The Bridge over the Abyss

Introduction

Part I: In the Beginning
Chapter 1: Books           
Chapter 2: Photography
Chapter 3:  Special Populations   
            
Part II: Inspiration for putting things together
Chapter 4:-3 guys       
Chapter 5:- Little  Berry,
Chapter 6:- Mike

Part III: What if they can
Chapter 7 - Getting into the Boat
Chapter 8:Getting out of Boat

Part IV: Journey into Open Waters - Developing the PhotoBook Idea
Chapter 9: Kate - "My Big Little World" (educational benefits - high
                functioning MR)
Chapter 10: Yan - "My Life in PhotoBooks" (non-verbal very limited
                autistic boy)
Chapter 11: Lady Sarita "Fantasy PhotoBooks" (dual MR plus mental health)
Chapter 12: Debi (Asperger Syndrome)
Part V: Examples of Thematic PhotoBooks You could do with a child
        Chapter 13 – Simple PhotoBooks 
        Chapter 14 - Personal Hygiene and other Life Skills
        Chapter 15 – Special Events
Part VI: Thematic PhotoBooks used in Different life settings
        Chapter 16 – PhotoBooks in Action
        A: Devon’s Story (at home)
        B: Mr. Krakow’s Classroom (in public schools)
        C: From Chaos to Calm (in day care center)
Final Words about PhotoBooks 
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Introduction

      I made my choice years ago. Perhaps I made the wrong one, but I decided that I really like to work with special kids. So, I worked as a caregiver for kids with special needs, and I am still working with them today. I probably should have gotten a degree and worked with kids in a professional capacity, but I decided that I like to be with those kids, I mean, really be with them. I didn’t want to have to work with them according to some set of rules and regulations that every professional must follow.
I found out that by spending time with these kids on my terms I was able to get them to do things that no one else seemed to be able to get them to do. It would seem that I had a gift. A long time ago these very kids let me know they do not like it when I become strict and teacher-like. If I start to lecture them, they would resist anything I asked them to do.
Through experience, I discovered that I can make a huge difference in the lives of special needs kids and adults by just being with them. I discovered through the feedback of these individuals that I have to be their friend first, and then I can “teach” them things. I had to take the time to befriend them, allow them to trust me enough to be their friend.
My own experience at friendship is an interesting one. I knew for myself that my own best friend is my camera. This small gift changed my life. Ever since that day I have had my camera with me as a constant companion. It has seen a lot, and it has changed my life. Somehow, by looking through the viewfinder of the camera I saw life differently. If I saw things differently, what might that do for  others?
One day, I started to share my best friend with these kids and young adults. As I
did this I realized that I needed to let them know that it did not matter what they took a picture of, it could be a picture of a ceiling, or a bush, or the ground. What was important is that for that individual, they were expressing themselves in a way they never could before. Too often society judges everyone, including special needs individuals, by their chronological age. That needs to stop. They are lovely people, and their perception of life is just as valid as yours or mine. We can cherish that perception rather than destroying it because it does not fall into the mainstream idea of “normal”. They have so much to share. I wanted to see if the camera had the power to change their lives as it did mine. Their response was stupendous! I soon became their special friend with a camera. Since that time the kids have taught me a great many things and have showed me many miracles. I wanted to pay them back by being a faithful and helpful friend to them.
We shared many activities.
We laughed.
We cried.
We talked foolish talk.
We had more serious times.

We did all this together, and it could only have happened because I shared with them my love of the world of photography. This world helped my special needs friends understand their peculiar world and somehow that brought our worlds closer together. This book is the result of the sharing of our friendship.
The life path for an individual who has been diagnosed with autism, intellectual disability, as developmentally disabled, or with some other brain dysfunction is filled with roadblocks. For most of these individuals, there is no “recovery” per se. It does seem, however, that there are so many things in life for them to discover that we owe it to them to try to open as many doors as we possibly can. If it were easy to diagnose and treat these individuals, there wouldn’t be such fear when the new statistics show that the situation is worsening rather than getting better. CDC stated in 2007 that autism is being diagnosed at the rate of 1 child in 150 births, which is nearly 7% of all births resulting in a child who will be diagnosed with autism.

In addition to autism, mental retardation or individuals who are developmentally  disabled accounts for many thousands of children who need special help and care. This category includes genetic conditions such as Down Syndrome or Fragile X Syndrome; problems during pregnancy such as fetal alcohol syndrome, malnutrition, low birth weight, rubella, and premature deliveries. Other problems include injuries during and after birth, childhood diseases such as measles, meningitis, and encephalitis. Sadly, in many cases of mental retardation, the cause is never known, which makes it impossible to prevent. All we can do is to try to reach these children and teach them to live life as fully and as richly as they can.
For all of these children, there are many programs that address their issues. What is frightening is that there are so many programs that one almost needs a Ph.D. in order to understand them. In all the years I’ve worked with special needs kids I have seen parents and caregivers take bigger and bigger steps back, distancing themselves, because they are afraid that they will not do “it” right. This is a big mistake. All these children need someone who loves them and who cares about whether or not they make progress. There is no right or wrong way to love a child. Most parents do it quite naturally. When it comes to how to deal with a special needs individual, even the experts themselves actually disagree about the “right” and “wrong” way to treat these children. Many parents have stories to tell about taking their children to one doctor or specialist after another. The diagnoses differ, as do the therapeutic approaches. Even more frightening is that  despite all the new information available, there is still no single treatment method that  works for everyone. If there were, then there would be no place for this book. Because of my own experiences in dealing with the special needs population, I realize that I have something  to contribute to those who are suffering in silence along a dark and lonely path. If I have learned anything on my journey, it is this: “Share your passion with these children.” I will be advocating photography in this book because that IS my passion. Others have passion for music, for art, sports, and drama. For children who are visually impaired, the use of photography will be more difficult, but the general spark of the idea is the same. It is essential to share passion with children, for when we do, that is when a door to their mind might find its way open.

 
This brings to mind one child who I worked with for two years because he had very severe limitations. He was non-verbal, very limited in what he could do, and yet he was a really good-natured kid. He lived at home and spent most of his time playing with utensils. Every once in a while, however, he cried. His emotion was heart-wrenching. His bitter sobs were frightening. He sobbed as if some type of terrible grief had come upon him. When he was crying in this way I had to wonder if he had some kind of realization of his condition, or somehow knew that he was so alone in the world even though he was always surrounded by people. My concern is not why someone is diagnosed with a brain dysfunction, but how to reach that individual. The use of photography is hardly unique, but the way I use ðhotography is. Read my story. See those same miracles that I saw. Try to recreate little miracles in your life and in the life of your child.

Try my suggestions and see if you might see a difference in your communication or interaction. Recovery in the special needs population is so rare as to be unheard of. There have been instances where some autistics have been able to overcome the worst part of  their affliction in order to function as a fairly normal member of society. What we've learned from those “recovered” individuals is that they believe they would not be where they are today had it not been for someone who loved them enough not to give up on them. For that afflicted individual, at least, there were people who never gave up on them. They continued searching for an answer, and in some cases they were rewarded  with drastically improved behavior. This should give hope to the parent, teacher, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, or caretaker of anyone who is similarly afflicted. We can’t possibly know what miracles can happen unless we try. Most of the people I’ve worked with using photography have lived a happier existence than they had before. That, in itself, is some kind of miracle. I cannot promise that this method will cure brain dysfunction. I can only tell you that my experience with it has shown great promise and deserves a try. You may find, as I did, that you may end up learning more than you're attempting to teach!
In order to explain how my methods developed, it is necessary to share a number of my experiences with you. Through the telling of these stories you will journey with me through my time of experimentation and enlightenment. Obviously, for the sake of privacy, all names, locations, and individual circumstances of the individuals in the stories have been changed.

Part I: In the Beginning -Dana's Story
Chapter 1 -Books
Chapter 2 -Photography
Chapter 3 -Working with Special Populations
Chapter 1 – Books

Do Books Really Matter?

Books, in my opinion are the most valuable treasures in the world. Why? Through our introduction to books we first learn to read. It is sometimes a bit of a struggle, certainly a challenge to make sense of those markings on the page. Once that connection is made, then the magic happens. Once we can read, we then read to learn. For many types of learning, reading is the key. Children who learn to use books  do better in school and ultimately later in life. Good reading skills boost self-esteem, which engenders a life-long desire to learn. Every parent wants their child to be a good reader. We often model good reading habits ourselves by reading in the presence of our children. Many small children will mimic their parents' behavior by “reading” a magazine or newspaper, just as they see their parents do. This is a good thing.

Reading is necessary for a great many reasons. We read for pleasure; about stories and subjects that interest us. You can travel the world, or to far-off galaxies between the pages of a book. Reading provides information that helps the reader to become more educated. Virtually every class that is taught has some kind of book that accompanies it. We read for instructions from such books as a travel guide or a cookbook. Unless you have a photographic memory, having reference books at hand makes life more interesting because you can now explore little known parts of the world because you know they're there, or you can have a different meal from around the world because you have a cookbook of world recipes. Reading expands our world. Even if we're confined to a chair in a room, in a house, we can “travel” extensively, all because we can read.

How the Reading Process Relates to Thematic PhotoBooks

In order to understand some of the process of developing PhotoBooks, you need to understand the general reading process. No, not the deeply technical, specialized version. You just need to understand the basics of reading. The reading process follows a fairly typical pattern. We first introduce children to books, making the experience as pleasant as possible. Today we provide colorful books, books that have special shapes or textures to satisfy a child’s tactile learning style. This is called the pre-reading stage. Most children are more interested in exploration, and most of their exposure to books at this stage is suited to that purpose. Indulge your child at this stage, it is the beginning of a life-long love affair with books. Once the child is very comfortable with books, the inborn curiosity takes over and soon the child will demonstrate a desire to learn some of the words. They understand that the text represents sounds that make up the story. Many times they are willing to say some of the words out loud while you are reading aloud to them. One of the most important parts of this stage is reading aloud to a child. Most times, that child will be in your lap, combining two favorite activities, reading, and being close to a loved one. This forms a very natural and long-lasting bond between you and that child.
 
As a reading teacher, whether you are a parent or other interested individual, it is important to understand how many ways you can involve a child in the reading process. Matching games made from words or illustrations in the text is an excellent game that encourages reading. Making your voice very dramatic, you can make the story become more alive for your child. The more ways a child engages in the act of reading, the greater the chances that your child will one day become a good reader.
As a parent, your role is most critical because you are your child’s first reading teacher. By exposing your child to books, you’re opening up a huge world your child has never seen before. This is not hard. But it is not unimportant. Teaching your child to love books is a big responsibility, one that takes time and patience.
For your special needs child, this is even more important. Their learning curve can be very different from that of a “normal” child, but most special needs kids can learn to love books if they are provided the opportunity to do so. This means they need to be exposed to books as often as possible, and they need to be read to as a young child. You'll be inspired to try even harder as I take you through the process of developing Thematic PhotoBooks for your child. I will share with you some of my experiences and let you take it from there.

What is So Important About Books?
A book is a conversation from one person to another, just as this book is a conversation between you and me. The learned people of the world are very connected to books. Our libraries are constantly expanding as new titles are added each week. It seems as though there is no end to new stories, new learning material, and new information. Have you ever considered just what a wonderful resource the public library is? It is one of the few truly free things left in our society. Where else can you go, take home up to thirty books at a time for an indefinite period, and then return them when you’re finished reading them? Try walking out of Border’s or Barnes and Noble without paying for a single book and you’ll be facing shoplifting charges! Make that library your home away from home.
Regarding the internet, the truth is that kids still need books. The tactile activity of touching the pages, turning them, stroking them while being read to…nothing can take the place of that. As they get older, they will turn more and more to the internet. This is the age of technology, and we use it as a tool. Turning the pages on the computer, however, is certainly not the same as physically turning the leaves of a book. It is also hard to hold a computer in your lap while holding the child who is listening to the story you're reading. Books are here to stay. Most parents admit to having read to their children long before they could ever understand the written word. Some parents even read to their children during pregnancy.

I know of families who pose for an annual photograph of the father of the family reading a holiday book to all of his children. It makes a cute annual picture, but more importantly, it establishes the tradition of reading to children while they are very young. By showing that it is important, again you are modelling a certain behaviour that will be remembered.
There has been some debate about the importance of the material being read to the children. I have to disagree with most of you. I believe it is more the actual activity of reading with your child, rather than what is actually read to the child that makes a difference. I believe that spending time with your child, sharing of yourself by reading to them is what is important.

My Love Affair With Books
As far back as I can remember books have played a very important role in my life. As I was born in Soviet Russia, having a book was a rarity, and even opportunities to get books were very limited. All the time I was growing up, I had very little exposure to many books, and what books I was able to read were very special to me. Having a good book was a true treasure. Because of these experiences in my past, I learned to really appreciate and value books. When I was five-years-old, my grandma taught me to read. I still remember the name of that book, it was called Childhood and Youth of Vladimir Lenin. It was a big book with pictures in it. It is very likely that this book is the only one that was around where we spent that summer together. Because of her dedication and patience, I learned to read and was able to enter first grade with the ability to read already. Since that time, reading and stories have always been important to me.
I recall a childhood friend and her family in Russia who lived in a big house. They had a huge library filled with shelves of books. My friend and I would spend hours and hours in that room discussing what kind of people we’d become if we could read all of those books and obtain all that knowledge. I learned at a very young age that books were the source of many great thing, most importantly, knowledge. Since that time, books have been my friends; libraries and bookstores my homes. I love to be surrounded by books; it is where I am happiest and most comfortable. Many of the major happenings of my life occurred from reading a book in one of those places. Libraries have an energy that makes me feel alive, and I make sure that I share that love of books and libraries with every child I work with.

Getting Special Needs Children to Love Books

Not all children love books the way I did, and many of them do not like books at all. In order to overcome their aversion, I have devised numerous tricks and methods that help to involve kids in becoming interested with books. Simply by asking a child to turn pages could be a valuable activity when teaching a child to love books and reading. Several children I’ve worked with were unable to do very much, but I would always devise a way for them to be actively involved in the reading of a story. With one nonverbal, autistic boy, I had him help me to turn the pages. This boy would help me to turn the pages of the book, and soon he was able to recognize when it was time to turn the pages. In this way we became a team, and future work together became easier.
 
By involving children in this process I began to wonder how else I could use books to help special needs kids to learn. I discovered that I had to work with each child as an individual, and see what I could use to motivate them. Some children are very good with puzzles, so using a book with puzzles was just the ticket for him. Other children enjoy animals, or race cars. It always helps to find books that they’re interested in, and you’ll get their cooperation so much sooner. Anyone who works with special needs kids needs to understand that there is almost always a way to involve a child in becoming involved with books, and I put my focus there. To me it is important for the kids with whom I work to love books.

Building the Rapport
In the beginning, when I first work with a child, I don’t pay too much attention to any bad behavior, unless it is something dangerous. I have found it best to let a child have as much freedom as possible in order for me to learn what that child is about. I also try to get the child to understand what I am about. He needs to know what he can expect from me. For that reason, I try to be as good, soft, generous, and permissive as possible. I introduce the child to many pleasant and interesting things that we can do together. This way, the child learns to trust me and begins to develop feelings of friendship for me.

Soon we both realize just how valuable our time together really is. Something I discovered is that somewhere during this introductory process. The child begins to see how much he can manipulate me. When he meets with resistance, he realizes that I have my own agenda. I am the boss. Most children do not like this because they feel they have lost power. This is an important point in the struggle. As the child struggles with this perceived loss of power, I try to show just how much I can offer and bring to his life. Children are very inventive here! They try valiantly to defend their territory, to stand up for their “way”. Almost always, the child eventually gives up that  struggle for power, let’s go of the bad behavior, and embraces better behavior. This battle occurs whether we're working on reading or on other projects. I always try to work with the child, learning how to motivate based on the clues they give me. I learn a lot when we read together, and I use that information to motivate them in other parts of our work together.

Remember, reading aloud to your child is a bonding experience. This provides one-on-one attention that all children crave, especially special needs children. Reading to your child is the very foundation of your child’s entire future, both scholastically and socially. Teaching a life-long love of reading and learning is a worthy goal, and one that I consider to be most important.

Chapter 2 – Photography

The Magic of Photography
Every parent agrees that a picture of his baby is something special and unusual. There could be thousands of pictures that were of a much better quality, the composition more excellent, and so many more babies that are actually much better looking that this parent. But in truth, nothing compares to the picture you take of your own baby. There is so much in the image.Your feelings. The moment you managed to capture is still alive in your memory. Anytime someone looks at that picture, they may see nothing but a baby, but for you, the experience is quite different. This is magic.
 
My Beginning
I was always attracted to art and tried very hard to draw and paint, but I could never draw as well as my best friend did. I remember trying so hard. I would study the way she held a pencil or paintbrush, but nothing ever came of it. I could never make my pencil work the right way and when I painted I only created a mess rather than a work of art. Pretty soon I despaired of my artistic abilities; my lines were all smudges, my paintings nothing but blobs. I was pretty young when I realized I did not possess the kind of artistic ability that my friend had. My despair turned to joy when I was given a camera by my uncle when I was young. It was my seventh birthday and he gave me a present wrapped up in lovely paper. I remember that it was wrapped in seven layers of beautiful paper. I took my time  unwrapping the paper, just knowing that as I unwrapped each layer, something truly  wonderful awaited.  It was a camera. It was a small camera, but it was real!

My uncle was a photographer and he told me, “This small thing is going to bring a miracle into our life, but only if you love it and treat it as your best friend!” I really don’t remember if I believed then just how powerful a gift this would become. I do remember that he instructed me to treat this new camera as my best friend and to love it. Only then would it bring miracles into my life. From that point on, my life changed. I no longer had the need to compete with my friend to draw and paint for I could create a whole new world of beautiful things with my camera. That camera changed my life.

I have always believed that act of unwrapping those seven layers of paper was a metaphor for my life, for I see myself “unwrapping” the layers of resistance and confusion that covers the children I work with, and I know that when I get to the real treasure inside, I will find the true soul of that child. Ever since that time I have seen my cameras creating all sorts of miracles, and I could only watch from behind the viewfinder because I knew that I could not have created those miracles by myself. That camera became my dear friend and is always with me. I keep opening layer after layer in the people I work with when I use my photography. It is because of my camera and the pictures it takes that the miracles continue to occur.

Working with Kids
Once I developed this life-long love affair with my camera, I always tried to find work that involved using my camera. At one point in my life in Soviet Union, I worked as a school and day care centre portrait photographer. My job consisted of taking  individual portraits of the children as well as taking pictures of scenes from life at the day care centres. This was a new and exciting time in my life. Aside from the typical pleasure I always experienced when taking pictures, I felt that the kids were very happy when I would come. It seemed that through the picture taking process I could make significant connections with the children and even influence some of them. For me, it was a breath-taking revelation. I never considered that before. Different children with different personalities would appear in front of my camera and each time we had a different conversation, we'd talk about different issues, and sometimes even work on resolving problems such as being shy, or restless. I became so involved in my new occupation that after taking pictures of sixty or seventy kids a day, I got so that I remembered the name of every child...I realized this when I printed the pictures.

Some kids were very interesting to me. I called them special kids and I spent extra time with them after my time with the bigger group was finished. We didn't have any special education classes in our day care centers or kindergartens, all kids were grouped together  Those special kids couldn't sit still for more than a second or tow, or they were so reserved, it was hard for them to open up and relax in front of this strange who was pointing a strange metal device at them. It was very challenging work. I felt that they  wanted to do what I asked of them, and I worked hard not to upset them. I got so that I would carry special toys or treats for those special kids, and this small “bribe” often worked wonders. When I would come in to take pictures of the lives of the children in the day care canters, it was like a holiday. It was a very special day for the kids. They waited for me and they were eager to participate. The teachers and I would give the children a lot of freedom to choose what we would be taking pictures of, and we seriously considered every suggestion. It was great fun. Again, I noticed that my attention was always captured by the special kids who stayed quietly in some corner, lonely or reserved. I could spot them instantly. Because I was in charge of these activities, I would devise a way to have that child participate in our activities. I learned to do this in such a way that even the teacher never suspected what I was doing. I'm not sure why I felt it needed to be kept a secret, but the eyes of that child would thank me. To this day I carry with me their smiles, shining eyes, and grateful faces.

From time to time I would take pictures of a certain specific activity. One example is making a bed. I would choose a child who really did not like to do that activity. As we took more and more photographs, we were able to put up photographs of a hated activity up on the walls of the room where the children would spend time. This way they would see themselves doing a good job at something they thought they didn't like to do. They saw themselves in a different way, and the teachers said that those pictures really made a difference in some of the kid's habits and behaviors. Sometimes my job was more frustrating, but I still found ways to do what I wanted and still make my employer happy. My job was to take individual pictures of  each kid and I was told by my colleagues that I should work as fast as I could because “time is money”. I took my time, enjoying the process, talking to each child during the shooting. It was here that I learned to spot those “special kids”, whether they were shy, reserved, or simply could not relax in front of the camera no matter how hard they tried.
 
When that happened, I would take any picture of them and asked them to work a little bit more in one on one setting so that they didn’t feel intimidated by having to do this in front of a crowd. I looked for ways to help them to relax. I have never liked working on a timetable, but in order to get paid, you have to do what you’re paid to do. I did notice that some kids really did not like to have their picture taken. At least, they didn’t like having their picture taken at first. I’m not sure when I noticed this, but I had a sort of “second-sight”. I was able to see which kids needed just a little bit more of my time and attention. If they would sit for their school portrait, but I could not get them to smile or to look at the camera, instead of insisting that they smile into the camera, I would tell them that they could let the next child have their turn and they could tell me when they were ready. Just by acknowledging that they had some kind of block or fear of having their picture taken right at that moment, I made a connection with them.

Sometimes I would suggest that they go comb their hair again, and then tell me when they were ready. By treating these reluctant kids with kind understanding and compassion, they saw me as more of a friend than as another adult to not trust. Little by little I became better and better at noticing which kids were going to need some of my special attention and time. I was developing my gift.
Sure, it made me take more time with my job. But I have never believed that anyone’s integrity should be sacrificed just to meet a deadline. By taking just a little bit of extra time with those kids, I was able to get them to interact with me through the camera and the result was a really beautiful photograph of that child. Such a treasure was well worth the time it took. It was worth it to me. I suspect it was worth it to that child’s parents as well. I also did activity pictures with the kids; eating, sleeping, playing. These were all pretend pictures, but the kids just loved doing it and I would make sure that I put the special kids first. This is when I learned how they would try their absolute best when they were in front of the camera. I would have them repeat it a couple of times until we were able to get the perfect picture. This was a very interesting collaboration between the kids and me.

Later, when I came to the United States, I continued to use my camera to work with kids. I learned to expand the application of photography to different kinds of situations and discovered that there is endless variety in the field of mental/health and intellectual disability. I started to focus my attention on applying photography when working with autistic children. It was a safe way to open up the outside world to them.

The Diversity of Photography
Photography is such a diverse media, that one can live several lifetimes and would still have something new to discover. I believe that everyone can have their own special relationship with photography. Everyone can find something special to relate to it. If I were to analyse my own special relationship to photography, I’d say that it’s the greatest tool for me to learn and discover things about the world, people, and even about myself. I almost worship its diversity because as I do new and different things with photography, the more I learn myself…new techniques, new ideas, new methods. It really is nothing short of amazing.
For people who have difficulty expressing themselves, using photography is a tool whose value cannot be determined. It is absolutely priceless. When I first started taking portraits, my ability to connect with people really became evident to me. Through the  eye of the camera I could see things that I never noticed with the naked eye. I could tell whether someone was relaxed or uptight. I could tell by looking through the lens of the camera into their eyes whether they were happy or sad, cold and indifferent, or warm and inviting. This is a very powerful feeling! I discovered that the world through the camera was very different. I also discovered that I became a different person when I had my camera in my hands. For me, it was and still is a very powerful tool. People’s attitude toward me changed and I could feel my own confidence increasing. Through the years I have developed specific techniques that I find useful for me. I will share my journey with you as I developed those techniques because I’m not absolutely certain where the magic of the miracle started to occur. I would hate to skip that part and deprive anyone interested of that vital information!

My Way
When I talk about photography with people, I get so much information from them, much more than if we’d been talking about anything else. I develop a level of awareness that doesn’t exist for me at any other time. When you give cameras to people and ask them to take pictures you will see the same setting over and over again, but when you look closely at the pictures, you see that every person will take pictures in a different way. They see things that reflect their own personality. This works great at weddings and is probably why you often find a disposable camera on each table at the reception. The bride and groom want to know about their wedding from your perspective. This is a common application, but most people don't think about what it represents, viewing the same event from different perspectives. It also works very well with special needs individuals because every person is different from one another that it is one of the best self-expression tools I’ve ever seen. Because each person is a unique individual, their perspective is never the same as anyone else's. Having an opportunity to communicate through the use of a camera and the resulting photographs provides a channel of communication that was not open before. For a person with communication difficulties, the possibilities seem endlessly exciting.

