So, as I discussed before, I left my job working for a Mental Health Hospital and have joined a school for Autistic students in grades K-12. I have never worked with autistic kids before, truly autistic kids. This was new territory for me and I'll admit it, I was terrified. Now, before I go on with this I will let you know I did NOT start as a teacher right away. I wanted to see if I had what it takes to work with autistic students. I'm use to Emotional Support, Life Skills, Learning Support, etc. But I've never worked with an autistic student before.
So, I started this job as a PCA- Personal Care Assistant. I was assigned to one student, who I was informed is probably the most aggressive, complicated student they had. (Yay! : /) I was told various situations that had occurred with this student, both good and bad. Regardless of the good, I was too fixated on the bad, and I scared myself to the point I didn't think I'd be able to do this job. My boss completely understood my concern and told me I would NEVER be alone with this student until I truly felt comfortable and in control. Thank God for this student's prior PCA who stayed with me all day every day explaining to me everything about this student. What sets her off, what she enjoys, what to use as rewards, her daily schedule, what some of her gestures mean (rubbing your belly is a sign of affection to this student), and warning me that this student is double jointed in every joint of her body so it's nearly impossible to restrain this student when necessary. This PCA was/is WONDERFUL with this student. She does so much for her and with her, it truly is remarkable! I truly admire her dedication in working with not only her "assigned" student but also the other students in the room as well. As soon as I feel comfortable enough with this student and complete my trainings, the other PCA will take the position of Classroom Assistant, and she will be AWESOME at this.
So the first day was an eye opening experience. I can't even begin to imagine the thousands upon millions of thoughts that fly threw this student's head every minute. She paces the room, she talks to herself, she talks to other things, she attempt to gesture or make short statements demanding things from people, she does not interact at all with her peers, and she is very unstable. At any second the littlest thing sets her off, the way her pants rub her, when she doesn't get her way, when she wants to avoid work, when she doesn't feel good, when she has a bad thought, when she has a good thought, when she wants to try something new, when she's hungry, etc. She has extreme OCD so sometimes she has to tap things a certain amount of times, twist her pencil a certain way X amount of times, touch her forehead then her nose then her forehead X amount of times, she has to stand up and sit X amount of times, and so on and so forth. For all this, I was able to just sit next to the student and observe and take notes about behaviors and interventions. Certain phrases to use to help her redirect her, what tone of voice to use when giving a demand, counting backwards to enforce a direction, etc.
The second day I mostly observed and was still very intimidated by this student. She doesn't verbalize what she is thinking or feeling. She doesn't express a want or desire using complete sentences, it's one word utterances with a rough breathing behind it so it's hard to understand sometimes. However, I told myself if I ever want to understand this student and be able to work with this student, I have to push myself. I will never actually understand what goes through her head or what her thought process is, but I can learn what ways work best with her thought process, perception, and abilities. So, on this day I stepped in and gave the directions to "Sit in blue chair in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" or "Calendar time, show me what month it is, what day are we on, what year is it." Etc. Sometimes she would comply and do what I directed but sometimes she would say "Her goes away" and point at me and then the door. This was my cue to back off a little and let the PCA she was familiar with step in. I sat with this student at lunch and tried to get her to tell me what she brought for lunch or what her favorite food is, but she ignored me. She didn't act out though, so that was a step in the right direction for me.
By the third day, things had gotten so much better! She was following my directions within 3 prompts, she was doing activities with me, she was identifying things she wanted to "work for" such as time on the Ipad. She allowed me to help her with her calendar time and her drills. I was so elated by this huge step she had made in allowing me to step into her routine!
By the fourth day, we were best buds! We would joke around and she would try to trick me! She would try to move the tasks from the "To Do" list to the "Finished" list when I wasn't looking or by switching task cards out. When I would catch on and call her out about it she would let out the cutest little giggle ever and run to her corner laughing. After lunch she even asked me into her personal space (which was in her calm down corner) to sit with her on her mat. We sat together and she explored everything. She played with the zipper on my boots, she played with the buttons on my cardigan, she touched my hair, and she rubbed my stomach. This was a big step for us because that is how she shows affection. Then, she tried to sit on my lap! I told her we can't do that, she's not a baby. And then she said "You, my lap!" and had the biggest smile on her face. I laughed and said "I'd squish you like a pancake!" and she looked at me like I was crazy. Then she said "She not a pancake. Don't do that." (She refers to herself as "she") And I just laughed. We sat on that mat for 20 minutes just sort of giggling and figuring each other out. When it was time for her to meet with her teacher to do her drills and do some other assessments, she flew through them all and did so great! She kept saying "She smart today, she smart today" letting us know she felt smart that day. Her teacher said she had never had this specific student sit so long and do so much work with her before! At the end of that day she said "She had fun today", referring to herself.
Slowly but surely, my intimidation began to fade away and I can honestly say I LOVE working with this student. This has been such a wonderful experience and I feel like it was almost meant to happen. Had I not taken the leap and left my other job to try this out and see if it was meant for me, I never would have had this experience. I am so grateful for this opportunity in my life and can't believe I was so intimidated by this.
When I first told my friends and family about taking this job, they looked at me like I was crazy. "You got a bachelor's degree and two years teaching experience and this is what you are doing with yourself?!" "Why aren't you teaching, you should be teaching. This is going to hurt your resume." "This is a big step down for you, how's your self esteem?" But they didn't understand that yes, I will get a teaching job from this but I wanted to see if I could actually WORK with these students and help them to be successful!
I am still this student's PCA as of right now but I was told they will need to hire a teacher for a new classroom they are opening up and if I am ready for it I can have it. I think I am ready for this new adventure in my life! I will be doing more research on working with Autistic kids and what better resources than other teacher's blogs?! Here are some that I really, really like!
http://teachingspecialthinkers.blogspot.com/
http://theautismteacher.blogspot.com/
http://theadventuresofroom83.blogspot.com/
If you have any other suggestions, please let me know!
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