Today was my very first day volunteering in Hunter's kindergarten classroom. I signed up for 12:15 - 12:50 but ended up staying until after school (3:30) because, with budget cuts, there are 26 little squirrely kids in the class and only a single teacher with no aides.

One of the kids was very active and had a lot of difficulty staying on task. When he came over and grabbed my shoulder as I was leaning to help another child, I was startled because there was something about him that was a little "off," like he wasn't resonating on the same frequency as most of the others.

Pretty soon, I realized that he was probably at least mildly ASD (having Autism Spectrum Disorder.) After helping him get through the lunch line and interacting with him in class, the analytical part of my brain started trying to, well, analyze: what symptoms should I be looking for? What "therapies" or "interventions" should I be attempting?

Fortunately, this didn't last more than a couple of minutes, because I realized it was irrelevant. He wasn't a condition, he was a little kid. As long as I remained open to him, talking gently, guiding gently, making sure he knew I was there with him, things went pretty well. Things like, there was an assembly which, although not long, was after lunch and involved sitting on the floor. I could tell there was no way this child could sit still for 15 or 20 minutes, so I made sure he was on the end of the aisle and told him that he could move his feet as long as he didn't touch any of the other children, thus giving him parameters he was capable of adhering to while preventing escalation. Was it the perfect solution? I have no idea, but it felt right.

There were other kids who needed individual attention as well, ones who weren't very mature or acted out or couldn't pay attention. I loved it. I loved working with the "problem" kids, making that contact, building that connection, helping reassure them that they were valued and yes, they were capable of doing me the favor of behaving well.

I'm currently scheduled on Fridays (Shawn dibsed Monday mornings), but I may spend additional time as well, depending on my work schedule. It was a truly wonderful day.