Foreign Languages

My students with autism are incredible. We must look at people with autism as we look at people who speak languages other than our own. I have spent a few months learning what incredible people my students with autism are... none speak with words....all speak volumes with gestures, facial expressions....smiles, waves and frowns....I think of them as using a language foreign to me...rather than as them being severely disabled. The skill level and cognitive abilities vary widely as do those without disabilities. Its time we look at people with disabilities as unique and different as opposed to broken.