Photography is a truly diverse medium. In this day of digital cameras, it seems that there are so many areas of photography that influence a person. I use it to reach out to people, to somehow touch them, to elicit some sort of a response in order to develop a connection to them. From my experience in photographing children, I discovered that kids open up really well when you’re taking their picture. You can even see certain problems that are virtually invisible to the naked eye. Children present all sorts of challenges and the camera helps me to deal with them in a very unique and unusual way.

Why Photography is so Powerful
We notice things because they have meaning for us. What we don’t notice somehow has no meaning yet. This is a powerful realization. Photography, as a tool, can help to open up the world because of the way we can help others notice things either in a photograph or through the viewfinder. Moments are fleeting unless they are captured on film through the camera. The experience of looking at a photograph is wonderfully unique to each person. There are times when this can be very motivational to others.

We look at a photograph as if it is, somehow, real. We leave our immediate surroundings and “enter” the photograph, suffusing ourselves with the emotions captured  that instant on film. People respond to photographs as if the photographs are alive, time has stopped, and from that experience a story can be told, a memory resurrected. Photography’s uniqueness also stems from the diverse situation of the person looking at the final picture vs. the person who actually took the picture. This is why PhotoBooks are so powerful, especially when the special needs individual is encouraged to take on the role of photographer. Looking at a photograph, the viewer responds to it in his or her own way. For me, when I look at a photograph, I try to determine what was important to the person actually taking the picture. That is a story in itself; not just what was actually captured on film, but what the photographer intended to capture and what that photograph means to him.

PhotoBooks have a natural progression. Most people start by taking photographs of the special needs individual and enlisting their help in putting the book together. This is an excellent use of PhotoBooks because everyone enjoys looking at pictures of  themselves. The real magic, however, really begins when the subject becomes the photographer and chooses what to capture on film, how to compose the picture, and what needs to be included or excluded in each shot. Photographs capture a slice of life. In this way, the real communication value comes into play because the person taking the picture  is trying to convey something. It becomes my job to try to figure out what it is they want me to understand from that photograph. It opens up a lot of possibilities.
 
There is no right or wrong way to look at a photograph. No two people will ever see exactly the same thing in a photograph because we bring our entire history with us when we do. This is important for you to know because as an adult, your life experiences are vastly different from those of a child, or of a special needs individual. Be sure you don’t project your feelings onto a photograph. It is necessary for the special needs individual you’re working with that they be allowed to be in charge. It is not your story that is being told, you're the one who is to enjoy someone else's story. Everyone’s perceptions about a particular photograph are, essentially, correct. You may need to give direction from time to time, and we’ll talk a bit more about that in later chapters when we discuss specific uses of  Thematic PhotoBooks.

Chapter 3 -Working with Special Populations

The Role of Caregiver
Arthur and Katherine had a beautiful little girl named Helen. Helen was a precocious child, having learned to speak at the age of six months and was able to communicate with her parents by the time she was a year old. Six months later, Helen became very ill with a high fever. As a result of her illness. she lost both her hearing and her vision. She was left in a world both dark and silent. The child who had been so precocious, walking and talking, was now trapped. As with most parents, Helen's parents couldn't think of any other way to talk to their baby girl. They didn't have tools themselves, other than the basic ones they had always used, talking and listening.  Helen’s family loved their daughter, but they had no idea how to reach her. The longer the child spent in her new and terrifyingly solitary world, the wilder and angrier she became.
She made wild, animal-like sounds. She ripped her clothing off. She was not toilet trained. By the time she was seven years old she was virtually classified as a feral child because no number of physicians and experts were able to either reverse her blindness and hearing loss, nor were they able to communicate with her. Helen’s behavior began to endanger her loving family who were finally advised to seek help from yet another expert on deaf children who finally gave them a good recommendation. They needed a caregiver.

With yet another recommendation, Arthur and Katherine hired a young caregiver whose sole responsibility it would be to try to keep their daughter under control, and keep from harming herself or others. The caregiver observed the child’s behavior and determined that the loss of communication was the real problem, and she set about trying to figure out how to communicate with Helen.

One day the caregiver was able to get Helen to understand that she was communicating with her by placing Helen’s hand under water and spelling the word “water” in Helen’s hands with her own fingers. Annie Sullivan broke through Helen’s isolation and from then on the Keller family was able to breathe a sigh of relief. Anne Sullivan was not a highly trained professional teacher. She was a poor girl with limited education, no social position, facing her own visual disabilities. What she did have was a clearly dedicated heart for this wild child, Helen Keller because it took her nearly four nonstop years of working with Helen before she was able to communicate with her.
 
Temple Grandin, perhaps one of the most well-known spokespersons for autism shares her experiences having suffered from autism herself. She believes herself to be most fortunate that her mother did not put her in an institution as was recommended by specialists. Over fifty years ago, autism was a relatively unknown illness. Instead, the Grandins hired a nanny who worked as Temple’s caretaker. That nanny spent many hours a day working with Temple, teaching her manners, how to play games, especially those that required taking turns, and in general requiring proper behavior from Temple.

Both Temple Grandin and Helen Keller would very likely have had very different outcomes had they not benefited from the dedication of their caregivers. I decided that I had a calling to work with special needs people, and that’s the third passion I developed in life. Throughout the next phase of my life I've worked in positions where I've been called a caregiver, a direct support worker, f counselor, a teaching parents and even one time the very unique title of “Special Friend”. In each case, I would be responsible for assisting one or more special needs individuals. Here’s the story of one of my charges, Bettina, with whom I worked as a counselor.

Bettina:
Bettina was a 30-year-old Down Syndrome woman who worked in the kitchen in a group home. Bettina was a very hard worker and was a very big help in the kitchen. For Bettina, the kitchen was her absolute favorite place, because food was one of her greatest joys in life. The first day that I met Bettina I tried to talk with her, but she avoided my gaze and ignored my remarks. I knew to be patient. For all special needs patients they need to feel comfortable around a new person before they are ready to open up and talk, so I just gave her the time and space she needed. One day we both happened to be working in the kitchen. We worked well together, although silently, and when we were finished cleaning up from earlier in the day, Bettina brought me a note from the supervisor that I was to make a peanut butter sandwich for Bettina. “Fine,” I thought. “I can make her a peanut butter sandwich.” I started to make the sandwich, getting out the bread and the peanut butter, and I noticed that Bettina’s eyes were focused on my task with great intensity. I always work quite deliberately, and it could be that I was not working quite as quickly as Bettina wanted. She was impatient and tense, crowding closer and closer to me as I worked. I was new to her and she really did not know what to expect from me. As I made the sandwich, I added more peanut butter and watched her out of the corners of my eye. The more peanut butter I put on the bread, the bigger Bettina’s smile got. She really loves her food. When I finished and gave the sandwich to her, she laughed out loud she was so happy. She gave me such a big hug that I was afraid that I would lose consciousness, but I didn’t mind. Her appreciation really raised my spirits. From that point on, Bettina and I were friends.

Bettina had made another friend, Kevin who is the driver. Every morning Bettina would tell me about what she had for breakfast and from time to time she would be lucky enough to be with Kevin when he would stop by Dunkin Donuts and let her buy doughnuts there. For Kevin and me, Bettina was not a problem. We understood  how much she liked food, and as time went on I began to see that she also liked money. I’m not quite sure why she liked money, other than for the extra food she could buy. Bettina would spend a lot of time next to a soda machine. The sodas in this particular machine cost about 75 cents, and most of the time people would spend a dollar. Many times people who put in a dollar and were only interested in getting their soda would forget that they were getting change, and there Bettina would be, ready to pounce on the quarter that clinked into the coin return. However, for the other people who DID realize that they had change coming, Bettina would tell them, “I need the money and I’ll get it.”

One day I went into the office and I saw Bettina in there searching for something. I knew she wasn’t supposed to be in the office, so I just asked her, “Bettina, what are you doing in here?”
“I don’t know.” Her voice was just a mutter and she wouldn’t meet my eyes. “But what are you looking for? It looks like you’re looking for something.” I really wanted to understand what Bettina wanted or needed. Perhaps I could help her, for I knew that she would get into some kind of trouble if someone else found her in the office. When she still wouldn’t meet my eyes, I realized that Bettina had done something wrong and she knew it. “Bettina, did you take money?” “Yes.” Her answer was defiant, almost angry. I wanted her to know that I was trying to understand. “Why, Bettina? It’s not yours. You can’t steal money. It’s a very bad thing to steal money. Why are you doing this?” Then Bettina hugged me, sobbing, “I don’t know.”

And I believed her. I don’t think she really did know why she was stealing the  money, she just had a compulsion for both food and money. “Please, Bettina, please never do it again.” I think deep in my heart I knew I really hadn’t gotten through to her because she did, indeed, do it again, and this time I was not the one who caught her. The angry voices of the counselors were what I heard first, and they were boiling over with indignation. They were shouting that Bettina had stolen $30.00 from the office. “How could she do this to us?” “She is a terrible person, she is a thief!”

The accusations continued to be hurled at Bettina and I tried to intervene. I tried to explain to them that Bettina did not understand that she shouldn’t take money that was not hers. I also tried to point out that they should really watch their business more carefully and keep any money they have on hand locked up. This is when they started to say things that just did not make sense to me. “Bettina is actually VERY smart, and she knows EXACTLY what she was doing!” As the two women were shouting this they were chasing Bettina around the kitchen until they trapped her and they each grabbed her from different directions. Bettina’s eyes grew frightened and she struggled like a wild animal.

“Get it, get her waist bag!” With that, one of the two counselors cut the belt of Bettina’s waist bag off of her. This is where she always keeps her money. When they opened it, the found the missing money. Their faces were bright with vindication and triumph, and the continued to berate Bettina. Poor Bettina just sobbed on the floor of the kitchen. As you can see, I had a very different approach with Bettina than most of the other counsellors. Their tactics included promising her food if she would behave properly, almost as though they were training a monkey. Sometimes they did not keep their promise of extra food, and Bettina remembered this. She would extract her revenge at very inconvenient times. Sometimes when it was time to go and get on the bus, Bettina would glue herself to the handle of the refrigerator and refuse to let go because the treat they promised was in the refrigerator. She was very, VERY stubborn at these times. Other times, Bettina would just lay down on the floor and refuse to go to the bus. Because she weighed nearly 300 pounds, it was impossible for the counselors to just lift her up and carry her to the bus. Bettina knew this and she used her larger size to her advantage. Even when they got big enough counselors to lift her, Bettina would still grab at the counters and handles, holding on with all her might just to stay in the kitchen until they gave her the promised treat.

Because of my position, I was never able to intervene and my heart just ached for Bettina. I did suggest to the head counselor that it might not be a good idea to have Bettina work in the kitchen because she was constantly tormented by the very thing that she craved. By making her work in the kitchen, they were constantly exposing Bettina to something over which she had very little control. My supervisor disagreed with me. “No, Bettina is a big help in the kitchen and that’s where we are going to keep her assigned.” They tried various other methods of behavior modification to manage Bettina, but nothing every worked. When they would restrict her food intake as punishment, Bettina would actually become angry and hit anyone who happened to be around. This was a bad situation and it only seemed to be getting worse. When I was assigned to take Bettina for an outing, I was a little bit apprehensive. I am a rather small person, and Bettina is a big woman, but I had made a good connection with Bettina originally and I hoped to re-establish that with her. I took Bettina to paint ceramics. When we got to the ceramics shop, we looked at all the green ware to decide what Bettina should paint. She chose the biggest menorah she could find and she painted it. For Bettina this was a very exciting experience and I watched how her face lit up with joy as she painted the menorah, and how big her smile got when I assured her that she would be able to take the finished piece home with her. Bettina did have a very strong feeling about possession. While we were at the ceramics shop, I let Bettina use my camera. I wanted her to capture this moment of joy in her life. She laughed a lot, she talked with the people who were there, and she took pictures of everyone there. This was the happiest I had ever seen Bettina.

Even more miraculous to me was when we took a break from the painting; we got out the lunch that we had brought with us. As we were eating, Bettina offered part of her soda to me. This was almost shocking. Bettina had never offered to share any of her food with anyone before this. Even more surprising, was that Bettina herself was surprised at her offer and she laughed with happiness. This was the best mood she had ever been in when I had been with her. Later I tried to tell the supervisors about the remarkable change in Bettina, how the experience of art made such a profound change in Bettina’s behavior, my words were met with scepticism and denial. They neither acknowledged the change, nor did they particularly believe that Bettina had actually been able to be civil around food. That day was a real awakening for me, for when I took Bettina to the ceramics store, I had also take three other people with me, and of all four, three of them had Down Syndrome. As was often the case, people would stare at me and my charges. Some people even ask questions about who we are and why we are on the bus. On this particular day, a woman was sitting next to me, listening in on our conversations.

She told me that she was a teacher and I started to tell her about how hard working people with Down Syndrome are, how affectionate, and how special they are. From further down the bus I heard a loud woman’s voice that just sent a chill all the way through me, “Down Syndrome is obvious right from birth. I think those babies should be put to death the moment they are born. I’ve read that some countries do that.” As I heard those harsh words, I looked across at Bettina, who was clasping her completed menorah to her chest with a very happy smile spread across her face, inviting everyone to share in her joy. I realized that I had a calling, to work with and mentor special needs people because there are many who will not. I found that I could make a difference.

Part II: Inspiration for Putting Things Together
Chapter 4 -The Three Photographer
Chapter 5 – Autism and Me
Chapter 6 -My Friend Chester

Chapter 4 – The Three Photographer

Something Missing
When you stop periodically to evaluate your life, you take stock of what you've learned and discovered about yourself. Up to this point in my life I had learned that love books, with photography being my other strong passion. I'd been working with special needs individuals, and I really enjoyed my time with them, and love that I feel that I make a difference in their lives. But, I still felt as though there was something missing, so I set out to discover what I would do next. Being a caregiver was very much a part of my nature. I also knew that photography was a passion, and unlikely to be discarded. My experience with Bettina and the camera intrigued me and I had wanted to pursue it, but in that situation I could not. If only I could find some way to combine the two. One day in the library looking through Yellow pages in job search process suddenly I saw something which made my heart almost leap out of my chest. Under subtitle, “Mental Retardation” was listed: “Rehabilitation through Photography.” That sounded like it was right up my alley! I already knew that my talents were taking me in the direction of working with special needs individuals. I have a truly special compassion for them, unlike the woman on the bus who had spoken so harshly about Bettina’s Down Syndrome.

What many people don’t realize is that there are over 350,000 people in the United States today who suffer from Down syndrome. Contrary to popular belief, not all Down Syndrome sufferers are severely retarded. Rather their IQs usually fall in the mild to moderate range of retardation and studies are showing that they can definitely be educated and have a lot more potential than has ever been thought. Most people with Down Syndrome live at home with their families rather than in an institution or group home. They often take part in educational, vocational, social, and recreational activities within their communities. Schools integrate them into mainstreamed education systems. Many adults with Down Syndrome are capable of getting a job and living in group homes or in other independent housing arrangements. Fortunately, society is becoming much more accepting of special needs individuals and are including those affected with Down Syndrome into the community. With proper  training, those with Down Syndrome work in such industries as banks, nursing homes, hotels, restaurants, music and entertainment, clerical jobs, and in the computer industry. Most people with Down Syndrome are very enthusiastic about their job, are considered to be highly dedicated and very reliable. What society has to remember is that people with Down Syndrome have feelings and emotions just as anyone else does. They want to have friends and they are hurt by inconsiderate behavior. By working with individuals with Down Syndrome, I believed that I could help to improve their lives, give them more positive experiences, and help them to see the world as a really beautiful place.

Add Photography to the Mix
The next day I was in that Manhattan office to sign up! It was a small volunteer organization, and I discovered that they really couldn’t help me very much, but it did inspire me. It gave me the feeling that I wasn’t alone in trying to bring photography into the lives of special needs individuals.  I had an interview that day for a direct care position in a day habilitation program with a large agency who served the population with special needs. I was so inspired by my experience about “Rehabilitation through Photography” that I managed to inspire the head of the program. Subsequently, I was hired to lead a photo group in that program.
I was assigned three young men to work with, and the first thing we did was go to the library to take out some books on photography. We needed to set out learning some theory so that we could really pursue a serious program. Well, perhaps serious isn’t the word I want to use here. We wanted to be serious about our approach, because I believed, even in the beginning, that photographs could make such a difference in the lives of the three guys I’d been assigned. However, I never forgot the fun factor. Throughout my life, I’ve learned that in order to motivate people, you need to consider an element of enjoyment for the activity you’re asking them to do. Granted, not everything everyone has to do in life is fun, but there are great ways to motivate people that have more of a fun factor than just by forcing people to bend to your will. With my three guys, I wanted to have them enjoy their experiences with me and their cameras. They were all wonderful. We got along so very well, and it seemed that the four of us had a really great time together. We became very close, supporting one another and becoming something of a team. All three of my guys were tremendously hardworking and spent a great deal of their time taking pictures. Unfortunately, because my idea wasn’t fully realized yet, we spent a lot more time taking photographs and not much time actually working with the photographs, the way I do now with my PhotoBooks. I’m afraid that the main benefit was lost, but the experience was marvelous anyway.

My three guys were between the ages of 25 and 30 and two of them had Down Syndrome. They were all so different from one another; this was reflected in their personalities and in the photography they each produced. It never ceases to amaze me how several people can take a photograph of exactly the same thing, and yet the photograph turns out very differently for each person. This is one of the reasons I believe that photography is such a powerful tool that can be used in a great many situations.

Jeffrey
Jeffrey was the oldest and he was very knowledgeable. He knew the rules and regulations to just about everything! I often called him a lawyer, which seemed to please him. He would read a lot of papers and was more current on the news than anyone else I knew. Jeffrey was also quite concerned that things be done the right way according to the rules as he understood them. He would call his coat my property. Because it belonged to Jeffrey, you would have to ask Jeffrey permission before you touched his coat. Jeffrey was a talker! He could tell story after story after story. It sometimes seemed as if he talked just to hear his own voice, because he never seemed to mind if you weren’t paying attention to his story. Jeffrey was relatively indifferent to photography and would take pictures when I would ask him to, but he’d never demonstrate any initiative in looking for a good subject for his photograph. He’d usually just take a picture of me because I happened to be what was in front of him at the time. It didn’t matter. He was wonderful fun. His sense of humor made him such a joy to have around.

Arnold
Arnold was my second guy. He had very high moral values and if he felt that something was happening that should not happen, he would take it upon himself to make it right. Once when we were on a train, we were disturbed by a large group of kids who were being really loud and unruly, acting as if no one else was around, when in reality it was a very full train. When he stood up to go and confront them, my initial impulse was to stop Arnold, but something prevented me. I watched as he approached the group of kids, and he asked them to be quiet and let the rest of the passengers enjoy their ride in peace. Before, no one dared to stop them. No one, that is, except Arnold. As I said, my initial reaction was to stop Arnold from approaching the group; I was terrified that they would hurt Arnold, but surprisingly enough, the guys listened to Arnold. They actually respected what he had to say and stopped their rude behavior. I had a great deal of respect for Arnold.

Dave
Dave is the last of my three guys, and he’s pretty special. I called him Dave the Sweetie Pie. He was a lovely young man, very hardworking. He was very slow and deliberate in everything he did, in every move he made. He loved life and he almost always had a smile, which lighted up his face. Dave was so agreeable. Whatever we would work on, he would like it, no matter what it was. When he had nothing to do, he would busy himself by writing. He could write for hours. He wrote line after line, “I like program, I like park, I like counselors, I like cookie,” …and when Dave wrote the word cookie his smile became huge!
Food was Dave’s greatest passion. Every day, when it was time to spend his daily allowance of a dollar, Dave would become very serious. It was of the utmost importance for him to buy just the right things. He would think long and hard and this was difficult for Dave. He would be filled with tension, he wouldn’t smile until the choice was made and the sacred package was finally in his hands. Dave was a very social guy, but he never trusted his package of food to anyone else. He would always insist on carrying it himself. Only after the package with the treat was packed securely in his bag could Dave relax and smile again. All the way home, Dave would anticipate how much he would enjoy his food. His who face would light up as he thought about eating it. That’s what I call living in the moment! Dave really got into photography and he enjoyed it a great deal. Naturally, his very favorite subject to photograph was the one closest to his heart, food. Whenever he saw a newspaper stand, he would ask for the camera. He couldn’t pass by a cookie, candy, or chocolate without asking to take pictures of them. Once he’d spent his money, he knew he couldn’t buy them, but he certainly could take pictures of them, and he did!

Once when he saw a candy store, he got so excited that the people passing by stopped to watch him. He was jumping up and down, “Look! Look! Camera, quickly. Where is the camera?” Dave probably has the largest collection of candy store photographs around New York City! Once he froze right in the middle of the street, and got very excited, screaming, “Camera! Camera!” I couldn’t understand why he wanted the camera because I saw nothing edible around. But, I handed him the camera, for I’d learned to trust his instincts. Sure enough, he started taking pictures of a sign on the next block that featured his favorite coffee and cake store. There were times when he truly amazed me! Dave was just so much fun. Because he was our most active photographer, I think my other three guys started to take a little more notice of the other things Dave was fascinated by, the huge skyscrapers, movie signs, the blue sky, and many other interesting things. By “seeing” through the eyes of my three guys, I began to see the world a little differently

Our First Trip
On our first photo trip, I chose a small, quiet park in Manhattan. I gave each of my guys their new cameras. We didn’t have digital cameras then, so I had to show them how to load the film, where to look through the viewfinder, and which button to push in order to take the photograph. I would place myself in front of them and ask them to take a picture of me. I learned to do this for each person I was teaching to use a camera for the very first time. It helps them to understand that the camera is to record a subject; in this case, me.

Once my guys took the picture I asked of them, I encouraged them to go around and take pictures of everything that they liked. After a moment I heard a cry of joy. Dave was jumping up and down yelling, “I took a picture! I took a picture of a bird!” Such pure joy is a rare thing to watch. I carry that moment with me, and it happened many years ago. I don’t have a picture of that event, but I have a picture of it in my mind, and I go back to it every now and again. I think I knew then that I was really on the right track.

I think it is amazing how my three guys went through their life experiences with such joy and excitement. And how we all watched how excited Dave got at his happy discovery that photography was an unexpected delight. Soon, DAVID was running from one subject to another. “Look! I took a picture of my bag! I took a picture of a tree!” Arnold watched him silently, smiling as a parent would who is observing his happy child. Then Arnold joined him in taking his pictures, and we all followed suit. To me that was a visual feast, taking pictures of everything around us and of one another.

I have to be perfectly honest here. My efforts were not very successful from the point of view of actual achievement. We never did get many visible results and sadly the program was closed a few months later due to lack of funds. However, I learned so many things and made so many discoveries, and experienced so many miracles, that I did not feel it had been a waste of time. This was about the time that I started wondering how I could share my ideas and concepts. This is where the germ of the Thematic PhotoBooks idea started, and it has been growing ever since until I had enough material for a complete book to share with the world.

Photography and Special Needs Calling
It was here that I became acquainted with the special needs population and began to see just what my gift in photography might be able to do there. I had learned that special needs children love pictures, specifically pictures of themselves. Perhaps I could use my photography and somehow see what miracles could happen with these kids. I began to use photography in my daily work, working hard to implement ways where we could use photography that would be helpful to the kids with special needs. This was a turning point in my career because I was able to combine my love of photography with my passion for working with special needs individuals. Through them I developed a number of photography-based activities that helped these people with communication skills, interpersonal skills, and basic life skills. I have also had a life-long love of books, and that is what was the seed that grew into my idea of the creation of PhotoBooks. We will talk a lot more about the PhotoBooks in a later chapter in this book. Learning to use a camera was the incentive most of my clients needed. They could take pictures of the things that mattered the most to them. Because most special needs individuals have trouble communicating, I learned to use the photographs to communicate with them. This created a strong desire in some of them to learn new things, in fact there were times we simply could not work fast enough to suit them. It was as if they realized that finally someone understood! A door had opened for them and they were never looking back.

Chapter 5 – Autism and Me

Autism
When I first became acquainted with special needs individuals, I knew of the condition called autism, but I wasn’t really sure what it meant, and whether it would really make any difference to me and my ideas about helping special needs individuals with my tool of photography. I got a lot of books on the subject and learned that autism is some form of a breakdown in a child’s ability to communicate with others, a limited capacity to form bonds or relationships with other people, including close family members. They often spent hours engaged in monotonous behaviors, that seem to fascinate them, but are not interested in reading a book, playing outside, or watching a movie. Autistic people often present with challenging behavior, and this is where families often seek help. They despair over ever being able to reach this child that they love so much. My approach with autistic individuals is no different than with any other special needs individual. I first just spend as much time with that individual as I can, trying to see the world the way they see it. Only then do I try to change things. I always look for ways to motivate the individual, and each one is different! I’ll share stories of two autistic boys with whom I worked on two separate occasions.

David:
David was actually the very first autistic child I worked with. I was not really prepared for that job. Someone called from the agency and asked me if I would be interested in working with a five-year-old autistic boy. I was very interested, and I agreed to do it. They gave me more details, telling me that while the boy was cute and smart, he also kicked, bit, screamed, and ran away. Despite this warning, I still agreed to take the job. The very next day I went to see David at his school. To me it was very strange to see a 5-year-old autistic boy sitting among the various teenage students who were learning Torah. What was even more intriguing was that 6-year-old David sat very still, paid attention to the teacher, and was willing to answer questions, even if the answers were not correct. It turned out that some of the older girls didn’t even have a guess, so to me David was pretty smart.

