When signing up my child for baseball one cold Saturday morning I asked the chairperson, "Is there a coach familiar with autism?" He responded kindly enough, "Yeah we have one that is ADHD." Wow, I thought. Autism has been around for many years, and yet it still seems the world doesn't understand what it is. As a mother and elementary principal in Ohio, I see how autistic children need to just be understood. I thought to myself, how can I tell this baseball team about Hunter? Then, I got an idea.
I created a poem that would in a small way, explain Hunter, my son. I thought that if I discussed how he may not look at them or may not react to them as their peers may, that he is listening. I sat the team down in a circle and read my poem. Each of them had one copy for them to follow along. As I read, I used my teaching days to also incorporate some vocabulary (such as what genes are, etc.). The boys just looked at me. I had decided to not have Hunter there as I wanted them to afterward be able to ask me questions about autism, if in fact they had any. Boy was I wrong . . . the kids didn't know what it was at all. Some said they had kids in their class that have autism, but they didn't know what it meant.
I went on to explain what autism is and how it is not Hunter's fault that he is autistic--he was born that way. I went on to tell them that even though he may look like you and me, he is in fact different. We talked about how being patient, being kind, making eye contact and helping him would make him feel part of the team. I answered a lot of their questions, but the poem seemed to really explain it all.
Since then, they try to bring Hunter into conversations and often yell, "Hey, Hunter...did you see that?" when someone hits the ball far. When Hunter hits they all cheer him on and yell out his name. He sometimes looks over at them and although he doesn't smile, they know he's happy when he does that. One little boy even told me he'll be able to now work with a kid in his class since he now knows what autism means.
So here is that poem I was so proud to get into their hands and hopefully into their hearts, enjoy!
Hunter is autistic,
Do you know what that means?
It means he's just like you and me,
Except for in his genes.
Sometimes if you say "Hi" to him,
He may not look you in the eye,
But just know that he's listening
Although he may not say goodbye.
Hunter is here to play baseball with you,
And guess what? He's not different,
He can run, throw and catch just like you, too.
Hunter loves to laugh and play,
just like you and I,
He may not get your silly jokes,
But he is a fun little guy.
Hunter may not talk to you,
But know that he is listening,
Just give him a chance to prove himself
MyFunKid.com
