Earlier this week, I got to interact with a member family that consisted of a mom, a six month old girl, and a four year old girl with autism. It was interesting because I have had some experience with people on the autism spectrum and have worked with them at karate, but I hadn't interacted with someone on the spectrum at MOXI yet as a Spark. I didn't realize the girl had autism until her mom told me she did when I began talking to the girl. She was very friendly but had trouble talking, so I was able to help her practice conversations and she told me all about the scopes on the roof. Her mom said that she absolutely loves MOXI and they go there all the time.I got the impression that her mom was grateful that I spent time talking with her daughter and that MOXI is here to give her a place to visit and practice things like talking to other people about stuff that she really likes. It was a different experience for me, usually when I am interacting with younger autistic kids, it's as a Sensei at karate where I usually am not one on one with the student and I have to communicate information or help keep them focused. I enjoyed being able to interact with her one on one and listening to her ideas. It was also a good learning experience, I had to change some of the ways I interact with guests for her. She didn't seem to have the sensory overload issues that some autistic people have, like my cousin, so I didn't have to worry about talking too loud but I did find that it helped her talk when I wasn't trying to make eye contact with her. I think it was a successful interaction and I hope to see them there again.
Love this. I am so curious--what were her ideas? How did you have to change the ways you interacted?
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