"Hands on Experience"

* Recently in my Child Psychology class I was assigned to complete 15 hours of Service Learning. I would like to share with you my experience because I felt by taking a hand's on approach and dealing with children; and not just reading about them the lessons I have learned in class where able to come alive.

When people say that the only way to learn about a topic is to actually go out there and do it, I would have to agree with this advice fully after my experience observing. I observed a five-year-old child named Andrew who was diagnosed with Persuasive Developmental Disorder, a form of autism. After bearing eyewitness to his daily behavioral patterns, I feel comfortable to say that I learned an enormous amount during this process. It was truly a learning experience that kept me interested and was able to broaden my understanding of children suffering from this disease.

Andrew is a delightful little boy who almost exudes this sense of innocence. His actions cannot be blamed whole-heartedly on himself because he suffers from a genetic disorder, which affect his speech and social interaction. Through my visits with Andrew, I was able to not only observe how a child with this disease approaches mundane task but also was able to gain a greater appreciation for the caretakers who work with these children. Every visit I was accompanied by Lauren, the res-hap worker, who taught me something new literally every time. I was able to learn how to deal with tantrums thrown by autistic children as well as certain ways to reinforce proper behavior. Lauren pointed out certain behavior that would normally go unnoticed to the untrained eye. She made me realize that we must not only look for the physical abnormalities but the social ones as well. An example of this was when Andrew was playing with his dinosaurs and the conversation he was making them have. The dinosaurs were reciting movie lines, which I would have never picked up on had the caretaker not told me. This was a sign of memorization, which dampened the social skills of Andrew and must be corrected.

Although I had only observed Andrew five times for three hours at a time, I was able to get a better understanding of how we need to deal with autism. The experience was unparalleled to anything that I would be able to get reading the textbook. I was able to learn new tactics to control and shape a child’s behavior patterns. I believe that in order to learn and fully understand something related to how a person acts, you must be able to monitor them first hand. Sometimes a visual allows us to understand and remember certain things better. A picture says a thousand words, and that is the way I felt while observing this child. There was always something different to watch out for and always a new challenge to overcome. It was almost as if the child knew what he were doing, but unable to control his feelings both emotionally and physically. At times he appeared to be in a daze oblivious to the outside world, with not a care at all. Then at other times he was over zealous and paying strict attention to every word out of your mouth. This behavior was very interesting to me. It showed how versatile this disease was and how many different things there were to watch out for.

Being around Andrew and watching him live his life on a very strict schedule allowed me to see the hard work it takes to raise a child with autism. His parents must put in a lot of effort and money just to support his well being. Andrew has an occupational, social and physical therapists, as well as attends a special school for autistic children. His parents make many sacrifices to raise their son in way that he needs to be. Andrew’s lifestyle causes his parents to adopt a new one themselves, that of which is essentially Andrew’s. They must remain on a strict regiment that allows their son to stay on track right along with them. They must be sure Andrew is on time with all of his endeavors or else he may become rowdy and regress in his behavior. His parents have an important job in raising Andrew but judging by the smile on their face when they look at him, they do not mind the hard work at all. They know they are giving their son a better life by living theirs the way the do.

Although we have not gone into depth about autism yet, I was still able to use the knowledge I had gained in class while observing. I learned in class that social interaction was major factor in determining if a child was autistic or not. By using this tactic, I was able to give a diagnosis of my own to Andrew while observing his behavior. Service learning was one of those experiences in life that make you a better person in so many different ways. I was able to cultivate a greater understanding for autism as well as an appreciation for caretakers and parents of child suffering. Service learning allowed me to not only learn a large amount but also realize that we take life for granted everyday. Being able to perform the so-called norms of society is often taken for granted. After seeing how this child must work just to not recite simple movie lines uncontrollable, I realized how grateful I am for being a mentally healthy person and not having to endure the hardships of this little boy. However this little boy, full of a certain goodness and pureness was able to teach me some things that a college textbook would never be able to, therefore I am thankful for having the opportunity to participate in such a program.