The principal placed David on a chair near me. He told me, “He’s crying right now, but he’ll stop.” David wasn’t really crying, but his face expressed his displeasure at the transition. During the break, David’s classmates took care of helping him to eat his lunch. I helped him with his drink, and he didn’t seem to mind. After lunch, David just wandered about the room, happy inside of himself, laughing from time to time at something only he could hear or see. He didn’t bother anyone. When I asked the teacher for information about David, all he could tell me was that David liked pickles. The next day, David was among some girls who were studying math. It was break time, so I asked the teacher if I could take David outside for a walk. My mistake was not making sure that David had had his lunch yet. Sadly, even though David had not eaten lunch, the teacher insisted that we take a walk immediately rather than letting David have his lunch. Naturally, David was not happy with this and began to whine. The teacher was very firm. For me, I was terrified to take a hungry boy outside for the first time and I prepared myself for a fight.
Initially, I kept to the back yard where I could catch him if David decided to try to run away. I knew virtually nothing about the boy, so I didn’t know what to expect. I talked and talked about anything that would come to mind. From time to time, David would repeat my words, and other times he would merely mumble something. He still wasn’t very happy about the walk, probably because he was still thinking about his lunch. I told myself that I was doing fine, because his little hand lay quietly in mind as we walked and talked. After a while I gathered my courage and decided to take David for a walk along the street. When I would talk about something and point to it, David would look in the direction of my finger, but he wouldn’t show any more curiosity than that.
After we walked around the block and returned to the school, David started to pull at his hand. He was communicating to me that he wanted to go back inside, likely to get his lunch. I felt a little bit of relief that I had accomplished something, and yet I still was unsure of what would happen next. David wanted to have his lunch next, but his teacher had other ideas. He told me that David had to walk for 45 more minutes, actually he wanted us to be gone until break was over. He put David’s coat back on him and we were once again walking outdoors along the street.
Preparing for the worst, I grabbed David’s hand. To my surprise, he did not protest. After a bit I started to notice that he was repeating some of the things I was telling him. At the street, before crossing the road he would repeat, “We should let cars pass first.” It was my first experience at dealing with an autistic child who paid attention to what he thought was important and ignored everything else. We continued our journey and after passing the same houses, trees, and cars time after time, I wanted to give David some variety. I didn’t know at the time that autistic kids don’t like any changes, but fortunately for me, David was a very agreeable child. When we passed a low brick fence, I sat on it and invited David to join me. He accepted my invitation, and we shared the seat and laughed. We said, “1-2-3” then up and go! After that, every time we saw a similar low fence, we had to stop, sit for a bit to rest, then say, “1-2-3” and off we went. David really seemed to enjoy this new game. He made an excellent companion. While he didn’t offer any suggestions for entertainment, he was very agreeable to my ideas. After our 45 minutes were up, I asked David if he wanted to walk more or to go in and have lunch. He mumbled something about lunch, and pulled me back toward the school. We went back inside. He let me take his coat off, then he rushed for his food. Even when I said goodbye to him, he didn’t seem to see or hear me. He didn’t react at all.
 
David and Misha
Not too long after my first meeting with David, my supervisor told me that I could work with David in my home. The first thought that crossed my mind was that David would have to meet Misha, my bird. I wondered how that would go. When I first took David to my place he resisted a little bit, but not too strongly. The whole time we were walking to my place he kept repeating “Man is coming we are going outside?” That was what I had promised David that the supervisor was going to pick us up later. So far, that was the only real communication David and I had had. The rest of the time I had an ongoing monologue with myself. David had few interests initially. He didn’t like to watch videos. Rather, he preferred to play with my VCR, pushing the buttons over and over and over again. That was not a good idea. He also liked to open the refrigerator, look at the light, tough the bulb, and as he did this, I could see the pleasure on his face. He had no interest in any games that I offered to play with him. He also rejected the pickles his teacher assured me he liked. About the only activity that David really enjoyed was riding in a chair with wheels. I would push David around the apartment over and over again. I would try to make his trip more interesting by putting obstacles in the way, or giving him different stuffed animals to hold onto, but he didn’t react to them. The only pleasure he had was to be in the chair while I was moving it.
It was time to introduce David to my bird, Misha. I drove the chair to the bedroom where Misha lived. Normally I would let Misha fly around the room rather than keeping him trapped in his cage. I said, “Look, David! This is my bird, Misha. Say “Hello” to him!” Instead of “Hello!” I heard David scream and saw him jump from the chair and ran away from the room. I found him by the front door trying to open it and flee. It took me quite some time to calm him down. I learned not to spring such surprises on an autistic individual from that experience.
During our meal, I talked to David about Misha, who was carefully closed in the bedroom so as not to cause David any more anxiety. I told David what a nice bird Misha was, how smart he was, and what he liked to eat. I also showed David some pictures I had of Misha. Again, David showed no interest. Before we left my place, I asked David if he would like to say, “Goodbye,” to Misha. David looked at me in disgust and indignation and pulled me to the door.
The next day, I met David at his school and he actually seemed glad to see me. We went to the park and as was his norm, David was mostly silent while I kept up my endless chatter. David didn’t seem to worry at all about where we were going. We went to the park, played for a bit, and had a snack. When it started to turn cold, we went to call the car service. Usually I told David everything I was going to do ahead of time. This time, as we approached the phone, he asked, “Are you going to make a call?” I was bewildered. It was the very first time he had said something voluntarily and just for conversation. That statement made my day!
When we arrived at my home, he didn’t resist at all, and he didn’t ask about the man who would come. He was comfortable with me and my home, and didn’t need to know when the supervisor would come for him. He took off his coat and rushed to the VCR. I felt that he had to be comfortable, but that we did need to have rules, just as he did in his own home. Before it was time for his meal, I put his cereal and his mild up high on the refrigerator among other things. I was experimenting with David. When he began to point to them, I started to offer him other things that were next to his cereal and his milk, but studiously did not offer the cereal and milk. He continued to point and got very upset with me, even close to tears. He wanted to eat. I worked very hard, offering him everything, asking, “David, do you need this? Do you need that?” Finally he got tired of my stupidity and said clearly, “I want cereal!” I continued to pretend to be dumb, and said, “Cereal? Oh, here is your cereal!” But that wasn’t enough. I knew he would want the milk too, so we went through the whole thing again. This time, David didn’t take nearly the same amount of time as he had for the cereal. He finally used the word, “milk” and he got his meal. As he ate, I told him that people around him aren’t quite so smart as he is. They don’t understand anything until you tell them. So, David had no choice but to start talking to me. Then we began his favorite activity, riding around in his chair. As we went around, I would ask him, “Okay, what can we see here? David, what is that?” Pretty soon David was answering my questions, “table, chair, VCR” and so on. We went from room to room exploring and identifying various items. Finally it was the end of my boring monologues!
The next day, after school, I had to go to the store to buy food for David, and while we were there I told him that I needed to buy sunflower seeds for Misha. On our walk home, I told David how happy Misha would be that we bought him seeds, because it was his favorite treat. We bought David’s food and the bird seed and made it home without incident. When we got home, David approached the bedroom and started to carefully open the door. He switched on the light and stood there, looking for Misha. I approached and said, “Hi Misha!” David said, “Hi, Misha! Hi, bird!”
Being a bird, Misha ignored us. David stood there for a moment longer, then turned and ran to the kitchen. Within seconds he was back with the bag of sunflower seeds. “Look, Misha! David has your favorite sunflower seeds!” One by one I gave Misha sunflower seeds through the bars of his cage. David stood right beside me and laughed happily as I fed Misha. From that point onward, David would not leave Misha’s side. He stayed right there while I changed Misha’s food and water. David talked to Misha, and said, “See you tomorrow!” when he left for the day.

From that day on, Misha became David’s best friend, and he was my main helper in taking care of David. David was now in charge of taking care of his own clothing, his toys, and he was then responsible for Misha’s wellbeing. David gave Misha food and water and was very happy with his new role. I took several pictures of Misha and David together. I also took pictures of Misha and put them together in a book for David and other children to read.
Many times when I picked up David from school and the car service would be late, I would tell David that Misha would be waiting for us and that he was probably hungry. David would repeat my words, and he would express concern about Misha, worry apparent on his face. As soon as we would reach my home, David would rush to check to see that Misha was all right. “Hi, Misha! Hi, bird! I’m here!” David would ecstatically greet Misha. Then we would change his water, give him new food, and once Misha’s needs were taken care of, David would have his own meal. David was still afraid of Misha if the bird were out of his cage, so I kept him in his cage, but would bring him out to be with us as we would pass the time together. As I would push David around in his chair, he would tell Misha everything he saw on his way. Before leaving, David would always make sure to go to Misha and tell him, “Goodbye.” He would also tell Misha how long it would be before they would see one another again and to wish him a good weekend.
David’s greatest delight was in watching Misha eat sunflower seeds from my finger. He never did gather enough courage to do it himself, but he would diligently count every seed that Misha consumed and then we would write down the number. David took his job in caring for Misha very seriously. If I would forget to write the number of sunflower seeds down in the book, David would remind me. He knew where the notebook was kept, and he would bring it out for me to record the day’s number. Anytime we would go to the store for something new for Misha, David wanted to be the first to tell Misha about it.

One day we were at the grocery store and I picked up some bananas for David, as I knew he loved them very much. I saw him heading somewhere at the back of the store. I followed him and saw him go to where there were lettuce leaves. Those were Misha’s favorite treat. I realized then that David was a really big boy and a wonderful human being because he was putting Misha’s needs and desires before his own. I smiled as I paid for the food and then together we rushed home where our friend, Misha, was waiting for us.
My experience with David taught me a great deal about working with special needs individuals. As with most people, I have to be patient and really work hard to discover what could motivate an individual. Some of David’s motivation came from just doing what he wanted to do, like rolling around my home in the chair. Other things are more complex and difficult to explain. David’s reaction to Misha was initially one of fear, but after he became acquainted with the bird, David soon understood that Misha had to be fed and watered. Misha could not take care of himself. David understood this concept, and he was very willing to help take care of Misha with me.

Berry:
I met Berry when he was just a year and a half old. He could make sounds like, “b-b-b-b-b,” and “t-t-t-t-t-t,” and “m-m-m-m-m.” One of the first suggestions I made for Berry’s mother was to have a picture of her so that I could teach Berry to say “Mom”. Because this mother was Jewish, she wanted me to teach him to say the word in Hebrew, “Ima.” Based on my experience, I knew that saying “Mom” or “Mama” is easier than trying to teach the word “Ima”, but I tried anyway. Unfortunately, all of my efforts backfired. Berry did learn the word “Mom”, but he used it on me and not on his mother. Sadly, this put Berry’s mother and me in positions of being adversaries rather than co-workers, both working toward a common goal of helping Berry. I only tell this story to demonstrate something I’ve noticed. Autistic children can often be helped, but there are often things that loved ones do that prevent any progress. Berry’s mom couldn’t see past her own desire to have him say her name in Hebrew, and grew upset when she heard him call me “Mom.” I’ve never, ever, wanted to get between a mother and her child, my only goal is to help that child.

PhotoBook about Berry
It occurred to me that Berry’s mom saw Berry only in a certain way, and I put together a PhotoBook of the way Berry played with a friend of his so that his mother could see Berry from a different perspective. I take such a delight in each child I’ve ever worked with, and Berry was really a joy for me. Our time together was very successful. When Berry needed to work on something, we worked together on it. As with many autistic children, Berry often needed some quiet time alone. We devised a signal so that when he was ready for that quiet time, I would leave him alone for a little while. By observing Berry in his surroundings, I was able to get good results with him. We established a form of communication between us which helped me to realize that autistic children might be in their own little world, but they really are aware of the world outside as well.

Chapter 6 – My Friend Chester

Chester:
In the beginning, when I first work with a child, I don’t pay too much attention to any bad behavior, unless it is something dangerous. I have found it best to let a child have as much freedom as possible in order for me to learn what that child is about. I also try to get the child to understand what I am about. He needs to know what he can expect from me. For that reason, I try to be as good, soft, generous, and permissive as possible, introduce the child to many pleasant and interesting things that we can do together. This way, the child learns to trust me and begins to develop feelings of friendship for me. Soon we both realize just how valuable our time together really is. Something I discovered is that somewhere during this introductory process. the child begins to see how much he can manipulate me. When he meets with resistance, he realizes that I have my own agenda. I am the boss. Most children do not like this because they feel they have lost power. This is an important point in the struggle. As the child struggles with this perceived loss of power, I try to show just how much I can offer and bring to his life. children are very inventive here! They try valiantly to defend their territory, to stand up for their “way”. Almost always, the child eventually gives up that struggle for power, lets go of the bad behavior and embraces better behavior.

One child I worked with was Chester. When we met, Chester was 7 years old. He became very special to me. He was funny, kind, sensitive, friendly, loyal, and had a terrific imagination. Unfortunately, Chester’s wonderful side was hard for others to see. He had never learned how to really behave properly, and all anyone else could see was that he had very bad behavior. He did a lot of things that were impolite. He would hurt his younger siblings. He would interrupt adults while they were talking, and would repeat the same thing over and over again. My job with Chester was to help him get rid of all those bad behaviors so that they could see what Chester was really like on the inside.

One of Chester’s problems was that he needed to be in control. He insisted on being the ultimate boss of any situation. He had no patience, he would not wait to let another person finish talking before he would jump in with yet another interruption. He demanded that anyone in the room pay full attention to him. After observing Chester’s constant interruptions, I decided to try a different way with him. Each time he would interrupt, I would turn to him and say, “Ok, Chester, what do you want to say? I’m listening.” It turned out that he actually had nothing to say at all, but this was a hard habit to break. As soon as I would begin speaking, Chester would interrupt yet again. “Yes, Chester? I’m listening.” Chester had nothing to say. I’m very patient and I allowed him to continue to interrupt me, yet each time would ask him, “Are you finished now, Chester? Do you have anything else to say?” We did this quite a few times, but as I said, Chester was a very smart boy. Soon he realized that each time I would allow him to interrupt, I would then ask him what he wanted to say. When he realized that he had nothing to add to the conversation, he finally stopped interrupting. He learned to listen and not to interrupt other people because he realized for himself that it was not worth it.

One of Chester’s  favorite activities was to take his small toy cars and line them up in different configurations. At first Chester would ask repeatedly, “Is this nice?” And, at first, in an effort to build up his self-esteem, I would tell him that it was very nice. Pretty soon, however, I realized that Chester was merely playing with me. He didn’t want or need any affirmation of his abilities. He just wanted me to talk to him. The next time he asked me if it was nice, I said to him, “I don’t know Chester, is it nice?” He was so surprised that I asked him a question, the he stopped for a moment and thought about it. Then he answered, “Yes, it is nice.” We repeated this exercise several times. Before too much longer, Chester figured out that if he asked me that question, he would simply get it back, and he would have to answer it. Pretty soon he stopped asking that question.

Chester’s Introduction to Photography:

One day we were building an elaborate construction with many tunnels and bridges. When Chester became involved in this activity it was virtually impossible to break him away from the task. One day, I had a brainstorm. Because I always carry my camera with me, I offered to take a picture of Chester’s beautiful construction so that he would always remember what a fantastic construction we had created. He could then take the picture and show his parents and all his friends. This idea thrilled Chester. I took some pictures, which satisfied Chester’s desire to somehow keep his construction alive.

This is one example in which I discovered that using photography can sometimes give a child a feeling of value about his play. It makes a permanent record for him that his work can always be with him, and can be appreciated over and over again. This kind of validation is important to a child. As with my other children, Chester soon became very attached to the idea of me taking pictures with my camera and I began to use it quite often when we worked together. One day, Chester hurt his younger sister, as he was sometimes prone to doing. I happened to have my camera in my hand, and I took a picture of that behavior. Another really great idea occurred to me. I told Chester that not only were we going to record all the good things that Chester does in his life at home, but that we would also record some of the not so good behaviors as well. This idea thrilled Chester because he wanted to get rid of his bad behaviors but he didn’t know how to do it. Using the pictures of good and bad behaviors were going to help Chester learn now to behave better.

We decided to keep this idea a secret between Chester and me. I have discovered that children really enjoy keeping secrets, and this often guarantees a good measure of success. As this secret didn’t hurt anyone, and would eventually help Chester, I didn’t have a problem with it. Together, Chester and I declared a secret war on his bad behavior. We went to the store together and bought two folders, one black and one white. When we got home, we really got to work. I took pictures of Chester’s behavior, both good and bad. We also wrote down bad words Chester liked to say, then tore them up and threw them away in the garbage, all the while taking pictures of everything. Chester was very enthusiastic about preparing the folders for the pictures and was a very agreeable student when learning about good and bad behaviors. I had also discovered that using photography in this way can also help a child to develop other skills, such as cutting, coloring, measuring, gluing, etc. It can also be a great help for learning about colors, numbers, objects, and relationships. Any time I could, I used photography and all the peripheral skills to work with the children, and usually with very excellent results. As time went by, I had Chester evaluate the photographs and he had to choose which folder to put the pictures in it. This was an excellent opportunity for him to learn sorting while he also saw his good and bad behaviors captured in the photographs. Before very long, the white folder (the good folder) began to grow very thick, and the black folder was becoming thinner and thinner.

How Chester Became a Teacher:
Because Chester took to this activity so well, I searched my mind for other ways to incorporate photography with him. We decided to “open a school” where Chester could be the teacher. This was a role he especially adored. He liked to put his father’s hat on, take the pointer and teach me the letters that were hanging on the wall. I would deliberately have trouble understanding them to see how Chester would respond. He was amazingly patient with me, repeating them over and over again. We expanded our school to include Chester’s siblings and his toys. This was a terrific experience for Chester, because not only was he doing the right things for once, it also gave him an opportunity to talk all he wanted. This had always been a problem with Chester before, but now he had many things he could talk about that were interesting and beneficial subjects. He taught us letters, math, and geography. However, Chester’s favorite class to teach was discipline. In order to teach discipline, Chester would use his black folder that contained all the pictures of his bad behavior and he explained to us what the bad behavior was. Then he would demonstrate what good behavior was by showing us examples from the white folder.

How Chester Learned to Listen Books:
When I would read to Chester and his little sister, we had problems. His sister loved to listen to books. Chester didn’t know how to sit still and be quiet long enough to hear the story. He would interrupt me and start talking to himself. This made it very difficult for Chester to follow along with the story. After observing Chester for some time I discovered that he did know how to read some words. For example, he could recognize the word “pig”. So, when we read the story, “The Three Little Pigs” Chester would be responsible for the word “pig”. Every time the word “pig” occurred in the story, it was Chester’s responsibility to say it. Because Chester works so hard to support his image as a smart boy, he treated this duty very seriously. He watched the text of the story very carefully and every time we came across the word, “pig” he would read that word aloud. Fortunately, Chester’s sister was a very good listener, and she was willing to listen to the story over and over again. This was a good thing, because the next time we read the book, Chester had to read the word “pig” and the word “wolf” throughout the story. Soon Chester learned to love books and even asked to read to him. This got us to thinking that we needed to teach everyone how to read. We decided to make our own handmade ABCs. Both Chester and his sister used the camera to take pictures of one another creating different letters. Before much longer, Chester was using the camera for just about every aspect of his life. When the weather was nice we would go for walks, and take the camera with us. The pictures Chester took would serve to give him something to talk about, to “teach” during our next class session.

How Chester Became a Photographer

One day, Chester’s mother said that they would be going to a family wedding and they wanted me to accompany Chester to the wedding. Having had such good success with Chester and my use of photography, I asked Chester if he would like to learn to take pictures of a wedding. Again, this idea was very appealing to Chester. We didn’t have a lot of time to practice, so we had to make the most of the one session we were able to squeeze in before the wedding. I started with the basics. I taught Chester to take a picture of me by showing him how to look through the camera to see what he would be taking a picture of. I said, “Chester, when you see me, just push the button.” Once he mastered that first step, I then asked him to look more carefully and tell me where my hand was. I would cover one of my eyes with my hand, and when he would correctly tell me where my hand was, I had him take my picture. Then I would ask him what color my shoes were, but he had to look through the camera to find the answer. Then I told him to take a picture of me, my shoes, and my hand that covered my eye. It was a fun practice session and Chester did very well.
 
Then we played a little game I called, “What am I doing now?” I would smile, or touch my tongue to my nose. All the while, Chester would take pictures of me. While children take pictures, they learn a lot of important knowledge and skills. Chester learned to pay attention to details, to focus, and to concentrate. All of these behaviors were not part of the boy Chester was when I first met him. He learned all of them through the use of photography.
At the wedding, Chester was perfectly behaved. Everyone was doubtful about his ability to actually take good pictures. They were worried that he would take unnecessary pictures of things like the table legs, empty walls, parts of bodies, or shoes. I was the one who worried the most because we had only had the one practice session, and I hadn’t yet seen any of Chester’s pictures. As luck would have it, there was a delay in developing the film before the wedding. I put on a brave face, hoping that Chester was doing a good job of taking pictures at the wedding. He was perfectly behaved. Having the camera seemed to suit him. He was serious about his job as a photographer, but he was easy-going and good natured as he asked people to pose for him. Everyone who knew Chester recognized what a different boy he was, and they were pleased to pose for him.

Because I wasn’t sure how the photographs were going to turn out, I did take a few shots myself just to bolster Chester’s self-esteem should it be necessary, but I shouldn’t have worried. When the photographs were developed my heart leaped for joy. Chester seemed to be a natural-born photographer. They photographs of the wedding were excellent. For Chester, photography class was certainly his favorite. We put together a special album of the wedding pictures. I used this opportunity to help him learn different types of classification. We sorted the pictures according to the sequences of the event, to the number of people recorded in the picture, to the colors that people were wearing. Every time it would change depending on what Chester wanted to teach that day in class. We had a great many discussions that were sparked by those pictures. We talked about weddings, about family and relatives, clothes, food, and flowers. The use of photography is an excellent tool to attract a child’s attention. It is a phenomenal resource to develop language, visual skills, and imagination

Part III: Boat of Fear

Chapter 7: Boat of Fear

I now knew that I was destined to work with the special needs population and I decided to enter into the more formalized institutions that cared for such people. My introduction to working with special needs population in this setting occurred in the various institutions in the United States where people are placed who have either no family or no one and no way to care for them. All of the residents were special needs in some form or other, many of them autistic, Downs Syndrome, or mentally retarded in some way. I wanted to work with these people because I felt I could somehow make a difference in their lives. I also believed that the people who work there too have the best of motives as well. To my shock and dismay, that was not always the case.
Institutionalized special needs individuals do not always receive the best of care in terms of “teaching”. They were usually well cared for in terms of being fed, clean, and safe. What was lacking was any degree of human kindness or concern for those special needs people as individuals. I really wanted to make a difference, and I really believed I was supposed to do this work. I found out that my ideas and the ideas of my supervisors often did not coincide.

The Residence Home
The residence for autistic kids was located in a quiet, green, little street in a small neat house. The house was spotless inside and out. It had six bedrooms with cute curtains and matching bedspreads. The clothes for each of the residents were neatly folded in the dresser drawers or hung straight and neat on hangers in the closet. Shoes were neatly organized on the floor underneath the hanging clothes. One room was full of toys, and all the other rooms had no toys in them at all. The living room is where everyone spent much of their time when they were not eating or sleeping. There were no toys in this room. On the surface, this place looked to be so very neat and tidy, giving the impression of a neat and tidy organization.
 
In the center of the living room was a big television. Everything in this room was spotless and in its place. Just as everything had its place, every resident had his or her place in the living room as well. The staff member in charge was assigned the big chair across from the television. There were two couches in the room where the five resident kids would sit. One other resident kid sat on his special chair. And I had to sit on a chair by the table near the door.
How did I get there? Very simple.
I rocked the boat.
I saw this resident home as an ocean of problems and difficulties and when I went to work there, my ideas and suggestions “rocked the boat”. They only wanted someone who would come in and do exactly as they were told. The rest of the staff did not like it when I rocked the boat. They really preferred still water, no unusual movements. Their life was pretty predictable, and that was exactly the way they wanted to keep it. The team at that residence consisted of a female crew under the management of “Captain Fred”. Salary for direct care workers such as I was at that time was miserable. The main concern of the staff was to get as many hours as they can, often requiring overtime. Many of the workers put in sixty hours or more, having two and three jobs in order to stay ahead of their bills. Naturally, they didn’t want to rock the boat. They didn’t want to jeopardize their paycheck. So, they fell in line with the easiest way to get their job done and ensure their full paycheck.

When I came on the team, people became nervous. It became obvious pretty quickly that I had other things in mind than just keeping my job and getting my paycheck. Just finding a toy to settle one of the children was considered out of place. Practicing any initiative at all was not encouraged. At first I simply did not understand until one of my coworkers took me aside and explain to me, “You’re rocking the boat! Children should be fed, dressed, and kept safe. Anything else and you’re making life harder for the rest of us.”

