TRIUMPH.

[Snoutport]

Oh man....I have to share the most amazing thing with you all.

Those of you who read my posts know that I am a teacher for young adults with severe disabilities. I teach on the county level so I have a classroom of the toughest kids from every district in the county. My guys are the ones that the district says, "Help! We can't handle this kid!"

It is an amazing job and I have a great staff. I like going to work in the morning. My kids fascinate me and I use every bit of creativity, intelligence and puzzle solving skills I have to try to figure them out. Sometimes I can't figure them out. Sometimes I get a taste of what can be only called "triumph".

I have a student with pretty extreme autism. Not once in his whole life has he communicated likes or a needs with spoken language. He has a "talker"-- A voice output device with icons and a keyboard. He does not use it. School has been tough on this kid. The lights hurt his eyes, the noise is often overwhelming, the stress has led to some severe behavior issues (that I can't discuss). They have mostly been communicating with him using pictures. It had not gone well in the past.

And then he came to me. I'm kooky in the class. I make things talk and I goof around. I run into things. I sing and joke around. I cartoon and with just a pen and paper can make really special pictures for my students. I use every trick in the book to get my kids to forget that they have extreme issues...and pretty soon we're having a successful day, then it turns into a successful week, then a month has gone by and now, holy heck! It is almost JUNE and we've had almost no behavior issues.

So every day I greet this student at the bus, walk in the building just chattering away, "good morning! It is nice to see you! What did you do last night? I watched some tv, played with my dog. I swear my dog is getting as big as a moose!!!" And I talk all the way down to the classroom and then I offer him breakfast. And every day I do the same thing. I ask him to use his talker to tell me if he wants oatmeal or a bagel. Nothing. Eventually I have to move on to the next student so I just give him one. I've learned he won't take one. He'll just go sit and not have breakfast. At lunch I'll say, "use your talker and tell me if you want an apple or an orange." Nothing. I can wait and wait or set them nearby. He'll usually eat both if he can reach both...but I have noticed the apple gets eaten first.

Apple or orange? Apple or orange? Over and over for a year. Never an answer. I ask everyone else "apple or orange" and have them answer with the talker "orange". And I make a big deal out of it! "OH! You want the orange! I like how you told me what you want!" and I give them the orange. Over and over and over and over and over and over...and DAMN IT, I AM NOT THE TYPE THAT GIVES UP. So I ask some more and my staff who think I'm kind of nutty as it is, looks at me with even a little more amazement that I just haven't given up.

Apple or orange? Use your talker to tell me. Apple or orange. And then...?

And then he picks up his talker and types A-P-P-L-E. WTF? Seriously. A-P-P-L-E. I had tingles all over my body. I couldn't believe it! I praised him. I gave him the apple. I walked away in disbelief. And later we try again. This time I have a red apple, a green apple and an orange. Apple or orange. And he types A-P-P-L-E. I can't believe it...I roll the orange away. Red or green? "R-E-D". OMG. I grab milk and water-"m-i-l-k". It was like that scene in The Mircacle Worker where Helen Keller finally says "WATER!!!"

I know this kid likes cantaloupe. We took the class to a buffet (so I could see what some of them would choose to eat if they had a lot of choices) and he ate a lot of cantaloupe. So we walk to the store and I hold up a package of strawberries (it says "strawberries" on the sticker on the clamshell) and a cantaloupe. "Do you want to get strawberries or cantaloupe? Use your talker to tell me. I don't know what you want unless you tell me." He struggles with spelling, I move and show him the cantaloupe sign-"Here is the spelling if you need it". He types some more and his machine says: "cantaloupe". The strawberries were right in front of his face but he sought out how to type cantaloupe.

Did I mention this kid has never, in 18 years voiced a preference for anything. Has never said hello. Has never shared an idea. Has never been able to ask for what he wants. Ends up he wanted a cantaloupe. I gave him some money and he paid for it and we went back to class and we ate some cantaloupe.

This was last week...I've been on pins and needles all weekend waiting to see if I could replicate things. Please God don't let it be some fluke that never happens again.

Breakfast was c-a-n-t-l-o-u-p-e. Then I got a blank piece of paper and said, "I'll draw you any animal you want. What is your favorite animal." Rabbit. His favorite animal is rabbit...and instead of making a choice about food my student, for the first time in his life, shared a little bit of personal information and I was the lucky person who got to hear it. He likes rabbits the very best.

Then he had me draw it a c-a-r-r-o-t so it would have something to eat.

And that, my friends, is what I call triumph. T-R-I-U-M-P-H