First time storytime for autistic tweens

I did a storytime to a room of about 15 autistic preteens which was one of the hardest things for me from my perspective being the presenter. I had been researching the autistic spectrum, and what signals to look for, or what to do when something becomes a trigger. Mainly, I was trying my best to be observant. I had two in wheelchairs, one with a cane, and many nonverbal. There were caretakers with them which are regulars in the library, so I felt I had support in the room. I also brought 2 therapy dogs, which I think helped the preteens relax a bit. The ones in the wheelchairs I couldn’t tell how they were feeling because they were motionless, and I did have one girl who started crying, but then she focused more on the dog, and then started laughing after so I was relieved.

Then I took them on a tour of the library. This was no easy feat. I showed them the Teen Zone, which is a space with lots of materials just for them. As I was talking about the music cds we carried, I decided to throw out some names, and one girl asked if we had Taylor Swift which made me smile. That same girl asked some good questions about what else we carried, and asked me if I liked Taylor Swift, and if other librarians liked her. I told her that my teens like Taylor Swift so much that they put up pictures from her latest album 1989 up all over the Teen Zone. This answer seemed to satisfy her.

Continuing our tour, I wanted to make sure they knew what we had on our second floor. As I was leading the pack, one boy was scared to use the stairs. I offered to go slow alongside him until we made it up together. His caretaker was there, too, but I wanted to make sure the group knew we were going to do this together. I asked the rest of the group to wait for us until we got to the top. Then after the group in wheelchairs made it upstairs in the elevator, we checked out the computer lab, and there were some good questions about if all this was free. I asked few questions of the group, since I had been reading that asking too many questions, or giving choices might be too confusing to some. I had them set my pace. In the end, I wasn’t sure how I felt about how effective I was. Usually in storytime, kids will laugh, or smile, or play simon says, or answer my questions while I read to them, but with this group I couldn’t get that kind of a response. But what I did learn from this experience is to be even more patient with pre-teens.

Cutest Patron of the Day

My cute patron of the day was a little girl who in her tiny private school uniform came up to the reference desk to grab some kleenix. Then she waited close by my seat to ask in the highest possible pitch," Oh, I was just wondering...do librarians love to read books?" Her mother pushed her along saying, "Come on..." and I told her, "Yes, I do love to read books!" She was so little! So cute!

That Dragon, Cancer

I heard of this indie game about a little boy who has cancer that started out on kickstarter, was successful on it and now the game is done. It has some controversy because of the subject, and I think some people weren't able to handle an emotional video game like this so instead took to bash it. It is to my understanding that the subject of cancer is not something we should be seeing in games. I guess some just want all the games to remain the same and never evolve. Lots of negative things happen to people all the time, and are we supposed to just not ever talk about it, or express how we feel about it in a new medium, to deal with the pain of the loss of a loved one, ever?

Now, I haven't played That Dragon, Cancer yet, but I am looking forward to playing it and here's why… I love playing video games where I am immersed into the emotions of the characters or storyline. I play games like Journey, Never Alone, Rain- all games which had me from the beginning because of the whole package (beautiful music, low lighting mixed in with contrasting light, feelings of hope for the character) These types of games also seem to have a "bigger picture" type of message which  makes me feel like the game showed me something I never noticed before about life, and death. Especially when I am trying to understand why so many people around me are dying of cancer, and I feel like we do need to talk about cancer more to help each other.

I know this game might make me feel sad. Maybe it will be depressing because it is about cancer and death, and the little boy we already know dies. All I can hope for is that this little boy's parents, who developed the game as a way to cope with their loss, can find some comfort.

Teen Patron of the Day

Today's teen patron of the day was standing next to me, and she said, "I like your hair… I like the color" This was so nice of her to say! I have never met this teen before. I always wear my hair the same way, in a ponytail, but not today. Now, to me, my hair was not all that today. And I thanked her, and I was flattered because this was a teen, and I want teens to think I'm cool. I'm wearing my hair down in an Aaliyah style, half covering my face. Maybe I should wear my hair down more often.

Back in the Day

Back in the day, when I was young…sometimes I do forget while talking to the teens how I am old, *ahem, older than them so much so as they do not react when I make a reference to a certain actor/musician/group or someone from my day. Just because your name reminds me of a r&b singer from the 90s, does not necessarily mean that you will know who the hell that person is because you weren’t born yet. I can’t believe just how many times a teen stares at me when I try to make a reference to a singer, and all I get is a courtesy smile and giggle. I know that courtesy laugh- it is just because you are trying to be nice. You can't fool me! I do that all the time!

Anyways, I may have to start watching, listening, reading more of what teens do because otherwise we are not going to be able to relate. I need to step up my game this year. Oh, games is another one I need to start doing more.

Another thing I notice is that I keep telling myself, "I never acted like that when I was that age?" Mostly this thought enters after I have just finished scolding a teen whom I saw from the corner of my eye throw an empty coffee cup across the room, and miss the trash can. Respect is something that is clearly not in this child's vocabulary, so I made sure he learned that hard lesson from me. That single incident happened over a month ago, and everyday I go to work I have seen this one teen and I always refer to him as the "coffee cup guy" and I make sure to call him that in front of his friends, who just happens to be girls, and who laugh because they don't understand why I keep calling him coffee cup guy. One time, I even asked if he wanted to star in a tv show since he struck me as an attention grabbing type of individual. He denied that he liked attention, and promised me he would never do that again, ever. Nowadays, we say hello, and ask how we are doing, and I learned his name over time. But it is just too much fun calling him coffee cup guy, and I don't think he minds much...anymore.

Wealthy Patron of the Day

I helped an elderly couple find a specific article about a device that was named one of Time magazine’s best inventions* of 2015. I asked the typical reference questions to try to locate it and, when I thought I had it, I started to read it to them. The man said that that was his grandson’s invention. I turned to him and thought, “That’s so awesome”. And they looked so proud, too…and wealthy. Then, the woman told me the whole story of how this device was helping other people, and then I just felt in awe that their grandson was like a celebrity of this town.

*The picture is not the aforementioned invention of this story.

International Games Day

International Games Day is here! We had not just one, but TWO days of game playing for all teens. We had a bunch of card games, video games, board games, online gaming happening in three different locations, and all staffed by the community center staff, TLAB teens and myself. We had snacks to refuel. We had prizes raffled. It was lots of marketing, because it never was done here before, and I was determined to get new teens to come to this event.

On day one, I was dragged by the teens to play Just Dance 2015, one of the Xbox One kinect games. I was horrible. The girls were good, and I was trying to keep up, but I could not understand the timing, even though I do like playing rhythm games with an actual controller. So your body is the controller, which I’ve never done before, but some of the girls had and were being very nice to me and each other, which was good to see.

The teens were so supportive about my lack of skills, and I was just hoping not to mess them up, or step on their toes because there were 6 of us in a line looking at the same projector screen. The song they chose was Katy Perry's Dark Horse, which I know the song, but damn that was hard to dance to! I kept saying, What is going on?! I thanked one of the TLAB teens for helping me try something new.