Ido In Autismland

As my book gets closer to publication, I will be sharing some essays written by people who know me to introduce me to people who do not. Today I am sharing what my friend, Cathy Gomez, wrote. Cathy was my aide in school for the past two years.

As Ido’s Behavior Interventionist for four years, I was initially able to see him communicate with his mom every time I did a home session. It was very fluid and natural. I also went through the process of training to communicate with Ido. It was very difficult at the beginning because we had to build trust and a relationship. Ido was so anxious, but that slowly lessened. We practiced every other day and each time we got a little better until we reached the point that he was able to fluently communicate his thoughts to me. I was able to see the progress as well as Ido’s frustration when I misunderstood him. Recently it has been so exciting to watch Ido type on his iPad. The iPad will allow Ido to become more and more independent in so many more ways.   

Ido’s greatest strength is that he is resilient. He wants to experience and do things, just like you or I, even if they are more difficult for him. It takes a lot of courage to be mainstreamed in all regular classes, knowing that he will be the only student like him. Ido’s greatest challenges are controlling his emotions and body. He has a more difficult time managing feelings because they tend to quickly escalate. However, even when emotions are high, Ido is great at staying reasonable and listening to logic.

Working with Ido for the past four years, particularly the past two, when I was with him throughout the school day, has affected me significantly. He changed everything I knew about autism and people with disabilities. I was supposed to be the educator, but he has taught me more than I could learn from a professional.  In college I learned that autistic people can’t have empathy, which is a ridiculous notion. I now view people with autism or other disabilities the way I would anyone else. Ido has shown me that he isn’t held back by his disability. He goes hiking, likes to joke around, wants to learn new things, and reads faster than I do.