Kelsey in Colorado Day 5

Thursday and Friday were our last two days on the trip and we went back to the high school both days and did some exploring of our own.

Thursday at the school we got to see the special simulation room in which they had bean bags and pillows and it was dark, just in case the kids needed somewhere to relax. There was also another side to this room that was filled with work out equipment bikes for the kids to use to burn off excess energy and to get a little exercise. Almost all of the kids were not in shape. In the room, we had a ten minute break with the kids where we got to ride the bikes and dance to the radio. This was a blast and the kids love to dance and get energy out.

Gage was one of the students who was turning 21 on Friday and he has autism. He is fun, but he is a big boy and was dancing all around like crazy. His part that he was having was a surprise party being put on by the high school for him, which is great! It was going to be a sushi-zombi party is what he told us. Although we didn’t get to stay for the party, it sounded like a lot of fun.

On Friday we went on a field trip with all the kids to different places. I went to the pet store with Sarah and Chris. These two were very difficult to work with and this was when I started getting uncomfortable and had some problems. It was hard to work with these kids because they already knew the teachers so well, that they would really only respond to them, and that was even only sometimes. Sarah’s most popular thing was to run off, and she ran off a few times in the store. And Chris loved the cats! It was so cute.

Some of the things at the school to keep in mind were that:

-       There is 22 paras, about one for each student

-       Most of the students are not in the school district, they just go there because it provides the right facility and equipment

After a long week, we had to say goodbye to the kids. This was sad for us and them and you could really tell that they made a connection with us and that just being there made a huge impact and difference on their lives. It definitely makes you feel good! J

We took some personal time to go watch the KU game, tour the Coors brewery and explore the stores around Boulder. We saw Mount Zion and went to the very top.

The Coors brewery was very interesting as well and afterwards we went for a nice home cooked meal at one of the girls in the trips Aunt’s house. She cooked us dinner and we got to see how she lived in the state of Colorado.

Overall the trip was a great experience and I learned so much about kids, not only with autism, but also kids with downs syndrome. 

Kelsey in Colorado Day 4

Last night we traveled to Red Rocks Amphitheatre and saw the amazing man made stage and decided to venture through the rocks and do a little spelunking. I had never heard of Red Rocks and didn’t know that it is a famous place where anyone who is anyone has played. The Beatles have even played in this amphitheatre.

The next morning, Wednesday, was an early one! Up at 6 am to travel to the church and see the capital. The capital was very interesting and it we learned about lobbying and even saw it in effect. There was a civil union talk in the senate that day as well. There were many happenings this day at the capital and it was jam-packed. We had to wait in line to get in and do a mini tour.

Basically Lobbyist job is to try to talk to their senator into passing bills and they can only talk to them in the lobby. This talk has to be quick and concise saying everything they need to say in less than five minutes.

I sat in the room and observed some of the lobbying going on and it is so important that you catch the senators because I saw one lady come out, look around and she said “oh well” and went back in. This is a huge process that takes time and commitment from these citizens.

What we found out was that:

-The capital was built in 1890

-The house of chambers with pairing of Colorado landmarks are what its built with

-The marble is from marble Colorado

-Original gold in the building was brought in from the gold rush

-It was the one year anniversary of the ACA

During the rally we got to listen to three major speaker and one was John Crandal and the other was Wendell Potter. They preached about the law and thanked everyone for being there. This meant that seniors and representatives are the call to action, health care is a right and not a privilege and children can stay on their parents health care until age 26.

This day was long and I actually didn’t want to sit through it much longer, but I am glad I did. It was very informative and interesting. After this we decided to walk downtown again and explore. We went to Forever 21, the biggest one I have ever seen, and a bunch of other site seeing stores and I got a nice Denver, CO sweatshirt!

Later in the night we went home and cooked a nice Mexican feast for all. It was great bonding time with the girls. We were all starting to get a little tired and need to just relax as a group. My favorite part of the day was the rally, it was really interesting to see and be a part of an act that so many people cared about. There were all kinds of people standing around the steps commenting and supporting what these speakers were saying.

Kelsey in Colorado Day 3

Monday night we also traveled to one of the Autism society buildings where we had a meeting with the staff from the Health Care Initiative to find out how we were helping with the event. We soon found out that we were basically running the event! We were thrilled! The event was called Colorado consumer health initiative day and there were so many activities to do in such little time.

We planned to set up the breakfast and then lead lobbyers to the Capital building to lobby and then afterwards set up a rally and cupcakes to distribute and celebrate the two year anniversary of the health care act being passed. This was planned for Wednesday. In order to get to the Autism building for this meeting we got to ride the light train and learn to purchase a ticket. We also went downtown and saw 16^th street, which is kind of like Mass street and did a little shopping and sight seeing.

Tuesday was our day to go to the office and do some things around the office and during lunch we went to an autism presentation where lunch was served and we learned all about the disorder and got to meet with people who were personally affected by this.

In the office my duty was to call those who had been to this presentation and ask what they thought about it, what they would have changed or added and if they would continue to stay involved with the Autism society of Colorado. This was a really insightful experience for me because of the reactions I was receiving from these people personally affected by autism.

