101

I am learning more and more each day about working with children with special needs children. I love that each child is so unique. You cannot fit a child into a category and treat them all the same.

We have a boy in school that is “autistic.” He is so interesting. In some ways, he has some very classic autistic characteristics for example; his repetitive behaviours- continually tapping a pencil on the table, liking things in order- lining up his toys, very infrequently making eye contact. His good days include routine, when he knows what is expected of him in each situation and what will be happening now and next. He likes repetition and thing that are certain e.g. numbers and letters.

In the school, we had an open house day and joined with the other organisations who also work with children with disabilities. The whole morning did not have structure or routine. This boy found the day very difficult and wanted to walk around and explore the surroundings. At times he became upset and even with trying to explain to him very simply what he could and couldn’t do, he still did not understand. He needed to have things explaining simply, with pictures to support him. He became increasingly agitated and I ended up sitting down quietly with him. I started counting the fruits (the pattern) on the table cloth. He immediately relaxed and calmed down. He likes numbers. This was something he knew and felt safe and secure with the routine of the numbers. I didn’t know how many numbers he recognised. We easily got through 1-20 and up to 50, past 80 and up to 100.

By this time I felt a sense of accomplishment that I could count from 1-100 in Spanish and that he had calmed down and was happy. However, I was ready to stop counting at a 100 but he wanted to continue, so I restarted at number 1. He didn’t want to restart, he wanted to continue 101, 102 etc. In this moment, could I remember the number 101 in Spanish!? I tried several ways of the number 101, trying to dig deep into my memory to recall how to say it. Every time I tried, it wasn’t right. This boy says very little. He can only recount/echo numbers and letters, but he quite clearly communicated to me that my number 101 was not right. I could not apologise enough to him that I couldn’t remember the number and that I could not say it. It is amazing that even though someone does not speak, they can still communicate their message.

I sympathised with this boy on this day. He did not fully understand what was going on that day and could not clearly tell me what he wanted. Sometimes my time here is like that. Frequently I do not understand all that is going on. Often I cannot find the words to fully communicate how I feel or say what I really want to say, but like this boy, I have to use other ways to communicate.  Learning a second language has helped me so much in understanding how I can best support the children I am working with.

I also am going to learn how to count above 100.