Summary
My volunteering activity is working as a part timer at a well-known company called QSAC who specializes with adults and children with autism. Therefore, QSAC has many locations not only in queens but also in Jamaica queens, Bronx, Brooklyn, white stones flushing, long island. I worked at the 38th street location in queens Astoria. What I do there is I am a habilitation specialist which is I help people with their bookwork, and I make sure that they all do what they need to do. Each and one of them has different behaviors and some are very independent so with the one who are independent you still need to remind them that they have chores to do and work because if they complete their book work some will get awards for example game time, computer time, some will get icy, money to get whatever food or snacks they want.
Therefore, the reason I do this is because growing up my mom worked in this department since I was little so every time as I gotten older I would go by after middle school and I would stay with my mom and do my homework while also observing everyone and what people would do with the individuals, and I started to build a connection with it and wanted to do that . So, my first ever job is working with adults and children with autism, and I very much enjoy what I do because I like helping people and I love it when my individuals start to warm up and feel comfortable around me. another thing I like about my job are the people around me everyone is incredibly supportive and helpful the best part I am the youngest one in the department so that makes me feel very great to know that I am the very first one to be the youngest in all the departments.
Everyone is nice and when I need help, I can always count on them to help me. I have been doing this job for 2 1/2 months almost 3months, and the experience so far is great. It can be very difficult at times because our individuals have their days and sometimes their schedules change which makes it hard for them to get used to it because they are used to the old schedules. However sometimes they do go through fits and can get physical but when that happens you need to stay calm and get help because when that happens, we have people who are trained to handle those situations.
Therefore, when doing this job, you need to think clearly and have patience because when you are working with people with autism you need to be understanding and patient with them because you can't be aggressive and rude because than you aren't being helpful when it comes to your job.
Logically you need to understand that these people can have a hard time in the society because people see them differently than themselves, so my job is to make sure that they don’t feel different and to help them with their social skills and things they need to learn for themselves and their future. Throughout my journey of working in this department and environment I generally enjoy what I do because I don’t care about the money, I mostly care about how the individuals are going to do in life once they are done completing this program. Therefore, you need to think clearly before you do something because some of the individuals do tend to pick up on things so there are rules and words that we can't say around some of them because those words can trigger them into having a behavior. When you get into this job there are things you need to know so before I started this, I had to do a lot of work papers and training. I did orientation for 3 days and I would have to wake up at 7 and be there at 8:30 and it would end at 5:30pm and so during the orientation they would show you videos and I would take notes for me to know what I can do better on and what I need to learn more about.
And during the times I work I get proud when I teach my individuals things they need to learn and when they need help sometimes, they have trouble asking so I always tell them if you need help speak up or come up to me and bring me to your table so I can assist you and when I see the progress that they are making it makes me feel extremely proud of them. I do get very protective sometimes because when I am with the little kids, and we go outside for a nice walk people tend to look and stare and say things that can be offensive and it does make me mad, but I know that I need to not tell them off and ignore them and keep walking and make sure that my kids are safe and make sure that it doesn’t affect them because I don’t want them to think that they are different and that they should be treated differently. I don’t want that to happen because they should be treated the same as anyone else.
The way I solve their problems if they are having a misbehavior is I always tell them that they need to calm down and not get to adjective because if you want something you need to earn it and if you act the way you are acting you aren't getting anything and sometimes you need to put your foot down because they tend to think they are the boss of you but they aren't you are . Sometimes that doesn’t always work so I try to talk very low and soothingly and ask them do you need a break if so, let's go for a walk in the halls so you can calm down and relax.
However, you need to make mindful decisions when you are working with them because you can't let them get whatever they want because than they won't work for it and so in a professional situation for example if you are working with an individual and they refuse to do any work and they get upset and curse you out the only thing you need is to stay calm and tell them if you want your award in the end of the day you need to do your work if not you are getting a token off your paper and the minute you say that, they realize oh I need to do my work so I can get my award . Therefore, I do this because I want to, and the pay isn't bad either. I work 3 times a week and I get paid 200-300 dollars. And it does take a lot of responsibility and awareness because you need to have self-respect and understanding that it can be hard but it's worth it because I really love doing what I do, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.
You need to be respectful of others around you and make sure that you make educational decisions, because if you don't make educational decisions, everything will go wrong. Also, we do have rules, which are we can't take pictures of individuals, and we can't take photos of the building because it goes against the rules, we can't use our cell phones because you always need to be aware just in case individual is having a misbehavior. You need to be aware and to have your head up just in case you need to Protect yourself.
Ciara Cintron
