"Then the Lord formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." Genesis 2:7
Today was the fourth time I worked as a substitute teacher at Woods Edge Learning Center. This beautiful new facility is a regional center that tries to help educate and/or care during the day for autistic kids from preschool to age 26. There are usually about 1 teacher or paraprofessional for every 2 or 3 kids, depending on the abilities and behaviors of the kids. So far I have helped out with an 18-26 year old group, a preschool group, a 5-8 year old group and today a middle school age group.
The preschool kids I worked with had normal language skills and looked like the general population except for an inability to focus and some behavior problems, but the children in all of the other groups were quite severely limited in their ability to talk, conduct normal social behavior, and function without close supervision.
My first time there, not being familiar with Woods Edge and not knowing what AI meant in the teacher job description (Art Instruction?), I arrived dressed in nice clothes. I came the second time wearing jeans, just like all the other adults but with a nice sweater. After spending a day picking play doh out of a girls nose, ears and hair (I wasn't fast enough for the mouth) and dodging dripping paint sticks (one kid liked to suck on the paint stick) and being repeatedly hugged or touched by these kids, I switched to a sweatshirt.
I was glad I wore tennis shoes as well. Today I took Anna on a mile walk through the hallways. She would collect an icon at one end of the building, put it in her pocket, walk to the other end to collect and pocket another icon, until all the icons were exhausted, listening to music from earphones and humming the entire time. When we went out to recess she would walk along the fenced in border until it was time to go inside.
Anna really didn't exhibit any negative behavior toward me, the other adults or children (I noticed that there seems to be very little interaction between these kids). However (and excuse me here) I'm pretty sure I heard her say several times in a low sing song voice after not being allowed to use the computer because it overstimulates her, "unk oou, unk oou, unk oou.
Chasing Anna down the hallways gave me a chance to pray for the kids and staff at Woods Edge. I don't know what the cause for autism is, whether it is purely physical or if there is a spiritual component to it as well. As Anna hummed to herself I prayed softly in tongues, asked help to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit for me here and spoke to the Holy Spirit to fill the halls and classrooms of that place.
I thought as I walked today about how nice it would be if Jesus would one day come into that building, gather all those precious children around him, and speak with authority over any physical or spiritual conditions. And thinking about what the staff would do if the building was emptied of it's current group of children I knew that sadly there would soon be others to work with.
None of these children are worth less because of their physical or emotional makeup. Life is not just about the lucky combinations of genes. When God breathed into that dust, man became a living being. He brought the spiritual world into the physical world and man became a three part being; body, soul and spirit.
The body, even of the greatest hero, eventually ages and decays, but the soul/spirit are eternal. And so is the Father's love.
No comments:
Post a Comment