From a mother, who only wanted to give the best living environment to her own young son with autism, translated…
The three of us, originally living up north, many years ago, for the sake of early intervention of our autistic child, moved out east.
As we moved out east, our child just turned three, I’d hesitated on whether or not I should enroll him into preschool, but, there was a retired therapist who’d told me, “Your child isn’t fitted for kindergarten, he couldn’t learn, couldn’t imitate other kids’ behaviors, are you sure, you really, won’t consider, home-schooling him?”
I smiled, and not answered. I knew, that my son had the potentials, to adapt himself to living in a group, it’s just, that that, was the very start of getting acquainted with the early intervention programs, we’re still, trying to understand autism, so, we’d, chosen, to be, very careful. I’d asked my child’s occupational and language therapists, they’d told me, “Try it out! And, do trust your eyes.”, my child needed a change of tempo in his lifestyle, and, going to school was, a way, of training him to become more flexible.
like in this classroom setting…not my photograph…
Other parents with autistic children shared that after just two days of school, the kindergarten had, tossed the child back, what made her wonder was, the therapist had already, “signed off” on the child’s going to school, and why was he still, “returned”? At first, when I tried finding a kindergarten, I was like a lot of parents, who’d, disclosed my son’s autistic tendencies up front, and, the replies I received from the kindergartens are either that they’re, fully enrolled, or that they don’t take kids who started after school was already in session. But, their straightforwardness made me feel more at ease, I’d rather, that he got turned down before school started, instead of the kindergarten just wanted the tuitions, and, treated him like air after they’d, enrolled him.
There were, a few school that were, willing, to take him, I’d selected one with a long-running history, the hardware were ancient, which was considered cons in other parents’ beliefs, but, from my angle, there was, an outdoors pool, slides, swings, sandbox, a huge patch, trees, plus the founder lives in the neighborhood too, it was, the BEST kind of learning environment for my son.
Naturally, the old and torn hardware in my child’s mind, they don’t limit his abilities to learn; it’d been, a year since he’d started, my son loved going to school, loved playing with everybody there.
Ms. Angie and Mrs. Wang are the classroom instructors for the kids, but in my mind, they were, more professional than the medical professionals. The two instructors had over two decades of teaching experiences, treated every child equally, required that the kids learn the basic life skills, and at the same time they’d, respected the children’s free will, and, would punish the kids as they’d started misbehaving.
This sort of a method to teaching IS the strongest kind of help to my child, every time I went to pick my son up, and interacted with the teachers, their warmth and encouragements, it’d made me want to hug them hard. They not just become, amazing school teachers to my son, they’d become, my good friends too.
The older schools, and the seniorities of the instructors, often gets lost and abandoned, in this age of fast information, but, I wanted to shout out loud to my son’s teachers, we’re, really glad for having you in our lives!
a one-on-one session with the child with special needs…not my photo still…
So, you can see, how difficult it is, to get a child with special needs enrolled, and, it took this mother a few tries, to finally, find the right school to send his young autistic son into, and, with the loving kindergarten teachers who are willing, to accept and love the writer’s son like he is, that, is what the child needs, to be encouraged, to love learning.
Life, the Obstacle Course 