I’ve touched on this several times throughout these posts that a person with autism interacts with the world in a different way to other people. Their senses are heightened or suppressed, the way they process information differs and so the way they learn is different too.
We quickly realised that Victoria struggles with spoken instruction unless it is broken down into a very basic sentence of just a few words. When she was younger we could ask her to “go upstairs, take your pyjamas off and put your clothes on” and we might get 1 of the 3 done; it was simply too much for her to process in one go.
We find that, perhaps because of the noisy world we live in, Victoria’s usual state is “zoned out”. If she is playing or watching a film and you say to her “can you pass me that cup” it is likely that she will not hear a word of it. We need to start the sentence with her name so she becomes “zoned in” to the rest of the sentence: “Victoria, can you…”. It’s such a simple thing but makes such a difference.
Typical with autism, Victoria struggles with abstract terms and imagining scenarios. She is an amazing reader but ask her to think about “why” something she has just read happened and she will draw a blank, often simply re-reading the page again. Independent thought comes very hard but is something we are working on with her.
V is very much a visual learner. When she started football last summer it was very apparent to me that she was excellent at copying others but not so great when the instructions are spoken. Ask her to kick the ball with the side of her foot and she struggled initially. Show her and she picked it up quickly. It’s why she is so good at tap dancing – she is facing her teacher and copying what she is being shown to do.
Her learning environment is also very important. Because of her aural hypersensitivity she struggles to learn in a noisy environment and has to work very hard to “zone in” to what is being taught in a class of 30 kids. One to one in a quiet environment works so much better. And this brings me on to the main point of this and many of my posts on this subject. Victoria and children like her are just as able to learn as any other child. Technically Victoria is a year or 2 behind in most areas of education but it is my firm belief that with the right education she can and will excel. Although she has a learning disability it doesn’t mean she is unable to learn, just that she is unable to learn in the same way as her peers. It might not always be this way… we know of instances where a child with autism simply stops progressing and they require the support of a child for life. I also know of people with autism who have very successful careers and earn way more than I do, so it’s not all doom and gloom. Our challenge at the moment is to find the right learning environment for V in order for her to thrive, which is the same challenge every parent has but with far fewer options open to us. Because options cost most and the local authority aren’t keen on spending it…
At almost the half way mark I have learnt how supportive our friends, family and colleagues are when it comes to Victoria and her autism. The comments I’ve had since starting these posts have been amazing and I hope you have learnt something from them other than “f**k me, Dave goes on a bit!”