So you want to be a childcare worker
My wife got a call from our daycare center this afternoon. The boys are there all day due to the holiday from school. Our younger son has been diagnosed with PDD (pervasive developmental disorder) which translates to a high functioning autistic child. You'd never figure it out from seeing him since he appears to be a "normal" child at first glace.
Part of his having autism is that he has serious fears of some things. I mean totally shut down the kid kind of things. One of his is balloons. If you get out a balloon without properly preparing him (letting him know about it several times well ahead of time and giving him an opportunity to go somewhere else if he's still not sure) he will flip out.
so the day care calls and the girl on the phone says my boy is in the corner of the bathroom crying and screaming and won't come out. You see, they decided to do a balloon activity and didn't tell him. His great fear is that the balloon will pop and make a loud noise and he cannot stand certain loud noises, the main two being the sound of air going into a balloon and the sound of a balloon popping. At a minimum he will fold his ears down to cover them, at worst, he ends up in the corner of the bathroom screaming his head off.
The counsellor was asking my wife how to calm him down. She had already asked our older son what to do and he said he didn't know. My wife asks that the girl put our younger boy on the phone to see if that would calm him. He came down pretty quick after she talked to him. When my wife asked to talk to the cousellor again, a man gets on the line and he's like "oh yeah, if there's any more problems, I can calm him down, no sweat, don't worry about it. We're cool."
Now, I feel bad for my little boy that he was traumatized due to someone's inexperience. However, I do have to chuckle at the thought of a 18 to 20 year old trying to manage a disabled kid with no clue as to how to proceed. And I know what a lot of you are thinking. If you saw this out on the street you would think I just had some rotten kind of kid. A quick admonishment to everyone out there that just because a kid doesn't have some obvious looking disablitiy (Down's syndrome, crutches, or something) doesn't mean that the child might not have developmental issues. My older child has ADHD so my wife and I struggle daily with keeping the kids on task. It ain't easy, let me tell you.
Anyway, this isn't a sermon. I plan on giving my little guy lots of hugs and reassurances when I get home to compensate for his bad day. I'm sure he'll give me an earful about the balloon.
Part of his having autism is that he has serious fears of some things. I mean totally shut down the kid kind of things. One of his is balloons. If you get out a balloon without properly preparing him (letting him know about it several times well ahead of time and giving him an opportunity to go somewhere else if he's still not sure) he will flip out.
so the day care calls and the girl on the phone says my boy is in the corner of the bathroom crying and screaming and won't come out. You see, they decided to do a balloon activity and didn't tell him. His great fear is that the balloon will pop and make a loud noise and he cannot stand certain loud noises, the main two being the sound of air going into a balloon and the sound of a balloon popping. At a minimum he will fold his ears down to cover them, at worst, he ends up in the corner of the bathroom screaming his head off.
The counsellor was asking my wife how to calm him down. She had already asked our older son what to do and he said he didn't know. My wife asks that the girl put our younger boy on the phone to see if that would calm him. He came down pretty quick after she talked to him. When my wife asked to talk to the cousellor again, a man gets on the line and he's like "oh yeah, if there's any more problems, I can calm him down, no sweat, don't worry about it. We're cool."
Now, I feel bad for my little boy that he was traumatized due to someone's inexperience. However, I do have to chuckle at the thought of a 18 to 20 year old trying to manage a disabled kid with no clue as to how to proceed. And I know what a lot of you are thinking. If you saw this out on the street you would think I just had some rotten kind of kid. A quick admonishment to everyone out there that just because a kid doesn't have some obvious looking disablitiy (Down's syndrome, crutches, or something) doesn't mean that the child might not have developmental issues. My older child has ADHD so my wife and I struggle daily with keeping the kids on task. It ain't easy, let me tell you.
Anyway, this isn't a sermon. I plan on giving my little guy lots of hugs and reassurances when I get home to compensate for his bad day. I'm sure he'll give me an earful about the balloon.
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