Working with a child with autism, the focus of education, is NOT the academic, but having this lad gain a viable life skill, translated…
Hsien, Like Most of the Children with Autism, Intrigued by the Rotation of the Electric Fans, Enchanted by the Movements that the Fans Made…………
The Constantly Turning Fan is Such a Huge Temptation to Him
Hsien is currently in the second grade, although he has a difficult time catching up to the rest of his classmates academically, it didn’t prevent him from being the man of his class, because he can easily, take apart a fan, clean it up, then, assembled it back together, he’s quite a mechanic.
Five years ago, Hsien got into the First Child Development Center’s Daycare Program, that’s how we’d met. As his early intervention caretaker, I’d found, that Hsien, like most of the children of autism I’d worked with, is intrigued with the rotating movements of the electric fan—because the fan as it rotated, gave off that comforting buzzing sound to him, and this was a huge attraction for the brains of children with autism, who needed the orders. No matter the time, when Hsien saw a fan, he would, go close to it, and refuse to get pulled away, not only would he forget what his tasks at hand were, as his parents tried to pull him away, he’d start to throw a full blown temper tantrum too. And, there were, the fans in the early intervention classes, and so, we would often see a child, lifted his head, not moving, focusing on what he wanted to focus on, and, tuned the teachers out, which greatly increases the level of difficulties in teaching the classes.
To change this, the educators set up an individualized service plans for him, added the item of “helping him find something he’s interested to do when leisurely”. At first, we’d taught him to do the puzzles, and, we’d, found the puzzles with the fan, and even for the art sessions, we’d found the pictures of fans for him to color, and used the toy fans as his reward, hoping to increase his motivations for learning, then, extending it outward. For three years ago, he’d, changed his behaviors of being completely zoomed in on the fans as he saw them, he’d only needed to lift up his head to see it every now and then now, and can, continue to do what he was working on at hand.
Later on, he was successful in being admitted to the special eds courses of his local elementary school, and started coming to the intervention center only once a week, so the special needs instructors can help him get used to the various learning means, and the atmosphere which he will be learning in.
A Flash of Inspiration that Came to Me, Id’ Worked Together with the Bus Driver
The trainings of the early intervention were focused on “children’s cognitive abilities” and “autonomy”, not the same as the elementary school’s “learning the various knowledge of the many subjects” as the primary goals of learning. And, this big switch is what Hsien will be faced with, in learning to adapt. But, how can we get him to feel motivated to learn, and can teach him something he would use, is my, challenge.
The first semester of his first grade year, I’d assisted him in adapting to the new course load and getting him to adapt to his new instructors’ way of teaching, we’d sailed past this successfully. Second semester, the coursework became harder and more faster paced, and, although the instructors, and his parents didn’t rush him, he’d still felt the pressures, and so, every time he’d come to me, he would start tearing the papers, the book covers, and the erasers. Seeing how hard he was having it, I’d started thinking about, should I, help him with the academic lessons that he was learning in his school?
illustration from UDN.com
Then one day, I saw the bus driver cleaning the fan, suddenly, a flash of inspiration came to me: doesn’t Hsien love fans? Can he learn to take them apart, to clean them? If he learns this skill, this can add to his adjusting to living in his future. And so, I’d asked the bus driver to come onboard, and the two of us taught him to take the fans apart, to clean them, and to put them back together.
That day, Hsien was grinning ear to ear, walked into the class with his heart expectant. Knowing, that after class, he will have the opportutity, to touch his beloved fans, to start on that course of dreams. During the time, we’d used a ton of tools he’d never seen nor encountered before, screw drivers, wrenches, the air nuzzles………………to take the fans apart, you need to unscrew the screws loose, he’d learned to use the screwdrivers; to turn the hexagonal nut, he’d used the wrench; wanted to clean the dust and dirt off, he’d started, learning how to manage the power of the air nuzzles. In the process of teaching by the bus driver, Hsien lost focus every now and then, and I’d, provided the tips, the techniques to help him get his concentration back. While as the driver’s explanations were too hard for Hsien to understand, I’d suggested to the bus driver, to help him use the wordings, and the explanations that Hsien can better understand. After six weeks, Hsien became more and more agile then, taking the fans apart, cleaning them, assembling them back together, he’d become, quicker, and quicker in the skills.
The electric fan, in Hsien’s passages to learning, went from a roadblock to a, motivation, and, the affirmation that Hsien got from being able to take a fan apart, clean it, then, reassembling it back together again, it’d boosted his self-confidence, and, he gained more patience, to deal with the academic courses, the homework assignments that is from his academic. I have no prediction of Hsien’s future, but one thing can be sure, Hsien right now, is, a happy and confident elementary student.
And so, this is a kid with a mechanical brain, he’d interested in how the machines worked, and, the early intervention instructor got the bus driver, to come onboard, teaching the young boy, how to take the electric fans apart, which gave him a viable skill he can live off of, and, that beats every sort of academic achievement, as this young boy gained self-confidence through the process of learning the skills, and, now, he has this skill set that he can live off of in the future too.