Live to Love

"He liveth best who loveth best.
All creatures great and small,
for the good God who loveth us,
He made them first of all." - Coleridge-

This term, I have an autistic kid in my class....she is 14 yrs old. The first 2 lessons with her were quite trying I must say. She is quite weak in terms of relating to people, she speaks VERY LOUDLY (with slurred dicton)...and at inappropriate times too. Plus her singing is all over the place, off-pitch, no sense of time, and super loud. She threw a lot of her classmates off....i felt quite lousy after those 2 lessons.

When I called up her parents, I found out she was autistic....and her mum gave me some tips on how to manage her daughter. Basically, I have to give her very clear, firm instructions, and use more visuals/ actions to communicate with her. When she does something right, I need to be very encouraging and praise her.

On the third lesson,I applied those tips (not ez tho', cos I really had to multi-task: paying attn to 6 students and their indiv needs, speak out instructions,sing and play the keyboard, and occasionally use one hand to communicate with the kid with actions.)...and to my surprise, the kid behaved really well! She was quite a sweet darling. :)Her pitching and timing improved tremendously too. Thank God her classmates were really patient and understanding! Phew!

First time in my 3 yrs of teaching that I've encountered an autistic kid....but I do appreciate the challenge. I am so glad God came through for me. I prayed that He would grant me patience, and to help me see the kid through His eyes. It's been an exercise in love I must say....and it's definitely all the more rewarding in cases like these. :) I realize we have some pretty inspiring, courageous students in the school....I've had old retirees who are 'garang' enuff to continue learning, a vocal student with damaged vocal cords; the keyboard coaches have a deaf student, a student with stubs for fingers, a wheel-chair bound student etc. It's just so beautiful isn't it? :)