Service Hours!

For my service hours, I'm volunteering (Feb. 28, March 7, and March 14) at Treehouse, a sort of after-school/therapy for children with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). Treehouse is run out of the Grove Medical Center, located at 4160 Route 83, Long Grove, IL by two psychologists that I've known since I was little. Dr. Nicole Hoffman (nicole.hoffman@longgrovepsych.com) used to be my therapist when I was a child and Dr. Chris Decker (chris-decker@sbcglobal.net) was my sister's psychologist so I know them very well. 

Last year Dr. Nicole told me that she was starting the Treehouse and wanted to know if I was willing to volunteer my time on Fridays from 4-8p.m. and I said yes. I have since really bonded with the kids, and one of them even started crying when I told them I would leave in the fall for college. He said "I don't want you to leave!" and clung to my leg.

Here's the building, since I can't take pictures of the kids. I suck at photography.

When I first started I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew they would be energetic, because little kids always are (especially Ozzie), and since they all have ASD, I knew they would probably have some sensory issues or issues communicating, since those are things that often come with ASD, which I myself have. I was worried about getting them to listen to me and respect me.

The kids were definitely energetic. They were hyper and hard to control, which is why we did exercise first to rid them of excess energy. But they're all very sweet kids. I gained their trust by proving to them that I understand them, as a young adult with ASD, and now they listen to me and respect me. If I miss a week because I'm sick, they ask about me, and it's the best feeling in the world!

Most of them are still hyper during relaxation, so that doesn't go well. After relaxation, we split them up by gender. I go with Dr. Chris and the boys to her office for group (where they discuss their goals, like for Ozzie-using an indoor voice) followed by dinner and a short free time while Dr. Nicole, the intern Maggie, and the girls are in art therapy. Then we switch. The girls have group, dinner and free time while the boys are in art therapy. Then we all come together for music therapy.

My "job" is to serve as kind of a mediator between them and the therapists or a helper. I assist the exercise therapist named Cama, the art therapist named Julie, and the music therapist named Becca.

The kids really thrive in the attention they get and they feel special in art and have fun playing with balloons to music. I get the feeling they have a hard time making friends in school and don't get much attention at home. It's a really good feeling to know that I'm making a difference in their lives. 

On Feb. 28, we went on a field trip to Brunswick Lanes where we helped children with more serious disabilities bowl. It taught the kids that there are people less fortunate in the world. It taught them to help others, and they really enjoyed being given roles as "helpers." Most of the kids behaved very well and helped their buddy a lot, but Ozzie decided to stick Skittles up his nose while Tim laughed instead. Those two are the troublemakers. 

On March 7, we had an impromptu field trip to Main Street Sports because of a noise complaint from some grumpy old man in a nearby office. The kids were given a good opportunity to run down their energy. Zoe was an amazing jumper, maybe some day she'll be in the Olympics as a long jumper. We did some jumping exercises, played soccer, then field hockey (it was sad that the only time I was successful at an organized sport was while playing field hockey against a bunch of 10 year olds) followed by dinner and then finally dodgeball. Those kids kicked my butt at sports. Thankfully Ozzie didn't do something outrageous like eating foam from a hockey stick. We even got Tim and Michael to participate in the games.

On March 14, we were finally back in the office. The kids were extra antsy because of cabin fever. So instead of exercise (that grumpy old man got us banned from the room we did exercise in) we played with legos while the kids talked amongst themselves about spring break. They love legos, but I did notice already at this age that they were already thinking that the girls/boys have cooties. Society brainwashes them into following gender roles from a young age. So during art I've heard James yell at Michael "Pink is a girl's color!" so I told him there is no such thing as "boy colors" or "girl colors" and that everyone can like any color they want.



 

Post 5

No creative title this time :|

More about American culture.

The world sees us Americans as youthful, energetic, loud, obnoxious, fat, and always eating unhealthily, with a thriving hero complex. And surely, this would offend some people, but it's funny because it's true. 

