ONE LOCAL TEACHER SHARES HOW A STUDENT WITH AUTISM TAUGHT HER A VALUABLE LESSON  

 

By Jennifer Havlat, Special Education Teacher and 2007 NFAR Autism Teachers Grant recipient

As a special education teacher for the past eight years, I have had the privilege and honor to spend my time with some of the most fantastic children in the world, teaching them how to interact and communicate with the world around them. But this fall, one special student educated me.
Brendan was almost 5 years old when I first met him, and over the last six years we have developed a very special relationship. Diagnosed with autism early in his life, Brendan was not communicating verbally, and had behaviors and limitations that impacted his daily life. Often, he would hum to himself while plugging his ears.  Many found this frustrating because it was so difficult to get him to pay attention or to follow any verbal commands. 

I was fairly successful at getting Brendan to meet some of his goals. As part of the program Brendan received music therapy, and music seemed to be the key to Brendan's world. Anything that you could present to him in song, he learned faster and retained longer.

During the summer I worked diligently with all my students on typing as a form of communication. Despite the fact that at home, Brendan's grandmother (who has been a loving and dedicated support for him) and had been teaching him to type, he would not type the simplest words in my classroom. My assumption was that this was an avoidance behavior and he was just being "naughty." I was frustrated.

Returning to school this fall, Brendan became even more unresponsive when asked to type. Not only would he refuse to type, but now he was demonstrating some really alarming behaviors - hitting his head on hard surfaces, scratching himself, crying and shutting down completely. This fun-loving sweet boy was going through some sort of inner torture and I had no idea how to help him.

 

It was his inability to type at school that really baffled me. Most especially, because his grandmother said he was typing things like his full address at home. Truthfully, I was starting to doubt that he could do this because I couldn't even get him to type his name. Then one night it occurred to me - maybe what I was asking him to do was too simple.

The next morning the first thing I did was sit at the computer and type "Good morning Brendan." I gently placed my hand on his back as a cue for him to respond. He typed with one little finger, slowly but accurately, "Hi Miss Jenn." I almost burst into tears.

Over the next two weeks, we had numerous conversations on the computer. The more we typed to each other, the more I began to realize that he was closer to a typical eleven year-old than any one had thought previously. He told me that Star Wars Episode Five, Empire Strikes Back was his favorite movie, that he loved Beethoven and that Moonlight Sonata was his favorite song.

I always knew that Brendan was smart, but I NEVER knew what I was about to discover!

After meeting with his family, we decided to re-test Brendan. Starting with a standardized spelling test I asked him to spell words using his computer. I was amazed at the level of words he was spelling correctly, including "per se" and "soliloquy," getting a near perfect final score. We continued with math, where he gave me correct answers to multiplication, long division and square roots! And to think I had just set a goal for him of "adding to 10" only two weeks prior. I was amazed at his abilities and so proud when he passed a sixth grade level math test with an 80%.

Brendan and I have continued our conversations via the computer and in only a few short weeks, I've discovered so many things about him. He's told me that he wants to be more challenged at school, that he can read sheet music and that his humming is music he composes in his head. I learned that he is scared of airports, that he wants to learn to play the flute and even which classrooms he would like to be in next year and why. Now we are preparing a truly student centered educational plan TOGETHER with him, ensuring that he has the best learning experience possible.

Most importantly, Brendan taught me a very valuable lesson about assumptions and preconceived perceptions of children with disabilities. Brendan is far more capable than I originally gave him credit for. I hope that my story will inspire you to never give up on these children - no matter how frustrating. And, to never under estimate their potential.

A special thanks to Jennifer, Brendan's grandmother Tonghe and Brendan's mother Jieyu for sharing Brendan's story.