Message By Laurie Geada researchautism.org/resources/newsletters/2013/July2013.asp#Message Teachers Who Know All the Right Music for My Son’s Ears (and Mine) Laurie Geada is a happily married, stay-at-home-mom from San Antonio, Texas. As the mother of a child with autism, she is actively involved in a San Antonio group called Moms Connect About Autism, known as MOCAA. She has two great kids, two crazy dogs, and one affectionate calico cat. She struggles to maintain her sanity on a daily basis, but has found that keeping up with friends on Facebook and Words with Friends does a pretty decent job of it. Autism mom Laurie Geada knows how much teachers can make a difference for her son, who is starting high school this year. It’s that three-word phrase that every parent wants to hear, yet it fills me with both longing and dread: “back to school.” It’s coming! [Insert doomsday music here]. My 14-year-old son, who is diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, ADHD, and anxiety disorder, is headed into his freshman year of mainstream classes at a public high school this fall. Can you hear the doomsday music getting louder now? Yes, I knew you could. The possibilities for my son are endless, but his success largely depends upon the willingness of his teachers to find ways to understand and connect with him. I know that this can be a challenge; the millions of things that other students learn intuitively every day are logically and laboriously processed by my son. As a result, he can become anxious, overwhelmed, and mentally exhausted. And, while he is often on a hair-trigger to deal with many of these “normal” academic and social pressures, the nature and consistency of how his teachers go about their work can make a huge difference. I get frustrated by the teachers who want my son to be more independent without teaching him the smaller steps it takes to get there. Teachers who allow him to fall behind when he forgets to turn in homework or doesn’t initiate the retaking of a failed quiz are not helping him, because that’s not how he’s going to “learn his lesson.” He’s not being willful, lazy or “trying to get away with it.” He needs to be prompted. I appreciate the teachers who have taken the “teach a man to fish” approach. They know my son, like many kids with ASD, struggles with executive functioning. They gave him the tools and processes for organization, explained everything in detail, and then followed up every step of the way to make sure he was developing each and every part of the skill so that, someday soon, he will master it.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 15:53:20 +0000
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