April is Autism Awareness Month, and today, April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day. Many of you possess a basic concept of what ASD, autism or Asperger’s syndrome mean, with that today is a great time to expand upon that knowledge. Assisting individuals with autistic behaviours is a cause that I am passionate about, and am lucky enough to be exposed to daily. Here I will share stories from colleagues, definitions of terms, facts, and how this has impacted me personally, and most importantly - simple things that you can do to help the cause (I promise, they’re pretty reasonable).
While thinking about writing about this topic a colleague shared this story from his time at Easter Seals Camp (a camp that provides an overnight summer camping experience for teens and youth that have mental or physical disabilities). It fit the topic so perfectly and captured the types of interactions that occur everyday.
In my first summer counselling at Easter Seals, one camper in my group, a boy aged six or seven, had a tendency to wander away from the group at any moment in time. While I sometimes sometimes paint myself the martyr in trying to reintegrate a camper into the group, I secretly enjoy those experiences, getting to hang out and talk with a camper one on one, outside the hustle and bustle of camp. I wandered after this camper, he being quite aware of his tail and leading me up the hill to the top of the waterslide. As I caught up with him at the top, he requested my boarding pass. I obliged and offered him my pass, after which he lead me to my seat and began to recite, verbatim, the WestJet flight attendant's safety spiel. We took off from Kelowna and despite some turbulence, arrived safely in Ontario. He thanked me for flying WestJet, and with grins on both of our faces, we returned to the group.
Other staff members were lucky enough to also fly with him, but were not so fortunate enough to know the secret behind his flights. Reading before bed one night, he showed me his book from home, which was incidentally, all about him. I learned then, that his love for WestJet was not accidental; his grandmother lived in Ontario, and when they went to visit, they boarded on the very real flight to Ontario, and heard that same safety spiel that he knew so well.
Experiences like these are exceptional to hear, and are impossible to to not love being a part of. Thankfully, these experiences such as this are plentiful and constant.
Most importantly, before we look at definitions I want to stress the importance that these are people, and people first. Hence, people first language. What is that? For example, I would be “a male with brown hair”, not “brown haired male”. Why?, I am more than just that one feature, I just happen to have brown hair. In respect to autism, and individual with autism is preferred, or better yet, an individual with autistic behaviours, rather than the narrowing term autistic person. Autism is a broad spectrum diagnosis. This spectrum encompasses three titles and is referred to as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Autism disorder (sometimes called 'classic autism'): Individuals usually have significant language delays, social and communication challenges, and unusual behaviours and interests. Many persons also have an intellectual disability. Asperger’s syndrome: Individuals usually have milder symptoms than autism disorder. May have social challenges along with unusual behaviours and interest. However, they typically do not have problems with language or intellectual disability. Pervasive developmental disorder - not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS, sometimes refers to as 'atypical autism'): Meet some criteria for autism disorder or Asperger’s syndrome, but not all. Usually symptoms are fewer and milder than autism disorder.
The children and youth that I interact with leave me envious of many of their traits, however, the one trait that has my unrivalled admiration is the passion and love that is always present. The focus and subject of this emotions varies from individual to individual, ranging from fans (to the point where children insist that their parents take they by specific coffee shops to see if the fans are on during their drive home), to trains, history, sports and just about anything else that one can imagine. These youth and children can vary in their desire to socialize, however, they are consistently interested in sharing these passions and knowledge with those who happen to be around them.
With my admiration for the passion presented, a recent discussion with colleagues touched upon what lessons we have been able to take away from the children and youth that we know. The replies were all unique, however, there were certainly recurring lessons. Popular lessons included that it is amazing to stretch your imagination, people develop at different rates and through different means. These differences should not be a point of comparison, but rather, observed as unique, not following a cookie cutter life, and most certainly not a road block. Finding joy in the simple things, following the observe, learn and try approach to everything. Personally, I have been able to witness how many thoughts and the dynamic range of interaction you can have with those that are non-verbal. Getting a smiling shout of “NO!”, from a young man who only says “No”, or watching him dig through his bag for a collection of images to put together a sentence is amazing. Or learning that the loud sounds in the back seat of the van is not because of anything undesirable, but rather one teen wanting to share a picture of a pony that he keeps in his pocket at all times. People are capable of amazing things, we are just equipped to share them in a variety of ways.
As challenging and demanding as some days become, I would never wish for it to change. If anything, it has encouraged me to work harder and to continue within this field. The ability to help amazing people interact with their peers and to succeed in both school and social environments, and something that we can all do. This is a great topic that is not discussed often enough. With so many ways to assist this cause (e.g: being polite to that overly friendly person at the rec centre, not judging individuals, or the parents that are dealing with an escalation in public, donating money, creating a dialogue, etc), I hope that we will be able to correct some of the unfortunate misinformation that is present, and create an inclusive community, and environment.
Quick Facts: - 1 in 88 children will be diagnosed with ASD (4:1 ratio of Male to Female) - 46 percent of children identified with autism spectrum disorder has average to above average intellectual ability. - The best treatment is early intervention (allowing many children to require less assistance as they grow) - Having a child with autism can cost a family as much as $60 000 a year - Fastest growing developmental delay - I, along side with an amazing friend of mine are features in this awesome kayak video (1.17, and 2.13- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztr_3AUZ_NQ&feature=youtu.be&t=1m16s )
