Final Reflection On Marcelo

Because of having a student with Autism in my class for the past 2 years I have become very interested in the topic. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Marcelo In the Real World because it helped me to get into the head of someone with autism to see how they process information. Even though each person with autism experiences things a little differently, there are still many similarities. Marcelo helped me to understand the little quirks those with Asperger's have such as the focus on one area , religion in the case of Marcelo , cars in the case of my student. The way Marcelo dealt with his feeling, his understandings and misunderstandings facinated me. Marcelo forced me to really look at what's wrong in this world and to realize that we need to work toward fixing or making right what we can rather than simply accepting things as they are. Marcelo grew as a person even though at times it seems as if he were just losing his innocence being immersed in the real world. He was forced to grow up or he at least accepted the challenge to grow up but he didn't accept the world as it was. He saw an injustice and went about making it right. He figured out fairly easily that it isn't all good out there. I will be more thoughtful, try to be more involved and more aware of what my student and all those who may think a little differently experience, good or bad, in our "real world".