Meet Barbara. Barbara has a secret ability. She has the most infectious smile. When she flashes those pearly whites in her ear to ear grin I dare you not to smile back. You won’t be able to. On top of that she has a great passion for exploring, finding new things, and her autism keeps that urge ever present.
When the school term started she was constantly getting out of her seat, roaming around, disturbing students, or just leaving the classroom, on to her next adventure. The teachers were getting frustrated and so they started just letting her leave.
But because of the training, this term things are different. This term we set a goal!
For Barbara the goal was to sit in her chair, quietly for ten seconds. If she did that she was given a special reward, a new object to explore. We worked our way up from ten seconds. What happened? Barbara crushed her goals. Teacher Joshua has had to constantly revise her goals because he realized she was so much brighter than he had imagined. Within a week she was sitting quietly for ten minutes and would return to her spot whenever asked. Plus she stopped leaving the classroom.
Even better, since she was able to sit longer Teacher Joshua has been able to do more one on one activities with her. He was truly shocked to see how bright she was, how much she knew and how fast she could learn. Never had he guessed that she could sort shapes and colors, perfectly. Even count! Now her education goals are being ramped up to allow her to reach her full learning potential. And more, now Teacher Joshua believe she can learn and is constantly challenging her.
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Henry David Thoreau
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