When you ask a child with ASD about Trump
So here is something hilarious that happened to me at work a while ago that I wanted to share:
I have been working with children affected by ASD (autism spectrum disorder) for over a year now. My most recent vocation in this area is as an independently contracted home school teacher for a single child with ASD and ADHD. I love this kid and I love what I do.
A while back we were working on some social studies assignments, one of which was on the executive branch of government. We were discussing what the president does, how we elect a president and why it is important to vote when you are old enough. Then we talked about a few of our past presidents and things that they have done. I always like to get the kids I work with to try to relate to whatever we are learning about and to encourage them to express themselves and to form opinions about things because these are often very difficult for kids with ASD to do. So, I ask my student, "If you could meet any president in the history of the United States and ask them one questions, who would you want to meet?" My student looks at the ceiling, he rubs his hands together, thinking very hard about my question. He kicks his feet under the desk, he starts humming a bit, and then finally, he shouts, "I got it! I would want to meet Donald Trump!!"
I must confess, my student shouted so loud and so suddenly, I almost fell out of my chair! I asked him "OK, and what question would you like to ask President Trump?" This time my student didn't need anytime to think at all, right away he answers "I want to ask the president how come I have to go to school be he never had to go to school ever." I looked at my student and I asked him "What makes you say that Donald Trump never went to school in his whole life?" My student looks back at me, raises on eyebrow in an adorable expression of disgust and says "uh, duh, because I have heard him talk before and if you ever had any school you would know better than to always be talking like that." It is never my place to express any of my own political ideas to any child, or to ever approve or disapprove of any public figures to any child that I may be working with, but I could not help myself, I laughed so hard I thought I was going to pee my pants!
And this is the story of the day I realized that our president is so embarrassing that even a 12 year old child with special needs thinks Trump looks and sounds so uneducated and so rude that he felt the need to comment on it.
I have been working with children affected by ASD (autism spectrum disorder) for over a year now. My most recent vocation in this area is as an independently contracted home school teacher for a single child with ASD and ADHD. I love this kid and I love what I do.
A while back we were working on some social studies assignments, one of which was on the executive branch of government. We were discussing what the president does, how we elect a president and why it is important to vote when you are old enough. Then we talked about a few of our past presidents and things that they have done. I always like to get the kids I work with to try to relate to whatever we are learning about and to encourage them to express themselves and to form opinions about things because these are often very difficult for kids with ASD to do. So, I ask my student, "If you could meet any president in the history of the United States and ask them one questions, who would you want to meet?" My student looks at the ceiling, he rubs his hands together, thinking very hard about my question. He kicks his feet under the desk, he starts humming a bit, and then finally, he shouts, "I got it! I would want to meet Donald Trump!!"
I must confess, my student shouted so loud and so suddenly, I almost fell out of my chair! I asked him "OK, and what question would you like to ask President Trump?" This time my student didn't need anytime to think at all, right away he answers "I want to ask the president how come I have to go to school be he never had to go to school ever." I looked at my student and I asked him "What makes you say that Donald Trump never went to school in his whole life?" My student looks back at me, raises on eyebrow in an adorable expression of disgust and says "uh, duh, because I have heard him talk before and if you ever had any school you would know better than to always be talking like that." It is never my place to express any of my own political ideas to any child, or to ever approve or disapprove of any public figures to any child that I may be working with, but I could not help myself, I laughed so hard I thought I was going to pee my pants!
And this is the story of the day I realized that our president is so embarrassing that even a 12 year old child with special needs thinks Trump looks and sounds so uneducated and so rude that he felt the need to comment on it.
Comments
Post a Comment