My Date with Charlie Barlie

Rachel Bell

Accessible Date Assignment

Human Socialization

March 19, 2013

Me and Charlie

            First let me start off by saying that I really love this assignment and wish everyone could partake in something along these lines. I am an ABA therapist and my job involves children with Autism. With my job, we cater to the needs of the children to make it easier for them so they may learn and grow. But to take one of them out of that type of setting and see how they function, I had never done before. So thanks to this assignment I decided to go out on a “date” with Charlie, one of my kids that I used to work with. We talked and he decided that he wanted to go to Chic-fil-a and Jeronimo.

            To start off accessibility was not such a huge deal for Charlie. He is high functioning and has pretty good motor skills and can get around without any type of assistants. If I had gone out with another one of the kids from work, they would have had a much more difficult time. There was not a handicap ramp on the side we went into. This particular Chic-fil-a is really good as far as space is concerned and there is not a huge problem with crowding. Tables and chairs are spaced out pretty evenly and there’s plenty of space. Charlie does have issues with overcrowded areas and tends to shut down and not talk or socialize with those around him.

There is also a level of comfort and meaning to Chic-fil-a with Charlie because goes there quite a bit with his family and other therapists that work with him at home. So he has a familiarity with Chic-fil-a and feels very comfortable there, even if it is one that he does not necessarily go to often. I have noticed in other circumstances that if there is a level of comfort and/or meaning connected with a place he is much more relaxed and open to being social with others, especially adults. But if it is a new place, some place that he would not chose to go, he keeps to himself and does not talk with others. While we were there we talked about what all he was doing in school now and if he liked his new teachers, how he enjoyed the circus and what all were his favorite parts, and how excited he was for Jeronimo.   

Next we went to Jeronimo which is an indoor playground for kids and our activity for the day. He had been here one other time that I knew of and beyond excited to go back. Here sensory stimulation was kind of an issue, but he handled it very well. There are a lot of bright colors, tons of kids running around, and a lot to do. You've seen kids with ADD, who can’t stay with one task for too long before seeing something else, well he was kind of like this in the beginning. He would not be on one piece of equipment before he was off to the next one. But he did very well with the sociability aspect of it. He made a couple of new friends while he was there, Jessica and Michael. He was very excited about this part and even brought them over to meet me. He also was really good when it came to control. He used to not be able to be close to people he didn't know or share a lot about himself. But he was talking to his friends and telling them about himself and in close proximity to them. For me, as his teacher, this really touched my heart.

          By doing this assignment, I really got to see him in the “real world,” and see how things 
are different for him. It really made me think about how it would be if you were handicapped in 
any  way and how little things are even difficult to. Because of my job, I often wondered how life 
would be if I were to have a child who was disabled. And by doing this assignment, I got a little 
glimpse into what that kind of world would look like.