Guess Who is the name of the game we played at the community gathering for students with disabilities. Two students came to my table to play. One student appeared to be on the autism spectrum and the other student appears to have intellectual and language disabilities, both are teens. In Guess Who you have to narrow down choices as what person you think your opponent has chosen and they have to guess yours.
I played on the team with the student with language disabilities. I have heard she talks quite a bit at home but in public you're lucky if you get a one word response, so I knew she would need help to play with the other teen. She would point to a person and I would ask, what do you want to ask about? She might say, eye or hair, or point to the face for facial hair. I said the first part of the sentence for her such as, she wants to know if the person has white _______ (hair). I waited for her to fill in the word that was missing. The student with autism did not need any assistance during the game, he is quite well spoken and opinionated but he did need help feeling a part of the group when he first came in. He was not about to approach someone to sit with. I overheard his conversation when he first entered the building. I could tell if he could leave he would have. Simply asking if he wanted to sit at our table completely changed his demeanor. Something that was really touching to me was that the student with autism said on more than one occasion that he could help explain the rules and assist the student with intellectual and language disabilities. He was more than willing to be patient and help. We also eat dinner with each other prior to our activities. This ranges from donated catered meals to frozen store bought lasagnas. So to put it bluntly, sometimes it's quite messy, especially depending on a student's disability. We were eating baked potatoes loaded with whatever you asked to be added on top. Quite a few of the students ended up using their hands to get at the potato. Part of why we are asked to volunteer isn't just to be extra hands for activities but also to be models of proper social behavior. Last night would have been a good night to reinforce to the whole group the use of napkins to wipe mouths! Some nights things like body care is discussed, which is really necessary to make and keep friends. In case anyone reading this is wondering how this group functions... a social worker is in charge and has a few others that help and then each semester students and professors from my university's special education program volunteer.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorSpecial Education major in a university teaching program. Substitute teacher, previous homeschool mom, wife. Archives
September 2019
Categories |