This is my first blog with a dedicated blog link.
Don't let that statement fool you. I have been writing blogs for the past seven years. It's just that I always post them to our website (www.newdirectionlifecoaching.com). I'm not going to take the time to repost them all here. I'll just say, "If you like what you read here, there are lots more on our website. Check it out!"
I post a new blog every week and share it to my social media sites on Fridays, so be on the lookout for them.
Without further ado, let's get this week's blog under way...
April is right around the corner. Many of you know that April is Autism Awareness Month and that April 2nd is Autism Awareness Day. Some of you know we have a non-verbal grandson on the spectrum and that I often substitute in autism classrooms.
Last month I had the pleasure of observing children with
autism experience new things and it reminded me that we need to take the time
to try and figure out how they are learning, so we cannot only teach them, but
enter into their world with them.
We were outside and this one non-verbal child was running
down a sidewalk. He started in the sun,
but came into a section of the walk that was shaded and stopped. He stood for a minute or so and turned to run
back up the sidewalk, into the sun, at the exact spot he had started before and
run into the shade again… and stop. This
process was repeated numerous times and I was left to wonder, “What is he
thinking?” Was this child noticing the
changes in light, or maybe the changes in temperature? Perhaps he was noticing that his shadow had
disappeared.
Another non-verbal child was very thoroughly examining a
budding bush. He looked at it from a
foot or so away. Then he inched closer
and still closer until he actually got poked in the eye from being so
close. Then he walked completely around
it, sometime on tiptoe and sometimes squatting down. Again, I was left to wonder, “What is he
thinking?” Was this child noticing the
difference between the feel of the stems and the leaves? Perhaps he was smelling the just budding
blooms.
Once inside I sat with a non-verbal child who was joyfully
rustling a rough paper towel, up and down, fast and slow, sometimes tearing it. Yet again, I was left to wonder, “What is she
thinking?” Was this child noticing the
difference in the sounds of fast, slow, and tearing? Perhaps she was feeling the breeze the waving
paper towel produced, or maybe she was enjoying watching it flutter about.
I may never know what these children were thinking about,
but it broadened my senses and thought process just by watching them examine
something so joyfully.
Every day offers us new experiences. If you haven’t noticed something new, you
aren’t paying close enough attention.
Take a moment to see things differently and you’ll discover something
you had not considered before. Try it,
you’ll see.
