Faster!

Most of my students have speech problems.  This often leads to amusing incidents.

We were singing Head & Shoulders yesterday.  One little boy, who doesn't like to do anything slowly, wanted us to go faster.  Now when he says "faster" it comes out quite differently.  

If you were walking by my room you would have heard a little voice shouting,

"Bastard, Mrs. R, bastard!"

Playing Together

Friday was such a gorgeous day all the Early Ed classes at my school decided to go on the playground at the end of the day.

One of my little guys with Autism (who does NOT play with other kids) brought me a basketball to play catch.  We were having lots of fun when I noticed a little guy with Autism from another class wanting to join in (he also does NOT play with other kids).

I asked my little one if we could all play together.  "NO!"

"Well let's try." I said and threw the ball to the other boy.  "Now throw to him."  I encouraged.  Next thing I knew the two of them were playing catch together all by themselves and smiling like crazy!!

I almost cried.

When I told my guy's mom he played catch with another child she was floored and so excited!

Despite the insane-ness, I love my job.

Makes it Worthwhile

I had one of those "it's all worthwhile now" moments at school today.
It was a pretty crazy day as it was the first time all the kids were in the classroom together. My afternoon class has 3 children with autism in it so it gets pretty busy and stressful at times. At the end of the day one child with autism got picked up by mom. She was the last to go so we were chatting with mom a bit. The little girl was very anxious to leave so mom asked her why she was in such a hurry to go.
"I miss my mommy daddy. But now I happy, I have back."
Wow! Myself and my EA nearly cried. If you know anything about autism you know what a profound moment this was!