As a teacher, it is inevitable to meet different students in your class. The reason I'm jumping: A thirteen-year-old autistic boy's inner voice explains how an autistic child perceives the world. This text is an eye-opening experience for educators and family/friends to better understand the behaviors of a student with autism. In our class, we have had many discussions about the differences in how educators teach children as well as the multitude of students we will teach. We also discussed that as educators we cannot simply teach all children the same way, but that we must tailor our teaching to each student. Naoki Higashida reiterates this point in his novel. My initial interest in this book came from an autistic student I had this past school year who experienced a lot of what Higashida talks about in his book and wanted to better understand students like him in the future. As a teacher, it is imperative that I take the time to gain knowledge on how to best educate each child. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay Naoki Higashida is a remarkable thirteen-year-old boy who discusses his strengths and weaknesses as an autistic child. He gives the reader his perspective on his thought process, his daily life and gives an explanation as to why he behaves differently from others. Higashida discusses common behaviors that people often wonder about when meeting someone with autism. He allows others to access his perception of the world and how his actions often cause problems between an autistic person and someone without this disability. For example, Higashida discusses why an autistic person might not make eye contact with other people during a conversation and how for them it is not disrespectful but it is sometimes perceived that way. This text is written in the form of an interview, in which Naoki provides thoughtful answers to questions that people without disabilities often want answered. Throughout the book, the author describes everyday life through stories and anecdotal experiences. Higashida is well aware of how he functions differently from others, which made me wonder if other autistic people have the metacognition that he does. As I read this book, I thought about the variability of autism and wondered if the answers given by a different autistic student would vary significantly or not at all. By reading this novel, I was able to better understand how to better help students like Naoki succeed in my class. It is clear to Naoki that he is not like his peers and is not developing at the same rate as his classmates. . According to Woolfolk's (2019) text, a child who is Naoki's age should be in the identity/role confusion stage of psychosocial development as developed by Erik Erikson. At this stage, it is important for the child to maintain and develop relationships with peers. Children at this age develop abstract thinking and understand the points of view of others. While many of Naoki's peers are entering this stage of development, Naoki is not there yet. He's probably at the stage of industry versus inferiority. Naoki is still learning to trust adults, act autonomously in situations, and initiate his own actions (Higashida 2017). The challenge given the current stage of developmentNaoki's psychosocial situation, he strives to develop more complex relationships with his peers while risking failure. For a child with autism, it is important for their educator or parent to help them develop these skills to help them move to the next stage of psychosocial development. There are many ways to support this development in children like Naoki; encourage the student to make choices and act accordingly, provide support for students who seem discouraged, and give students a chance to show their independence in the face of teacher support. Another important topic in the book is that Naoki often talks about being alone and how he doesn't feel like other people really have a sense of who he really is. beyond his disability, many of his peers shun him because of his autism. The interviewer then asks Naoki why autistic people often exclude themselves from playing with others. Naoki states that he doesn't like being alone but feels like his actions cause problems for others and annoy them, which is why he separates himself from others (Higashida, 2017). As Woolfolk (2019) mentions in her text, student-teacher relationships have a significant effect on student success. With a student like Naoki, it is vital to his education to build a strong relationship with him so that he feels understood and validated. As Naoki's teacher, I would spend time getting to know him on a personal level outside of his academic progress and learning needs, which I think would help him be more comfortable in a school environment with others. I would also encourage conversations between Naoki and his peers, so they can find commonalities and ultimately create a relationship. This would help Naoki feel more comfortable at school and less alone, as he mentioned. As part of his ability to relate to other students, a childlike Naoki would also benefit from social-emotional learning instruction. By incorporating these lessons, Naoki could learn more about social-emotional skills to better understand and interact with his peers. In his text, Naoki notes that sometimes conversations are difficult with others due to his various tendencies. Some of these include: lack of eye contact, speaking loudly and strangely, minimal facial expressions, and taking too long to respond (Higashida 2017). Woolfolk expands on this point in his book and states that an autistic child should benefit from early and intense interventions in communicating with others and in social relationships. She also shares that if this doesn't happen, the child's diverse mannerisms and lack of social skills with others will continue to increase over time. A Naoki teacher could introduce lessons in eye contact and responding appropriately to a person during a conversation. It would also be beneficial for a child with autism to participate in morning meetings to find commonalities between them and their other classmates to spark conversation. Woolfolk (2019) informs us that as teachers we must have high expectations for all of our students. . It's not just about gifted students or teachers that students like, but also every student in our class who needs to be held to a high standard. Reading Naoki's book reminded me of this. Often, as educators, we see a child with a disability and want to make it easier for them in some way or may lower our expectations because of that disability to help them be more successful in our classroom. However, if we do not continue to have such high expectations, our students.