One man I called told me that him and his wife just found out that their child has autism and they didn’t know where to begin and just became so overwhelmed with the fact,that they panicked. I became involved in his ad her situation and began to feel what they were feeling. He told me that he couldn’t sleep at night and that the presentation was overwhelming looking at all of the costs and expenses as well as the time and pressure. He said that when he was looking at the pamphlet handed out in the lecture, that it said that his child may not have many friends. This really affected him and he was in total shock, but said the Autism society is his only hope.

Some of the things that I found out about Autism in this lecture were:

-       Autism affects brains normal development of social and communication skills

-       The Autism society of Colorado was found in 1970 by parents fighting for their children

-       The annual cost to the us economy from autism is $60 billion dollars

-       Treatment is affective, but there is no cure

-       It is 44% unexplained

-       Screening for autism needs to occur at 18-24 months and can potentially be in 1^st grade normally

-       In Colorado the average age of diagnosis is 5 years, which is not good. 

Kelsey in Colorado Day 2

It is now Monday and we are headed to the local Thomas Jefferson high school to meet with Kim who is the director for the Autism Society of Colorado and she is going to set us up with time to work with the students.

As we arrived at the school and walked through the hallways, I start to notice that it is the most diverse school I have ever seen, which is pretty amazing. There were all kinds of different races, ages, and students with disabilities. Although this was true, they all got along very well and it was clearly a growing community and trend to treat all other equal. I think that this should be expressed more in today’s society.

The first thing that we did was meet the teacher for the student and her name was Elizabeth. She is a very young, outgoing, and energetic person who works well with the kids and I learned a lot from her. She first asked if anyone would like to go on a special learning trip, so I jumped at the opportunity and next thing I knew I was standing at the bus stop with Jacob who is 19 years old and is a senior and Healy who is 16 years old and is a sophomore. Jacob has downs syndrome and Healy has a severe case of autism. Healy can’t count and Jacob has trouble remembering names, but they live as normal as possible lives. Jacob even had a girlfriend in the class!

The task of the day was to have these two kids figure out their own way, by taking the bus, to the hotel to fold pillow cases as their job. They had been practicing this for over three weeks. When we got on the bus, they both didn’t know what to do to make the bus stop and we missed the bus stop. This was when I first realized how severe these cases were and how different their lives are compared to mine.

We eventually made it to fold the pillows and back to the school for lunch and by this time I was best friends with Jacob and Healy. These two kids are great and fun! It really opened me up to seeing how they live their lives compared to ours. The simplest thing can be so hard and a perfect schedule is needed.

When we were folding clothes, Healy was asked if she wanted to take a break, and she got angry and threw a tantrum. We dealt with this by telling her to breath in and out and talk to them about what was wrong. She needed her pills, which she takes in the morning, lunch, and afternoon everyday.

I learned that in high school, the tradition is to go four years and then go another three which are called senior one, senior two, and senior three.

The day was long and we were all so warn out by the end from chasing these kids around and helping them all day. 

Kelsey in Colorado Day 1

Prior to this trip my ideas and thoughts about it were “scattered” I should say considering we were going, not sure what our plan was, and didn’t even have a set schedule yet. As things progressed throughout the last couple weeks of the class, I began to get excited about the trip and know that somehow everything would work out. We ended up with a great group of girls only and figured out that we had plans to go to the Capital, attend a rally, work with children with autism and down syndrome and we loaded up in a Tahoe to Denver. Now that I am here, this has already been an experience of a lifetime! The town is beautiful and it is sunny weather! All of us girls have really started to get along, making new friendships is great! Read more below to listen about how great it turned out!

This is the first day in and Colorado has been beautiful the whole time. The drive was long, about nine hours, but well worth the squeezing. Seven girls and seven bags and seven sleeping bags, can you say crammed?!?

 We are staying at a local church in which we have encountered some interesting cultures already! We saw a Hindu religion worshiping and Methodist church this morning. Today we traveled to the University of Denver and did some comparing between schools. Their union is really cool (not as pretty as ours) and they have a bar inside where you can play pool, bowl, and drink. We checked out the rest of campus, it is really amazing. The buildings are fairly new and modern. From what I can tell, a lot of the city is fairly comfortable money wise and there is not a lot of originality or history in the houses across town. Overall my view of Colorado is great! During the trip we already went to the grocery store and got some valuable bonding time in with the group! We managed to only spend 100 dollars and calculated the cheapest and most efficient buying. This is a friendly place and it has beautiful mountains! I am looking forward to working with the Autistic children tomorrow. We are possibly going to check out the Real World house and fantasize being famous. 

As I am in the journalism department, a few things I have noticed is that Dr. Pepper 10, which is doing a test market, is marketing in Colorado. This could mean that Colorado is a very generically based state and are picky in their choices, much like Kansas and other states in the midwest. The other thing that I picked up on, is that there is not very many Wal-Marts, just one, and the locals that we asked didn’t know where it was. We ended up going to it and it is arranged differently inside and is not as “friendly” as our Wal-Marts in Kansas.  

