Today we had the honor of facilitating Experience Autism for a middle school class in West Virginia.

My “Ah Ha!” moment happened at the very beginning of class.

I asked, “Who has heard the word ‘autism’?”  Every hand went up.

I asked, “Who knows someone with autism?”  Every hand went up.

I asked, “Who can tell me what autism is?”  Not one hand went up.

Amazing.

Today we didn’t “raise awareness” about autism.  Clearly even 7th graders are aware of it.

No.  Today we helped one class understand autism.  There is a big difference between the two.

By going through the activities in the experience, these kids were able to actually encounter some of the challenges faced by people on the autism spectrum.  They dealt with tactile issues.  They learned what it was like to need a picture to complete a task when words simply made no sense.  They struggled … Read More »