During the spring of 2015, I participated in a spring break trip to North Carolina where I worked at Camp Royall, a respite camp for children with autism. This trip provided me with my first experience in working and helping people with autism. It also allowed me to experience North Carolina and the snow for the first time!

 

This trip helped me strengthen my communication skills with others but it also helped me practice meeting people where they are in regards to their specific needs. Many of the children I worked with varied in where they were on the autism spectrum and therefore, had different needs. This trip taught me the importance of listening and allowing people to show me what their needs are instead of making assumptions.

 

One memorable experience that has stuck with me was when I was working with a nonverbal five – year old boy. He was fixated on playing with one specific toy and so I sat with him and played along. As time went on, I thought maybe he was fixated on one toy because he had not seen the others so I decided to bring over a few for him to engage with. As I brought a toy over, he would glance at them for a moment but then quickly disregard it and return to the green spiral Frisbee that first grasped his attention. Choosing to focus on the toy that held his attention the most, I tried to show him all the different things he could do with the Frisbee but after every demonstration I provided, he would go back to methodically turning the Frisbee as he did before. Finally, I decided if this is what makes him happy and what he wants to do, then I’m not going to try to change it and instead joined in on the fun. After spending nearly 10 minutes turning and twisting the Frisbee with him, I decided to inch away to give him some space but as I prepared to turn around, I felt a tug on my arm. I turned around just as he plopped himself down on my lap and gave me a hug. Till this day, I believe that was his way of saying “thank you for listening to my needs.” Instead of assuming what he needed, I allowed him to show it to me. Instead of deciding for him, I chose to be open – minded and listen.