When Fred hired me, he knew that he had taken a “white crow” onto the team. I was so designated, not only by the color of my skin, but my unusual attitude toward the children and the passion I had brought with me from New York. It was impossible for me to suppress my ideas. They were as much a part of me as breathing. I craved movement.  I craved change.

I wanted to put into effect the ideas I had brought along with me. Fred decided to take a risk in hiring me, but he warned me that I would meet with some “attitude” from the older workers. However, my desire to work with autistic and special needs kids was so strong that nothing could stop me, certainly not any “attitude” from a coworker.
 
My determination did falter a bit when Fred took me around to the various residences because everything in that organization was the same. The homes were beautifully kept, everything in its proper place, and all the resident children were placed in front of the television in the living room with the staff member in charge in the big chair in front of the television as well. They were doing nothing but watching TV. When they were not eating or sleeping, they were all parked in front of the TV. I still thought I could bring some sort of spark of life into the lives of these children, so I took the job.
 
I had a lot of optimism and enthusiasm when I first started working in resident homes with autistic children. I felt that I could put to use some of what I had learned and make the lives of these children better. I was also willing to work with the other staff members and help them realize just how much power they had to make a change in the lives of those children as well. It did not take long for the complaints to come in. Fred told me that while I seemed to be doing a good job, the other staff members did not like me. Their main complaint was that I “think too much”. I tried it their way, truly I did.
 
I stayed a few Saturdays in front of the TV just observing life for these kids. It did not take me long to realize that this situation was not going to change. They were doomed to face endless hours, days, months, even years stuck in front of a television as their only diversion from life. I asked Fred for a meeting. I wanted to share some of my ideas with him, hoping that if I could persuade him to let me try, he could somehow persuade my coworkers to try my ideas.

His major concern was that if I were to bring my Nikon camera into the home and let one of the kids use it, they would likely break it. He feared they could be liable for replacing my broken camera. Other than that, he seemed to support my ideas. I asked for permission to work individually with the children, but this request was ignored. It took very little time for me to understand my place in the boat. Eventually I had nothing to do but to join the children. Whatever I tried to do always brought some sort of negative reaction from the staff, so after a time of being beaten into submission myself, I took my seat in the boat, sitting motionlessly and silently in front of the TV.

Usually everything was peaceful and quiet in our boat, and the staff really liked that. Our boat was becalmed, we didn’t move, we just sat and watched movies on Channel 20. Those movies were about topics that ranged from murder, to sex, one scene following another and they were so dismally similar to one another that I could not easily determine one movie from another. The rest of my coworkers, however, never tired from watching them and focused totally on the plot and got very angry if they were disturbed for any reason.

There you have it, the whole cast of characters. The main staff member who runs the show sitting in a deep, soft chair in front of the television, and all the children in their assigned places and then me, a source of trouble, relegated to sitting on the small table by the door. At first I wasn’t sure what I should do in this place. I couldn’t read because that was considered to be an inappropriate activity during work hours. Then I spotted our mission statement on the wall. It read: To provide each individual with autism the education and training necessary to develop to his or her fullest potential in a caring environment.
I thought of my daughter when she was small. She was extremely active and as soon as she learned to talk she did as most children do, asked question after question. When she could read she asked me questions about everything she could read. In my country, Soviet slogans and mottos became torture for me because my daughter would ask me questions about them, usually in a very public place like on a train or at a bus stop. I always felt the pressure of the people around me as they waited to see how I would manage to answer her very innocent questions. Her inquisitiveness, however, was normal. Forcing children to sit in front of a television hour after hour, day after day, was doing nothing to make a difference in their lives. Sitting on that table, I wondered what I would say if one of the children would ask me to explain to him what that mission statement meant. One of the boys, Toni, was always a problem for the staff. They complained because they felt he was a liar. As I read that mission statement over and over, I wondered how I could explain it to Toni without being a liar myself.

Toni
Toni was a smart, verbal 11 year-old boy who actually enjoyed watching television. He preferred the children’s’ videos, but he was not allowed to watch them very often because that would have interfered with the programs the staff wanted to watch. The staff always seemed to find something wrong with Toni’s behavior, and they deprived him of watching his favorite videos as their discipline method. Because of this, Toni could do nothing but go along with the shows on Channel 20. I noticed that Toni paid very close attention to the love scenes on the programs and even tried to comment on them. Toni had ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder on top of an already difficult life. He had been neglected by his natural parents and was then adopted. He was very attached to his adopted family, but when he was in the residence, he sat in front of the television. He did get to go home with his adopted family nearly every weekend, but by the time his visit was over and he had to return to the residence home, he would come back upset and in tears.

Ian
The next child on the couch was Ian, who sat next to Toni. Ian talked to himself all the time. He was constantly having some sort of conversation with someone who was apparently telling him jokes because Ian laughed most of the time. He very obviously enjoyed the communications. Unfortunately, the staff considered Ian to be dangerous because one of them heard him say that he would kill everyone. They never considered that it could be that he was merely repeating some of the dialogue from Channel 20. As long as Ian did not talk loudly, he was OK. But if Ian’s talking ever disturbed the television viewers, he would get a verbal reprimand. Ian always obeyed because he knew that after the verbal reprimand, there would be a physical one if he did not obey.

Roberto
The other couch had room for some of the other children, and the first was Roberto. He was a blind, nonverbal boy who always sat in the corner of the couch, rocking his leg like a baby and smiled to himself. Most of the time Roberto had a really sweet smile, and sometimes he would even laugh to himself. I often wondered if he could see something inside his own thoughts, something more interesting than was on that television. The rest of the staff, however, always thought that Roberto was only laughing because someone else had gotten into trouble and he was getting pleasure from that.

Jerek
The other corner of Roberto’s couch belonged to Jerek when he was out of his chair. If a blue ribbon were awarded for trouble-making, Jerek would have been the one to get that prize. He had huge blue eyes on a very narrow face, extra large ears that stuck out almost parallel to his skinny small body. But it was his smile that got me. Jerek had the most charming smile. When I first saw him, it was not just a smile, but a whole speech. Jerek could “tell” me he was very happy to see me just by his smile. He was so obviously glad when I would come. He loved me a great deal and wanted me to be with him. Actually, Jerek would behave this way to any newcomer…but he never responded this way to the regular staff because he was always afraid of them.
When I was first at the residence, I was not aware of the rules. I found Jerek impossible to resist, and so initially I gave him my full attention. Even though there was not much around to play with, we made do with what we could find. Jerek was very happy with anything I gave to him to play with. He was a 16 year-old stuck in the body of a six year-old, with the brain mentality of a sixteen month-old. Essentially, Jerek was a sixteen month-old baby stuck in a sixteen year-old’s body. Once while we were playing, Jerek tried to curl up in my lap just like a little sixteen month-old would do. Suddenly we were both reprimanded by the staff member in charge.
“Jerek, get in your chair!”
Jerek obediently went to his chair, a regular wooden chair set apart from the couch. After a little bit, he was right back next to me. He was verbally reprimanded again. “Jerek! Did you hear what I said? Get back in your chair and sit on your hands.” Jerek immediately sat in the chair, on his hands, but again, just seconds later he was out of the chair again, and was trying to move the wooden chair closer to me. This time the voice of the staff member was thunderous and even frightened me. “Jerek! No!” The staff member took the chair, placed it in the middle of the room, directly in front of the television, and Jerek was placed in the chair. I chose to leave the room in order not to escalate the situation any more. Part of the “voice” the staff member used with Jerek was obviously directed at me as well. I have never been one to give up easily. I thought that if Jerek really enjoyed something, I would try to make it possible for him to have new toys. To me, it was obvious that he liked the texture of things so that he could investigate them. I asked the manager of the residence if I could bring some plastic books for Jerek, they were colorful, durable, and had pages that produced a subtle sound and were chemically safe for children. I knew that Jerek would really enjoy working with those books. But the manager shot down my idea immediately. She said that such a book was not an appropriate activity for Jerek. She didn’t feel that a sixteen year-old boy should be playing with “baby books”. Apparently she was not well instructed on the importance of providing age appropriate reading material to new readers. It really didn’t matter that Jerek was sixteen, his mind wasn’t, and it was his mind that would have been reading the books.

It turned out that the only appropriate activity for Jerek was to sit in his chair for hours on end, sitting on his hands with his legs down. If Jerek happened to get his chair close to the door, he would entertain himself by pecking at the door or by licking the glass, but once a staff member realized Jerek was in a “forbidden” spot, he would be moved to his established place. The only thing Jerek was allowed to touch was his chair, so he took to pecking at the back of his own chair. All the toys he had were thrown away because they “caused too many problems.”

Mary
Between Jerek and Roberto on the couch was Mary. This young lady was a very hard client. She was restless. In spite of being on large doses of medication, she was still very restless. Mary wanted very much to move around, but her freedom was restricted to the living room and a part of the kitchen that joins with the living room. Depending on what staff was present at any given time, Mary had differing degrees of freedom. Sometimes she could move from one part of the floor to another, change couches, sneak to the bathroom to get some water from the commode or toss a piece of cloth with her hands. There were times when Mary’s movements were very restricted. She was not allowed to have anything in her hands, and she was not allowed to leave her assigned place. As soon as Mary realized that, she would find other ways to entertain herself. She would click her tongue in different rhythms but she was always reprimanded for this because it disturbed the staff member’s television viewing enjoyment. Then, Mary would start to rock herself. At first it is mild and not very noticeable, but she would then rock more and more violently and pretty soon would accompany the rocking with a terrible noise that would get a verbal reprimand from the staff member. Mary could usually then sit for a time, perhaps still feeling the inertia of her rocking inside of her, but when it stopped, she was ready for something else. She would suddenly erupt off the chair, race toward the television, turn it off, and run back to her place on the couch, shouting triumphantly, “Ha!” She was really only doing what I wanted to do myself. Mary was not a clumsy child at all. When she would sit between Roberto and Jerek she would make sure that she never touched them. She was very aware of invading their space in any way, and always treated her peers with great respect. If Jerek or Roberto tried to get on Mary by putting their heads on her lap she would never get irritated, she would just move them away from her space. Her movements were always gentle, as if saying, “Again you bother me, silly boys. Leave me alone, mind your own business.” I always found it so sad that Mary was never treated by the staff the way she treated the other residents of the home.

How to Make a Difference?
 
To be perfectly fair, the direct care worker is underpaid and overworked. They are required to take care of the kids, the facility, dispense medication, drive residents to and from appointments, among many other tasks. They all do this for between $8.00 and $10.00 an hour. If they do anything wrong they get into trouble and risk losing their job. If they do a “good” job, they get more hours so that they can more easily pay their bills.
My own experience has mirrored that of many other enthusiastic direct care workers. They try hard to make a difference for the kids in their care, but because they’re rocking the boat, so to speak, they get into trouble and risk losing their jobs. Facilities such as these do a good job at keeping the kids safe from harm. They just were not the best environment to give those kids the very best care and teaching possible. Somehow, sitting on that little table and staring at the mission statement and seeing all those kids around that it was natural that reality started to fade away and my imagination started taking over.
All sorts of ideas and dreams started to develop. In my mind I began to organize my thoughts about organizing the photoprogram in that place and I made up different plots and scenarios of how I could use my PhotoBooks. It began to occur to me that no one who worked there knew what was going on in the minds of the residents. Perhaps Roberto, who was so happy in his own little world, spending hours watching his rocking leg was actually somewhere else. Perhaps his leg was something else, much like that little table became for me.

That little table was the island where I retreated after getting off the boat I had started rocking. Boats exist by specific rules, and move in specific directions, and although it sounds perfect when one reads the mission statement, there is an absolutely different reality in the day to day activities of that place. I dreamed of a place where there is no control, no rules, no laws, and where everything is quite possible. I started to wonder what would happen if all of our assumptions were wrong.

What IF…most of our assumptions were wrong. What IF Roberto laughed for some reason other than someone getting in trouble. What IF Toni’s inventiveness, and Ian’s imagination, and Jerek’s curiosity and readiness, and Mary’s gentleness and generosity could be signs of something very different than what the staff members see? What IF They can?

What if Mary, Jerek, or Roberto understood everything, but could do nothing about their situation? Something needed to be changed. This chapter is called the Boat of Fear because everyone is in a boat and they are afraid of someone rocking it. Fear is in charge of everyone.
Kids are afraid of the staff.
Staff is afraid of their bosses.
Bosses are afraid of higher authorities, benefactors, and parents.
Fear regulates everything.

It is time that something else started to regulate things, because fear is not working. I realized, after working in numerous Boats of Fear, that I needed to do something different, that I somehow had to make a difference. Developing my PhotoBook program is my contribution to this difference.

Chapter 8 – Dreams on the Table

Hopes and Dreams
While I spent hour after hour sitting on that little table, I made the biggest decision of my life. While I was working in the “Boat”, I could be told what to do and where I could do it. They couldn’t tell me what I could think and hope and dream. I began to visualize ways that I could make a difference, and I mean really make a difference. I thought about Bettina, my 300-pound Down Syndrome friend. I was sure there was something I could have done for her if I’d only had the chance. As I sat on that table I began to fantasize about ways I could have helped Bettina. Because of her passion for food and her desire for money it occurred to me that she could be trained to participate in a program where she would work for a restaurant who hired people with disabilities. There was a lot she could do! I could accompany her and take pictures of the various steps for each task she would have to perform. By looking at those pictures, Bettina could teach herself and reinforce what she learned. I already knew that Bettina’s behavior could be modified and I believed I could find ways to motivate her to work. Once I gave myself permission to think in this manner, my imagination really took off!

Thoughts

When I discuss a photograph with someone, I get so much information out of them; much more than if I just tried to get answers to questions that I ask. Interacting with a special needs person requires my full concentration on that person. If I know nothing about him, my questions are just general and can sometimes seem pretty pointless. But, when we discuss photographs, the information I’m able to get amazes me. At the very least, I’m able to see how aware that individual is of me, I am able to make a determination of their level of functioning so I would know what tasks would be appropriate in our PhotoBook work for them. I’ve also discovered that when you give a camera to several people who share the same environment and experiences, they all take pictures of different things because each person has individualized interests and tastes. Their photos reflect a lot about their personalities and I’d already seen how well it worked in a special needs population. It was one of the best self-expressive tools I’ve ever used.
 
Using photography as a tool gives value beyond measure. When I first started with my three guys, we were still using film cameras. With today’s digital cameras and computer picture printing available at home, special needs population individuals can connect with others in ways they never considered before. Using photography as a tool when working with special needs people showed tremendous promise to me.
As I sat in my place on the table, my experiences with my experiences with my three guys, with DAVID and Misha, with Bettina, and with my friend Chester kept running through my mind. I almost became fevered with all the ideas that I had during that time. Somewhere along the line in my musings I suddenly thought of creating PhotoBooks. So far I had used cameras, photography, and photographs as ways to encourage learning or changing behavior, but what if those photographs were put into a book form? The special needs person would be photographer, writer and artist. They would create a book, something tangible, something they could read over and over again, something that could even be used to instruct others at a later date. My special needs person could then become a teacher as my friend Chester had! Not only would they spend time learning and enjoying themselves, but for the very first time they would be productive by actually creating something.
The more I thought about my ideas, the more I recognized how important this idea could be. I’ve often wondered if I should have gone on to school to become a therapist or a counselor so that I would have more of an official standing when working with the special needs population. There are times, when doors kept closing because I had no professional standing, that it seemed to be the best idea. But then, I’d lose my focus, which is the special needs person that I’m currently with. I’d always be worried about the next patient I’d be seeing, rather than remaining focused on the person I was with at the time.

Facing Adversity

It would appear that I had to face a certain amount of adversity before I realized the true potential of my PhotoBook idea. Stepping up to a new and challenging situation can often help people to realize their new potential. I know for myself, I am uncomfortable speaking in front of large groups of people. But, when I hold that camera in my hands, suddenly I can do things I never believed I could. Much like the time Chester went to the wedding as a “photographer”. Usually a very mischievous boy who is constantly misbehaving, Chester was quite a different boy when he was given the responsibility to take good photographs of the wedding. He was able to get people to pose for his pictures, get them to listen to his direction, and allowed him to do his job. I saw a lot of myself in Chester, and his example helped me to realize the full potential of my PhotoBook ideas. No Specialized Training is Needed

As my PhotoBook idea continued to grow, it became evident that this, the PhotoBook idea, can be undertaken by anyone! You don’t need any special training. You don’t have to be a therapist, counselor, or even a photographer. If you have a special needs person that you love and you’d like to start making a difference, developing a PhotoBook idea is your answer. I am a professional photographer, and I actually learned this lesson the hard way. Because of my training I worked very hard to improve the quality of my pictures. I learned about photography, I bought good cameras, better lenses, tried to improve lighting, and even enrolled myself in the Institute of Photography. Now, my favorite camera is the Point and Shoot or PHD (Push Here Dummy as the pros call it). It is now my preference because I believe it can create miracles, it helps me to see miracles, and it keeps me from thinking too much of myself and my abilities. Actually, there was one instance when I felt I’d been given a sign to stop using the fancy cameras. Three times I took my professional camera to take some pictures and every time something strange happened and I was not able to take any pictures. I’ve learned to consider what message I’m being given whenever something like this happens. This time the message was obvious: “Put away the complicated camera, forget about distance, sharpness, diaphragm, etc. Take the PHD camera and join your friend Chester in his fun!” That is exactly what I did.
 
The thing I realized is that human beings can see before they ever talk. With our eyes we form relationships with our world and the people in it. All this happens long before we can ever verbalize anything. It only makes sense to use more of a visual tool for special needs people who have trouble speaking, verbalizing, or communicating at all. I’ve seen how a nonverbal person responds to a photograph. They recognize objects and people in the photograph, they have emotional responses when they look at it. For me, using photography has been on e of the best tools I’ve ever used when met with a communication challenge. I believe it is possible that a camera and the photographs it produces can finally bridge that gap. For the person who cannot talk, the camera can become a friend, an ally. The camera can open up a path to knowledge that was previously blocked off.

Create Motivation WITH the Camera

What about a child who is completely immersed in his own little world? You can’t reach him. Are you positive? Without going into a lengthy psychological explanation about “self”, let me just assure you that most people are interested in themselves.
Here’s an example: Here is an autistic child sitting in a chair, completely self-absorbed, possibly stimming, certainly in his own little world. Here comes the goofy photographer trying to get his attention first by jumping around with a camera saying, “Please! Look at me! Look at me!” Finally the child pays attention to the annoying person who won’t leave him alone. Click. There, he just made eye contact with the camera. Now I show him his own face on the back of the camera. Wow!! Now he is interested. What if you take it a step further? What if you are making a book, and you put a caption under this picture that he’s already seen once…a caption that says, “Here’s Sam, he’s my friend!” Snap! Another picture is taken of Sam eating his favorite kind of pizza. Now you make a caption under that new picture that says, “Here is Sam who LOVES pepperoni pizza!” Wow! Again, he’s interested! Of course he is! It relates to him! Then the next time that moving annoying object is in front of his face, Sam is going to actually express a little more interest in looking at the object than he was before. Each time you’ve created yet another page of your PhotoBook. Here is Mom cooking Sam’s favorite macaroni and cheese. Here is Dad, grinning from ear to ear while he tickles Sam who is giggling. As these experiences grow, so too, does the book. But even more importantly, the child’s awareness about him and his life will grow. He will learn new skills. Meet new people. Understand more about his world and perhaps even expand his world. Wouldn’t you like that? That’s what I was thinking as I sat on my table in the “Boat”. I’d like that too. It was time for me to make a change. I would never be able to create PhotoBooks like the ones I had created in my mind while I still worked in an institution like the group home I was in. I would have to seek out a better way to work with special needs individuals on a one-on-one basis.

Moderating Behavior 
Taking photographs of good and bad behavior, as I did with Chester, helped to redirect and correct inappropriate social behavior. After a time, All I had to do when Chester was misbehaving was to pretend that I was taking his picture. Usually that is all I needed to do to remind him which folder this “picture” would go into

 Group Projects
What about using the PhotoBook projects as group projects? Everyone has a set of skills at which they excel, and another set where they probably need help. Why not use the group dynamic where those who are more skilled at certain activities help those who need it? This would provide more opportunities for interpersonal interaction, a chance to learn to work cooperatively with other people in a safe environment. It could certainly improve social capabilities, again in a safe environment.
 
What I Learned

Something else I realized; every time I worked with a special needs person, I had a specific idea what I wanted to teach them that day. It took until I was sitting on the table, trying to survive my ride in the boat when I realized that they very likely had taught me a great deal more than I ever taught them.
In Part IV of this book I’ll be sharing some of the PhotoBook ideas I used with some of my clients. Then in Part V I’ll share with you some ideas on how you can begin to plan and create your very own PhotoBooks. Finally, Part VI will show óou how one teacher took these ideas and turned her classroom from a chaotic and noisy mess into a peaceful and fun teaching environment.

Part IV: Journey into Open Waters -Building the Thematic PhotoBook Idea

Chapter 9 -My Big Little World

This next story demonstrates the full power of the use of Thematic PhotoBooks. I found numerous ways to incorporate photography and the creation of books from those photographs in ways that would expand a world that for this little girl was extremely limited because of her illness.
 
Kate
My next client is a very special one. Kate is a young girl who has plenty of challenges but she never allows them to interfere with her enthusiasm for life. Kate has a physical condition that prevents her from going too far away from home, and yet on her local excursions, she fully embraces the opportunity to experience something new. Overall, Kate’s enthusiasm for life and new experiences make each day a new adventure for both of us. Kate is such a brave girl and never complains, even when she is in a great deal of pain. That admiration of her made me want to use every minute of our time
together productively. Once the physical crisis is over, she is back with a huge smile on her face, eager for our next activity. This precious 12-year-old girl is always ready for life and the joy it brings.
Fortunately for Kate, she lives with a very loving family who is tremendously supportive of her. They are always ready to supply her with anything that interests her. Her home is full of toys, books, and any possible activity. She is a very lucky girl to live in such an environment. Kate is a brave, patient girl, and is always an agreeable person. She is always so willing to please others that she sometimes forgets to think of herself as a person who has her own desires. So, I decided to try to help her to develop her own identity by defining her preferences and increase her initiative.
I hoped Kate could enhance her life experience, to help her make her life more full and rich. One time I asked Kate to tell me three things that upset her and three things that make her happy. She thought about this for a bit and then told me four things that make her happy, but she could not come up with one thing that made her sad. Such a child can only make you feel amazed. I was very blessed to work with Kate, to try to increase her happy times, adding new things to enrich her life and give her more happy moments. For such a young person, she bears her fragile health with bravery, and her strong spirit has always been a great inspiration to me. I hope her story will inspire you too.

Goals for Photo Activities
As we worked together, it came out that Kate and I both have a deep love and passion for photography. Initially, our goal with Kate was just to explore the world of photography for a bit. When I showed her my camera, she told me her parents had recent  bought a digital camera for her so that she could take as many pictures as she likes. All of her original pictures were very simple. As with most children, she had no concept of composition, or of framing a subject. For her, it was enough to point the camera and shoot the picture.
Our next surprise was that both Kate and I had a great love of books. What a wonderful realization that we shared two major interests. Obviously, this made Kate an excellent candidate for our PhotoBook program. She already had a good understanding of the use of the camera, as well as a great love of photography. With a little bit of encouragement and guidance, I knew that I could teach Kate so much about her world. Kate loves nature and animals. She especially enjoys being out-of-doors, but her condition does keep her confined to a stroller. I decided to encourage her to go outdoors more often in her stroller by taking what we called “phototrips”, just taking walks around her neighborhood to give her an opportunity to take pictures of the area where she lives. I really had a bigger purpose in mind and this provided a special opportunity to motivate Kate to learn more and to try more. As Kate learned more about taking pictures, she took better and better shots. My heart rejoiced as her pride in her work increased.
You see, at home, Kate does not move very much. By getting her outside more, and getting her interested in things she sees outside, I hoped to encourage Kate to become a little more physically active; without telling her to do things, but by giving her opportunities to do things she wanted to do. Learning to take better pictures required that Kate have more of a reason to become more active, to bend over, move up and down, move closer to an object or further away in order to create the pictures she wanted. As Kate began to pay more attention to her surroundings, she began to see her neighbourhood differently as a very interesting place. She noticed the many beautiful houses, the flowers and different kinds of trees, and the decorations people use to make their homes and gardens more unique and beautiful. Kate and I photographed all of those newly interesting things in the neighborhood. Surprisingly, despite the fact that we were limited in how far we could go, we always managed to find something new and exciting to photograph. Nature lovers understand that every day brings new things and even every moment the sun move behind a cloud or from behind a cloud and can change the light on a subject and get a completely different picture of the same object. Holiday decorations can also change the way a place looks. With all these opportunities, we certainly keep plenty busy.

