A journey with a Special Child.

Special Children, Are they different among us?

These are the questions that clouded the minds of many because others say they are and others say there not well for me they are not. Through my research and studies I am certain that they are just like us they say Autism is a mental disorder and yes it is but we can help these people that have autism it may be difficult but not IMPOSSIBLE.

Well I'll share my journey with my Brother.

For starters I am Adrian Pangan, 17 yrs old, Accountancy student and a very simple guy (Just so you know a bit about myself J)

Meeting Him for the first time.

It started 2002 my mom was pregnant and I am very excited about me having a brother so I patiently sat down outside with my father while my mom was put in the Emergency Room. As I look at my dad I can feel he his nervous and excited as well so as I then my dad spoke "Do you like the name Jorel?" I answered "Hmmm Jorel.. It's an interesting name" He said "Then Jorel it is". As time passes by I was getting bored so I quickly get the laptop and played to kill time but I didn't notice the time then a nurse entered the room fixing the bed I asked "Is my mom alright?" she replied "Yes, She is" (and gave me a big smile) then she left. Afterwards my mom and dad entered the room I quickly go and assist them then I saw a white little child and my mom introduce him "Adrian meet your new brother jorel" (she smiled) I gazed at him and said "Nice to meet you jorel by the way I'm your big brother"

Starting the Journey.

I didn't notice the time it is about 2005 as I can recall it was jorel's birthday as I got home after school I carry a 3 balloon with different colors red, blue, and yellow as I am walking to go to the table he make baby sounds and pointing at the balloon and he giggled so tied the balloon in the chair as he watched the balloon floats in his crib. It is around the time of 2008 my family and I notice that jorel is acting weird for example every day when he wakes up he quickly put the blocks in order then at some time he will run back and forth in the living room and if depressed and provoked he will quickly bite you etc.

After knowing the status of my brother my mom quickly put jorel in a Sped school called Oakridge it was a very well-spaced school with bright teachers one of them is Teacher Rona. Teacher Rona was the teacher of jorel during his time there. He have a lot of classmates there but they are approached individually. Tita Vilma goes with jorel to the school and every day after my school I go to Oakridge to observe how's my brother doing and after we came home my mom will asked jorel about his activities and what did they do for today and they will count numbers read books and many more. One time I was amazed when he can accurately pin point the flag of the country you just tell him what country and he will point it effortlessly I mean even I can't do that because there is a lot of maps maybe some people can but my brother just stared at the board and that intrigues me to study Special Education. Through my studies and what I have learned up to today that my brother is an Adapt type they are the type of special child that quickly adapt from its environment. They quickly learn by just watching and hearing things and they like to repeat things over and over again but the catchy part of this type of autism is if you changed their pattern or course it will result that they will go into tantrum and it will be hard to stop.

I myself experienced this tantrums I have bite marks all over my body even tita vilma have bite marks too and even all of that we never hit or spank him we only say "No, this is not correct. You say sorry"we always say that so that he will remember that he did something wrong we don't use spanking or hitting because it could result to that he will hit and spank others and if he did a good job we praised him so that he wouldn't feel neglected and to break his repetitive pattern OMG not in my life that I can forget this we have to change our pattern and things every single day. So when he goes to school we put some things like the vase, table and some other things in other places even his bed we changed its cover and its lights at first it is difficult because of the tantrum but with a long patience it worked Oh we even have to go on a ride to the car and my dad will drive as before he goes to sleep(well I tag along to because of the aircon xD) and if we have a family trip we always go on different ways and he will always asked "mommy saan tayo pupunta?" and jorel have a favorite toy and it is a winnie the pooh stuff toy he always carry it and if he doesn't he will bite or scratch the person next to him ironically speaking yes he will bite the next person he will see or near him yes and every day me and tita vilma will try to take it away from him to break the repetitive pattern that's why we have bite marks and it is painful I must say but eventually we got used to the pain. :D

Time greatly pass by it is about 2011 my brother is now schooling in a normal school it has been 1 year since he entered the school and he was doing fine he is the salutatorian of his class he's a still a little bit hyper but he's doing pretty well with others in school and at home he even do his kumon and he is now at G Level in Mathematics My family and I were so proud of him because our patience, perseverance and faith in God helped him on who he is now and I am very thankful that God gave him to us so that we can guide him to the right path and show him what is good and what is wrong and now to the present time every time he goes up and get his medals he always say to us "Thank you for everything" and that 4 words makes our heart melts just hearing it coming from him and every time I hear that it always makes me cry because all of my hard work and sacrifice have paid off.

And now truly I understand why they are called Special. They are not called special because they are handicapped or they have a problem they are called special because I believed that each and every one of them have there on unique trait that must be guided all they really need is love based on my experience love can change almost everything as long you believe on it.

All I can say is my journey with him will always be my greatest adventure :)

I wrote this to inspire others with this kind of experienced. To show them that guiding them will always be difficult but not impossible. You just have to believe to this children because everybody is not perfect we must respect who are them and what they are we must make up for what they lack that's why God put them to us because God knows we will love them.

I hope you enjoy my story it is my first time writing in wattpad so if you find any mistakes or wrong grammar well im sorry for that matter hehehehe. I wrote this because of my mom and dad they are my inspiration of writing this