Tuesday

I was so exhausted yesterday I couldn’t bring myself to write anything until this morning (Weds) and will try to recap everything that happened.

I had a wonderful day at the school with new people to talk to. One woman who had come on Monday made her husband come today, which was a real treat. The men are usually very hands-off when it comes to taking care of the children, but this man was very interested in everything I had to say – and he took on the task of being my translator for the afternoon. I started off by looking at my agenda of what they wanted to discuss, and kept watching the clock… oh my gosh, I am going to be finished in 30 minutes, and they expect me to go all day. What am I going to do?!

Well, I was finished in 30 minutes, but thankfully they had questions to keep the discussion going. The parents wanted to know about how to teach their children specific things (like toileting), how to keep up their language abilities in the home, how to deal with their behaviors in the home. These were difficult questions for me to answer for two reasons. First, I do not have children of my own – so giving parenting tips is not something I would usually do. Secondly, there are vast cultural differences here, so many things I suggested they seemed to frown upon.

Many things I said were taken with an open mind, however, a few were frowned upon and there was only one that I felt strongly enough to push. The parents asked what percentage of students will maintain their level of communication and skills after they leave school. I answered by stressing the importance of working with your child at home… making sure you promote and encourage the use of language and whatever they are learning at school. Nehemiah plans on sending home daily communication logs of what the child did that day – I said the parents need to be encouraging the use of new things they learn. “Aren’t you asking too much?” they asked. “We do not have time for that, that is what the schools are for. They teach our children.” This was shocking to me, but I had to keep reminding myself that they have had no education in these areas. I was instantly reminded of a few of my own students back home who do not have the support systems to keep up their language. I may be able to teach your child to ask for a snack when he is hungry at school, but if you don’t insist he use his words at home, he risks losing this skill and all he learned at school is thrown out the window. Having an autistic child is far from easy, but if you want them to grow, you must be willing to push them.

Tuesday evening I was invited to a woman’s house who has a 13 year old daughter with autism. Her house was UNBELIEVABLE. It was 2 stories, beautiful, and every inch of the house was decorated with ornate designs. They served the traditional food, injeera, and I had to go back on my vow to not eat meat while I was here. I did not want to be rude, and everything on the table (even the vegetables) was mixed with some kind of meat. Meat is a luxury here, so by putting meat in with the carrots, the rice, and the beans they were being very generous and making sure their guest felt special. I did feel very special, so I ate the meat and it was wonderful.

After dinner they had one of their maids (they have 3, and this is very typical if you have enough money) perform a coffee ceremony. They roast the beans while you are eating dinner, and then they present you with the roasted coffee. They ask you to smell the beans to see if they are done, and then they prepare the coffee. It was wonderful to observe this tradition, and even more so to be able to participate.