One of the goals with our PhotoBook activities was to help Kate improve her reading skills, her recognition of shapes, and her counting skills. By using words that were specific to what the picture was showing, we were able to improve some of Kate’s skills and knowledge while increasing her vocabulary. Kate and I share a love of books and a love of photography. Kate also had one other passion. As with some of my other children, Kate wanted to be a teacher and that put me in the position of being her student. I am always agreeable to this kind of role reversal. This can sometimes give the child an opportunity to be in charge and at other times, a child actually learns more when they teach a concept. With Kate, I discovered that being her student was really pretty boring with the endless worksheets she had me do. This helped to enlighten me and gave me extra motivation to try to create a more pleasant and fun learning experience for Kate. We decided to create our learning materials together. We talked about creating learning PhotoBooks that other students might actually use. I still have hopes of getting the PhotoBooks we worked on to her school so that other children might learn through Kate’s experiences.

Our first Thematic Photobook was entitled How to Make Good Pictures. Because this was our first book together, I taught Kate how to take pictures. First I would show her by demonstrating how to hold the camera, how to aim at her subject, and how to take the picture. Then I would take pictures of Kate demonstrating what she had just learned. Together we talked about how other students could use her book to learn the same thing, how to take good pictures. This was very exciting for Kate; the idea that something that she worked on and created could actually be used to teach other children.
Kate participated fully in the creation of this PhotoBook by taking pictures herself and by posing for other pictures that would be used in the book. We talked about the right way and the wrong way to take pictures and included examples of these in our book. Each time we went out, we had more pictures to add to her book. Again, Kate’s family was so tremendously supportive of this endeavor, by providing Kate with a beautiful bookcase in which to put the books she was creating. We also displayed the successful pictures Kate took during our trips. This gave everyone an opportunity to see how her picture taking skills kept getting better and better. This tangible display of Kate’s accomplishment was very pleasant to her and important to me. As you can see, by spending enough time with Kate to get her comfortable with the entire process of creating a Photobook she was able to learn new skills, expand her vocabulary, improve her counting and reading skills, and learn important but abstract concepts such as same/different, and the passage of time. Kate’s life became immeasurably enriched through the use of Photobook development and creation based on her daily life. It is essential to involve the child in the most familiar of tasks and environments. That way they begin to see their world with a whole different perspective. Through the eye of a camera, the world does look different.
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Chapter 10 -My Life in PhotoBooks

Yan:
My next little friend was named Yan. When I met him, he was eight years old and would literally do nothing all day long. He would sit motionless in an armchair for hours. From time to time he would play with his hands, but he was completely in his own little world. From time to time others would try to distract Yan, but no one could reach him.
By this time I had been working a lot with my camera, and when I was around Yan I would very casually take a picture of him. I would work around him, seeing if there were some way I could reach him. I was very patient with Yan, and we did this day after day with no results, but I kept at it. I just wanted him to feel comfortable around me. The day that I finally made actual eye contact with Yan was a red letter day for me! I was overjoyed. He actually followed the movement of the toy that I was using to try to capture his attention. My patience had paid off. This was the beginning of a very long journey between the two of us, and my camera would complete the trio.
The day after Yan first made eye contact with me I brought some pictures of him, his brothers and sisters, and of his parents. One by one, I showed him the photographs and told him about who was in the pictures. “Look, Yan, in this one you are smiling. I really like this one. I think you really like the snack that your Mama brought you. Is it your favorite?” I would talk quietly to Yan about each picture. At first Yan would give me little response, but every once in a while, Yan would show just the tiniest bit of interest. As a photographer, I have developed a sixth sense where I know when someone is interested in what I am saying or doing. For most people, this is easily missed, but for me, it was a signal to keep right on talking.
On Yan’s ninth birthday, his mother had a party for him. She had invited many guests who came to celebrate with Yan, bringing him presents. It was a very festive day, where there was food and birthday cake, music and dancing. All through this event I took pictures. I took pictures of Yan as he smiled at his cake. I took pictures of the people who had come to celebrate with him, pictures of his brothers and sisters, pictures of his parents. I took a great many pictures of the event and that night I went home to put together a picture-book of Yan’s birthday. That was one of my very first photobooks.
I chose to use hard cardboard for the base of each page because it was easier for Yan to handle, much easier than just pasting the pictures to a piece of paper. I glued pictures to the cardboard, and then labeled them with who was in the pictures. I put cute little captions below the photographs so that Yan would remember who celebrated his special day with him. When I took the book to Yan’s house the next day, everyone was actually shocked to see how happy Yan appeared in those pictures. It was very obvious that he enjoyed the attention of everyone who came, and he was actively involved in opening his presents. By looking at Yan through the eyes of my camera by looking at the photobook that I created with those pictures, everyone saw a very different child than they usually see when they look at Yan.
When Yan and I read a book together, I insist that he be involved as I read to him, so I had Yan turn the pages of the book for me. Having begun this practice, I sat down with Yan beside me and had him turn the pages of his very own photobook about his birthday party. I realized here that this was a very profound and powerful activity. I have seen time and again how children react and respond to their own photograph. Here, I had created an entire book about Yan and he was absolutely fascinated with it. It was the most animated anyone had seen him in a very long time.
Another time we went to the Botanical Garden and again I took my camera. As Yan interacted with the flowers and plants there, I snapped pictures. I took photographs of Yan with the climbing trees, and I took pictures of him smelling flowers. Later, when I showed these photographs to Yan’s mother and father they were very impressed, because they had no idea that Yan could do such a thing. Each time we took a field trip somewhere, I made sure that I brought my camera and I took many pictures. Little by little we soon created an entire library of Yan’s life and pretty soon Yan would willingly pose for some of the pictures because he knew that they were going to be put in a book about him. When Yan started working with the ABA teachers, they were able to show Yan just how capable he really is based on his behaviour in all of his photobooks. Without the witness of those books, it would be hard for anyone to realize just how rich his life was.
Up to now, I had been the photographer for the photobooks. Yan knew I was taking pictures, but he accepted this as passively as he accepted pretty much everything else in his life. One day, Yan’s family decided to go to the zoo and this was an exciting event for Yan because he loved animals so. Again, I took my camera along and took pictures of Yan as he looked at the animals, and as usual, I took pictures of Yan’s brothers and sisters as well. As we were walking along, Yan climbed up onto a fence and motioned to me with his hand, “telling” me to take his picture. This was a breakthrough!
Never before had Yan expressed any interest in choosing which pictures should be taken. The only initiative Yan had ever taken about anything was to ask for food when he was hungry. Somehow, Yan managed to point at the camera and then point back at himself. I could hardly believe it. “Yan, would you like for me to take your picture?” I have learned to talk to all special needs people, and allow them the dignity of asking permission. Yan answered me with a huge smile! His mother was there and she was as stunned as I was. She was even more amazed when she realized that he was looking straight at the camera.
Somehow, taking all those photos that had been put into his previous photobooks had shown Yan how he was seen by the rest of the world, and how his brothers and sisters and everyone else was seen by the rest of the world. Something had triggered this awareness in Yan’s mind, and I used this information to my advantage time and time again. That picture was a result of our collaboration. It was also a changing point. From that point forward, Yan became an active participant in the process of creating his

Photobook library of his life.

I brought the new photobook the next day when I went to work with Yan. I had decided to consider that the photobooks need to be themed, and called this one “Trip to the Zoo.” Yan and I read the book together, with Yan turning the pages as I had asked him to. Sometimes Yan would show no emotion when he looked at pictures of his favorite monkeys or when he saw his older brother riding a horse. It was actually very difficult to tell which concepts Yan was able to perceive and how much information he could actually process. For me, the main goal was to get Yan interested in looking at the books for when he did this, he was able to form positive emotional attachments to things that are pictured in the book. As we looked at some of his other books showing Yan his favorite food, or an interesting trip they have taken, or Yan’s birthday party with the cake and presents, Yan repeated his experience of pleasant things. By going over the Photobooks over and over again, he was able to reinforce the pleasant associations and memories that he experienced and were captured on film.
As we continued to work together on the creation of our Photobooks, I was very careful to move slowly and carefully with Yan. I really did want him to take a more active role in the creation of his books by actually posing for the pictures. “Please, Yan, show me your new shoes.” And as Yan posed, I took a picture of his new shoes. “How would you like for me to take a picture of your new book, Yan?” and Yan would smile and hold up his new book. When Yan got a new haircut, I asked him to pose so that we could document the event. “Yan, we need a picture of your brand-new haircut. Aren’t you handsome?” By voluntarily posing for the pictures, Yan participated in the creation of the Photobooks.

The next step was to actually get Yan to help illustrate and decorate the Photobooks. I asked him to help me. “Yan, we need to put some stickers on your new book so that it looks prettier.” Yan was learning to work with stickers. He could also color pages, cut pieces of paper, and anything else that fit his skill level. I was very careful not to ask Yan to do something that is beyond his capabilities. On weekends, Yan’s family gathered together. They were a very close-knit family and it warmed my heart to see them together. Yan’s dad was usually home on the weekends as well, and for Yan, who rarely saw his dad, this was special indeed for he loved his dad very much. Yan shared his Photobooks with his dad, which allowed his dad to see Yan actually interacting with other children. It also showed Yan’s dad what Yan had been doing the preceding week. What a powerful tool my Photobooks had become for Yan. It was a new device he used to communicate with his dad, the man he loved so very much. This was terrific motivation for Yan to continue to work on a new Photobook every week, each time working on new skills, or areas where Yan needed to develop. Yan's world expanded each time we worked on a PhotoBook, and I insisted that he be part of creating this reflection of his world. In this way, Yan became more aware of the world, which became more interesting and richer the more he learned about it.
Before we can talk, we can see and observe our environment. We actually form relationships with the things that we see even before we can form the words to verbalize our understanding of what we see. I discovered that because of this relationship with our visual sense, people who have trouble speaking can respond to pictures. They can actually recognize items in pictures, and working with pictures is a great way to engage people who are nonverbal. The availability of a digital camera and a computer can go a long way toward communicating between verbal and nonverbal people.

The main idea was that Yan was involved in creating his own world reflected in the pictures. His world was now his friend, his entertainer, his teacher helping him to perceive his world. It helped Yan to become more aware of the world, making it richer and more interesting to him. What was so difficult for me when working with Yan was trying to get his family involved. He had a very loving family, and they loved him dearly, but to them he was nothing more than a cute pet. I would beg the family to get more involved in his life, especially on the weekends when his father was available, but they so firmly believed that Yan was in the hands of professionals that they did not dare to do anything different. Yan was capable of feeding and dressing himself, yet his mother insisted on feeding and dressing him herself. I spent two years with Yan, and I felt that I really go to know him and what he was capable of doing. Even after I left for another position, I would visit Yan, and anytime I would join the family, he would want to sit next to me.
 
One time when I was working with Yan he resisted the food I was trying to get him to eat. I thought about for a bit, knowing that his mother had a new baby. I asked Yan, “Do you miss your Mama? Do you want your Mama to feed you?”  then explained to him that he needed to say, “Mama, Mama.” I repeated it several times and finally he actually said, “Mama” all by himself. This was remarkable because Yan was essentially nonverbal saying only things like, “Ba” and “Da”. Another time Yan surprised us with his abilities. His mother had hidden the clothes iron in the closet because Yan had tried to touch it. Later, when she needed the iron, she could not remember where she had put it. She was only talking to herself, asking, “Where did I put the iron?” Yan went to the closet and brought the iron to his mother.

For a nonverbal child, Yan can surprise us by saying things in entire sentences, but only when he was very angry. It made me wonder if speech actually existed inside of his head. I would watch Yan when people around him were having a conversation and he would follow the conversation and smile appropriately at the right times, as if he really understood the conversation.
When I first started making pictures for Yan, I would make some basic pictures and hang them on the wall of his room. One day when I was helping him to get ready to eat and he resisted me. I offered several things to him and still he resisted. Finally I took him to his room and said, “Show me what you want.” Yan grabbed a picture with a bottle of water, and indeed I had forgotten to give him some water. It took me a long time to get his ABA teacher to believe that he can actually see and understand photographs. This was a time when I realized that I really had to treat Yan like a little boy, who may have autism, but who may indeed be stuck inside of his own head, unable to communicate, but really wanting to. My desire to make a difference really became strong after my experiences with Yan.

Chapter 11 -Fantasy PhotoBooks

The Power of Imagination
 
Perhaps you've heard about “imagining” your success in something. It is a technique that has long been used by sports trainers and motivational speakers for many years. They believe that your imagination has tremendous power to change your reality. Recently, an article in Psychological Science shared the results of two psychologists, Christopher Davoli and Richard Abrams from Washington University. The results of their study suggest that our imagination could be more powerful than we ever thought possible when it comes to reaching our goals.
Their experiment required that the participant search a visual display looking for specific letters among a conglomeration of other distraction letters. As they performed this task, they were asked to visualize holding the display monitor close to their bodies with two hands or to visualize holding holding their hands behind their backs with the monitor placed as it actually was. They were not to actually assume those poses, just imagine themselves doing it. It has been proven that we pay more attention to things that are closer to us, possibly because we examine it more closely. Interestingly, the study indicated that those who visualized holding the monitor in their hands had a much slower performance time than those participants who held their hands behind their back. This is the first study that indicates that merely visualizing holding something closer to yourself gives you similar results to actually doing it physically.
 
Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” A brilliant man himself, Einstein recognized the value of imagination as the ultimate in creative power. Several examples demonstrate the power of imagination. Perhaps you've heard the story of Air Force Colonel George Hall who was a POW in North Vietnam for ever seven years. He was locked in a small solitary confinement box for much of that period of time. Hall used the power of his imagination to play a game of golf in his head every day. He didn't just think about playing golf, he imagined every movement, every club selection, every fairway, every stroke. Day after day, Hall “played” a full eighteen holes in his head for seven years. One week after he was released, the former POW played in the Greater New Orleans Open and shot a 76. Amazing!
 
The Key to Using Imagination
Rather than thinking about an event happening at some point in the future, the real key to making the use of your imagination work is to visualize it happening in the present, even better if you imagine that what you are imagining as already accomplished. Keep yourself in the present, avoid imagining the future. The event must be real to you right now. Many of the great writers of the world have been telling us for centuries that you are what you think and think. As a Man Thinketh explores the concept of becoming what you believe. This book was written over one hundred years ago, and time and again its concepts are being proven out. What you really work at imagining and believe in now will come to be. The technique seems to work best when it is practiced on a regular basis as Colonel Hall did with his imagined golf games.

Try This Yourself
Think about something you'd like to change about yourself. Think about it in every possible detail you can. Sit, with your eyes closed, and fantasize about it. Imagine it occurring right now. Imagine what life would be like if it actually happened. Again, put as much detail into this exercise as possible. Don't put any limitations on this fantasy. Don't allow doubt to cloud your efforts. No one can judge a thought or a fantasy. If you want to feel healthier, imagine yourself as you felt when you were your healthiest. Go back to that point in your life. What did it feel like? What did you look like? What did you act like? What did you do? Now see yourself today feeling the same feelings, looking as you did then, acting as you did then, doing the things you did then. Do this on a regular basis every day. Relive this experience as if it were occurring now. I think you'll be very surprised at your results.
 
Arnold Schwarzenegger, five time winner of the Mr. Universe title said, “As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can...I visualized myself being there already-having achieved the goal already. It's mind over matter.” Another famous person in history, Nikola Tesla trained his powers visualization more than anyone in recorded history. He said, “Every night (and sometimes during the day), when alone, I would start out on my journeys—see new places, cities and countries—live there, meet people and make friendships and acquaintances and, however unbelievable, it is a fact that they were just as dear to me as those in actual life and not a bit less intense in their manifestations. This I did constantly until I was about seventeen when my thoughts turned seriously to invention. Then I observed to my delight that I could visualize with the greatest facility. I needed no models, drawings or experiments. I could picture them all as real in my mind.” Tesla was responsible for such inventions as alternating current electricity, the electric car, and other energy conserving ideas. One last example that can shown proven results are the Russian athletes in the 1980 Olympics were split into four groups of athletes.
· Group A – 100% traditional physical practice
· Group B – 75% physical practice; 25% mental practice
· Group C – 50% physical practice; 50% mental practice
· Group D – 25% physical practice; 75% mental practice
After two world Olympic competitions in Moscow and Lake Placid the results were undeniable. Group D won the most medals. Imagination is even stronger than will power. Putting this knowledge about the power of our imagination to use has begun in a vast array of activities from medicine to the arts. Many musicians use mental techniques as much as physical ones. I know of a pianist who had to practice for a really big performance, but the piano was in a big rooming house and the only hours she was able to practice were in the middle of the night. Rather than annoying everyone who lived in the house, the pianist would practice in silence, imagining her fingers gliding over the keyboard. She would put in five to six hours of practice in this way. Her performance was flawless. Do not underestimate this technique. This chapter talks about using PhotoBooks in a way that triggers the imagination of one very special needs individual. Her life was a very sorry affair when I first met her, but by using the power of her imagination and putting her into her own “stories” we were able to help her to get her to change her life in ways no one ever imagined possible.

Sara and Lady Sarita

Sara was a grown young woman who lived in a residence for developmentally disabled individuals. Her life circumstances and her mental health issues prevented Sara from developing as many necessary life skills as she needed. As a result her life experience was very limited. Most days, Sara lived passively, both mentally and physically, spending most of her private time either sleeping or listening to music. At one point in her life, Sara would actually read a book. Once she read it, she would read it over and over again. Then, without explanation, Sara put her reading habit away and she stopped reading entirely, having lost her joy in that activity. From time to time Sara would find a way out of her passive state, but it never lasted very long. She would lose interest in her life and return to her original passive state. It saddened me to see her living her life so joylessly.
There were times when Sara wanted to garner some attention, and she would use harsh language, sometimes even cursing when she communicated with other people. I was never sure why she did this. Perhaps she believed that it impressed people when she used such horrible language because it did get a response, albeit a negative one. Interestingly enough, Sara had abilities that allowed her to be very successful in pretty complicated games and she also had infinite patience when making craft projects.
This encouraged me because it told me that Sara had a pretty good attention span and that she was capable of concentrating and focusing on various tasks. My job really was one of discovering what motivated her. This puzzled me. Fortunately for Sara, she had many childhood friends with whom she visited occasionally. She was able to maintain a little bit of light conversation with them and she enjoyed playing with the children of her friends, however she has never developed any special attachment to any of them, either her friends or the children. In fact, Sara had no ability to form attachments to other women living in the same residence and showed absolutely no interest in them.
A new caretaker, named Maria, arrived to take care of another woman and Sara developed a strong attachment to her. This could be due to a childhood memory Sara had when she lived with a married couple and was an only child. She was pampered, showered with attention and gifts that she wanted. Then, because her life circumstances had changed, Sara was attracted to the motherly and caring nature that Maria exhibited.
In order to work with Sara, I chose to have her help me make a book. I decided to use the power of imagination that I suspected existed and had Sara think about herself as a character in a book. As the main character in the book she became Lady Sarita who lived in Mexico, a country in Central America. Throughout the creation of the stories, we took pictures of various things that Sara believed should be in her book. We took a photo of Sara in a beautiful dress and hat, posing as Lady Sarita. I'm including some of the story that we created while working with Sara:

Lady Sarita and the Beautiful Lake
 
Lady Sarita owns a big beautiful house that is surrounded by tall
beautiful trees with a magnificent view of the mountains from the
windows of her house. (Photo of house.) A big orchard with many
fruit tries is behind her house where Lady Sarita loves to pick fruit
for herself and for the many guests who visit her home. There are
many servants in the house who take care of the house and the
elegant furniture. They cook and serve delicious meals for Lady
Sarita and her guests. (Photos of mountains, orchard, and Lady
Sarita picking fruit.)
Lady Sarita has many relatives and friends who often come to visit
(Photos of relatives.) She loves to spend time with them having
interesting conversations, or playing games, or swimming in the
pool. (Photos of all three.)
Sarita has many interests. She loves art and often invites artists to
share their work. She likes to buy those works that appeal to her
and display them on the walls. (Photos of art, artists, displaying and
creating.) Sarita creates little expositions from paintings and
ceramics, and invites people to look at them.
Sarita takes pleasure in giving her friends and relatives handmade
presents. She enjoys doing different craft projects to please every
guest.
One of her favorite activities is reading. There is a big library in the
house with different kinds of books. Sarita loves to read and share
her books with people. One of Sarita's best friends is a woman
named Maria. Maria is an avid reader. She loves books too and
spends most of her time reading. Maria's native language is
Spanish, however, she loves reading books in English. Still, her
spoken language is not improving from her reading. One day, while
resting by the pool and looking at Maria reading an English book,
Sarita suggests that she help her with spoken English. Sarita offers
to work on it a little bit every day. Maria is excited with that
suggestion, and Sarita feels good that she has found a way to help
her friend.
We slightly modified Sara's expectation of being taken care of by other people by
showing Sarita caring for other people instead, entertaining and helping them. Lady Sarita, although a rich woman with many servants of her own who take care of her, derived pleasure from taking care of her guests and relatives. Sarita was the name Maria uses when she talks to Sara. I tried to use most things that were related to Sara's everyday life and to life she would probably want to have. In that photobook I tried to expand a little bit Sara's reality to utilize the power of her imagination. It was my attempt to show her that her dreams could enhance her reality and that it was a tool available to her at any time and in any life situation. We worked together to create that dream for her through that book as an example, as an idea for her to use it.
Even though Sarita loves her house, she loves nature even more.
Her house is located near the forest and Sarita loves to take a walk
in the forest. The forest is dense with a lot of different kinds of
trees. Sarita loves to walk down the forest path. She likes to pick up
wild berries and experiences a real joy finding mushrooms under
the leaves
However, more than anything, Sarita likes the magnificent lake
which is near her house. The lake is surrounded by high mountains.
The water is so clean that one can see the stones on the bottom of
the lake. For Sarita, nature and fresh air are better than being
inside of any glorious palace. There is not a single day that Sarita
misses taking long walks around the lake. She usually meets a
fisherman and stays for a while watching him fish. Sometimes he
manages to catch a big fish and Sarita is glad for him.
Sarita enjoys many things by the lake. Ducks taking their regular
bath. When they see Sarita coming, they come to greet her. Sarita
feeds them bread crumbs. Then she continues on her way to some
of her favorite things by the lake; a family of tall trees, and some
tree stumps with very long roots. To Sarita they look a lot like
octopi. She likes to look at the tiny plant growing out of stones
looking into the water and another very tall plant growing in a very
strange way. Everything interesting attracts Sarita’s attention on her
way. During those long walks Sarita likes to take a rest sitting near
bushes, on the bench or on the stone.
During our trip Sara expressed her feelings saying “Fresh air. It’s very good,
right?, “It’s a beautiful lake!” And so in that book I tried to give Sara the idea that there were many interesting and beautiful things around her that she could observe and enjoy. I also hoped that one day Sara would like to take a camera and record all those interesting things that attracted her attention in order to share them with other people. During the trip around the lake Sara was cooperative in posing for pictures, but her level of tolerance and patience was pretty low, so I proceeded almost without any pressure. Any resistance from Sara resulted in immediate change according to Sara's wish "You don't want to sit there? Ok, then stand. Very nice! Great picture! You want to see? You like it? Want to try to sit on the rock now? I'm sure it'd be great interesting picture. Thanks Sara. Let's go. Tired? Ok, we’ll just go till that tree and then we'll go back". Still Sara was involved in photo work. She posed for portraits and seemed to enjoy herself Sarita keeps walking to reach the place that is very special to her. It is a tiny island in the middle of the lake with a little tree growing on it.
A couple of ducks occupy that island. Sarita likes to come close
and watch them. Sometimes other ducks come to visit that couple
on the island. The couple often joins them and the whole flock goes
swimming around the lake. The couple always come back to the
island, though. ;
After spending time by the island Sarita usually visits her favorite
tree. She has a special attachment to trees, and one of the tree is
her favorite. It is a lonely tree near a very leafy green bush. The
tree is tall, slender and beautiful.

Sarita loves children. And when a child visits her, she takes him to
the lake. One day she takes one of her nephews for a walk around
the lake. When they reach that place, Sarita points to the tree and
says: "Look, this is my favorite tree!" The boy runs towards the
nearby bush asking Sarita: "That one?" "No, dear! That is a bush,
not a tree! You see, trees are different from bushes because they
all taller and have only one big trunk. Look what a straight beautiful
trunk my favorite tree has!" and Sarita hugs the tree. Since then
she likes that tree even more and visits it every time she went to
the lake After spending time with the tree Sarita goes back home.

