Children Are Our Future - Turning Pointe Autism Foundation

Children Are Our Future

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Children are our future. No, really. I have a passion for helping children. That’s partially why I work for an autism school. It all started when I was a child. I had a really difficult time in school. Especially being an undiagnosed aspie until the age of 11. Everything & everyone was moving at a much faster pace than me. On everything. I was left behind many times & really struggled to learn & grasp the material. When I was in high school, I took child development, & as part of that class we got to teach preschool class that would come in 3 days a week. We had to plan a lesson with a book, & a craft. I did a lesson about tigers, so we put marbles in a box with a bunch of cutout tigers with black paint. I then had the children close the box, & shake it all around. After they opened the lid, the tiger would have stripes all over its body. I also read a tiger fact finding book, & we played stick the stripes on the tiger as well. After that experience, I vowed that no child would be left behind like I was. I started taking child development courses at the College of DuPage later that fall. I had 2 courses, 1 of which I had to retake. I struggled in college too, with finding a tutor & trying to comprehend the material, whilst keeping up with the amount of observation hours I needed for the course. But I passed the one of the courses with an A. I then came to Turning Pointe for Career College. After I graduated from the CC, I was offered a job here. I now work as a teaching assistant. I get to help kids, even if it’s something as simple as laminating projects, helping make flashcards, separating colors for an activity, or typing something up for a teacher to give to the students etc. So, yeah maybe my teaching dream didn’t happen. But, I got the best job out of it & I consider that a win.