By Dr. Joan Singley Schrysen
Alice and George are parents of two children on the autistic spectrum. This is an interview with George. (Names have been changed.)
Bob is our son, a very bright and curious kindergartner. When he was younger, we noticed that instead of talking, he made funny little sounds and babbled. A pediatrician said he had several markers of autism. The cost of a private evaluation was prohibitive, so we were delighted to learn that he could be evaluated without charge by Child Find, a national program facilitated by the Early Learning Coalition of Volusia and Flagler Counties. He had enough markers to be classified as ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) which al-lowed him to get speech therapy through the school system.
That fall Bob was enrolled in a special, blended pre-k class of ten students, some neural-typical and others, like Bob, with special needs so that each could learn from the other. He loved his teacher right from the start, an outstanding woman with twenty years of experience in special edu-cation. He had a little trouble with the structure of the school day at first, some good days, but others when he was just overwhelmed. The second year something clicked and he just blossomed.
We definitely noticed differences at home. We could start having conversa-tions with Bob. He could actually tell us what he wanted, what he liked, what he disliked. Those things just weren’t possible before. I had wondered if I would ever be able to have a conversation with him. That broke my heart. Would he understand that I love him, that I would die for him? I wondered all these things. Now this is Bob’s third year in school; we play games together. One of his favorite games is to play school. He likes to pretend that he is the Office Administrator writing me a pass to go to class, going through the entire morning routine from the pledge of allegiance to what’s for lunch. It’s just a sheer delight!
So I have nothing but wonderful things to say about the public school sys-tem. It’s really done wonders for Bob and now for Ann, also diagnosed on the autism spectrum. She is doing well in a regular pre-k despite some sensory challenges. She loves hair and will go up to a perfect stranger and touch their hair. She will con-stantly pull hair, though not in a malicious way. Her teacher tried all sorts of methods to change this behavior. At one point, she said, “I’m not going to give up on her, we’re going to make this work.” Finally she came up with Happy Hands. Every ten minutes that Ann doesn’t pull hair, they celebrate with some kind of reward or a round of applause. Alice and I can tell it’s working. It’s obvious to us that the mark of a really good educator is not giving up on a child but digging to find what works. We’ve been really amazed and blown away by the persistence of Ann’s teacher.
Our special message to the readers of Waves: People notice when you go the extra mile. There are parents out there like us, who are truly grateful that you care for and love our kids enough to do that. All the work and planning and preparation you do outside of school is not in vain. Thank you!