I asked Sara where her friend came from and she answered "from Mexico". I asked her where Mexico was and Sara didn't know. I asked her to hug a tree and she hugged a nearby bush. That's how I discovered some of the things I could teach her with the help of this book. On her way back she would take a break, sitting on the bench under a tree enjoying fresh air and looking at the lake. She would return to her house and sit in front of it ready to meet the day and people.
I tried to show in this book that although Sarita was a rich lady her days are structured: there was time for everything. Everything in her life could be described in words or pictures. I tried to give Sara an idea that her life can also be structured as soon as she gets a full awareness of her life. There is time for taking care of yourself and for helping other people; there is time for rest and there is time for dreams, and everything is in Sara's hands.
Suggestions for further work:
How working with Thematic Photobooks could benefit Sara's life. Further work
with Thematic Photobook could be developed in 2 directions:
Continue with Lady Sarita story:
Sara could be more involved in creating the story of lady Sarita and inventing plots for more pictures. That would help develop her imagination and creativity. A person working with her could encourage her initiative by suggesting, "Let's make the room beautiful putting flowers and some interesting things in order to take pictures of Lady Sarita reading. What do you think we should put around? What outfit would fit here? Any jewelry for that outfit?” There were many scenes which could be used in Lady Sarita story, such as going shopping, getting meals, and so on. Sara could entertain her relatives and friends including Maria by showing them the PhotoBook and telling them about her participation in creating that book. That could be a way for improving Sara’s communication skills. The second way the PhotoBook activity could be used would be to help make Sara's relationship with Maria more productive:
The direction about real Sara living in Brooklyn could be developed based on the idea taken from Sarita story, the one about Sara helping Maria to learn English. The current relationship between Sara and Maria was based on dependability and need for attention, whereas I would like their relationship to be more mutually productive. Sara could start teaching Maria English. For that, Sara could take pictures of different words that are used in the residence in everyday life. With the help of staff, she could create weekly topics, for example, this week we are learning words for cooking, next week it's cleaning, and so on. Once the pictures are printed, Sara can write English words underneath every picture, or, even better, she can type them on computer with the help from the staff. It'd be easier for Maria to read typed words. Then Sara should discuss words with Maria. It’s important that Maria, as well as the staff in the residence, show their interest in Sara's work. This kind of positive feedback should serve as a motivator for Sara to be involved in the work process. The staff can also suggest different topics for working with words, for example, once Sara gets tired of everyday words, they can suggest to do pictures on topics, like Maria's favorite things.
Both of these directions or story lines, real and imaginary, can influence and enhance one another affecting Sara's life in a positive way, as well as making her spend her time in a more active, productive and organized way. Photobooks serve as visual tools for Sara to observe the result of her own work. This work has a potential to help Sara increase her vocabulary as well as her writing and computer skills. She could also learn some photo skills along the way. In turn, Maria could help Sara learn how to do chores the right way. They can make "Chore photobooks" together. This instructional photobook can be helpful for other residents.
When working on this photobook they could invite other residents, this way Sara could be more involved in productive cooperation with others. Communicating with Maria and other will help Sara to improve her social skills. What could be the positive outcome of that work? Sara would be occupied with meaningful activity at the same time being helpful to Maria and others. The relationship between Sara and Maria would be based on mutual help and interests. Their relationship could become the subject of pride for Sara. Sara would wait for Maria to give her something, not only to take something from her. Sara could learn the concepts of "paying back" and "being grateful". Some unexpected benefits can also appear along the process. We also hope that a camera could become Sara's companion in her relationship with others and something that can bring her a lot of pleasure and make her life more interesting.
Chapter 12 – PhotoBooks as Instructional Tools
Much of this book has been directed to working with children, but I want to assure you that these methods work very with special needs adults as well. There are millions of special needs adults in the United States and sometimes just a little bit of help in the form of a PhotoBook could make a really big difference to them and how they go about doing their daily activities. Here’s the story of a special needs adult woman who was confused about what she was supposed to do in her group home. Her confusion let her caregivers believe that she was simply trying to be difficult. I’ve certainly worked with my fair share of difficult patients, but in Debi’s case, she was simply confused.
Debi:
A friend of mine asked me once to help her relatives. Their daughter had just
recently been released from a mental hospital and was placed to live in a residence where I worked. Every time they would visit her, they would find her upset about her situation. Debi was diagnosed schizophrenic and had some Asperger Syndrome characteristics. Because of all my work with special needs individuals, they asked me to see if there were some way I could help Debi.
I started to work with Debi. It was obvious that she had a lot of autistic traits. She could remember many different facts, knew religious information very well because she had been going to a religious school, and loved to read books. She also loved nature. As with all autistic individuals, Debi was rather difficult to get along with because she was very set in her ways. She found it nearly impossible to start an activity, and found it even more difficult to finish it, finding any possible reason to procrastinate that she could. She had no understanding of social rules and conduct. She would approach children in the street, trying to make them smile by offering them leaves or flowers. The parents of those children were not very pleased by her behavior because she was a grown woman. They reacted very strongly, pulling their children away. This, however, had no effect on Debi. She loved kids and wanted to make them happy by giving them pretty flowers. She simply did not understand that there was anything wrong with that. She could not understand that the parents did not know her, and for her to give flowers or leaves to their children frightened the parents.
One of Debi’s biggest concerns was her lack of friends. As with many on the autistic spectrum, Debi had a very difficult time trying to make friends. For Debi, this was even more difficult because none of the other women in the residence seemed to like her very much. Debi did not understand. She thought that if she tried to help the other residents with their jobs that they would like her, and so she would set about showing the older residents how to their jobs, but the women reacted very negatively to this. They thought Debi was somehow either making fun of them, or being a “know-it-all”. I decided to try a photo project with Debi that could possibly help her and help the rest of the residents overall. This residence was more of a transitional rehabilitation program where people would live for a time so that they could accumulate some skills and then move on. One of the important skills was DLS, or community household chores. This was a fairly controversial issue, because most of the residents would try to avoid it as much as possible. What I suggested was that we create a Photo project of Debi taking pictures of the step-by-step instructions on how to perform specific chores in the correct manner. The pictures would be accompanied by explanations in words, and perhaps with some humor that Debi and the other residents could appreciate. After quite a bit of effort, we finally were able to meet and begin working on the project.
Our first project was “Setting the Table”. I told Debi that I would take pictures of her setting the table, and then she could take pictures of me setting the table. It was not as easy as some of my other projects, but I stuck to my plan and finally we began to make some progress. She actually did a very good job, and I was pretty tired by the time I was finished taking her pictures. I thought I could get away with not letting her take pictures of me setting the table, but Debi had a very good memory and she really did remember.
We went through the entire process again, this time with Debi taking the pictures. When we were done she asked me if it were true that other people might use the pictures she had taken to learn how to set the table. I told her it was true. The pleasure was obvious on her face. She wanted very much to be helpful, and to contribute to something that would help other people.
The next time we met I brought the pictures with me. I had Debi cut them to about wallet size so that we could put nine pictures on a single piece of paper. I showed Debi how to cut a single piece of paper at a time, but she insisted on cutting two at a time. I did try to explain to her that she could damage the pictures, but this was a difficult concept for her to understand. When I was distracted by something else, Debi had her way and cut two at a time. I know she did not do it to make me angry, but because she thought it was a better way.
When the pictures were cut and ready, I had Debi sort through them and put them in order according to the steps of the process of setting the table. She did that really quite well. Every now and again we had a couple choices of pictures, and we engaged in a lively discussion about which picture would be better to use and why. She listened to my position, and I always made sure that I listened to hers.
The next step was to write the descriptions for every picture, and here Debi worked very hard and did a good job. Once the descriptions were ready, we had to get them typed. Debi had had some previous experience with typing, but I was still able to give her some pointers on ways to do it better and more efficiently. Before too long, the process became much easier and we made progress.
Next we copied her typing to a label sheet, printed it, and then attached the pictures we had chosen to adhesive sheets according to the sequence of steps. Debi matched the captions with the pictures and put them in order. Once everything was in place, I let Debi decorate the pages. She made a title for the book with a stencil that was in a beautiful font from my collection. The project came out very well. Once she had completed the book, we made a sign, “Made by Debi” and presented it to the residence management to ask for their approval. This project was very helpful, not expensive, and could make life at the residence much easier. They assigned Debi to be responsible for other projects like that and assigned a staff member to supervise the project. At one of the community meetings they presented Debi’s project to other residents. Then they made a list of chores that needed to be included in the manual. Some residents expressed a desire to participate in the project, showing Debi that her efforts were getting the results she wanted. I could see just how good this made Debi feel. I encouraged her to continue with the project, reminding her to listen carefully to what other people say, to pay attention to the details, and to come to me with any questions she might have.
This shows just how beneficial a PhotoBook project can be on a lot of levels. Here the concept is the same as it is in other areas of this book, but as you can see, the results are equally wonderful. Debi learned new skills, she participated in something meaningful and larger than herself. She also learned to work cooperatively with other residents, which is half the battle. 1
Chapter 13 – Simple PhotoBooks 
 
  Creating PhotoBooks is a relatively easy process.  As you have seen throughout the previous chapters of this book, I take each individual and try to assess what is important to them and what they may need to learn at any given time. What you need to keep in mind is that PhotoBooks are very much like any other book, except that here you and the child are the creators of the book. You both are simultaneously author, photographer, writer, illustrator, and publisher of a book! Any child finds this a very exciting process!
  Usually you are creating the book so that the child can somehow relate to his or her world in a different way.  Because of this, it is important to maintain the child’s
perspective throughout the creation of the book.  It must be the child’s book, not yours.  You want the child to relate to what is in the book by making the book about the child and his or her experiences, or you can make the child the main character of the book as was done in Chapter 11 when we discussed the use of imagination when creating your
Thematic PhotoBooks.
  The main purpose of your PhotoBooks is to serve as a learning tool, but you want it to be a fun learning tool.  That is why you will be using pictures of the individual throughout his or her book, and if possible, you want the child to take some of the photographs as well. Once they learn the rudiments of photography, you’ll want them to take as many of the pictures as possible. This increases the child’s sense of ownership over the project and makes it that much more powerful a tool.   
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  Most PhotoBooks are made up of pages with a hole punch so that you can put book rings through them.  In this way it could be turned into a set of flash cards.  Or you can use one of the small “brag books” that are available nearly everywhere where only one photograph is inserted in each sleeve.  These books will hold anywhere from ten to thirty pictures. These books are usually just designed to be small photo albums, but by making templates of cardstock the same size of a photograph, you can then cut up photographs as necessary, decorate them as you would like, add notes and captions, and then slip the decorated cardstock in the sleeve.  The nice thing about this is that the sleeve will protect the child’s work and it can be viewed literally hundreds of times without any damage being done to the PhotoBook pages.  I’ve also had good luck just creating PhotoBook pages on colored construction paper or lightweight cardstock, then slipping these into ready made page protectors and inserting these into a three-ring binder.  This way the pages are protected, and the three-ring binder allows for the PhotoBook to be expanded as needed. The way you choose to create a PhotoBook needs to be simple enough that you’ll just sit down and do it, and yet durable enough that it won’t be destroyed the first time the child looks through it.  You want this to be relatively durable because you want the child to read this book over and over.   It doesn’t really matter what materials you choose to use for your project.  What does matter is that you are prepared to do the project, that you find it relatively simple to do, and that you and your child have fun with the project. When I first begin to work with a child, I think about that child with all the love and compassion that I possibly can.  A child is a precious gift, and has so very much to offer.  Many times their bad behavior is a cry for help is some way. Granted, they can drive you crazy, even though you know through that haze of emotion that you love them.  If you have trouble getting to that “place”, try this.  Take a picture of your child while he or she is sleeping.  All children, regardless of how they behave during the day, look angelic when they sleep.  It is much easier to fill your heart with love for them when you look at that picture.  When you’re in danger of losing your cool because you’re arguing yet again about the same thing, take a moment, and in the privacy of your own room, look again at that picture and remember why you want to help.  For some reason, your child is trapped and cannot communicate to you why he persists in the behaviors he uses.  Most children don’t want you to be angry, they’re simply trying to communicate something to you.   What if you were to give up when you were only one step away from making that breakthrough?  What if Annie Sullivan had quit her job the day before she was finally able to break through Helen Keller’s silent and dark world? The world would have lost a phenomenal ambassador for the disabled population of the world. I’ve read of dozens and dozens of instances where children grow up and are finally able to tell the story of their years trapped inside their bodies and their behaviors. Without fail, there was someone, usually a mother or a father, who never lost faith in them.  This validation comes years after the actual events themselves. On the days when you feel you’re really ready to just give up, just think, “Perhaps today’s the day when we’ll make that breakthrough!” All too often people stop just one step from success. Don’t let that person be you! 
Food PhotoBooks 
  Food PhotoBooks are some of my favorite books to create with kids.  Kids love certain kinds of food, they enjoy eating, and often they enjoy the ceremony of preparing to eat.  Some parents have said that they have trouble at mealtimes with getting their child to either help get the meal ready and on the table, or they are unwilling to be patient and wait their turn, or they refuse to use good table manners.  Most of the time, the bad behavior stems from not knowing exactly how they are supposed to behave.   Food PhotoBooks can start simply with how you want the table to be set.  One PhotoBook we worked on was just getting the table ready for a meal.  It needed a tablecloth put on it, the dishes and silver needed to be placed on the table in a certain order and a centerpiece needed to be set.  The parent and child on this project worked together deciding just how they wanted the table to look.  The parent did the table herself the first time because she wanted her child to start by photographing the table as it is supposed to look when they were through.   This picture they printed in a really big format and made it the first page.  They printed really pretty words that the child cut out and placed on the page, simply entitled, “Setting the Table”.  Then the mother took everything off the table and put it away and they started with a completely bare table.  They made a list like the following one to help the child know which pictures she needed to take as they worked through the task of setting the table. As the photographs were taken they were checked off the list: 
Photographs to Take:
·   bare table
·   cabinet where tablecloth is kept
·   laying the tablecloth (show with two people putting the tablecloth on)
·   how many for dinner? (helps child to know how many place settings)
·   lay out x number of plates (making sure they are in front of a chair)
·   lay out forks to the left side of the plate (picture to show child left)
·   lay out knives to the right side of the plate (picture to show child right)
·   lay out spoons to the right of the knife (picture to show child right again)
·   place water glasses above where the knives are
·   put centerpiece in center of table
·   take final picture (this is to help the child check and make sure it looks like the big picture they made before they started taking photographs)    Once all the pictures have been taken, they are printed and the child must then place them in order.  This parent and child wanted only one picture per page, so they glued one picture onto a piece of cardstock and then they worked on decorating it any way the child wanted.  The only requirement the child’s mother had was that each picture be labeled to help the child read words like plate, glass, fork, spoon, knife. Then she allowed her child to cut out pictures from catalogs that were pictures of the major words on the page.  If the page was about a spoon, she had the child cut out pictures of spoons and glue them onto that page.  This way the child knew what a spoon was, could associate the word with the object, and was able to put it in its proper place.   As the child used the pages of the book to figure out where to place each of the items on the table, the parent took pictures of the child setting the table.  This way when they went back to the PhotoBook they had a few more pictures to add to the pages.  These were pictures showing the child setting the table, modeling behavior for herself of doing what her mother asked.  She said the PhotoBook took them about a full week to create, but now her daughter sets the table every night for dinner, and each night she uses her PhotoBook and reads the words out loud as she works.   This same technique can be used to set the table for more casual dinners, for picnics, and for very formal events. Just be sure to break it down into enough steps and take photographs of those steps so that your child can successfully complete the task once the PhotoBook is finished.
Preparing Food
  Food preparation can be as simple or as complicated as your child is able to handle.  Juice Box: Some parents need to start with a very, very basic skill, such as teaching a child how to drink from a juice box.  Some children never remember to take the plastic off the straw, some don’t know to push the straw down far enough once some of the fluid has been consumed.  Such a PhotoBook would have photos in this order:
·   Pull off straw (show child pulling straw off the glue of the juice box)
·   Take off plastic (show child removing the plastic from the straw)
·   Throw plastic in trash (show child throwing plastic away)
·   Place straw inside juice box, PUSH! (show child pushing straw into juice box)
·   Push straw all the way down (show a picture of the straw too far up, then a picture with the straw correctly positioned)
·   Drink! (show child enjoying his drink from the juice box )    
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich: This is a fun project and can often be done with two children at the same time.  Start by having the children get out the ingredients. The pictures would be:
·   peanut butter
·   jelly
·   bread
·   knife
·   plate
·   napkin or cloth (for cleaning up spills)
Once all the ingredients are gathered, then show the child making the sandwich:
·   placing two pieces of bread on a plate
·   opening the peanut butter jar
·   using knife to obtain peanut butter from jar
·   spreading peanut butter on one piece of bread
·   opening jelly jar
·   using spoon to scoop jelly from the jar
·   spreading jelly on the other piece of bread
·   putting both pieces of bread together
·   cutting sandwich in half
·   biting into sandwich 
If you want to be thorough about this, you can then complete the PhotoBook about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by showing photographs of the child cleaning up any mess, closing the peanut butter and jelly jars and putting them away.  It all depends on what you wish to teach your child.
Grilled Cheese Sandwich: Start by having the children get out the ingredients. The
pictures would be:
·   butter
·   cheese slices
·   bread
·   knife
·   cooking pan (always supervise a child when cooking)
·   spatula
·   plate
·   napkin or cloth (for cleaning up spills)
Once all the ingredients are gathered, then show the child making the sandwich:
·   placing two pieces of bread on a plate
·   opening the cheese slices
·   placing cheese slice on a piece of bread
·   place both pieces of bread together
·   using knife to get butter 
·   show spreading butter on outside piece of bread
·   show carefully placing buttered side of sandwich onto hot pan or griddle (label
this picture HOT!)
·   show spreading butter on the top side of bread 
·   show turning sandwich with spatula
·   show toasted side of bread in the pan
·   show removing sandwich from the pan
·   cutting sandwich in half
·   biting into sandwich 
If you want to be thorough about this, you can then complete the PhotoBook about grilled cheese sandwiches by showing photographs of the child cleaning up any mess, and putting everything away.  Again, it all depends on what you wish to teach your child.   This process can be repeated over and over again on simple foods that your child is actually capable of making.  Once you teach your child to actually make a few foods that he or she really likes to eat, then mealtimes will stop being so stressful. 
 
Salads and Relish Trays: This is another project that is relatively simple for a child to do once they have a model set in place.  As with creating the sandwiches above, you need to make a list of the necessary ingredients, show how the child prepares the lettuce, adds the onions, olives, and tomatoes to the salad, places the serving forks in it and poses with a completed salad in hand. 
  Fruit platters and veggie platters are similarly easy to create.  It is again a simple matter of having all the materials ready. Some children are allowed to cut with a plastic knife, so you can show a child making careful cuts into either vegetables or fruits with a plastic knife, then arranging all the ingredients in a prearranged order on a tray.  Do you recall how the mother took a picture of the completely set table first?  This is what you will need to do.  You’ll need to have a completed photograph for your child to use as an example.  If your child really hates change and melts down whenever anything is different, you might want to make sure you always use exactly the same fruits and vegetables each time.  If your child is not quite so rigid in expectation, you can be a little more flexible as the seasons change. 
Gingerbread Houses: This is another of my favorite PhotoBook projects.  This one usually use graham crackers and empty lunch-sized milk cartons as a base.  I do make the frosting (often referred to as “glue” throughout this section) ahead of time because the store-bought frosting isn’t strong enough to hold the “house” together.   Each picture shows how a house is built with one half of a graham cracker being used for each of the four walls of the house.  The milk carton will be hidden on the inside of the house, it is just used as a base to help the child get started.  The roof is the hardest part, and will sometimes require the assistance of an adult to get the two pieces “glued” together with frosting and set in place at the perfect angle to form a pitched roof.  The glue must dry for a little while, so I usually do this project in two days.  Day two and the children are now allowed to decorate their houses.  I like watching them sort the candies and try to decorate their miniature houses with the candies.  Some children just glue any candy anywhere onto the house. Other children have more of a sense of order and will cover the roof with one kind of candy, then create a pathway with another type of candy.  Each gingerbread house is a result of each child’s personality.  This is a fun activity, and the resulting PhotoBook is a joy to look through.  Most children like going through it over and over again. 
Cookbooks
  One mother shared this idea with me.  She enjoyed this process so much that she and her son created a cookbook of his favorite recipes.  They took step-by-step photos of making basic foods such as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and graduated to him actually making boxed macaroni and cheese.  They were very thorough in their photography and once they had put their little cookbook together they decided to have it printed.  She told me that lulu.com prints and binds cookbooks for individuals for a pretty reasonable price.  For this mother and her son, that book became a real treasure for them because they worked on it together, and by getting it professionally bound it looked like a real book that they were able to give to family members as a gift.   Later on we’re going to be talking about special events and holidays.  This same mother took this idea of turning these PhotoBooks into cookbooks and she and her son are in the process of creating cookbooks for their family thanksgiving dinner.  They are gathering recipes from all their family members, taking pictures of either the family members, or their dish, and they will then print enough Thanksgiving Feast cookbooks to share with their entire family.  This is one of the best ideas I’ve heard of because they took the PhotoBook idea and really made it their own.  Both mother and son enjoy working together in the kitchen, so creating cookbooks together is an activity that they can share without too much conflict. 
Feed the Birds
  I never forgot watching Mary Poppins and listening to the song “Feed the Birds”. For some reason that really rings a bell with me and so I decided to gather some basic materials and teach a group of children how to create some simple bird feeders with pinecones, peanut butter, bird seed, popcorn, cranberries, apples, and oranges. While the children were busy spreading the peanut butter on the pinecones and rolling them in peanut butter, I was busy snapping photos of them making the bird feeders.  They strung popcorn and cranberry strings, and filled emptied out orange halves with bird seed.  Once they were all done, we traipsed outside and hung everything up in a tree just outside the classroom window. Just as I expected, within days, birds began to visit the feeders.  The children were ready with their cameras and snapped picture after picture of the feathered visitors.  Once we had a number of photographs, we created a “Feed the Birds”
PhotoBook  that showed the first pages of all the children busily creating the bird feeders. Then we were able to put in many pictures that the children had taken of the birds visiting the feeders.  We were able to turn this into a learning session by looking up pictures of birds and trying to name some of the birds that the feeders had attracted.  This was a terrific project because it was one of the first time these students had actually thought about another living being beside themselves.
PhotoBooks about Me
  Sometimes you may wish to create a PhotoBook just to help your child learn a little something about himself.  I’ve learned that many people have trouble expanding their view of their world.  They know little to nothing about what they really like to do.  I heard a child asking her mother over and over throughout the grocery store, “Mama, do I like that?  Would I like that?” It occurred to me that she was likely autistic because of her repetition of the same question over and over again throughout the grocery store, but it occurred to me that she could benefit from the creation of a PhotoBook that would help her to understand more about herself. If I were to work with that child, what I would do is bring her to a table where I had a huge pile of pictures of various subjects and poses.  I’d have animals, toys, people, activities.  Then I would try to start a conversation based on one of the photographs.  Many people are very ill at ease talking about themselves, but when you help to focus their attention onto something else, they find it easier to talk about it. The goal of this type of behavior would be to get the person to reach deep inside and discover things that they never knew about themselves before. For example, the mother in the grocery store could take pictures of a great many foods.  Ideally, she could even have samples of the foods available.  One by one, she and her daughter could go through the foods, first choosing the picture of the food to be discussed, then having a tasting of the food. 
Once the girl decided whether she liked the food or not, she could separate them into piles. One pile would be titled, “Foods I like.” The other pile would be titled, “Foods I don’t like.”   I can already hear parents out there, saying, “My kid doesn’t like anything but macaroni and cheese, so why bother?”  The reason you bother is because your child may not realize that she has completely restricted her diet to one type of food.  This is no guarantee that you will change your child’s mind.  They are individuals and they have very distinct likes and dislikes.  Your job isn’t to change their mind.  Your job is to help them to discover that they do or don’t like a particular food.
  Back to the “Food” book.  Once the young girl has her separate piles of foods she likes or does not like, she will likely have a pile of foods that she doesn’t know whether she likes or not.  This can be a strong teaching moment.  Include these in the PhotoBook.  Put them on a page titled “Foods I need to try.” Once your child has the opportunity to try that particular food, they can then classify it accordingly, but that way they’ll know that they haven’t tried it and they can’t possibly know whether they like it or not.  Other books that you can create under the “PhotoBooks about Me” category might include titles such as:
·   Games I like to Play
·   Toys I have
·   Things I like to do in my back yard
·   Things I like to do in my room
·   Things that make me feel good about myself
·   Things that make me feel unhappy or upset
·   What I want to be when I grow up
·   Camping with my dad
·   Camping with my family
·   Weekend at Grandma’s
·   Summer vacation
·   What I like about school
·   What I don’t like about school
·   Books I like to read
·   Books I don’t like to read
·   My Favorite Activities
·   My Favorite People
·   My Favorite Animals
  Having your child work on PhotoBooks that are about him or her will help your child to begin to see that they have very definite likes and dislikes.  Once you know more of the things that your child likes, you can then begin to choose activities that will encourage greater opportunities to learn or interact with others who have similar interests. Many special needs individuals, especially those with autism, need to really work on finding activities where they share a common interest.  Usually when they are in a group of people who share an interest in music, or in bugs, or in mathematics, then their passion and constant chatter about the topic is less noticeable, and less maddening. Helping your child to learn about him or herself is a step in helping them to become independent, rather than as an extension of you. It takes time to understand a sense of “self”. By exploring various likes and dislikes, your child begins to learn about himself as he sees himself, not as others see him. This is a big step toward independence. By encouraging your child to find what it is that interests him, you’re encouraging him to figure out what he might want to do with his life.  Try never to limit a child’s ideas about what he or she can do, rather encourage them in every way you can, because you never know what passion is going to be the key that unlocks their future for them.   
   
