Day 1: Introduction to At

In our first class, we watched a video about Sue Ruebin, an autistic woman who lives on her own with the assistance of a supportive living program.

As a child, Sue was self-abusive and a head banger who made uncontrollable sounds and movements. She credits her family and school as treating her well. With the supportive living program, Sue is able to live a more independent lifestyle. For example, Sue can ask one of her assistants, Ashley, to help her put on a helmet when she has an awareness that she cannot control her head banging tendencies.

Dr. Margaret Bowman is an autistic specialist who is working with Sue to help her learn more about her disability. Sue has come to accept things about herself, such as the need to carry plastic spoons for comfort, even though she does not know why she needs them. A facilitative communication system helps her to communicate. Sue attends college majoring in history. She reports that she has to use her energy to sit quietly in class and her assistant, Ashley, takes notes for her.

Sue plays with her spoons and watches water pour over them to zone out. Her assistant, Danny, does fun things with Sue like bet on horse races. Recently, Sue went to Syracuse University to give a speech on autism and enlighten people to their own potential. Sue notes that as independent as she may become, she will always needs others to help her communicate.

This video was powerful in that it made you realize that people with autism are people first, disability second. Like everyone, everywhere, we all have obstacles to overcome and we all have contributions to make to this world. The overall message from this video to educators is that we have to assume competency in all our students no matter what outside appearances may be.

The next presentation was on Tyler, who at 3 months had mobility concerns and was diagnosed with a form of cerebral palsy. He is an intelligent and happy 12 year old boy who requires a wheelchair for mobility. His milieu demonstrates extremely supportiveness, complete with supportive family and school setting . His assistive technology support is a manual wheelchair, and Tyler was assessed for a single switch fight side headrest mounted jelly bean access and control site, a stationary computer, switch interface, and software such as Clicker 4. Tyler has a program support assistant on a full time basis. His grade one report card reported all very good achievements in his reading, math and writing outcomes, using assistive technology to support his writing skills. As Tyler got older, he switched to a motor wheelchair, for greater mobility, a laptop computer, adapted desk, and more software programs such as Kurzweil, Penfriend, and Cloze Pro. His assistive technology changes as he continues to grow, and iPod and iTalk tech devices are now a part of his software support needs.

This particular presentation made me realize, as an educator, that the needs of our students are constantly changing. What works for one student today will change in the future as the emotional, social and behavioral needs and available assistive technology changes. This presentation made me realize how important annual program planning meetings are for our students who rely on their specialized IPP's and assistive technology to help them meet their academic, social and behavioral outcomes. We, as educators, have the moral and ethical responsibility to keep up with changing methods and technologies to help our students reach their full potential.