Acceptance

When I decided to be a counselor at a day camp this summer I thought I would be like any other counselor. Then I met Jack. Jack was a boy who was going into second grade and who has autism. Jack was one of a set of triplets; he had a brother and a sister, and both of them do not have autism. With autism, Jack would need to maintain a daily routine for him to remain cool, calm, and collected.

Dealing with a group of eighteen boys was challenging work for me and it was an even bigger challenge with Jack. One day there was thunder so the pool could not be opened for the safety of the children and Jack's routine was disrupted and he started having a tantrum. I was not by Jack when he was getting upset because I was helping the other kids get change and get out of the pool area, and one of my counselors told me about Jack and how he could not get Jack to calm down so he came looking for me. Jack started shouting and screaming and I was the only one able to calm him down. Jack started calming down a little bit once I gave him my watch, because he loved watching my digital watch change by the minute, this was one technique I used many times during the summer if he was getting upset about anything. Jack was calm for a minute and then he got upset again and started screaming again and this time he tried running away. I chased after Jack and sat next to him, I calmed him down again, luckily this time he finally calmed down for the rest of the day.

The campers changed in the pool house and sometimes Jack would get dressed by himself, but he would come out asking for help with the bathing suit pulled up part way. I would rush over to Jack, carry him back into the pool house, and fix his bathing suit; no one else from my group would rush over to Jack and help him get fixed. Once Jack came running out completely naked screaming for my help and I immediately jumped up and ran to him before he came out of the pool house even more. In a way,