Sofia's first weeks

I have been volunteering at the association for a few weeks now and I think I can already reflect on the experience I am having. First of all, I would like to highlight the great work they do in the centre with all the people who participate in it. I think that thanks to the activities that are carried out there, the quality of life of many people improves considerably. Not only because of the skills they can acquire and improve during the programmes, but also because of the positive impact of being in a safe space where they can express themselves and interact without feeling judged. Much of this success is due to the staff of the centre (cleaning staff, caretakers, cooks, teachers, psychologists or social workers), who are all highly professional, caring and interested in their work. This tends to be the driving force behind the positive changes. 
So far, the project in which I have collaborated the most has been in the nursery school where several days a week each child, with different communication problems, attends class. The educational context is very favourable for their development. The classes are made up of 5-7 pupils, which means that the attention can be personalised and adapted to the specific characteristics of each child. There is a fixed programme that aims to work on different areas with the infants: speech therapy, psychomotor skills, visual arts or music therapy. The children know at the beginning of the day the activities that will make up their morning to avoid uncertainty. 
Many of these children have a diagnosis of autism. As a social educator, I felt that I had sufficient knowledge about this diagnosis. However, as is so often the case concerning people, theory is far from practice. And although the knowledge has been very useful and has served me as an orientation, I feel that I am breaking down many prejudices and wrong associations I had about autism. On the other hand, it is my first time intervening with children so young and who also have specific needs. Without a doubt, I am learning a lot from them. 
Something that I have observed with a lot of admiration and that I think is a great reflection for all of us, is how the effect of motivation is crucial for people. On some occasions, children have not been motivated by the activity they are being offered to participate in and have simply been slow to do it or have been hugely frustrated or distracted. However, I have also observed them fully engaged and following the rules perfectly when it was an activity they were interested in, with motivation for them.On many occasions this has happened in art class or music therapy. Where I have observed how children previously unable to give an answer to a question with many possibilities because they were overwhelmed, knew the exact moment in a song when to clap their hands, tap the floor or keep silent, following the interpretation with enjoyment. I got the reflection of how important it is not to take anything for granted, to appreciate the different capacities that we can all have and the importance of proposing activities to the people we work with that motivate them.