Sitting here at the local Panera (which has a drive through!), enjoying this beautiful weather and the view of the mountains off in the distance! 

Autism Society of Colorado: Day Five

Friday--March 25, 2011

I can’t believe that today was our final day here in Denver working with the Autism Society of Colorado. Each of us is astonished by how fast this week has flown by. The morning part of our today in Denver was spent at the Thomas Jefferson High School. There we hung out with the students and participated in activities with them. Around midmorning, Maggie and I also got to watch Elizabeth work in a different classroom at Thomas Jefferson, teamed with a Geography teacher. This classroom of mostly freshman is considered an inclusion classroom, with some high functioning disability students. Afterwards, Elizabeth took us to the sensory room she had set up when she started working at TJ, and the bike room that the kids often use for exercise.

It was a hard goodbye as we helped the teachers gather up the students and take pictures. Since these kids were so wonderful, and we had spent the majority of our week with them, we struggled to say bye and leave the school. Each of us had built some form of a relationship with these students, and had been deeply impacted by their wonderful spirits. However, we had an afternoon plan to head up into the mountains to Boulder.

After about a 45 minutes drive, we arrived in the town of Boulder around 2:30PM. Once there we drove around the University of Colorado campus, and searched for the various sorority houses the girls in our group belonged too. Then we headed down to the famed Pearl Street to investigate the shops of the area.

After finding a parking spot, we walked a couple of blocks to the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse. This Teahouse is famous because it was brought over piece by piece from Tajikistan and then erected near Boulder’s downtown area. Ornate engravings, drawings, and vivid colors covered the walls of the building.

The interior and exterior screamed luxury and the people inside eating lounged in comfy chairs or pillows. Not only was the building a piece of art, but the chai tea was delicious. After a stop at the tea house, we made a straight shot to Pearl Street. As we walked up and down the pedestrian only mall, we explored a multitude of original and amazing stores. Each of us picked up small (or big) souvenirs, clothing, jewelry, and other various presents for friends. Outside the stores street performers were surrounded by groups of tourists, and the sounds of musicians and children playing filled the air. Once we had our fill of shopping, we went to the closest bar and grill and asked if they were playing the KU game. We snagged a table and ordered our food before sharing our day’s purchases and taking about our trip. We then took a collective breath of relief as the KU game showed up on half the TV’s in the restaurant, a sure sign of home. Over the game we laughed, cheered, and even meet a few former KU students. Overall, we could all agree, this had been a great alternative break, but we were ready to head home. With five minutes left in the second half--and a twenty point lead-- we headed back to the Tahoe, and Kansas.

Autism Society of Colorado: Day Four

Thursday March 24, 2011

Today we headed back to Thomas Jefferson High School for our second day with the students in the special education classroom. However, today was going to be a little different according to Elizabeth. Today’s morning would consist of a field trip for all of the kids, paras, and us. Usually, the students would go on a trip together to Target or work on Thursday mornings. However, since today they has a plethora of volunteers, we would be going with the kids to the pet store, a coffee shop, Target, or BeauJos, a local, inclusion supportive restaurant.

After we had split up into groups (I would be going to the coffee shop) we headed to the bus stop. The kids were each handed a bus pass, and they filed into the bus one by one. The paras and teachers stood back as the students got on, asked for a transfer, and sat down. This impressive feat of independence was an example of the staff’s work to make these students less dependent on them.

Finally, the rest of us piled in as the bus trailed down Yale Street. At the first stop, some of the kids got off while the rest of us stayed sitting. At the second stop we got out, and crossed the street to catch our transfer which would take us closer to the Denver University campus.

We got off at what looked like a miniature Mass Street and headed to a local French bakery to grab a treat for some of the students. One student in the group was unable to take part in the festivities of chocolate croissants because of a gluten allergy. The paras were already on the lookout for foods she could eat, and even brought a gluten-free granola bar. However, it soon became obvious that finding other gluten-friendly drinks and food was extremely difficult. After we had bought our drinks and enjoyed the patio of the coffee shop, we headed back to the bus stop.

Back on the bus, we had the opportunity to meet up with the other groups and exchange stories or pictures. We also met Ray, the adored bus driver, who greeted and teased us as we boarded. When we arrived at the school, we walked with the students back to the classroom to grab our lunches.

We stayed for a couple more hours after lunch before leaving for the rest of the day. About fifteen minutes outside Denver is the town of Golden. There we went up to a lookout where you could see miles and miles of Denver and the surrounding suburbs. The sky was pristine and clear. Although we were all shivering as we climbed back into the Tahoe, we were all in awe of the gorgeous sight before us. A little further up the road was Buffalo Bill’s gravesite where we took in more of the spectacular view before travelling back down the mountain.

After Golden, we headed to my aunt’s house for dinner and some basketball. She prepared an amazing dinner of quesadilla’s, taco salad, guacamole, and brownie’s with ice cream. Sitting around stuffed, but happy to relax as we watched the basketball game in the living room. With a ‘thank you’ from everyone, we piled back into the car and back to the church for another early night.