Music professor. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear that someone is a music professor? I think about the piano, the saxophone, the children who create music, sing, play...
I work in elementary school for 10 years, teaching older classes. I never dreamed that I would work as a professor when I started. My dream was to have my own music studio and to be involved in music production. Of course, in life it is rarely the way you want it to be. It is more often the way others want it (I like to say that) and I became a professor.
August, my birthday, I was working hard in one cafe... The phone rings... "Hello, do you want to come for a job interview, elementary school, you could start right away if you have all the necessary paperwork... " In my country, such a call is a lottery prize. At first I thought someone was joking with me, but no, the call was true.
Day after... I was ready, the excitement was too great, a job in the profession, I didn't know what to expect. Waiting in the school hallway for the principal to invite me for an interview, someone jumps into my arms and starts hugging me, lifting me up, playing with me. I was shocked. I didn't know what had happened to me. Then I realized that I was in a school for children with special needs. The boy who welcomed me has autism. It’s the beginning of my story, it’s the story of a job I’ve been doing for ten years, it’s the story of the most humane job I’ve ever been able to do.
I'll start with the sentence that the job is not easy at all. Every day, they come by the same bus, the same people drive them, the same teachers are in the bus with them because those kids have a hard time accepting change. When they accept you, then you are theirs and they are yours. Those kids are uncorrupted souls as I like to say. They don't know how to act. When something does not suit them, they clearly show it, but they also clearly show when they like something. We sing, play all day, I always have a party in class. It often happens that a child is upset. The teacher then takes the child to the sensory room and comes to me to listen to some light music. Those smiles, those looks, the unconditional love and attention they give is priceless. They are with needs, special needs, and we are here to brighten their day, to show them that it is not difficult even if they need a little more attention.
We are all different in our own way. There are white, yellow, dark-skinned people with autism, this or that syndrome, but we are all people first. I appeal to us to be human always.
Thanks a lot for reading my article. All content is original.
Stay well and safe!
There is no doubt that you are a great person. Working with children with special needs makes us better every day. I appreciate the work of the teachers in this type of school, where the human quality overflows. "All children grow up differently, and that's fine, don't compare them." This sentence welcomes us to the school where my son will start the new school year, a school for children with physical motor disabilities. Greetings, I was moved by your article. Thank you on behalf of all parents for being there.