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Show 316 We enter the building and I can hear the usual school chaos down the hall. It is a steady chaos and should not be a problem for my startle. The school director is waiting for me outside the door of one ofthe classrooms and I understand that this will be a guided tour. "There are kids from the 'regular' kindergarten here too," she is saying. "They help the kids with autism pattern normalcy." If they are isolated with each other, she is saying, they will pattern their behavior after each other. I am watching a young boy standing at an easel with brush in hand. He is putting red paint onto the paper in rapid strokes and I do not know if he is a 'regular' child or not. We are led to another room and here I recognize the children who have autism. They are working one-on-one with a teacher or aide. A young child is diverted from his lesson by my wheeled entrance and his teacher attempts to redirect his attention back to her. He does not immediately look at her and she picks up a small bottle and squirts his face with what I am hoping is water. He looks at her. The lesson continues. "Many of these kids will be at grade-level by third grade," the director is saying as if nothing unusual at all had occurred. They will graduate with their class and be able to function in society, she states. Though some never will, she adds, more quietly. |