Friday, March 18, 2005
I accepted a substitute-teaching job today, taking order for making balloons the first two hours and then working with autistic kids the whole time.
The first one I worked with was able to wrap a sand-balloon in a golden foil paper, which was tightened with a rubber band. She asked my name many times, told me her birthday will be July 8 which is on Friday and asked me when is mine. She was a cheerful girl and she was proud to show the balloon, which she wrapped all by herself.
The second one I worked with was able to sort cards and file them alphabetically in cubbyholes like in the post office. He fixed a 100-pieces puzzle in about half an hour, very focus and very orderly, but I could not communicate with him verbally and he had no facial reaction. I saw his eyes sparkle though when he listened to the music from the Mary Poppins movie and he made some dodo dodo happy sound. He needed help to wipe his nose, but if I hold his hand with napkin close to his nose, he could manage to do it himself.
We had one artist who could draw effortlessly, but he would not let people keep his drawings. Every two or so he drew, he would quickly shredded them. He was a good helper to compress the recycling cans and shred paper. He was a hard worker but we could not communicate him verbally.
Another student had picked two sandwiches for lunch. I didn't know if he enjoyed them or not, because something seemed bothering him who was making the whining sound. Later, he made fists hitting the sofa and again making wining noise. He motioned that he needed to go to bathroom, but he could not communicate verbally. The male teacher took him to the bathroom but he just visited without really doing his business. The teacher was telling him firmly several times afterward: “no more bathroom for you until you go home" and he seemed understood.
There was another one whom we could not verbally communicate with, but he was cheerful. When he ate lunch, he tore the banana peels into many tiny thin stripes. He did not seem to know how to clean his face or like to do other things. I learned that he is a good runner because near the end of the day, he liked to get close to the door. We had to watch out for that. I wonder what are locked inside these children's mind and how we can help them unlock whatever there, only if we would figure out...
The Wonder of It All-by Ralph Marston
Do you ever wonder at the wonder of it all?
Do you ever stand in awe of the tiniest things and how perfectly they work together?
Do you ever stop to think about all the possibilities and how even though they have no limit they grow in number with every minute?
Do you ever wonder when the leaves flutter down in autumn at the incomprehensible power of life that brings them back in spring?
Do you watch the waves roll in and then look out far beyond them where the water seems to touch the sky and realize that the vast expanse before your eyes is only a small little corner of all there really is?
And do you comprehend that all there really is, as unimaginably grand as it may seem, is only a smaller corner still of all that there can be?
Do you ever wonder how love can stay alive past every pleasure and every pain and even when there can be no hope there is more than ever?
Do you ever struggle to lift a heavy rock and wonder how a massive mountain can rise thousands of feet above the plain without even trying?
Do you ever realize that no matter how much you may know, no matter how many wonders you may have experienced, there will always, always be more?
Do you ever wonder why it is you wonder and why you know what beauty is even though you can't define it?
Do you ever wonder who is doing the wondering, who is looking out through your eyes and feeling completely at home with the wonder of it all?
Whatever you believe, whatever you profess, whatever you doubt or fear or hope for, there are some things your heart cannot deny when you let go and let yourself know the wonder of it all.
The first one I worked with was able to wrap a sand-balloon in a golden foil paper, which was tightened with a rubber band. She asked my name many times, told me her birthday will be July 8 which is on Friday and asked me when is mine. She was a cheerful girl and she was proud to show the balloon, which she wrapped all by herself.
The second one I worked with was able to sort cards and file them alphabetically in cubbyholes like in the post office. He fixed a 100-pieces puzzle in about half an hour, very focus and very orderly, but I could not communicate with him verbally and he had no facial reaction. I saw his eyes sparkle though when he listened to the music from the Mary Poppins movie and he made some dodo dodo happy sound. He needed help to wipe his nose, but if I hold his hand with napkin close to his nose, he could manage to do it himself.
We had one artist who could draw effortlessly, but he would not let people keep his drawings. Every two or so he drew, he would quickly shredded them. He was a good helper to compress the recycling cans and shred paper. He was a hard worker but we could not communicate him verbally.
Another student had picked two sandwiches for lunch. I didn't know if he enjoyed them or not, because something seemed bothering him who was making the whining sound. Later, he made fists hitting the sofa and again making wining noise. He motioned that he needed to go to bathroom, but he could not communicate verbally. The male teacher took him to the bathroom but he just visited without really doing his business. The teacher was telling him firmly several times afterward: “no more bathroom for you until you go home" and he seemed understood.
There was another one whom we could not verbally communicate with, but he was cheerful. When he ate lunch, he tore the banana peels into many tiny thin stripes. He did not seem to know how to clean his face or like to do other things. I learned that he is a good runner because near the end of the day, he liked to get close to the door. We had to watch out for that. I wonder what are locked inside these children's mind and how we can help them unlock whatever there, only if we would figure out...
The Wonder of It All-by Ralph Marston
Do you ever wonder at the wonder of it all?
Do you ever stand in awe of the tiniest things and how perfectly they work together?
Do you ever stop to think about all the possibilities and how even though they have no limit they grow in number with every minute?
Do you ever wonder when the leaves flutter down in autumn at the incomprehensible power of life that brings them back in spring?
Do you watch the waves roll in and then look out far beyond them where the water seems to touch the sky and realize that the vast expanse before your eyes is only a small little corner of all there really is?
And do you comprehend that all there really is, as unimaginably grand as it may seem, is only a smaller corner still of all that there can be?
Do you ever wonder how love can stay alive past every pleasure and every pain and even when there can be no hope there is more than ever?
Do you ever struggle to lift a heavy rock and wonder how a massive mountain can rise thousands of feet above the plain without even trying?
Do you ever realize that no matter how much you may know, no matter how many wonders you may have experienced, there will always, always be more?
Do you ever wonder why it is you wonder and why you know what beauty is even though you can't define it?
Do you ever wonder who is doing the wondering, who is looking out through your eyes and feeling completely at home with the wonder of it all?
Whatever you believe, whatever you profess, whatever you doubt or fear or hope for, there are some things your heart cannot deny when you let go and let yourself know the wonder of it all.
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