A very interesting day

Monday 14^th June 2010

Today was an interesting and challenging day for me; I was asked to visit a students grandparents and mother originally on a counselling basis but as it transpired I was there to both counsel and provide awareness and appropriate strategies to help them cope with their grandson /son. On the way to their home I was given additional information, which meant I had to rethink my approach; while some of the behaviours being displayed at home were what may be deemed as typical autistic traits, one was potentially dangerous.

A particular dimension of autism could be to take anything that is said literally. For most individuals on the autistic spectrum, metaphors can sometimes be a struggle to understand; I say sometimes as on a couple of occasions I have explained the abstract idea or metaphor to the student and they have fully understood it within the context it was meant and not taken it as pure fact. I remember one student in England telling me that as far as they are concerned their live is like one big metaphor.

On the way to the meeting, I was told that this particular student was informed that ‘if you love someone you would die for them’; yes, you can imagine my response; The rest of the information (regarding the student's behaviour) I do not feel is appropriate for this blog but was sufficient for me to take the meeting extremely serious. This was the challenge for me, especially as I only had ten minutes to rearrange my thoughts for the meeting. Needless to say, this was at the top of the agenda at the meeting. Rodney left me to conduct the meeting while he took a back seat so to speak. He was happy with the outcome of the meeting, noting that he had learnt a couple of new strategies that would benefit the students he works with; I certainly learnt a lot!!!! Getting all the information prior to engaging in a sensitive meeting is so valuable and is one aspect I will ensure happens next time.

The meeting ran over by an hour given the nature of the new information. On my return to school I had a quick lunch then worked with Kevin on the alphabet focusing on phonics, then I was invited to a game of football; my Liverpool instinct kicked in and thinking I was still 20, I was soaked in sweat (not a nice image) and ‘Cream Crackered’ within 45 minutesJ. This was certainly a day I will remember for a while.

Tuesday 15^th June 2010

Another meeting was set for the parents of a student; in contrast to my last meeting the students wanted information on how to help their son develop socially and independently.

The areas of communication, social interaction and imagination are to varying degrees potential barriers to an autistic adult wanting to develop an independent social life. I provided some small steps to consider, which could help both parents and student develop confidence and skills when holding meaningful conversations, helping the student to make informed choice when going out on family trips and assisting to develop friendships.

The second meeting (due in the afternoon) cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances but re-booked for tomorrow. This left me some spare time so I continued where I left off with Kevin; within five minutes of starting the alphabet, two more students sat around the table, then another four came, so I changed my approach and set up a game where we all had to name an animal starting with each letter of the alphabet and sound the first letter out. This was hilarious, at one point I asked for an animal starting with ‘J’, a student jumped up really excited and shouted ‘Peanut butter!’, I figured that they meant jam, so I asked how many legs does a peanut butter have, we all fell about laughing. I think the students are all catching my scouse sense of humour, oh dear!

I have been tole that there is a chance of a tropical rainstorm coming to St Lucia towards the end of this week so hopefully it will not cause too much damage or injury to this wonderfull island.

More pictures to follow over the next couple of days.