This girl with severe autism couldn’t even talk but what the cat did was amazing animals are some of the best friends and companions we have but beyond these they can also help us through the storms of life for one girl iris grace holmshaw life was lonely enough but just when everyone thought things would stay the same a perfect partner
Appears iris grace is a six-year-old autistic girl her mother arabella carter johnson was despondent since she scarcely communicated during the first several years of her life the family then adopted a kitten with whom iris formed an instant attachment and she began to open up as we saw them relax on the sofa when we returned home with a kitten it was as if they were old friends
The cat’s little body was nestled against iris as they sat side by side after one of iris’s favorite african lullabies we named her tula which means calm in zulu chula was by iris’s side from the moment she met her sleeping in her arms like a guardian angel on her first night iris would lovingly stroke tula’s ears and long whiskers while reading her books or grasp her tail at the tip nonchalantly twiddling with the fur as
If it were her own as a result of tula’s arrival our morning routine changed iris who previously struggled to get out of bed before 9 am now seemed to have springs in her feet she awoke with a huge smile on her face with her new buddy beside her saying more cat as tula followed her to the stairs tula’s compassionate demeanor had an instant and profound impact on iris she
Began giving tula directions when tula was trying to play on her ipad she would say sit kitty she spoke it with such conviction that the kitty sat down right away unlike other youngsters or age iris did not continually maul stroke or pick up the kitten their friendship was the foundation of their relationship tula sat and watched iris play with baited breath occasionally joining in chula sat next to iris at her table
Imitating her actions as she played with plato i couldn’t believe my eyes this tiny kitten was practicing the fundamentals of play therapy the more i thought about it the more i realized how ideal a cat would be as a friend for a child on the spectrum they were able to understand each other in a way that would never be able to there was an evident connection between them one that we’d been looking for all
This time if iris awoke in the middle of the night tula was there to comfort her it was as though she intuitively knew what she needed to accomplish she’d carry a small toy in her mouth and toss it beside iris iris would play with the toy for a time and the movement in her fingers seemed to help her relax tula would then curl up next to her and purr as iris slipped back to sleep quietly
From the entryway i’d keep an eye on them iris would have requested to go downstairs if i’d gone in but with tula present she was content to stay in bed and when iris was upset during the day tula didn’t run away but instead stayed near to her diverting her from her problems i was preparing supper one evening with iris’s father pj while our dynamic duo was playing with bubbles in the sink
Tula was by iris’s side and there were squeals of delight as more bubbles were blown on the window by her hand it had been a long time since i’d seen iris so relaxed around water she’d avoided it for months and even a drop of water on her skin would send her into a tizzy she’d run up to me screaming rubbing her body all over my clothes to get the water off her skin and i could see how terrible it was for her
We began to see changes as she engaged with tula touching her fur and following her lead i had the most fantastic hug a magnificent gesture of devotion when she turned to me with a huge smile and her arms outstretched then much to her amazement she turned to pj and did the same and tula was next i began to laugh and another approached me i couldn’t believe our good fortune her embraces were really infrequent and
They were extremely moving tula was inexperienced and needed instruction which influenced iris’s behavior tula had entire faith in iris and with that trust came the duty for iris to treat her with respect and compassion iris was going through her paintbrushes one evening tula received three of the smallest brushes that she had chosen tula began to play wondering how to deal with them at first and iris jumped with
Excitement that her buddy was sharing her enthusiasm chula would be there every time iris went to her painting table patiently waiting and watching enthralled as the work progressed when the temptation to play became too overwhelming iris would admonish her sit kitty which she did dutifully tula would stay at iris’s side whether we were out in the countryside watching the water from the bridge or studying
The blue bells in the woods because of iris’s water phobia i had plenty of time and space to contemplate in my own bath tulle had gotten onto the end of the bath and was brushing her whiskers against my neck one evening tula placed one paw on my shoulders then two then three four before walking down my body into the water and swimming around my mind wandered as i was enthralled by
A fresh discovery chula enjoyed water iris bath time problems had gotten so difficult to manage that they were causing us all distress since iris seems to be fine with water play at the sink could tula be the answer my strategy of enlisting tula’s help next time i tried to bathe iris didn’t seem to be working iris began to wail as soon as her body touched the water and tula entered only
