Well this week my musings are not going to be about my diagnosis etc.  They are about my job.  I LOVE my job!  It is fantastic.   It is hard to do sometimes, exhausting but man is it rewarding!  I am an Educational Assistant and I work in a Kindergarten class in the morning and a Nursery class in the afternoon.  

My morning boy has autism and he is non verbal.  For the sake of privacy I will call him Mr. Happy bc he is one happy, affectionate kid!  He is five years old and I have been working with him since November.  This kid is AMAZING!  I have learned so much from him all ready.

When I first met Mr.Happy he was not so happy.  He didn't do transitions well (still has difficulty) and because he has a hard time communicating he would scream, yell, hit etc when he wasn't being understood or when asked to do something.  We have come along way he and I.  Mr. Happy is inquisitive, a deep thinker.  I have learned from him that stopping what your doing to run and give somebody a hug makes the day better.  He will often stop playing with a toy, run over give me a hug and then go back to playing.  This is usually done with a giggle or a smile for me.  

Mr. Happy has taught me to look at the world or a situation from all angles not just what's in front of me.  The other day Mr. Happy was playing with his magnetic letters; he grabbed the N and the Z and held them up examining them.  After a few moments of looking at them he tapped my arm and started taking to me.  I of course could not understand what he was saying but he then held up the two letters and then made them both 'N's. He then sat down on the floor and looked at them on the table, and he then walked over to the other side of the table and examined them from the other side.  He even went so far as to stand in front of the table bend over and look at the letters upside down.  Now i have no idea if that helped him in whatever it was he was really discovering but we were able to talk about how they are the same shape and how smart he was to figure it out!

I got to thinking later how I need to examine situations from different angles.  I try not to look at things thru just my lens but I have to admit, it's much easier if I do.  Especially at work.  It might not be right but it is easier.  Mr. Happy took the time to look at both letters and to spend equal time turning them around before he showed me that they were the same.  In my job I know that I can sometimes make quick judgements or not really hear both sides to the children's issues.  

Mr. Happy is such a blessing to work with and I am so blessed to be able work with him.