Couple of years ago I went to America to be an au pair for a family in California. When I arrived they had 3 children but the host mom was pregnant with the 4th one. Taking care of 4 kids was scary for a 19-year old me, but you can't even imagine my surprise when I found out that TWO of the kids have autism.Darius was the oldest one and had autism, but a ''mild kind'', but JJ had ''severe kind'' of autism. When I first arrived to the family Darius was so talkative, happy, playing with me, he was like all the ''normal'' kids so I didn't know in what way he was different. JJ on the other hand was all quit, didn't want to look at me, talk or interact in any way. I thought maybe he is just shy. After a couple of days spent in their family, after everyday's sessions with their therapist I god the picture of what autism is. Darius and I would sing all the time, play, he would help me a lot with other kids, even the newborn. But JJ would NEVER look me in the eyes, he didn't talk talk much, he was scripting ALL THE TIME, and sometimes I would get so frustrated with all of that because I didn't know how to handle that.After couple of months looking at how therapist interact with them, and work with them, I started applying those things to them also. I started practicing talking with JJ, interacting with him more, he would help me make the beds, with the breakfast, and after a couple of weeks he started doing those things by himself and I was so happy.Having a kid with autism is really hard. I can't tell you how happy and blessed I was when JJ look me in the eyes for the first time. Those two kids inspired me to be a therapist for special needs children. Autistic kids all live in their little worlds and they choose who can be there with them. <3 them

Au Pair
Osijek, Croatia