Yesterday I went to an Autism and ADHD workshop. It was hosted at my church building and put together by church members though some presenters were not LDS and it was open to the public.
I thoroughly enjoyed going to the meeting, mostly because it reminded me of all the wonderful experiences I had student teaching. I love the students I worked with and have fond memories of my time with them!
Also, it's important for me to stay current with my field. Even though I don't plan to work after having my baby, I'm still passionate, and will still be passionate about kids with special needs. Ironically, or hypocritically, I haven't been reading recent news or events regarding teaching those with disabilities - hence no blog posts about it, haha. But hey, as much as I may try, I can't do everything. I just haven't admitted that yet.
So here's a mini story to get back into the groove of things. Jacob was 7 years old when a speech therapist taught him to type and therefore express himself. Jacob is nonverbal and is diagnosed with autism and mental retardation. Well you can read how the therapist taught him to type in this huffington post article. The therapist would ask Jacob to type something, and then she would physically guide him to type out the answer. (At this point in the story I scoffed - sure, she's "guiding" his hands...) Jacob has never been taught how to read and has showed few signs of communication throughout his life. Naturally I was quite skeptical of this whole scenario, and I still am, but apparently, he is now 19 and communicates with his parents via typing. How amazing is that? I gained confidence again that Jacob in fact did learn how to type and communicate with others and that his mental retardation was misdiagnosed. But then why, 14 years later, is the same speech therapist teaching him how to type? If he is intelligent, and can communicate and type on his own, then why does he still need her help?
Two things. 1. I sincerely hope I am misjudging the speech therapist and that these incongruencies are easily explained. 2. Regardless of the truthfulness of this story, people who are nonverbal have thoughts too. It just takes a little creativity to help them express those thoughts.
I'll close with Jacob's own thoughts: "For people with autism, every day is an unending struggle to remember that we are not so different after all. You can help by smiling at us, by welcoming our presence and encouraging our participation. In the end, it comes down to recognizing God's image in every single human being."
What are your thoughts?
2 comments:
I haven't been too great at staying in the loop with my field (speech) but I do know that even after a child learns different words and how to type them, he probably will still need help with the way to correctly convey his feelings with others in a positive way. Especially if he has autism. Perhaps the speech therapist is not helping him "type each letter" but more helping him "type his feelings". Does that make sense? Just a thought... But I really want to know how they taught him in the first place too- it's sorta a Helen Keller sounding miracle, right?! -Megan Whitaker your old Peer Mentor Friend who still stalks your blog. :) Congrats on the baby by the way!
I've read stuff about this before, and I think I agree with your two points. I really hope that what the speech therapist says is happening is what is happening. And ultimately, I do believe people in this boy's situation are "real" and have these needs. So here's hoping this is not a scam or a hype.
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