[TPIN] RE: autistic student advice

[L Best]

For a while I worked as a substitute teacher in a
local school system where I became a favorite to work
with special needs students. Also, this school system
was the base for the local autistic education program
and I was frequently requested to work in the
elementary autistic class due to my ability to work
with the children and their positive response to me.
Also, I have a (nearly) 3 year old son with Down's
Syndrome who is absolutely amazing and very bright,
and who seems to not realize that there are people
that believe there are things that he shouldn't be
able to do. 

That said, there is one constant that I've learned
from my experiences in both working with others and in
my own life: A person who doesn't believe they can't
do something will be able to do that something. Once a
person gets the idea in his/her head that something is
impossible for them- either by lack of
encouragement/guidance or by an authority figure
(parent, teacher, etc) discouraging them purposely-
they will have a mental block that will actually
prevent them from reaching their goal. If those mental
blocks never go up, then it's not impossible if that
person recieves constant guidance and positive
encouragement. That goes for people will special needs
as well as the average person.


Lee Best  >iii<(

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com