SPED 3000 Chapter 14 & Chapter 15

Reading the chapter on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was really interesting for me. As I have said before, my brother was diagnosed when he was five years old. He had previously been diagnosed with a developmental delay before the ASD diagnoses. I always wonder what it will be like to have a student on the spectrum in my classroom when I have previous experience with a child on the spectrum. The characteristic about ASD, as with all special needs, is that each child is different. There is no "cookie cutter" strategy to reach each and every student with ASD. An example: the last day of TCAPS at my brother's school (he is ten) ended with him completing a puzzle and winning a DVD to rent from the classroom. However, when he filled out the puzzle the pieces did not fit together just right because two different teachers had printed off the pieces and they were different sizes. When my mom got home from school he would not get out of the car and sat there crying uncontrollably. I had no idea what had went on to bring him to this point, but I am familiar with his "meltdowns" as we call them. He kept screaming that he had to tell Ms. Asbury (the teacher that gave him the movie) that the puzzle was wrong. My mom was frustrated by this point and did not handle it in a good way. He ended up shutting himself in his room. I cannot stand to see him upset, or to go through the emotions on his own so I went to try to talk to him. I calmed him down by telling him (in a calm, nice voice) that crying doesn't help him any and that I needed him to use his words to explain it to me. He calmed down and told me what was wrong and I told him what the solution would be (talk to the teacher the next day), and he was in a good mood again. I hope that experiences like this with my brother and his needs helps me in my classroom. I know that ASD is a hot topic in education and I hope to be a voice for it one day.
I also found the chapter on physical and health impairments interesting. I have never personally been around many people with these types of special needs so all of the information and strategies were new for me. I found the chart  on how to handle seizures really helpful. In my field experience, there were two occasions a child had a seizure and I would be unprepared if it happened to me. Now I hope to be able to handle it in the best way possible.