helping out anywhere that I could at the school.
By the end of my first week working there, I was absolutely exhausted, and completely in love with every child I had the opportunity to meet that week. I learned that most of the time it’s very difficult to identify if a child has autism just by looking at him or her. I learned what “behaviors” were. I began to think about how frustrating it must be to want or need something and not always be able to effectively communicate that to your peers. I also learned that there are effective ways for us to communicate with children who are nonverbal. I learned what a “stim” was. I learned that there is a great need for people to be more aware of autism, and what it is and how it affects physical and mental behavior, especially since the numbers of children being diagnosed with autism are only increasing. I honestly learned more in that one week of working than I had learned my entire spring semester up at school.
I continued that job through summer’s entirety, learning a minimum of three new things about Autism Spectrum Disorder every day, and still feel like there is so much more knowledge for me to absorb. People don’t realize how broad the spectrum of autism is. No two children with autism are exactly alike. Some are verbal. Some are not. Other children do not respond well to loud noises or sudden changes of temperature. Having a set routine is vital to some of the children while others are not as dependent on one. Some will hug on you; others will be far less inclined to have any physical contact. It’s fascinating.
It was a huge blessing for me to be entrusted to work with such special children this summer. Thank goodness I put my fears aside and stepped out of my comfort zone. I finally understand how much my sister means it when she tells me how much she loves the children that she gets to work with. I am a firm believer that people walk into our lives for a reason, and that every person we encounter has something to offer or a lesson to teach us. Working with these children only furthered this belief. They challenged me; they pushed my limits, and I am so grateful that they did. And by doing this, they taught me more about patience, understanding, and love than I ever thought was possible.
