Volunteer Diary 3 - autism

Most of the children I work with at my voluntary work have mild disabilities, ones that realistically if you did not know where present, you would think were non existent in these children. However, there is one boy who it is quite clear has a much more severe disability, he suffers from severe autism, and this week I was asked to look after him. 

I had never had any experience with autism until today, I had merely read about, so I was excited to  be able to look after this boy and learn more about this devastating disability. From skating with this boy for an hour and a half, it became apparent that I really did not know much about autism, just the basics, but one thing I did notice immediately is that this boy as cliché and basic as it sounds, was in another world of his own. The communication between the two of us was very basic, he would reply yeah to most of my questions, and when he replied no there was often a long pause and no sounded almost aggressive. I also noticed that much of our communication was not through words, but facial expressions, he would skate in front of me and every few minutes would look back and smile to check I was there, he also would pull funny face at me, and if I reciprocated would laugh. 

As well as taking the children ice skating, as volunteers we are responsible for making sure they eat, for most children this is taking them to the cafe and buying chips and chicken nuggets, but this boy came with a backpack full of his food. What was interesting to me was that instead of asking to get off the ice and eat, he would stop at the exit of the rink and just stand there till I asked get off? It was almost as if he was waiting for my permission. 

After the session today I left feeling very reflective, whilst I did feel quite sad that this boy was so oblivious to the world and appeared so confused, I also left feeling satisfied and that I had really made a difference and helped him today, because it was obvious that when he was skating around the ice rink he seemed much calmer and much happier. It made me realise that I no longer do this voluntary work to gain experiences that will help me with a medical degree, but that now I actually do this voluntary work because I genuinely care about the children who come. Over the time I have been volunteering at this charity I have got to know many of the children and they will come up and hug me upon arrival, and even know I am meeting new children every week. For example, this week a boy who I had never looked after before came up to me, shook my hand, told me he was the science genius, and proceeded to explain to me how he would clone a dinosaur, and from the biology lessons I have had on clones I can confirm that what this 9 year old was saying, was in fact true. I suppose what I am trying to say that this voluntary work is something that I love to do, and that each week the children there never cease to amaze me and provide me with new memories, allowing me to finish my week knowing that if all else failed that week, I have improved their day and week, which ultimately is the aim in my opinion.