The World of Autism

This summer I am teaching 10 boys and 1 girl who have been diagnosed as having an Autistic Spectrum Disorder. If you are not familiar with Autism, you may want to become informed. Currently, 1 in 150 children are now diagnosed with ASD. Enter autism in your search engine and all of the best web sites will come up. Autism Speaks may be a good place to start. TIME recently had some very good articles concerning autism.

Having a class of 11 children with moderate to profound autistic characteristics is an incredible opportunity as a special educator. These children come from eight different elementary schools. Of course being their teacher would not be possible if I didn't have two great para-professionals.

Being a parent with a child who has autism or any other learning or physical challenge is one of those experiences that only those who have children with ASD could really understand. When it is discovered that a child has some type of disorder, it is like the death of a child. The child of the parent's dreams has died. What this means is the parent really needs to go through the grieving process -- denial, anger, bargaining, negotiation and acceptance (Kubler-Ross).

This summer school is all children in our district who are connected to special education. Some children are both mentally and physically challenged. Some are very severe. If you are a parent with a special needs child, my heart goes out to you. My hope and prayer is that a day will come when all those with any type of disability can be healed or at least greatly helped. I do believe there is going to be a day when your child will have a new being, the place where there will be no more tears.