Lily (Teacher)
My first contact with an autistic child was with a physically able-bodied and energetic little girl in a primary school where I taught a year 4 class. She was statemented (EHCP), had other medical, behaviour related conditions and was on medication. She had a learning mentor allocated to her who accompanied her in practically all lessons.
I had been told that if this little girl did not take her medication on time during the school day, she could become violent and thus potentially harmful to children around her. I taught her for a couple of school terms, about once a week, during which time I only saw her veer towards a hostile mood on one occasion. She had en entered the classroom already in this mood and on that occasion she was not able to overcome her mood during the lesson. Her learning mentor removed her from class and a period of this child’s non attendance of school followed.
My usual experience of this girl in class, was of a lively little girl, clearly wanting to engage in a task and to please me which she always did, as I always presented the general class task to her in an adapted way or made time to explain it to her in a very specific way. Feeling that she was receiving particular attention from me as the class teacher went a very long way with this pupil and over the weeks, I found that, her ability to tackle a task was no lower than average for the class, it’s just that she needed more reassurance that she had it right, from minute to minute. I remember her questioning me continually throughout the lesson as to whether she was ‘doing it right’. It was not a strain to repeatedly encourage her with great frequency – in fact it was rewarding and I felt comfortable doing this, as I knew I had the support of her learning mentor.
This is how it can be, once a child’s out of the ordinary behaviours have been observed, reported, investigated, recognised, professionally diagnosed, appropriately medicated and when intensive one to one support during the school day has been put in place. This lays the foundation for expectations of the child’s academic performance to be raised both the by teacher and the child, of themselves; it enables the child to show their very best ability in class, which, in this little girl’s case, eventually became the highest ability and understanding of the topics I was teaching in her class during my lessons. Her ability for intense concentration, so often manifested in individuals with autism, when gently and consistently harnessed by me, week after week, actually drove her to, in the end, gain a quicker grasp of the subject matter that I was teaching than all of her classmates. It was heart warming, interesting to witness, and surprised her one to one mentor.
