When I first walked into the SEEDS classroom I was overwhelmed with all types of emotions. I wasn't sure if the students were going to accept me or not. I stood in the corner silently until a student came up to me and said "Hi! I'm John, whats your name?" I replied with "My name is Jasmine. Nice to meet you John. I will be interning with you guys for the month." John was then really excited and showed me around making me feel welcomed. This was my first encounter into this new world I was taught to stay out of, to ignore because they are "different".
After this experience I start thinking back to middle school. We had a special classroom for students with cognitive disabilities. We were not allowed to talk to the students because they were different, the students were locked in the classroom all day. They never ate lunch with us, or got to preform with us in dance and choir class. This only made me think that they were meant to be ignored and treated differently, SEEDS quickly changed my mind set about this.
The classes I taught are no different from the ones I attend at HTHMA they get side tracked and text when the teacher is talking too much but they learn different material, although they are older. I have been teaching my class about different relationships and personal space. It is easy for them to get involved in class because they strive to learn the things that "normal" people know and they loved to be heard and praised.
I taught classes on Tuesday nights, I had gotten the chance to learn about these students and know where they struggle most in relationships and their developmental disabilities. These students have taught me to accept people for who they are and to learn patience when I feel I will lose it most. They have also taught me to appreciate the things I can do, the simple things like: Communicate rapidly, process words, understand relationship and boundaries without repetitive lessons and activities. I have enjoyed every second I was with my kids and I am going to miss them.
In the future this internship experience has opened my eyes to new career possibilities, going in to this internship I was not thinking of working with people with cognitive disabilities, I had my mind set on becoming a therapist. After seeing Stacy deal with private clients, I started thinking that I could further my future major into developmental disabilities and phycology. When I told Stacy this she began quizzing me about the different types of disabilities. Like Autism, Asbergers, Down Syndrome, etc. I am sad to leave SEEDS and I would love to keep working and volunteering for them. This new world has exposed me to some of the nicest people, and I loved working with them.
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