To gale up out again she then returned with a piece of jewelry she jumped up onto the bath side and continued to play with it for a little while this distracted iris and she stopped weeping everything fell silent tula got into the water after i sat back and took a big breath not wanting to break the silence iris greeted her with a grin and said hi cat which made me cry tulma had to be the cleanest cat in the
Neighborhood because she showered with iris so frequently she even allowed me to wash her hair demonstrating to iris that shampooing her hair was okay i started to lose track of all the ways tula was assisting iris when i told people about her i’m sure they thought i was crazy or that she had some sort of training i couldn’t believe it myself at times our home education room had replaced my
Photographic studio everything was extremely well thought out a cozy reading nook in one corner a desk for writing or more formal courses in a play area there was just one issue i was on my own my ludicrous attempts at teaching were a complete failure tula entered the room and sat down next to me more than ever i needed her how do you do it tula i was perplexed iris continues to move away i was
Starting to regret my decision to homeschooler because i felt so hopeless iris knew her alphabet numbers to 30 and could read a few small sentences so we had made some progress she was also able to recognize shapes and comprehend size and volume i had covered everything on the preschool curriculum that she needed to know but iris was about to become five reception age and i was having trouble keeping her attention
As i sat with tula i saw where i was going wrong the room was set up like a classroom and the exercises and worksheets i was presenting to iris were irrelevant she was unconcerned i needed to take advantage of her exceptional concentration span and activities that were meaningful to her i took tula out into the garden with me and we looked at iris who was sitting on her favorite tree stump i needed to
Design a curriculum that focused on her passions i’d educate her in the garden or on the bridge across the stream anywhere she wanted to be that would be okay if she needed to move we’d find a way to work around it that afternoon i started the first task would be to choose a theme cat seemed to be the obvious choice i scribbled the word cat in the middle of a piece of paper and drew a circle around it then drew other circles around
It with the various subjects english music art ict science maths geography and history i could never know what would work with iris if i pushed her too hard she’d become enraged but i knew i had to start with something she had previously expressed an interest in on the sofa there was a book open and i realized she was reading the owl and the pussycat under a starlit sky a fat brown owl sat
With a tabby cat and a pea green boat in the blue sea with a pot of honey some money and a guitar that’s what i’d do we’d manufacture a boat out of a cardboard box complete with props and of course tula as the cat we’d practice writing the letters and reciting the words while working on the poem’s vocabulary i designed initiatives for the art segment such as making cat masks to inspire iris to play
To add some science weed whey tula compare cat sizes and investigate the functions of whiskers and other body components we would count the whiskers on the mask to practice math sort her cat toys by size count them and begin to introduce addition and i have a lovely book the cat 3 500 years of the cat in art by caroline bugler that we could use for history perhaps going into the egyptians as well
It was going to be a fantastic feline adventure but first we had to construct our boat i dragged a bunch of blue cloth behind me as i carried a carton box outside i surrounded the boat with a sea of cotton and added a few sensory toys a crab some fish and a lobster i stuffed a treasure bag inside along with a jar of honey iris ukulele and binoculars to take in the scenery tool and i squeezed in with her while i chatted to her about the sea and the
Voyage we were about to go on it was a squeeze but iris was grateful for our company she felt the texture of the treasure bag golden money and seashells as she rotated them in her hands then she nudged me and i accepted her lead and jumped overboard tula followed iris out the door and into the house i was disheartened was it all a bit too much the majority of autism experts advice
Suggest teaching uses simple concepts and instructions broken down into phases on many levels my strategy was working in the opposite direction but then i noticed her coming back with the ipad back on board she opened google earth zoomed into south africa and spat across the pacific ocean circling the globe and pausing every now and then to peer over the horizon with her binoculars she wasn’t simply being silly she was
Planning her journey it went above and beyond my expectations her play was driven by a fascination for nature and its beauty as well as a curiosity about how things function i read the poem to iris who laughed at the section about dancing in the moonlight i used a puppet and a mask to get her to interact and later that afternoon i typed down the main phrases from the pokemon cards which iris read frequently
A painting sat under a stack of unfinished parts it was frequently viewed but never completed she used tools to give texture to the paint while it dried and she left with the light when she noticed a layer beneath it becoming uncovered thanks for reading.