 

·   Chapter 14 - Personal Hygiene and other Life Skills
  Life skills is an area where everyone can benefit.  PhotoBooks in this category include everything from learning to wash one’s face to learning to make one’s bed.  Any area where your child is having difficulty is where you should start.  Making a PhotoBook about getting dressed can be helpful for the child who insists on resign himself but cannot seem to remember the order of how to put clothes on. I’ve had parents say they created PhotoBooks on how to take a shower or a bath because their child routinely forgets to do something, like rinsing shampoo out of their hair.   This chapter will have a few ideas on some PhotoBooks that you may wish to utilize to help your child to understand the steps required to complete a task.  PhotoBooks in this area are also great for showing a child how to do particular chores the right way.  Do you remember when I worked with Debi?  We used a similar approach to help her to know how to do basic chores in her group home.  Rather than being reproached for not doing something, Debi now has a tool that she can use to make her life more calm, without unexpected surprises from upset residents who thought she was doing things just to upset them.  Quite the contrary, she wanted to work hard to show the other residents that she wanted to work their and be helpful. 
Bathing or Showering: Obviously, you need to use common sense when taking photographs of this nature.  No child wants photos of them naked posted about.  Be discrete in how you photograph your child, keeping in mind that you are trying to help make things easier for her rather than embarrass her at some point in the future.  If you’re in doubt, ask yourself, would you like for a complete stranger to see these photographs of your child?  If the answer is no, then you need to revise how you take the picture.  Here are some common photographs to include in this PhotoBook:
·   soap
·   shampoo
·   washcloth
·   towel
·   clean clothes or pajamas
These first photographs show what your child needs to gather prior to going into he bathroom to bathe.  Once everything has been gathered, then you may take photographs of the actual bathing process.
·   getting wet
·   shampoo (show how much to use)
·   washing hair
·   rinsing hair
·   rubbing soap onto wet washcloth
·   washing face (behind ears), neck, arms, upper body then rinsing
·   washing legs and feet, then rinsing
·   show drying off, or your child bundled in a towel…mmm, cozy!
After bathing, you may wish to show how your child should comb or brush his hair:
·   comb hair, show it messy from being dried with a towel
·   show child combing or brushing hair into place
·   show hair combed
·   show child putting comb away
·   show dressing, either in clothing or in pajamas
·   if necessary, show order of dressing, shirt and underpants, pants
·   next show putting on socks
·   shoes…they might be on the wrong feet…this could be a funny picture
Brushing teeth is another step you can include in the same PhotoBook or a separate one:
·   show child wetting toothbrush
·   applying toothpaste to toothbrush, and be sure to show how much to use
·   show child brushing teeth in all four quadrants…you may wish to actually show
four pictures so your child doesn’t forget to brush certain teeth.
·   rinse mouth
·   rinse brush
·   show child putting toothbrush away
·   show sparkling teeth
 
Playing Games
  Playing games is often a problematic area for special needs children.  Sometimes they just don’t get the point of the game, and will insist on playing it their own way.  That may be a hard problem to solve with a PhotoBook, but if it is a matter of learning to play nicely and wait patiently for a turn, and rolling dice and moving a game marker, then a small game PhotoBook is a great idea.  Learning to be patient is one of the hardest things for a special needs child to do, and by showing your child being patient, and showing pictures of other children being patient, this behavior is modeled repeatedly, and can make a lasting impact on your child.   
Telling Time
  A PhotoBook can be created to help your child learn to tell time, or it could be used to help your child understand the day’s schedule.  This can be especially helpful for those days when something extra may be scheduled.  By creating a PhotoBook about time, and a regular schedule, you can then add a page that shows when the schedule had to be adjusted.  You will likely experience some meltdowns while you create the “changed schedule” pages, but the more of them you can add to your PhotoBook, the more your child will realize that your schedule is not always set in stone.   
Chores:
  Teaching your special needs child how to do chores can be a chore all by itself.  By creating a PhotoBook about a specific chore, or a set of chores that will be your child’s responsibility, you are not only encouraging your child to be helpful, you are teaching your child skills that could lead to independence.
  Remember to use words with the pictures in all of your PhotoBooks. These are to be books in every aspect of the word.  Make a big deal out of the process of creating the PhotoBook and make sure your child is made to feel very important about their role in the whole process of creating the PhotoBook.  Remember, it’s about your child…all about your child.   
Chapter 15 – Special Events 
  One of the most often reported problems people of special needs individuals is when there is a change in routine.  So many families absolutely shudder to think of having a family gathering because their special needs child always has a melt-down and makes the day a disaster, leaving them with the feeling that their family really believes that they are poor parents and that their child is simply out of control.  All too often, special needs individuals merely need to know what to anticipate.  For them, to go into a totally foreign situation is worse than terrifying, and all they can do to protect themselves is to have a meltdown so that they can go back home to where they feel safe. There are very few books on the market that actually deal with helping special needs kids prepare for a change in their routine.  One or two parents have created their own books, and have written about them in various books.  This application is perfect for my PhotoBook method.
  The idea is to consider what the event is, what it means or stands for, who will be there.  Will it be loud?  Will it be noisy?  Will there be a place for your child to go if her or she is overstimulated?  What kind of food will there be? By anticipating every aspect of the upcoming special event, you can help your child to prepare for it and quite possibly allow both you and your child to actually enjoy the day.  As with all PhotoBooks we’ve talked about, preparation is key.  You know your child better than anyone else in the world. You know what his triggers are. You know when she is going to shut down. You know the warning signs of an impending meltdown. With this information, you are well  armed, and by starting well ahead of the event, you can work with your child to prepare a book that will help her to anticipate what lies ahead.  By taking away some of the mystery and uncertainty of the event, you will be giving your child the gift of confidence.
  What events might you consider?  Anything that is out of the orDanary.  Do you meet once a month at your sister’s house for Sunday dinner?  If so, who is usually there?  What is the atmosphere like? Will there likely be loud people or animals present?  Is there any place your child can go for some quiet time?  Once you’ve answered all these questions, then you begin to put your PhotoBook photography list together.  If at all possible, visit the location where the event will be held and take photographs of the location in as many ways as you can.  If there will be a room your child will be allowed to go in order to find a calm place, take pictures of that as well.  Then try to make a list of every person you can think of who will be there.  Get photographs of each of those people and make labels for them, or have your child make labels. By getting your child involved in this activity early, you will both have a great time “writing” the book, just as you have with other books you’ve created in the past. When you work with your child on a PhotoBook project, make it as pleasant as possible. Never work longer than your child can tolerate, even if you want to finish “just one more page”. This project is not about what you want, but about what your child needs.  Try to make a list of the kinds of foods that will be served at the event.  Try to find foods that your child actually likes to eat.  Remember making the “Foods I Like” PhotoBook? This is a great place to go for proof that your child will eat some of the offerings that are likely to be at the special event. 

  Once you believe that you and your child have collected every photograph you could possibly need, and taken pictures of everything you can possibly take in advance of the event, it is time to sit down and put your book together.  The whole time you are working on the PhotoBook, talk about how much fun your child will have at this event. Talk about the people who will be there, point them out and have your child read their names.  Will they be seeing an aunt and uncle they rarely see?  You might show how they are related to you.  Are they your sister and her husband, or are they related to your husband?  By giving them appropriate titles and then showing how they’re connected to your family, you are giving your child more information, more understanding about the event and the people he rarely sees.
  Talk about the wonderful foods.  Thanksgiving and family holidays are really great examples of this.  Most families have traditional foods that they serve, and they are served at this event because they are very much loved.  Do you recall the cookbook PhotoBooks that a mother and her son created in an earlier chapter?  This is a perfect extension of that idea.  You could even prepare some of the foods you know will be at the event.  Work with your child, create a smaller version of a cookbook and include it in this special event PhotoBook. Every time you talk about something, you make it more real for your child.  One mother used this technique and she reported that her child would recite certain parts of the book they’d created together, over and over, as if it were some kind of incantation.  She thought it was strange, but when her daughter did not react negatively when they got to her sister’s house for the new baby’s baptismal celebration,  she realized that it was her daughter’s way of preparing for a new and strange event.   
   
 

Special Events
  Here is a list of events that might require PhotoBook preparation for your special
needs child:
·   Weddings
·   Baptisms
·   Confirmations
·   Bar/Bat Mizvahs
·   Quinceaneras
·   Thanksgiving
·   Hanukah
·   Christmas
·   Birthdays
·   Anniversary parties
·   Sunday dinners
·   Any event where a large number of people will gather 
  Special events are stressful on everyone.  Do you recall the last special event you attended without feeling a little bit nervous?  Consider your special needs child.  Their ability to handle this kind of stress is very limited.  By taking the time to really work with your child, you will be giving him a real great opportunity to enjoy the event rather than spoiling it for you and everyone else who attends. 
Part VI: 
Chapter 16 – PhotoBooks in Action
A: Devon’s Story
B: Mr. Krakow’s Classroom
C: From Chaos to Calm
Chapter 17 – Final Words about PhotoBooks   
Chapter 16 – PhotoBooks in Action 
“People can be divided into two classes…those who go ahead and do something, and those people who sit still and inquire, why wasn’t it done the other way?”
~Oliver Wendall Holmes
          Part VI of this book is based on interviews with a few people who have been introduced to the PhotoBook ideas and methods.  You’ll hear first-hand how these teachers and parents implemented PhotoBooks into the routine of their lives and the results they saw in a few short weeks. You may be interested. 
 A. Devon’s Story
      Elisia is a mother of a seven-year-old autistic boy and a non-autistic five-year-old girl. Elisia was introduced to the concept of PhotoBooks and used them to help her to reach her son, Devon.  Her biggest concern was his rude behavior when she would have a friend come to her home for a cup of coffee or to just talk about something. Devon would demand Elisia’s attention to such a degree that Elisia began to feel that she had no life other than Devon.  She wanted help changing this behavior. Devon had been in his own world ever since he had been diagnosed with autism just before his third birthday.  He had always been a quiet child, but after her daughter, Reece, met and surpassed his language skills before she was one, Elisia realized that something was very wrong with Devon. He had been a fussy baby, very hard to quiet or comfort. He never really made eye contact with her, and never sought out physical demonstrations of comfort.  By the time he was preschool age, Devon was obnoxious in his efforts to get Elisia’s attention, especially if she had an adult friend come over to visit.  Elisia tried everything she could think of to either distract Devon or to get him to leave her alone for even five minutes of adult conversation. It was to no avail.  Devon had no concept of manners, and the more his mother wanted him to go and entertain himself, the more insistent he became for her time.  If Elisia were alone at that time of day, Devon would have easily found something to do.  As time went on, Devon began to demonstrate typical autistic behaviors where he would stim by twirling the brass fastener on the side of his bed, something he could do for hours on end.  Devon also had a fascination with balls, and would roll and twirl a ball for hours and hours.  If Devon had a ball in his hand, he would pay no attention anyone or anything.  One of Devon’s teachers instructed Elisia to take all balls out of the house and not let him have them.  Elisia was reluctant to take away the one thing that seemed to really relax and settle Devon.  She found an article on the internet where a doctor said that when an autistic child stims, they have a need of some sort for that object.  Rather than trying to control them, he recommended supporting that particular behavior, and so Elisia bought balls.  She bought big ones, medium sized ones, small ones.  She and Devon would play all sorts of games with the balls, but she was growing more and more frustrated because Devon would pull all the balls out of the crate she used to store them, but then would never put them back in. After hearing about the PhotoBooks, Elisia decided to create a PhotoBook of Devon and his balls.  She had an older digital camera that she didn’t mind teaching Devon to use, but she started first by taking pictures of Devon while he was playing games with his many, many balls.  When she looked at the resulting photos, she noticed that his face was very relaxed, something that was unusual, because Devon always seemed to be on edge.  Perhaps there was something to supporting Devon’s desire to be surrounded by balls.  Elisia took more pictures of Devon, playing games of dodgeball (played with soft nerf-style balls) with his little sister in the house.  She took pictures of her husband playing with Devon.  Until she had a number of photos, Elisia didn’t show the photographs to Devon.   
      When she felt she was ready, Elisia had all her materials ready.  She chose to use the three-ring binder method with page protectors.  She purchased lightweight cardstock in 8-1/2” x 11” size of various bright colors.  She tried to match the colors to the various colors of the balls.  She said she wasn’t quite sure why she did this, but when she introduced Devon to the project she was glad that she did.  As soon as she started showing Devon the photographs, she was astounded at his reaction.  Devon was enraptured with his image on the pictures, and he loved that the pictures were of his beloved balls.   
         Elisia mentioned that Devon could take pictures of his balls so that he could make a whole book about them, Devon was instantly a cooperative student.  He insisted on doing this his way, as was typical for him, but as soon as Elisia showed him on the back of the camera that the picture might not have been what he was trying to get, Devon began to listen better, and started to take better and better photographs.  What Devon wanted to do was first to take pictures of all the same colored balls.  He would gather them all in one space and then take pictures of all of his yellow balls.  When they printed the photographs, Devon wanted to put them on the yellow cardstock.  They were able to then type a label for that page that said, Devon’s Yellow Balls. They went through all the colors and created a page for each color of ball that Devon owned.  Then Devon decided he wanted to take pictures of all of his big balls, then the small balls.  He wanted pictures of balls high up on the table, and low down on the floor where he took pictures from the upstairs landing overlooking the living room.  Elisia was stunned to see how creative Devon was about his balls and the creation of his PhotoBook. 
       Before too long, Devon would actually obey Elisia’s suggestion to get his PhotoBook of Balls to look at when she wanted to have an adult friend over for coffee.  Devon would spend long periods of time going over and over the pages of his PhotoBook. This was Elisia’s only PhotoBook project at the time I spoke with her, but she had numerous ideas for future PhotoBooks.  “I can’t believe how easy it was to work with Devon on this project.  It was the most fun the two of us have had in a very long time!”   
B. Mr. Kajow’s Classroom 
  Mr. Kajow works in a traditional public elementary school as a Special Education teacher. In his school, as with many schools around the country there can be as many six or seven autistic children in his classroom at any given time. In the past, autism was considered to be a relatively rare condition, and many public schools were simply not able to take on the complications of the autistic children in their classrooms.  Today, because there are so many autistic diagnoses every year, it is more and more likely to have more autistic children in a public school than ever before. A survey done about ten years ago showed that teachers believed that at least 1.5% of their children had disabilities related to ASD.
  Mr. Kajow’s shared with me a list of characteristics of those with autism and the
difficulties they may have when interacting with people in the general public. He understands that his students’ words and actions can often be misinterpreted as being disrespectful or hostile. A person with ASD might:
·   Not understand what is expected of them, often misinterpreting a movement or verbal prompt
·   Not respond to commands
·   Not respond to nonverbal cues such as facial expressions or tone of voice
·   Run or move away when approached rather than being open to approach
·   Be unable to communicate with words, often turning away in frustration rather
than in disinterest
·   Be unable to express feelings
·   Only repeat what is said to them, sounding as if they are mocking, when they’re
really trying to join in the conversation   
·   Only talk about what interests them, even when that topic is of no interest to
anyone else
·   Avoid eye contact, giving the appearance of being disinterested
·   Appear argumentative or stubborn, unyielding, shunning overtures of friendship
because they misinterpreted a social cue
·   Say “No!” or “Yes!” in response to all questions.  Have difficulty judging personal space, coming far too close and being perceived as annoying, or standing far apart giving the impression of being disinterested in the activity . Try to avoid sensory input (e.g., flashing lights, sirens, crowd noise) due to hypersensitivity of sight and sound . Have a decreased cognitive ability when experiencing heightened anxiety or frustration, giving the impression of being slow and stupid rather than just confused
·   Become anxious or agitated, producing fight or flight responses or behaviors such
as screaming, hand flapping
·   Speak in a monotone voice with unusual pronunciations
·   Reverse pronouns (“Can you play?” instead of “Can I play?”)
·   Have problems speaking at the correct volume, either far too loud or soft
·   May, if verbal, be honest to the point of bluntness or rudeness, not understanding the concept of tact 
  Mr. Kajow’s dedication to his occupation cannot be ignored.  He believes that it is his responsibility to make the experience of being in school easier for autistic children, and has made it his life’s mission to help others understand the behavior of autistic children.  He has recognized that autistic children have little or no concept of social cues. They do not understand that a raised voice indicates anger or frustration.  They do not perceive angry looks on a person’s face because they usually avoid eye contact with other people.
  Mr. Kajow believes he may have a slight degree of Asperger’s himself, and felt that while he was in school as a boy no one wanted him around.  His teachers often excluded him from common activities in the classroom.  He recalled numerous times when he was actually “put in his own class” where the teacher would make him sit in a chair at a desk that had tall sides on it, commonly called a study corral. His teacher would say, “You are in your own math class.  Do not leave this chair until you complete all these problems.” Mr. Kajow acknowledges that he had a lot of trouble in school, and had it not been for one or two kindly teachers who really made an attempt to understand him he would never have made it through.  He is now a Special Education teacher and he wants to make a difference for the autistic children in his school.  His interest in PhotoBooks was most enthusiastic.
  His first project was to work on helping autistic children socialize with other children in their classrooms.  Most autistic children believe that the socially popular kids in their school are mind-readers of some sort, they can immediately know and understand something without anything ever being said.  The autistic child has trouble reading expressions on faces, and does not understand social conventions that indicate that another child may be interested in playing with them.   Mr. Kajow decided to create a “Facial Expression” PhotoBook where he would first take pictures of the faces of each of his children.  They would talk about different emotional states, anger, sadness, happiness, frustration, thinking, dreaming, hope, pleading.  They worked together as a class talking about different feelings. Most of his kids were used to hamming it up in front of the camera, and for the first few days, every child would slap on a huge grin that showed their teeth and tonsils.  After a couple of days of this, Mr. Kajow printed and posted these pictures on the wall. He left them there for a few days so that the novelty of seeing their photographs would wear off.  Then he talked to his class. “Is this how we look all the time?”   They all realized that they didn’t always look like that when they were in their “normal” state.  This led to a discussion about what different kinds of expression they might have on their faces at different times. 
Mr. Kajow suggested that when they see one of their classmates doing something they thought was “interesting” that they were given permission to go and take a picture of that person, then to say “Thank you,” when they were done.  By the end of the week, Mr. Kajow had dozens of pictures.  He made certain that every child had numerous expressions that had been captured on film so that each child could create his or her own
PhotoBook on Expressions.
  Once they had pictures of one another, Mr. Kajow talked to teachers in the students’ mainstreamed classrooms and asked permission for his kids to take pictures of various activities that go on in the other classrooms.  His main goal was to get his autistic spectrum kids to understand expressions were a form of communication, and he wanted his kids to learn how to take what they were learning in his classroom and transfer that knowledge into other areas of their lives at school.   Another week passed, and again, most of his kids did a pretty good job of capturing various events in other classrooms.  They photographed tables of students working together on a project showing focused faces and sharing of materials like pencils and crayons from jars in the middle of the table. They brought in pictures of children on the playground playing different games like jumprope or kickball. They brought in pictures of students in the cafeteria, lining up to get their hot lunch and at the tables eating.  Mr. Kajow’s students were very busy photographers.  It was the first time they felt as though they were “special” in a good way because no one else in the school was going around taking pictures of various activities. Once they had gathered all the photographs together, Mr. Kajow selected several social situations that he believed his children faced on a regular basis. One was to work “committee style” on a regular classroom project.  The other was to learn how to join a game on the playground.  Mr. Kajow’s entire class worked together on the two PhotoBooks. He hoped that once they completed the classroom PhotoBooks that it would later be used for new students in his classroom next year. Once the classroom book was done, he wanted each student would be able to choose a PhotoBook topic for him or herself.
  Mr. Kajow’s school belongs to a cluster of schools in a larger metropolitan area, and while each school cannot have a trained interpreter or facilitator, they have the services of one who travels from school to school working with the autistic spectrum students.  This individual helps the children to work on understanding the vast variety of communication styles humans utilize.  A little known fact about communication is that when people are face-to-face, ninety percent of their communication is actually nonverbal.  This is a very difficult statistic for those on the autistic spectrum.  Most autistic individuals have little skill reading facial expressions and body language, interpreting tone of voice, especially sarcasm, and voice pitch. This facilitator would come in once every two weeks to coach the students on various social interpretation topics.
  As they worked on the PhotoBooks, Mr. Kajow noticed that many of the children talked about anger as something “red” and “hot” and “feeling like your going to explode”. He would gently suggest that faces depicting anger be placed on paper of a corresponding color. His experience has taught him that helping his students to color code to feelings they sometimes performed better when they were able to just think of the color rather than trying always to remember the hundreds of expressions the human face can make. 
Committee Work
  For the Committee PhotoBook, Mr. Kajow had the students decide on a project that they might be working on in their regular classroom.  Most of his students were required to work “committee style” which forces all children to learn to work and interact with the other students in their classroom.  They decided to focus on a Social Science project where they were to take news clippings from the middle of the table, choose one that they were interested in, cut it out, past it in the correct place on their worksheet, then they had to draw a picture depicting their topic and write a title.  Each student is required to work independently, but shares space at a large table. In the center of the table are containers of pencils, scissors, crayons, markers, glue sticks.  There is a stack of many news clippings on sea animals.  There is also a stack of worksheets. This provides the students with numerous opportunities to see how they can work with a group of other children sharing materials while creating their own page.  Mr. Kajow insisted that they take pictures showing good sharing techniques.  He also suggested that they might take some pictures of people who refused to share, or were hoarding their materials. Each day Mr. Kajow’s class worked for an hour at a time on his PhotoBook project.  The first step was to decide what kinds of topics needed to be included.  Sharing was the most important, but because he was still very interested in the social interaction aspect, Mr. Kajow also suggested that they include the faces of children who were working hard, of the children who were talking, of the children who were not “on task” looking around, or misbehaving in some manner.
  Little by little, Mr. Kajow’s PhotoBook on Committee Work came together.  ·   Page One: The first page showed an empty table with all the supplies and necessary papers in the center of the table.  The caption read, “Project Time”. ·   Page Two: This showed pictures of the students sitting at the table before they began their project.  One picture showed a student who was looking over his shoulder, and that had a caption of “Pay Attention”. The main page title was “Time for Work”.
·   Page Three: This page showed students with their hand out, obviously asking for something.  These had a caption that said something like, “Please pass the scissors”. A picture next to it would show another student handing scissors over in a safe manner with a caption that said, “Here you go.” A third picture on this page shows the original student saying, “Thank you,” and finally a fourth picture that has a caption saying “You’re welcome.”
·   Pages Four – Eight: These pages were very similar to page three, but it shows different students asking for a worksheet, a glue stick, a pencil, certain crayon colors, etc.  All the pages repeated the captions that depict the students asking politely for another student to pass them something, then saying “Thank you,” and “You’re welcome.”
·   Page Nine: This page showed the students working hard, with appropriate captions praising their industrious behavior. 
·   Page Ten and Eleven: These pages showed a time or two when a student was not working on task, or was hoarding some of the supplies.   
·   Page Twelve: This page had pictures of the students holding up their completed
projects.
  Time spent on the Committee Work PhotoBook was very helpful for Mr. Kajow’s students.  He noticed that while they were in the process of creating the PhotoBook, he heard more discussion of manners and more words of “please” and “thank you” than he’d ever heard in his classroom before.  Once they completed the PhotoBook, they decided to post each page up on the walls of Mr. Kajow’s classroom so that other students would see it.  That week the school held a Parents’ Night, where parents came to meet the teachers and their children’s classmates.  Nearly every parent in the classroom exclaimed over the PhotoBook pages that were posted on the wall.  They all wanted to try the activity at home, but claimed they didn’t know where to start. Mr. Kajow said, “Just do it!” It’s easier than you think! 
Playground Games    
  Mr. Kajow’s next PhotoBook project was entitled “Playground Games”. Every time he was on the playground, Mr. Kajow would try to encourage his autistic students to join in some of the games with the other students.  He noticed that they constantly misread the signs other students were making.  For example, he would tried to encourage one student to join in a kickball game.  When one of the players kicked the ball at his student, the boy turned in fear and ran away.  He believed that the ball kicked in his direction had been an act of aggression.  Mr. Kajow had to explain to him that when someone kicked a ball at him, he was to kick it back. Mr. Kajow understood that this was a little more difficult a topic than he first expected, so he and the school language facilitator would take pictures of various scenes on the playground for the students to use in their PhotoBook.  Because his students were so socially inept, he knew that they would have a much harder time understanding the very subtle nuances of body language, facial expressions, and physical actions.   
  In order to keep his students interested in the project, however, he continued to have them take pictures of different events on the playground, and when they sat down to work on the PhotoBook every morning, he was very pleased to see them really focusing in on the faces of their classmates.  That way they were able to talk about what different expressions meant, when someone was friendly and approachable, and when someone was angry, upset, and best left alone. Again, they worked on the PhotoBook one page at a time.  Each morning, Mr. Kajow would read from the Committee Work PhotoBook that they had completed in time for Parents’ Night to remind them of good behavior when working on a group project. By this time, Mr. Kajow had also printed and laminated photographs of the classroom committee tables showing where he wanted all the supplies were kept in the center of the tables.  Each morning, before work on their favorite project, the PhotoBook, started, Mr. Kajow asked certain students to make the tables look like they did in the pictures.  This way he was able to give his students the task of preparing the work station.  Little by little, more and more photographs were appearing throughout Mr. Kajow’s classroom that hadn’t been put into a PhotoBook yet, but he was using the technique in other areas of his teaching.   
  The Playground Games PhotoBook was laid out in this way:
·   Page One: This showed an empty playground with no children milling about.
   Page Two: Page two showed a picture of three of Mr. Kajow’s students standing on the outskirts of various activities with many children playing in the background. A second picture of the same students was a closeup, and the sadness and longing in their faces was really heartbreaking·
   Page Three: Showed two girls swinging a jumprope with a third girl jumping. One of Mr. Kajow’s female students was in the background, again looking longingly at the jumprope.
·   Pages Four – Five: These pages showed other children in various games on the playground: on the swing set, on the slide, on the teeter-totter, playing marbles, on the jungle gym, playing kickball, playing tag.
·   Pages Six – Eight: These pages showed a close-up of a student with a ball in his hands, his eyebrows are up, his mouth was open and the caption on this one was a big, huge, “Wanna Play?” Another picture showed a little girl extending her hand with the end of the jumprope in it, implying that she wanted someone to twirl the rope for her.  There was another picture showing one student pushing another on the swingset. When Mr. Kajow would read this book aloud to his class, showing them the pictures, they would spend the longest amount of time on these pages.   
·   Page Nine – Ten: These showed pictures of Mr. Kajow’s kids playing on the playground with other students, and he had at least one closeup of each of his kids with them smiling to one degree or another.  These smiles were not the same  “fake” smiles the kids usually gave when someone came around them with a camera.  These were real smiles of pleasure and joy. 
·   Pages Eleven – Twelve: These showed pictures of children enjoying their playground activities, with captions that were positive reinforcements.  “Don’t run away, we want you to play!”   
Recommendations
  Mr. Kajow understands that a single PhotoBook would not completely ease his students’ feelings of being uncomfortable and unsure in social situations, but he believes that he sees a difference already, and can tell that his kids are beginning to visualize themselves as being more successful in their social encounters.
  One more thing that Mr. Kajow tries to teach his students is that they should try to find fellow classmates who share an interest in something, whether it is music, running, or bugs. He explains to his students that they will make more friends in the life when they share things with people who are already interested in them too.
  When Mr. Kajow first began the PhotoBook projects with his students, he asked his kids to take pictures of what they considered to be appropriate social behavior.  Some of the pictures his kids took and demanded that he print were pretty strange.  Pretty soon he realized that he had to let go of the idea of what makes up a “good” picture.  All too often adults project their own ideas of perfection onto the kids. Without meaning to, we’re putting them down, somehow diminishing their efforts. Try, whenever possible, to include most of the photos that the kids take. Discard them only if the child has a valid reason for discarding.  You don’t have to use every picture, keep extras in a folder.  He also reports that some of his students are bringing pictures of their home life, many of them are of their pets, of their room, or of the supper table. He continues to encourage this kind of behavior, and is very excited to see it bleeding over into other aspects of their life outside of school.  Most of the parents in his classroom are supportive, but they’re not sure they really understand the purpose behind the photographs.  Mr. Kajow admits that he was skeptical too when he only heard about the idea and hadn’t yet seen the book, but now that he’s seen some of the results of all their efforts, he really believes that the PhotoBook idea has a lot of promise.
  Social understanding includes everything from facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, figurative vs. literal language, and that all important but most confusing category of “feelings”.  People on the autism spectrum have a very difficult time expressing themselves in terms of “feelings” and yet they can tell you when they feel left out.  They certainly know that they are different. The use of PhotoBooks can help them on their journey of discovery learning just a little bit more than they knew the day before.  PhotoBooks don’t work quite as well when talking about tone of voice, it is pretty difficult to show sarcasm in a photograph, but showing facial and physical cues in a photograph is often enough to begin a conversation that will bear fruit eventually.   
C: From Chaos to Calm 
  Rrecently  a young and enthusiastic  teacher at a special needs preschool learned about Thematic PhotoBooks.  She immediately took to the idea, told all her co-workers about it.. They were told that they would be given assistance to work with any of them with the kids in their rooms to help them get started.   Yes, Ms. Treena, while she was enthusiastic, she was also openly skeptical, she asked a lot of questions and said that she would think about using them in her classroom. The rest of the staff all nodded politely but demurred. “We’ll wait and see how Ms. Treena does with this PhotoBook idea, then we’ll think about using it in our classrooms.” Soon afterward, Ms. Treena solicited some help and began to incorporate the use of PhotoBooks in her classroom.   
  As a preschool teacher at a specialized preschool for special needs kids. Ms. Treena works in a classroom that is a considered to be higher functioning. She works with one other teacher and has aids throughout the day as they are available.  When I talked with Ms. Treena,  I discovered three things that made her successful: 1) dedication, 2) willingness, and 3) true understanding of her kids.
  Ms. Treena made a concerted effort to know her kids, then she focused on behaviors she wanted to change. Each child had a different diagnosis, history, and background. Some were complicated by a history of severe abuse, others because they didn’t speak English. It didn’t matter. Ms. Treena established a goal for each child and she worked toward that goal.
    Ms. Treena also took the PhotoBook idea and had the kids make pages of their scheduled daily activities. She would leave the pages posted on the wall for a week
before putting them back in book form where it could be used when a child needed a reminder. This might have been viewed as punishment, but because every  PhotoBook contained several pictures of each child, the identification each child felt when they viewed themselves in a photograph was very motivational. mrt spent a lot less time correcting bad behaviors. Once one book was removed from the wall, another one was already created and subsequently posted on the wall.
  After Ms. Treena had been introduced to my PhotoBook methods, she was asked to report, in her own words, of her experiences. She was asked to give you a description of her typical day, how it used to be and what it is like now that she’s incorporated the use of PhotoBooks in her classroom. 
Let me tell you, when I was first introduced to Dana’s PhotoBook idea, part of me was really, really excited.  The other part of me was pretty darned skeptical.  I know that kids like pictures to be taken of them, but I’d never actually done much more in the past than to take pictures of kids and put them on an ornament of some kind, like popsicle sticks so they could take it home and hang it in their room.  It just never occurred to me to do anything like this. I have one little boy who was especially troubled, Danny. His background is really sad, he has a diagnosis of “shaken baby syndrome” and he’s already been diagnosed as having post-traumatic stress disorder among other things. I believe he was abused by his parents from the time he was born and was taken away from his parents and is now living with his  grandmother along with his other siblings. Because his grandma has to work, she brings Danny to school here.   
I’ll never forget his first day here.  He was a holy terror!  Everyone thought so, and quite honestly, they were ready to tell Danny’s grandmother that we couldn’t take him.  He was horrible! But, he wasn’t in my room yet, I hadn’t even met him, I’d only heard about Danny.  I happened to go into his room for something, and I saw him.  I knew right away who he was because he was causing all kinds of trouble, but when he looked at me, I could just see something in his eyes.  I didn’t want to give up on him.  I volunteered to take him into my classroom, and he’s been with me since that day. We actually made some kind of connection that day, maybe because I chose him to come into my room.  I really don’t know.  What I do know is that he was not much better behaved in my classroom. Quite frankly, I thought I’d made a mistake.  The first two days, he was actually pretty good, but by the third day, he was feeling his oats again and he began to act out. I didn’t know too much about his history at that point, but I knew he had to have some basis for his violent behavior. He would hit his classmates with his foot, his fist, with a toy.  He’d throw chairs, bins of toys across the room.  And when his rage got the better of him, he would just start shrieking uncontrollably.
The very first thing I noticed about Danny was that he didn’t talk. His grandmother said he’d never said a word to her, and she was worried that perhaps he was deaf.  We had him tested, and he wasn’t deaf by any means.  He simply didn’t talk. He didn’t talk to me. He didn’t talk to any of the other students, and according to his grandmother, he didn’t talk to his siblings when he was at home with her. Once I realized that he didn’t talk, I began to think more and more about that PhotoBook idea, and I started thinking that maybe using photographs could help Danny to learn to communicate.  I understand that they have been used for other nonvocal children, so I wanted to do the best I could for Danny. 
Danny’s First PhotoBook 
I decided right then and there to create a PhotoBook just for Danny.  I started by bringing my digital camera to school, and first I asked his grandmother for permission to take pictures of Danny.  She didn’t care as long as I tried to reach Danny.  I could see her heart was just breaking. I took pictures for two straight days.  I took a lot of the other kids, but I most took pictures of Danny.  For the most part, I tried to take pictures of him when he wasn’t looking at me, because if he saw the camera he became a different person.  He’d either ham it up, or hide his face, or just seem to be embarrassed by all the attention. When I had enough photos, I put them together into a little photobook.   
I cut out words that I had printed on the computer and made a title for the cover of the book called “Danny’s Day”. The first picture was one of Danny’s grandmother holding his hand, bringing him into my classroom. Then one by one, I showed Danny what he did all day.  I had pictures of him painting or coloring and I called him an artist on those pages.  Then I had pictures of him during music time and I called him my musician on those pages. I put in pictures of him during storytime, during recess, at naptime, during lunch and snack time.  I made sure I only put in pictures of Danny behaving properly. I wrote captions that were complimentary and encouraging for Danny.  I know he can’t read yet, but when I read his book to him, I want him to think of himself as a good boy.
I have to tell you, the day I gave Danny his book, I cried.  I called him over to me and I told him that I had a very special present that was just for him. I wanted him to keep it here at school, but he would be the only one who could use it.  I could see his eyes, him thinking, “Yeah, right.” Then I handed him the box so he could open up his present. It occurred to me that Danny didn’t really have much experience receiving presents. His little hands trembled just a little as he ripped open the paper.  When Danny opened the book and saw his own face staring back at him his eyes widened.  I don’t know if he was in shock or what, but just as I was afraid he would throw the book down in disgust, he rushed over to the mirror
where he looked at his face in the mirror and then he looked back down at the picture of him on the cover of the book. He did this for a couple of minutes, and then as if he finally realized that the picture really was of him, he hugged the book to him chest and refused to let anyone near it or him. He wouldn’t even let me open the book to show him the other pictures in there. At that moment, it was just enough for him to see his picture on the cover. 
When it was time for Danny to go home, I tried to take his book away from him because I really wanted it to stay at school so we could use it.  Danny had other ideas. He started screaming so much that I just decided to back off.  I did ask his grandmother to please try to bring the book back the next day because I really wanted to try to start using it to see if we could change some of his behaviors.  His grandmother agreed to try to bring it back, but she made no promises.  It was pretty obvious even then who was in charge in that home. 
I don’t know if I was surprised or not the next morning, but Danny marched into the classroom with his PhotoBook hugged to his chest, his other hand dragging his grandmother behind him.  It was as if he couldn’t wait to get to school. As soon as he caught sight of me, he tugged his hand out of his grandmother’s hand and ran over to me. He held out the book to me and smiled a real smile.  For the first time since I’d met him, he was giving me a real smile.  Then he ran over to his grandmother and tugged her hand to bring her over to where I stood. Still holding his grandmother’s hand,  Danny opened the book to the first page where I could see the picture I took of Danny holding his grandmother’s hand as he came into the classroom that day.  I looked at his grandmother, and she smiled at me a little tentatively.  I think we were both hoping that we could actually communicate with Danny after all. 
For the next several days, I just watched Danny with his PhotoBook.  He identified very closely with it.  From time to time he would open it and look at a picture and then look around the room as if to reassure himself that he was in the right place.  Every now and then he would bring the PhotoBook over to me and make guttural sounds, showing me a picture of lunchtime when we were doing storytime, or something else.  It was pretty obvious he was asking to do something other than what we were doing.  It was pretty amazing to realize that he was trying to communicate, but I still would insist that he go back to doing what the rest of the classroom was doing. 
Daily Routine
After seeing the effect the PhotoBook had on Danny, I jumped into the PhotoBook idea with both feet.  I had my other teacher and my aides start taking photographs of the children, and a little at a time we created PhotoBooks that showed our daily routine.  I have to tell you, before we created the PhotoBooks for our daily routine, I really didn’t have one.  We did pretty much the same things every day, and we generally did them the same way and about the same time, but my classroom was pretty chaotic. The kids are always pretty unpredictable, and I guess I just let that feed my own sense of chaos.   Our first daily routine PhotoBook was called “Mealtimes”.  This we created pretty quickly and posted because our mealtimes were about the worst part of the day for me.  Frankly, the kids were sort of monsters.  I always wondered how they behaved at home, because they did not behave very well for me.   
Mealtimes – every meal: We had the children sit down at the table, and once they were quiet and attentive, we would sing a “hand” song.  This is a song where they repeat our hand motions while we sing. It helps to develop fine motor skills.  This song has the children say Please, Thank You, and You’re Welcome in English, then in Spanish, and then in sign language. After we’re done with the hand song, we sing the “Manners” song that has clapping and snapping of fingers, again working on their fine motor skills.  We took pictures of every child during these songs, because they seemed pretty happy during this time.   
The next part is kind of strange, but I just thought of it one day and it worked, so I’ve been using it ever since.  Because the kids don’t have very good table ìanners, I taught them to “put a bubble in their mouth and put their hands on their head”.  All this means is that they pretend to hold a bubble in their mouth, and they have to keep their mouths really still or they’ll pop the bubble. The hands on their head is self-explanatory, that way they can’t grab at the food while we’re putting their plates out. Once everyone has been served, then they can start to eat. 
While they’re eating, we’re working on using manners to ask for more food.  They must always either say the word please, or sign it when they ask for more of something, and then when they said thank you. Again, we took photos of the kids signing. We insist that the kids all stay at the table until all their friends are done, and yes, we do have pictures of this too!  Once everyone is done, they must ask permission to leave the table.  Danny just looks at me and signs please.  I let them take their trash to the trash can and then they are free to leave the table.
I wanted our Mealtime PhotoBook to be the first one because we had such trouble with this activity.  Once we had all the pictures, we stayed behind one day to decorate all the pictures, make labels, and put them in page protectors.  The next day, I showed the book to the children first as a book because I’d put it in a three-ring binder.  Then as we prepared to have lunch, I took out each page and we talked about what we were doing, and I showed them the pages.  I pinned the pages to the wall next to the table where we eat.  Mealtimes have gone a lot more smoothly since we created that PhotoBook! 
«Go Anywhere»  PhotoBook 
Anytime we have to leave our classroom, whether it is to go down the hall to music room, outside, or anywhere we have a certain routine.  I have the kids line up at door. Once they’re paying attention I ask them, “What’s in the hall?”  They’re all supposed to answer, “A giant!” Then I say, “Shh. He’s sleeping.  Let’s keep him asleep.  Remember, bubbles in your mouth and hands on your head!” Once everyone’s in position, we take our journey down the hall.  This is a quick little PhotoBook, but is really fun.  My class is now the quietest and best behaved when we’re in the hall! 
«Playground» PhotoBook 
Once we’re outside, I’ll do a roll call. I’ll say each child’s name, and they’re supposed to answer either by saying hello or here.  Outside, they just play.  I just make sure they don’t hurt themselves. When it is time to go in, I tell them that it’s time to park the cars. That’s our message for them to clean up. Again, this is a really short quick PhotoBook but it’s a fun one, and I realized pretty quickly that the PhotoBooks are pretty popular with the kids, and if I don’t have enough for each child to look at one, then we’re in for trouble!   
«Rest Time» PhotoBook 
Before they go down for their nap, we have to do potties, where we have them go to the bathroom.  While one adult is in charge of that, we put their cots out.  Each child has his or her own specific cot and they are to go and sit quietly on their cot until they are called to go potty.  Once they are done, they are to go to their cot and go to sleep.  Before naptime I don’t let them have a toy or a book because if I do they won’t go to sleep. Once they get up from their nap, they go potty again, and then they can take a toy or a book back to their cot until the rest of their friends wake up.  This PhotoBook is full of pictures of the kids looking at the various PhotoBooks we’ve made so far.  It’s pretty neat. 
«Free Play» PhotoBook 
This is free time for the kids.  They need to learn more about sharing.  We often have problems with some of the kids hoarding toys, so we take a lot of pictures of when the kids are doing the right things, when they’re sharing, and when they’re playing nicely together.  Once playtime is over, they need to help us clean up.  This PhotoBook has been great because we created kind of an extension of it.  We have placed a picture on each bin of what is to go in there.  We have to have the kids sort the toys into groupings.  We now have pictures of
·   building blocks
·   legos
·   giant beads
·   tactile toys stuffed with plastic parts with bumps
·   cars
·   dolls, and doll clothes
·   kitchen stuff, fake food
Once we put up the pictures, this part of my day has been simplified
tremendously!   
 
