Autism Society of Colorado: Day One

Monday--March 22, 2011

Our week of volunteering here in Denver with the Autism Society of Colorado began bright and early at six in the morning. As soon as the shrill beep of seven cell phones had gone off; each of us rallied ourselves from the semi-comfort of our sleeping bags. After a quick shower, and bowl of oatmeal, we piled into the Tahoe and headed to Thomas Jefferson High School.

It was at TJ High School that we met up with Kim Tenure, the volunteer coordinator at the Autism Society, who told us that we would be spending the day working in the special education department at the school. As we stood outside the classroom, Kim gave us a break down of the week’s itinerary, and the classroom we would be working in that day. Elizabeth Repensek, head teacher of this particular special education classroom, stepped outside into the hall. Elizabeth explained quickly and briefly that their special education department focused on the importance of inclusion and is one of the few schools with Autism program funding in the state of Colorado. After introductions, Elizabeth assigned each of us a student to shadow and work with that day.

Each of us was paired with a student who was on varying levels of the autism spectrum or had another intellectual disability. Elizabeth paired me with a young girl who had Autism, and was nonverbal. However, as I quickly found out, and Elizabeth explained, she was an intelligent girl who preferred tasks and activities that were challenging. Before they discovered this, said Elizabeth, tantrums were actually more prominent for this student. Previously she had never been challenged or asked to work, and this had actually provoked the number of her outbursts. After a morning of math with Mollie Pitrone, who team teaches with Elizabeth, the kids headed to lunch. Since they stress the element of inclusion for their students, all the children headed to the main cafeteria to eat with the rest of the students. This theme continued after lunch into their integrated class where students from the school are paired up with students from the special education department. Today, the kids were paired up, went to the school’s “park”, and played outside.

Thomas Jefferson High School’s approach to inclusion in the school was very different than our group’s high school experiences. Throughout elementary, middle, and high school I had little to no contact with the kids in my school’s special education department. As the students interacted, that multitude of pros to this act of inclusion was obvious. Not only were the special education students benefiting from this by becoming more independent, but the rest of the students were gaining a stronger understanding of those with intellectual disabilities. It was a refreshing vision to watch these kids interact with one another.

As the day progressed it was also obvious that this programs success was based upon its staff. While the teachers were the foundation for this program; they also had a set of talented paras. Many of the paras had originally set out in college to pursue a future in music or such, but ended up at Thomas Jefferson, and today wouldn’t have it any other way. One woman Helga, is originally from Armenia and moved to the U.S. over twenty years ago. She attributed her job at TJ to the impact of Autism in her life, her autistic twenty-six-year-old son. Her story of immigration to the United States with her family was amazing, as she and her husband sought refuge, and struggled to provide their children a better quality of life. Each para and teacher had a different story, but together they worked to offer these kids everything within their resources. However, one of the greatest tools available to them was obviously humor.

After going to the school, we headed downtown via Denver’s light rail to meet with the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative. With Kim and CCHI’s team, we discussed Wednesday’s event, Health Care Day of Action. Together with their team, we would be helping to coordinate their celebration the anniversary of the health care bill. We ran over a variety of logistical issues and responsibilities for that day.

Around seven, we headed back to the church for our dinner of spaghetti and pizza, and our first meal we cooked together. Hanging out together we were able to finally discuss the day’s events and get a better idea of our plans for the rest of the week.