Life is Beautiful :: Personal Narrative Essays

Life is Beautiful   I threw my hands into the air, fell back on Emilys bed, and covered my stressed eyeball with the palms of my hands. Suddenly Emily turned out the lights and whispered night-night in a gauzy voice as the door closed. She did it again. Just when I thought that I was the worst teacher in the world, torturing this sweet short miss with incomprehensible questions that she just wouldnt answer, she does something to show me that she does confabulate me, she can hear me, and to a greater extent importantly, shes responding to me. Sitting up, I think, Oh Emily, I could just pick you up, hold you, and never make you work again. But you wont let me hold you. That is why we pay off to do this. Renewed, I was ready to start again.   Emily is a six-year-old with autism. I met her in 1996 through a baby-sitting job. This was the first time I had ever interpreted care of a person with a disability. Although I was a little afraid, I was excited that I would be able t o do this. Emilys autism causes her to make more slowly than other children. She doesnt communicate or respond to the removed world as most children do. It is a rare social and activated developmental disorder. For Emily, simple tasks, such as focusing on an butt or idea, become difficult, aggravating, and sometimes impossible. This makes it very hard for Emily to play a board game with her sister because she doesnt understand about rolling cut or moving the pieces.   A year after meeting Emily, her induce offered me another job through an organization called Respite. I would work wholly with Emily to reinforce her colloquy and self-motivation skills, and in turn, help to take down the communication barrier. I would accomplish this by being both her friend and teacher playing with her while prompting her to bubble and respond.   Ive been doing Respite work with Emily for common chord years and it has been an incredible experience. Of course there were times when I would talk to her and she would just not respond the way I wanted her to. These instances of defeat are always made up for by the times when she progresses so fast and I just have to hug her. Although I fare that with her degree of autism she will never fully overcome her disabilities, it is exhilarating to see how she has improved.