A Dedicated Teacher Makes Impact!

Mustafa enrolled at Esperanza School in January, 2008.  He is a non-verbal student with autism. When he first came to school, he showed aggression towards staff. He was approved to have a 1:1 assistant to help him in school. He has come a long way in school. His mother shared a story that really made me proud of him. 

Mustafa’s mother said that since he’s been at Esperanza she has seen a big change with him at home. The example she shared with me, was that in the past when he would go grocery shopping with her, he would pick up bags of potato chips or other items that looked good to him, and he would open them up and eat right out of the bag in the store. 

His mother, Kayla, was frustrated with his behavior because she would have to purchase whatever he opened. Since he has been at Esperanza, he now picks up the item he wants, hands it to her, and looks at her with his big beautiful eyes telling her that he wants her to buy it for him.

I was so happy she told me this, and I knew exactly what had happened!

Mustafa transferred his learning directly from my class, and applied it in his daily life. Every morning Mustafa has to tell me what he wishes to have for snack, using a structured task box. I have snack items velcroed to a box, and Mustafa must pull off the snack he wants, hands it to me and then I give him that choice. This is the way we communicate, since he cannot verbally tell me what he wants. 

Handing the potato chip bag to his mom is, in my opinion, a transfer of this communication skill. I am so proud of Mustafa, and now I will work with his mom to get her tools to have Mustafa make a choice out of a field of two or three as to one snack he would want from the store.