We are very young compared to other nations-less than 300 years old, which seems like a tiny speck compared to China's 5000 years. And with youth comes energy, and lots of it. Americans are always busy doing something. We can never stand still. And if an American does attempt to chill out and take a moment to de-stress, like what we did by doing literally nothing (no thoughts, no communication), that American is seen as lazy or a weirdo. Though I personally didn't get a reaction because my mom and sister are used to my "strange" behavior, other people were getting alarmed reactions from strangers.

America is the second most obese country (Mexico takes spot number one), and our portions are enormous compared to the rest of the world. We eat too much grease, not enough fruit and veggies, and too much fat but don't get enough exercise. We looked at Kohl's American values, and one of them is efficiency. Americans value always being busy, so instead of going home for lunch or going to a sit-down restaurant, the average American just goes through a drive-through and grabs a fattening burger and eats in on the way back to work in an effort to waste as little time as possible.

And as for the hero complex-that explains itself. If we didn't have a hero complex, why would we ever invade another country under the pretenses of "helping out?" We call ourselves the "world police," but we do more harm than good. We really shouldn't be invading other countries, and we shouldn't intervene in another country's war or situation unless our help is asked for.

Hetalia is an anime where the characters are personified stereotypes of the nations. Just look at how America's portrayed.

 

Here's one mocking Americans for sucking at world geography

 America's "World" Map

We also read an article called "Bemused in America" which was from a German perspective of life in America and how different and confusing everything was, from the idioms and expressions used in English to the 24 hour drugstores and supermarkets. When I hosted exchange students, we would take them all to Walmart and be amused at their expressions because they don't have such a massive corporation in their country. Even the Danish and German exchange students were shocked, amazed, and maybe even a little horrified at the size and amount of choices of everything.

In my personal life, I know that Americans are individualists who value spending time alone over spending time with loved ones. On my dad's side, we don't see them often and they don't get together often because that's not our culture (though we don't visit much because they live in Indiana.), but my mom's side, which is from eastern Europe (my mom's parents are first generation Americans), has weekly family dinners and is very VERY close-nit. To miss a family dinner (unless you're sick) is an insult to my grandparents that makes them very upset. Their parents brought over the European close-nit family values when they immigrated.

 

Unit 2 Part 1

This unit we're learning about world culture, my favorite! But unfortunately, most Americans respond to a new culture with culture shock, literally feeling shocked when immersed in a new culture, and egocentrism, or thinking your culture is superior. (If the last part doesn't scream America then I don't know what does.)

We learned this in class through a game of silent cards. Each table was given rules for a card game and then the rules were taken away and we couldn't speak to emphasize how much we rely on language. But what we DIDN'T know was that each table was playing a different game of cards, which we soon discovered as we were rotating around the room. This gave a lot of frustration because we though everyone else was playing the card game wrong (egocentrism).

In an episode of Hetalia, an anime about personified countries, Japan decides to visit his friend America and gets hungry so he (Japan) orders a large fry but is shocked and horrified to discover that the fry is incredibly large (to him) so he begins to shake convulsively. Poor Japan gets culture shock easily. Also in the episode, America is visiting Japan and he (America) orders a large fry but is shocked and horrified to discover that the fry is unusually small (to him.) The culture shock goes both ways.

We also learned about cultural norms. For example, in America it's perfectly acceptable to call people by their first names. But in Japan, calling someone by their first name (or without an honorific) is incredibly offensive unless you're their older relative, their best friend, or their lover. And if my family lived in China, my little sister wouldn't even be allowed to call me Matt. She would only be allowed to call me "大哥 (da ge)／哥哥 (ge ge)," which are both Chinese for "older brother." If we lived in a Muslim country, I would be considered the head of the household because my parents are divorced and I'm the only male (except for the cats). In both Japan and China, the number 4, 四, (pronounced shi/yon in Japanese and si in Chinese) when said as shi in Japanese and si in Chinese, means death so it's an unlucky number, a taboo that people flee from. It's the American equivalent to the number 13, which our culture considers extremely unlucky.