• to gather and sort out what pictures of the children that I want to use
• come up with exactly what I want to say in my first slide to introduce my topic and how I want to end it.
• I have everything in the middle undercontroll
• I still have to decide if i want to play music or if i dont.  I think it would be better not to because it would symbolize how kids with autism are sensitive to music and the music might take away from it.
• I also have to record some of my voice overs
• I still need to decide how i want it to flow.  If i want it to fade in and out and how fast i want it to go
• I have all my video clips done though because i did them this weekend.

By making this film I am trying to understand why autism is so hard to understand and why people give up on children with autism so easily.  The obvious topic of my film is autism.  But the less obvious topic is how autism effected me as a person and how it changed me for the better. I already know what autism is and how it can impact peoples live for the better and the worst.  But I do not know exactly how I can show that in film.  I have some ideas but they are all just jumbled.

Part 2

I used to think autism meant a child was really smart in certain subjects but just lacked the social aspects or that they were just in other words helpless.  I know realize that autism has all different levels of severity.  My film is going to focus on the sever autism.  This means that a child is very aggressive, non-verbal and needs alot of help but it does not change that they are a child and deserves to be treated well and with respect.  They need love and support.  They need everything, every other child needs but more. I  also learned that saying that child is autistic is politically incorrect.  It is disrespectful and it is labeling that child.  When speaking of a child who has a autism you say “he or she is a child with autism”.  This means that they have autism but it is not the only thing about them.

This shift caused me to change my major at the college of St. Rose.  I went from being an elementary ed major to a special ed and elementary ed major.  I also know that i do not want to teach in a class room for general ed anymore.  I feel like i know alot about disabilities and i would be usefull in a special education setting.  Preferably and autistic room.

Part 3

I am a much stronger person because of this shift.  I also am much more open minded.  I participate in autism walks every year to help raise money for reasearch and I take every moment I get to raise awarness about autism.  I am alot more considerate and patient.  Working with children with autism teaches you to be patient and that it is ok when things do not work.

I want my audience to learn not to stare at a child with autism when they see them out in the commuity.  Because that is all I used to see when I took some of the kids out and it was very frustrating.  I also want my audience to learn that autism does not mean the childs life is over.  It just means they need more help.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.methuen.k12.ma.us/autism/socialbehavior%2520puzzle2520piece.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.methuen.k12.ma.us/autism/autism_facts.htm&h=154&w=212&sz=17&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=gAlKzqbR-8uW3M:&tbnh=77&tbnw=106&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dautism%2Bfacts%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.displaysforschools.com/autism.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.displaysforschools.com/autism.html&h=788&w=608&sz=35&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=z7brGqhB7adgSM:&tbnh=143&tbnw=110&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dautism%2B%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://logo.cafepress.com/1/8465574.3690531.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.autismapparel.com/cgi-bin/store/autismawareness.cgi/2815291455&h=151&w=182&sz=21&hl=en&start=8&um=1&tbnid=XeW72ctLvFWQIM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=101&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dautism%2Bfacts%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

• Community  
•           Unusual or interesting facts
• Lack of or delay in spoken language
• Repetitive use of language and/or motor mannerisms (e.g., hand-flapping, twirling objects)
• Little or no eye contact
• Lack of interest in peer relationships
• Lack of spontaneous or make-believe play
• Persistent fixation on parts of objects
• 1 in 150 children is diagnosed with autism
• 1 in 94 boys is on the autism spectrum
• 67 children are diagnosed per day
• A new case is diagnosed almost every 20 minutes
• More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, diabetes & cancer combined
• Boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism
• There is no medical detection or cure for autism

• see- complete crazyness.  Kids running all over the place, with little to no direction.  I also see a long hallway with tons of rooms.  I dont know were anything is or what anything is.  I see a bunch of kids looking at me but saying nothing, hanging me little rectangle boxes with pictures on it.  I see restraints going on.  Kids hitting and biting themselves.  Kids going after other kids.  I am at a lost.
• Where am I- St. Colmans Autistic Boys Floor
• Smell- Cookies (they were baking chocolate chip cookies in the caeteria downsairs)
• Hear- Kids yelling, Tv playing, workers talking to each other
• Who is with me- co-workers, childern

