todae i took off for this visit at Christian Outreach to the Handicapped (COH)....it was at some ulu place in the east...poof...cant imagine werking in the east....it catered to the intellectually disabled, autisic patients and other multiple disabilities....there were no kids...all fer adults...so i was expecting to see pple aged 16 to the elderly....i must admit i was feeling a bit queasy bout the trip... i hoped it wld not shun me off so much dat i decide to gif up....the place was pretty run-down...but it was really a peaceful home....early in the morning the pple would sing hymns...along with 3 other gers (my future collegues) we were there to observe the 2 autistic klasses....i was assigned to this higher functioning group in the morning n den switched to the lower functioning klass in the afternoon....
the morning klass had very interesting pple....when 2 of us reached there, we just stood aside while the teachers were ordering the patients to clean up the room....
Crystal, the ger wif the super high pitch voice, threw a tantrum....she cried when the pregnant teacher told her not to start her cross-stitch...for the whole morning, she was feeling all upset....
den was her ger fren Regina (the only 2 gers out of the 2 klasses) was all cheery n skipped into the room....did her wiping fast n efficiently....she kept smiling at us...
then there was this Gwen guy...deep voiced and abit plump...when he saw crystal throwing tantrums, he kept saying "crystal is so rude...crystal is so rude..." he kept on rantering for the whole morning....toking to himself...repeating phrases over n over again non-stop.....haa...."police....dun stop..."etc etc....kudos to him man....the teacher said he can b an actor oreadi....so drama...
den there was this Jim guy...poor ting....down with autistic and deaf...so the teachers had to use hand signs....he was asked to climb stairs the whole morning in order to make him slim down....poor ting....he had a whole cupboard of lego....all buildings nice designed by him....he could b an architect if only he was well....whenever he was upset, he would bang his head on the wall or cupboard....so hard u can hear the "thud" sound n could feel the whole room shaking....but his forehead was perfectly fine.....
suddenly i heard a humming voice....the whole morning....oh...came from this tanned guy...looking out at the window n humming....
there was a sprinter....he ran so fast during the physical exercise klass....and another guy hoo loves to read...both of them had blurred speech...so it wasnt ez making out wad dey said...den there was a late-comer to the klass....woah....shuai....he looks cute lor....like ani of the guys out on the streets....
the teachers made dem intro themselves to us.....she wrote on the board:
Today, we have two new friends. Serene and Hwee Chin. Hello! I am (name). Welcome to COH.
dey were supposed to read the second sentence to us individually....here are some interesting intros....:
Gwen (the guy chanting nonstop) "Hello~! I am name. Welcome to COH. What is your name?" teacher: try again....name is ur name....gwen.... "Hello~! I am me. Welcome to COH. What is your name?" mi n my fren told him our names....n when the teacher asked him fer our names.... "what say....what say..." (the above two sentences were looped fer at least 3 times...)
when he said "i am me" i nearly wan to pengs...lol....
Shaun (the cute looking guy) "Hello~! I am shaun and what is ur name? how r u feeling todae?"(he said...in a very robotic wae to my fren...so fast n fluent that i nearly missed wad he was saying...) then he used exactly the same tone n sentence to me....as if he was a typical robot.....
some did well...perfect....like regina....the others i could hardly make out wad dey said...COH pronounced as a word on its own....
dey were then asked to go fer PE....then bathe...the teacher asked me to follow her to supervise the humming boi in bathing....i stood in the toilet til he's done...gulp...lunch was provided by the volunteers....poor jim even had smaller portions fer lunch tho he climbed stairs the whole morning le.....n den i followed the teacher to watch the humming boi brush his teeth after lunch....dey were good at cross stitch....each n everyone....some were learning how to count money....others were reading....one guy could play the keyboard...n only he was allowed to touch dat new keyboard...the rest had to use the old one....the teachers hoped dey could picked up some life skills....2 guys were even on 'attachment' in katong pri as librarians....
we switched to the other klass....n tis klass was airconditioned cos one guy cannot stand heat...if not he would inflict on himself....there was tis guy john....22 yrs old i was told...he onli could sae the word "no!"....the whole afternoon he was roaring "no! no! no!" at me n the teacher....luckily fer the teacher's 'magic wand' dat he quietened down fer a while before he starts again.....my ears still ringing wif the word "no!" even aft i got home....tis klass all the guys were quite huge....i was told one of dem when just transferred over had the habit of slapping others esp females....hmm...wonder where he learnt that from....mani of them could type....n dey love typing....there was tis guy....alwiz staring to his left....motionless....with his hands on the keyboard....fer so long....until the teacher could not stand it n here's wad she did...she put her palm infront of his face....n started counting down..."5, 4, 3, 2, 1..." n guess wad....Action! he automatically revert back to typing immediately....haa....quite fasinating huh....one guy helped to mop the floor....carry tables....doing all the odd jobs....the rest were doing some color matching n sequencing activities....another male teacher brot my fren n 2 other guys out to coffeeshop to buy drinks...so dat dey could practise using money....
throughout the dae....there were other encounters from pple in other klasses.... there was tis Ian in his 40s i tink...came up to me n my fren n intro himself so nicely... "Hi my name is Ian. wad is ur name? what r ur hobbies? oh...my hobby is collecting stamps....next time when u come, u pass me some stamps can? if u haf lar...." and another man...who grabbed our hands n shoot our hands along the corridor...we were taken aback....
i must sae i learnt quite a lot about autism after the dae....apart from all the theoretical stuff dat i read from my textbooks n internet....each individual were realli unique....all had different kinds of behavior....the teachers there were great.....esp ruth....she realli taught me alot....it's amazing when u see the teachers there were all quite petite as compared the guys in klass.....big contrast...n dey managed to tame n train them....fantastic....tis will realli b a visit dat i will never ferget....will miss the klass....*sobz*
-hee...sorrie fer writing longer n longer posts....hope it din bore u peeps....-
