Emily

I was given the opportunity to visit with Mr. V’s (Principal of San Pedro High School) daughter, Emily, today.  All I was told about Emily was that she was 12 and had autism. Since autism presents in many different ways and severities, I did not know what to expect.  After all, once you meet one person with autism, you have met one person with autism. The beauty of autism, in my opinion, is that they are all such unique individuals.

Once we arrived to Mr. V’s house, I heard Emily upstairs yelling and crying. Mr. V informed us that Emily was upset since having us over was not part of her routine.  Emily was yelling and crying because that is how she deals with a schedule change—the only way she knows how.  In 12 years, she has only been in school on two occasions – a two month period in a “special education” classroom and a three week period in a general education classroom. The special education classroom consisted of one teacher and 15 students with significant disabilities. According to her mother, Zulma, Emily spent the majority of her day in the special education classroom in a corner with her ears covered.  She did this because most of the students who could verbalize spent the majority of the day screaming. The teacher had no special  education background and most likely had the equivalent of a high school degree.  The teacher quit after three weeks and the program dissolved from there.

It took Emily 20 minutes to come out from behind the couch and stop crying. I think that she was hoping that we would leave if she cried long enough. I knew that I would have to give Emily the distance she needed if this meeting was going to be productive. Typically students with autism that have little interaction with others define the boundaries and level of interaction. Emily was curious about me, so I felt that was a good sign. She kept going up and down the stairs and peeking around to the corner to see if I was still there. She had a smile on her face, so I knew that a connection might be possible. While Emily was monitoring her surroundings, I had an informative discussion with her cousin. It turns out that Emily can read at the first/second grade level . This came about because of her limited time in the general education classroom and the amount of time her mom had devoted to home schooling her over the years. She is also bilingual and seemed to have a memory to die for.

One of Emily’s favorite shows came on while I was talking with her cousin. The motivation to stay in the room because of the television show enabled her to actually sit down and relax. I am not sure how many times Emily had seen this particular program, but she recited the lines to the entire show prior to the characters' delivery. I was amazed. Not only was she scripting in Spanish but she would then translate to English. After the show was finished, I had the opportunity to sit and write with Emily. She wanted me to write the words from the show in Spanish, so she could trace over them perfectly. Little did Emily know that she was asking the wrong person to write Spanish words down on paper.  She actually spelled and taught me several words in Spanish over a period of 15-20 minutes. I was truly impressed. It was great to learn from a bright young lady who happens to have learning needs that the Belizian school system can not accommodate at this time.

I ended up spending about six hours with Emily and her family that day. I spoke to her mom at length about how I can help to support Emily’s needs from the States. I will be back to Emily’s house on Friday  to get a system in place and then will work from home to make the necessary resources to support her learning needs in the home and community. I am looking forward to developing this partnership with Emily and her mom. It feels great to be able to help a family with no resources what so ever to support their beautiful daughter with autism. I am hopeful in the fact that students with significant disabilities will be provided the opportunity to one day learn alongside their peers. While Belize has a long ways to go, I feel they are heading in the right direction by establishing an inclusive educational philosophy for their students with significant learning needs.  Philosophically, Belize is much farther along in valuing inclusive education for ALL students, regardless of ability level. Finding the resources and training are the challenges that currently stand in the way of supporting their "inclusive schools for all" initiative.