A paper

A while back, I had a good friend from work and her daughter come over. Her daughter studies ASL and was extremely interested in how that is used with children with ASD. She came over to meet Little Bug and see how he used ASL.

This is going to be a continuing thing for her and has also morphed into a school project- she is working with Little Bug on ASL and will be visiting his school and in the process will be providing the school with reports. I received her first one yesterday and it made me cry. I thought I would share it with you.

Lennon

About a year ago my mother told me of a coworker's son named Lennon. His son was going through medical issues and was having a hard time learning to speak. Soon after a doctor diagnosed him with a form of autism. My mom and I began talking about it almost religiously since I was so curious to know about this little 2 year old boy. Once when discussing it I suggested that she (my mom) talk to Blake (Lennonʼs dad) about teaching Lennon sign language to help jump start his communication skills. Since then Lennon has been enrolled into a special school in Tacoma where he is attending a class which specializes with kids that have trouble with verbal communication due to mental or physical difficulties.

On January 11, 2009 I finally got to meet Lennon, Blake and Nick. Blake realized how much interest I had conjured up about Lennon when talking to my mom. So I was asked by Lennonʼs parents to meet him and possibly help them and him with his Sign Language. Upon meeting him I absolutely fell in love. Not just with how cute this little boy was when he signed but with helping him as well. I felt so blessed. When I first arrived he was very scared and very shy but as soon as I signed my name and showed that I can sign like him, he immediately warmed up to me and my mom. Even though he may not have been able to understand what I was saying he may have realized I wasnʼt a bad person because I knew how to do what he did. He also noticed that my mom had a shark figurine in her pocket which also helped break the ice. It should be noted that often times children with autism will focus on a word a thing and in Lennonʼs case this is anything shark/whale/ fish related. Watching him sign along to his videos was just heart warming and a great experience. I thought going over there I would be somewhat teaching him but in turn he wound up teaching me more then I expected. He knew signs that I never knew. Which I thought was awesome. While I was visiting Blake had told me that when he was two years old he could barely say ten words while the average two year old knows how to say about two hundred. Now after being at the school Lennon can say about thirty some odd words and can sign over a hundred. (BLAKE EDIT- Lennon's word surpass this but this was the last :"word update" she had from us.) I thought this was incredible. I was asked by Blake to come back and visit more so Iʼm hoping these visits become more frequent. Recently my mom was talking to Blake who told her that I have special permission to go to Lennonʼs school and see him in his learning environment. Upon hearing this I was so excited because I realized while visiting him that this was what I want to do.

I have found this experience that Jess speaks of to be true time and time again. With our son and other kiddos with disabilities at his school, we often try to teach them and in the process end up changing ourselves and being taught so much more than we had ever expected.