• see- people looking at me and my co-worker, brian smilling and laughing, playing with his hands dressed as a fire fighter
• Where am i- Friendlys on an outing on halloween
• Smell- Food cooking in the kitchen
• hear- Laughing, talking, pans moving around
• who am i with- brian and my co-worker

1. I would choice the first one.  I woud focus on seeing the kids for the first time and how they are actng and what they are doing.  I would focus on my hearing and seeing manily.  Everything else is not imprortuant. I would use close up images to show what the children are doing. 

1) Some surprising things about me!

• I used to dance for 12 years.  I did tap, Jazz and hip hop.  I danced all year long and all day.  I would go to class everyday after school and would practice every spare minute I had.  It was my whole life when I was younger but I loved every minute of it.
• I just found out last night I have a 35 year old half brother, that I never knew about ( I am 20 years old).  I also have a 2 year old nephew that I never knew about.  He contacted my sister and I through facebook.
• I love camping and spend a lot of my spare time at my families camp on sacondoga lake.  We also have a boat which i enjoy.  Because of my love for camping I also work at a summer camp for 2 weeks at the end of the summer.  It is a camp for children with autism.

2) Some of my obsesssions and passions…

• The RED SOX- I love watching games on tv, going to games, watching them on teh computer, reading about the sox.  Anything that has to do with the sox I love.  My room is covered in red sox posters, plaks, etc.  I also have a red sox tattoo that i got this year.  Not many people would guess this by meeting me.
• I do not really obses over anything else… some people say I am obsessed with my cell phone because I am always text messaging or talking on it… but I am working on that.
• A passion i have is helping people.  I will go out of my way to help someone if I see someone is struggling with someone.  It may be as easy as holding a dorr and as much as spending a week and or so helping them with a project. 

3) Hobbies and pasttimes

• Dancing- tap, jazz and hip hop
• Zolunteering (key club at my school)
• Traveling- went to germany and france in high school
• Anything outdoors- In the summer its swimming, camping, hiking, biking etc. In the winter I love to go ice skating.  I got to the plaza almost every weekend to go skating (since its free).
• Spending time with family.  My family means the world to me.

4) Groups…

• Job- The center for disbaility services: Outreach Couslor and i have been there about a year
• I used to do the friday night rec program at st. rose, i stopped this semester bc working 40 hours a week and going to school and that was to much

5) Worlds I am close with…

• I am really close with the autistic community and understanding the struggles people go through raising a child with autism.  This is because my cousin has autism, i worked at a group home for kids with server autism for a year and i work with people with autim now.
• I think I also understand the world of having any disability very well.  I work with people with varous disabilities and I see what they go through every day.  I am a major advocate for them and I work hard to get others to understand that they are people to and deserve to be treated equal
• Other than that i am just part of the middle class society and have a pretty regular family.  Except for finding out last night that I have a brother my family never told me about.  But they had there reasons (bad reasons but still reasons).

This video fits most all of the personal essay characteristics. This is because it gives a great image and picture of what autism is and what the families deal with everyday. It also uses multiple senses. It talks about how all they can hear is the yelling and the screaming of the child and the people that dont know about autism talking about them and their parenting. This video is full of repition every family says the same thing, just in different ways about their own child. Lastly it starts out with small moments that kind of show autism and by the end you really get to see what it is all about and how much these families are going through.

This video does not follow as many of the personal essay themes. There is no talking just music, pictures and then slides with words. But it gives a families opinion of autism and there strickt opinion on it based on specific experiences. It gives great images because of the pictures and then explains them with slides that have words on them. It has much small moments in it, in the start because it starts out when the boy was born and then goes to when hes older and becoming more sever. This is a great example of personal essay.

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