‘FORGIVE YOURSELF FOR NOT KNOWING WHAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW BEFORE YOU LEARNED IT’
I can really identify with this quote and I am sure many of you can too. The reality is that we can’t go back in time to do things differently but we can raise our knowledge, take what we have learnt from the experience and use that to make more informed decisions next time.
Did I do everything right when I was a class teacher? No
Did I get everything right first time when I was a class teacher? No
Did I beat myself up for getting it wrong? Yes (and still wish I known then what I know now!)
Did I know much about autism when I was a teacher? If I’m honest, not really and I wish I’d had the opportunities to learn more.
I acquired my knowledge as I went along because I was interested in special needs. Later on in my teaching career, I had an autism specialist teacher visit the school and that is when I began to learn more. Little did I know that specialist teacher would end up being my team leader and master’s degree tutor, mentor and friend! I learnt so much from her as both a class teacher and as a specialist teacher.
Going back to the quote to the beginning of this blog, how do we know something unless someone is able to help our knowledge grow? We can’t be expected to get into a car and drive it without learning how to do so and building our confidence!
That’s the ethos of autism act – raising your knowledge and building your confidence to support autistic youngsters in your families, school, organisations and businesses.
I had the real pleasure of meeting Gina and Amanda on Wednesday morning. They are running their own online toy business called Friendly Dragon toys and realised that having autism awareness training would help their business. I was more than delighted to be able to deliver this service for them. It was good to see their knowledge grow and their enthusiasm for taking this forward in supporting sensory processing with their stock.
Knowledge is power …. the power to support our autistic youngsters and aim for better outcomes.