Fun in the Din

There were about 10 children when we were about to start the story telling session yesterday having just sung "The Library Welcome Song" (lyrics composed by me incidentally). We were interrupted by a knock on the door and in trooped about 7 autistic teenagers accompanied by 3 social workers. I greeted my unexpected guests cheerfully and when they settled down I got the children to sing the library song again. From how the teenagers behaved I knew they are rather low functioning and I wasn't sure how the session will progress. Nevertheless I proceeded in my normal way, flavouring the story with exaggerated animal sound and cartoon voices. What I didn't expect was a lot of echoing and imitation of the sound that I made from the teenagers for it is quite common for autistic kids to repeat sound and words they hear. The only problem was they were doing this loudly without control and the social workers had to try their best to quieten them.

Now it is also usual for me to inject a lot of jokes and adult sarcasms in the portrayal of my characters, more for my own pleasure and for that of accompanying parents and maids. Yesterday amongst my audience there happened to be a easily tickled grandmother who let out peals of laughter more often than appreciated. Needless to say she added on to the din which was already increasingly difficult to manage. At one stage one social worker had to leave the room with one of the teenagers. I could see that the parents were also feeling a bit uneasy. (The session was specifically mentioned for kids below 6 years although many primary kids like to join in).

The real heroes were really my 10 little kids. They were glued to my story and took it in their stride the loud exaggerated response from the teenagers seated behind them as if it was mere over enthusiasm. They did not reinforce the din nor did they seem scared when one of the teenagers lay on the floor refusing to get up. Encouraged by them I decided to carry on with my usual drama much to the pleasure of grandma and the children. I don't know how much the teenagers have taken in the story but they applauded loudly imitating the social workers.

I realise the children were just being their natural selves not affected by any thoughts and pre-conceived notions about the group of people sitting behind them. Unlike their parents, they were not yet conditioned to expect certain decorum of the teenagers and seemed to accept them as fellow story listeners eager for some excitement.

At the end of the story, WE all had good fun didn't we? That's all that matters, really.