When I started my career as an Occupational Therapist in 2009, Autism was not as common and widely understood as it is today. My first exposure to autism was during my internship, when I joined a Special school in Delhi. Till that time, I had read about autism in the books only and when I got the chance to work with child with autism I became very nervous because I had never interacted with any child with autism. Hence my first session with the child with autism was very insightful.
She was an extremely aggressive child, who never let
others to touch her except parents and caretaker. I tried several techniques
and strategies mentioned in text books but nothing seemed to work. Then one
day, I decided to stop being a therapist and try to be her friend and just let
her be herself in the session and play with her. Beyond my expectations that
was the first session in which she was happy and played with me for the last 5
minutes of session. These 5 minutes of session was transforming for me. This
was one of my biggest learning that instead of planning for therapy session, I
need to plan how to play with kid with their interest during that particular
time.
After that I started playing with kids rather than
taking therapy sessions and was more focused on becoming friends rather than
being just a therapist or a teacher. Gradually I was more open and friendly with
the children and as expected, children’s accepted me and it reflected as improvement
in them; they started following instruction which was the biggest challenge before.
Gradually I started upgrading myself by attending
workshops, conferences, courses through which I can learn new ways to connect
to these kids in a better way and do the best I can.
However, in my learning journey the BEST TEACHERS I had were THE KIDS themselves which nobody
observes. We always run for knowledge in books, in virtual world, internet etc.
but by interacting and playing with kids, we learn so much about how to reach
out to them without interfering in their world; it’s all about being open and
willing to learn from them keeping your preconceived notion of our own world aside.
Their nature be it flapping, throwing a tantrum or repetitive habit is just
their unique way of communicating their needs to us.
Till now, I will say my best teachers were right in
front of me but I was looking at the wrong places for guidance.
Ups and downs while working with the kids is a part
of therapeutic journey, however, I believe the key is NOT TO BE NEGATIVE i.e. kids can’t do this, can’t do that. We need
to look up for their strength and build up on it.
EACH ONE OF US
IS UNIQUE SO ARE THEY
NEVER GIVE UP ON
THEM, AS A THERAPIST OR A PARENT.
Let's Get Connected