Helo's Story

Helo is a little different than most 4 ½ year olds, because he was diagnosed autistic at the age of 2 ½ years old. Helo hasn’t shown an obvious handedness yet, at preschool they are pushing him to be right handed. His mother is right handed and I am left handed. I believe Helo’s cerebellum is well above average. Helo started to walk at 10 months old and he now easily out plays all of his friends and his father on the playground. Helo’s nutrition is not as good as his parents would like them to be. Helo is gluten and milk intolerant. Do to this and the fact he has a texture issues. So as a result it is a battle at every meal time to get him to eat. Helo is under weight for his age group. To supplement this weight issue, we (as his parents) make him drink at least one milk-free pediasure a day. Helo’s make-believe play is wonderful. He is constantly imagining “transforming” in to a robot. He has starting recently doing sociodramaitc play where the make-believe is with others peers. I don’t believe he has an understand of “a sophisticated understanding of role relationships and story lines.”
We have been blessed that Helo was accepted in to a low income preschool called Head Start, he has had wonderful teachers.
The teachers appear to be using the three educational principles derived from Piaget’s theory. For Discovery Learning his class uses almost everything that is listed in the text book. They use, art, puzzles, dress-up clothing, building blocks, books, and musical instruments to play, learn, and explore. This period of the day lasts for 45 mins it’s their free time. For Sensitivity to children’s readiness to learn, they adapted to my son’s needs so they wouldn’t impose new skills before he was ready. Then for Acceptance of individual difference, so the other day the teacher had the children them draw pictures of themselves and then share with the class to learn about each other. They are also put into to small groups to work on class projects or
tasks.