General Books
We created some general PhotoBooks on Manners and Friends. We tried to make sure we took those rare pictures when certain kids who don’t usually do something good, doing that something good!  That way, they see a picture of them doing something they don’t usually do.  I don’t know, it might be kind of a reverse psychology, but I think it’s making a difference. 
Children:
For those who know children as well as I do, you have probably guessed by now that all the other children in my room became very jealous of Danny’s PhotoBook of himself.  They all wanted one of their very own.  I started this process just by taking pictures of each of the kids, and then putting them on their locker where we keep their personal things.  This was one way to keep the children from taking something out of another child’s locker. You’re right, while this step was helpful to me, this was not good enough for the kids. They all started asking for a book about them. So, we got to work.   The hardest part at first was deciding what kinds of pictures to include in each of their books, but once we sat down and talked about each of the kids, and what our particular problems were with them we were able to focus on getting shots of when they were demonstrating good behavior, and created captions under each of those pictures that would further impress upon the child that they really capable of good behavior.
Summary
Here are the kids’ PhotoBook summaries.  The first part under each name shows some of the behavior we wanted to change.  The second part shows you how the child changed as a result of getting a PhotoBook that focused on them performing well. I was amazed.    
Pryor
Before: At the start of the year, Pryor was completely nonvocal, but would whine all the time.  He would lie on the floor, wriggling around on his belly like a brand-new baby sucking on his pacifier.  Our goal was to eliminate the pacifier, try to see if we can get him to talk and not whine quite so much. 
After: Now Pryor only uses his pacifier at naptime.  He will say “tissue, please” when he needs a tissue.  He is capable of short sentence structure. His whining has diminished, and sometimes he will even laugh. 
Ellie
Before: Ellie has been at our establishment from the time she was an infant, so she should be very comfortable here, but at the beginning of the year, she was always sad, whining, and constantly had her blanket with her. 
After: Now Ellie loves to run, play, laugh, play with bubbles.  She loves to help clean up.  She interacts with the other kids, especially playing house. Best of all, she smiles all the time now. 
Adam 
Before: Adam was pretty aggressive.  He would run at another student from across the room and hit them, push them, step on them if they were lying down on the floor.  If he were to be poked himself, he would burst into tears and quickly go out of control. 
After: There is almost no hitting now from Adam, less pushing, and no out of
control temper tantrums. He listens better to direction most of the time. Overall, his behavior really has improved.
Christina
Before: Christina would cry at everything and she had absolutely no concept of sharing.  Anything she put her hand on she believed belonged to her and if another child just looked at it, she would burst into tears and start screaming. She always said no.  She refused to potty.  It didn’t matter how well the other kids modeled this behavior, it had no impression on her.
After: Now she is much more cheerful and actually initiates playing with the other children. She potties most of the time without a problem.  She offers to help anyone without being asked to by me. 
Kaden
Before: Kaden was too cute for his own good.  He loved to be the boss, and because he’s so cute, adults would let him get away with anything. This made my job really hard.  Every time I would ask him to do anything he would throw a fit, cry, scream, gnash his teeth, kick, punch.  Pretty  violent. 
After: Now he understands that most of the time Ms. Treena is the teacher and he must listen to me.  I will let him be the “teacher” from time to time if his behavior is really good by letting him choose our next activity.  We’ve developed more of a “partnership” rather than one of us being the boss. 
Sarah
Before: Sarah was adorable and she knew it.  I think she’s going to be a
comedienne later in life.  She had a problem listening and following directions.  She was very easily distracted and it was hard to keep her focused.
After: She’s still adorable, and still knows it.  But, she is much better at keeping on task, knowing when to be serious and when it is OK to be silly. We have a way to go with her, but she’s made great progress. She loves her PhotoBook as much as Danny does. 
Damian
Before: Damian’s parents are from India and he came not speaking any English. He would throw a fit anytime things didn’t go his way, but I think his biggest problem was his inability to communicate. He also had a problem when his sense of order was compromised; for example if we put out juice, cheese and crackers, but forgot the grapes, he would throw a fit. He hates any kind of change, and would throw a fit any time we would change activity, leave the room, come back to the room.  He was quite a challenge. 
After: We worked most with Damian on the concept of change.  He has mad the most use of the pictures we’ve posted around the room. It also helped him to see that not every lunch and snack time has exactly the same food.  We worked hard to help him to anticipate what would be coming next so he knew what to expect. He speaks some English now, and uses sign language a lot. The PhotoBook seemed to be the best communication tool for Damian. 
Danny
Before: I’ve already shared a lot about Danny. When he came to us he was a mess.  He would bite, hit, throw chairs, turn over bookcases, throw baskets of toys. He figured out how to climb the pony wall and go into the next classroom. He would take markers and draw on the other children. When he’d throw a tantrum he would scratch himself, drawing blood, sometimes would hit his head with his fists or a toy.  He was completely nonvocal.  He would refuse to sleep at naptime, and when he did sleep he had horrible nightmares.
After: Danny is a different boy now.  His first word was “stay”.  He said this to me because I would sit with him at naptime and sing to him while he looked at his PhotoBook.  I allowed this because he seemed so disturbed and agitated.  One day, just as I was about to leave him because I thought he was asleep, he opened his eyes and said that one word to me.  Then I knew he could talk, so we started adding a LOT more to his PhotoBook.  Now Danny talks with medium sentence structure.  He smiles all the time, and we haven’t had one instance of aggression.  Anytime a child or adult leaves or enters our room he greets them or says goodbye to them.  He signs songs. He has no more nightmares, though it is hard to get him to sleep still.  When he sleeps, he wakes up singing.  He does a lot of sign language and his favorite is to sign “I love you” to me.  My goal now is to create a PhotoBook of Danny to give to his grandmother.  She almost weeps now with relief and gratitude that her grandson has made such a turnaround. In fact, Danny became a director when we started working on PhotoBooks  for the other students.  At first, it was because he was the only one with a completed PhotoBook, but after that the other children just followed his lead and they allowed him to keep that role. 
In Closing:
I’ve talked a lot, but I just had to share some of the really amazing things that have happened in my classroom in the last couple of months and it is a direct result of using  PhotoBook methods.  One of the best things I like about this idea is that it could be turned into a real book by sending it off to Kodak or lulu.com and have it printed and bound.  I’m doing this for Danny and his grandmother, and I plan to give it to them as a gift. This way they will have a permanent record of this time of huge change for their family.
The rest of my PhotoBooks are three ring binders in page protectors.  I do this because I find myself taking pages out as a teaching reinforcement tool for the children.  We also keep all our completed PhotoBooks on the shelf so that if someone new comes into the classroom I can have one of my older students “teach” the newer student how we do things in my classroom. 
The only thing I chose not to do is to do the Good vs. Bad photographs.  I think that is a better one-on-one activity.  I didn’t want to use it in a setting where other children could see their “bad” behavior, it would only serve to embarrass them.  Not all kids understand that something they’re doing is wrong.  It takes time and patience to try to figure out why a child is doing something wrong.  For my class, I focused on good behavior, and made all our PhotoBooks about good behavior, trying to reinforce what I wanted them to do, rather than trying to punish them for something they might not understand. 
I hope that my experiences will inspire you to try some of Thematic PhotoBook  techniques .  They have made a huge difference in my classroom. I’d say the most important thing is to not take yourself too seriously. Have fun with the project, and when you’re having the kids help you with the project, make sure you’re only working on it while they’re having fun too.  Once they are tired or done with it, stop.  You can always come back to it tomorrow.  If you do that, they’ll be eager to continue working on their own personal development. 
Good luck.    
   
Final Words about Thematic PhotoBooks 
  My journey to this point in creating PhotoBooks has been a long one, filled with doubt and fear at some points; filled with joy and hope at others.  While my passion for photography is what led me to develop my idea for using PhotoBooks when working with special needs individuals, I realized that for those who are interested in my methods need only to know how to “point and shoot” a very basic digital camera. There is no need for expensive equipment; there is no need to try to make everything perfect.  In fact, the mere act of striving for perfection can ruin your efforts.   The most important point of this entire process is to keep the needs and goals of your child or loved one with special needs at the forefront.  I found that when I humbled myself while working with children and adults with special needs, I learned more than they did. Quite honestly, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to all the special needs people who were willing to work with me, to try my methods, and to see what a difference they might make in their life.  This book is a direct result of my efforts with all of them. I’ve been deeply touched by their love and acceptance.  They’ve inspired me with their enthusiasm, their joy of life, their imagination, and their reactions.  Through them, I developed many of the ideas that I have shared in this book with all of you.   It is my strongest desire that working with Thematic  PhotoBook method that you will be able to make the lives of your special needs loved one richer and more enjoyable.  I hope that you find ways to spend more and more time together as you find new reasons to create new PhotoBooks.  Share yourself with your loved ones, and they will reward you tremendously.