{"id":10949,"date":"2017-10-12T21:44:35","date_gmt":"2017-10-12T21:44:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/?p=10949"},"modified":"2017-10-13T14:59:29","modified_gmt":"2017-10-13T14:59:29","slug":"special-education-major-works-to-change-perceptions-on-autism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/2017\/10\/12\/special-education-major-works-to-change-perceptions-on-autism\/","title":{"rendered":"Special education major works to change perceptions on autism"},"content":{"rendered":"

See full article<\/a><\/p>\n

Jordan\u00a0Sien\u00a0struggled to have a relationship\u00a0with her older brother. When they were young, she\u00a0didn\u2019t know how to\u00a0talk to him. But now that they\u2019re both adults, he\u2019s the inspiration for the CU Denver student\u2019s career aspirations.<\/p>\n

Sien\u2019s\u00a0brother has autism, and\u00a0with her\u00a0special education major, she\u00a0wants\u00a0to\u00a0help\u00a0students like him.<\/p>\n

\"Jordan
Jordan Sien and her brother<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe need to\u00a0set kids like my brother up for\u00a0adulthood,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Sien,\u00a0who plans to graduate in December from\u00a0CU Denver\u2019s School of Education\u00a0&\u00a0Human Development<\/a>\u00a0(SEHD).<\/p>\n

Sharing a love<\/h3>\n

As\u00a0Sien\u00a0and her brother grew older, she learned\u00a0how\u00a0to be more patient when talking to him\u00a0and how to connect with him through things they both love, like music.\u00a0A\u00a0Maryland native,\u00a0she\u00a0first fell in love with Colorado\u00a0during a show\u00a0at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and\u00a0her\u00a0brother can \u201cplay the drums like he\u2019s in AC\/DC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want to be a special education teacher?<\/h4>\n

Interested in becoming a special education teacher? Please\u00a0contact us<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When she was in high school,\u00a0Sien\u00a0struggled with selecting a career path\u00a0because\u00a0of her own learning disability.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t do simple addition in my head,\u201d she said, \u201cand all the careers I was interested\u00a0in\u00a0required me to be good at math.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, she realized she was\u00a0good at\u00a0working with her brother. She\u00a0began participating\u00a0in\u00a0a teacher academy program and\u00a0got\u00a0internships with students\u00a0with special needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeaching\u00a0came very naturally to me, and I realized this is exactly what I\u2019m supposed to be doing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\"JordanTeaching with perspective<\/h3>\n

Sien\u00a0just completed a practicum at\u00a0Carmody\u00a0Middle School in\u00a0Jefferson County, and this fall, she has an internship at Arvada High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a really rich experience,\u201d she said of being a student in SEHD\u2019s\u00a0Special Education program<\/a>.\u00a0\u201cI like the fact that there\u2019s a diverse population, both in the student body and the population that I teach. And the professors are so supportive and contribute so much to the educator that you become.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordan Sien and her brother as adults<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Much of her work has focused on helping\u00a0students plan for life\u00a0and a career\u00a0after graduation\u2014the\u00a0type of\u00a0transition\u00a0support\u00a0that\u00a0her brother never received.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother has regressed in some ways and is\u00a0nearer to the nonverbal end of the spectrum now,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cWatching him\u00a0go through\u00a0that\u00a0put things in perspective of\u00a0what I can do for other kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Setting big goals<\/h3>\n

Sien\u00a0has\u00a0dreams of\u00a0starting\u00a0a\u00a0summer camp for kids with autism. She envisions the camp offering\u00a0horse therapy, water therapy,\u00a0hyperbaric oxygen\u00a0and, most importantly, scholarships for 20 percent of campers.\u00a0She has\u00a0already thought through how she\u2019ll make\u00a0the camp a reality\u00a0through nonprofit grant funding,\u00a0and\u00a0she has\u00a0built a professional foundation for herself through CU Denver\u2019s Student Council for Exceptional Children.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big goal,\u201d said\u00a0Sien, who is working\u00a0this summer as a\u00a0counselor\u00a0at\u00a0a kids\u00a0adventure and wildlife camp in Highlands Ranch.\u00a0\u201cBut without big goals, how are you going to get anywhere?\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s not even her biggest goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy\u00a0end-all, be-all goal is to change the perception of kids with special needs,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople feel like they can\u2019t do things, but if you give them a chance to conquer their world,\u00a0I guarantee you they can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

WRITTEN BY: AMY VENTURA<\/p>\n

Contact the author:\u00a0amy.ventura@ucdenver.edu<\/a>. View more articles by\u00a0Amy Ventura<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

See full article Jordan\u00a0Sien\u00a0struggled to have a relationship\u00a0with her older brother. When they were young, she\u00a0didn\u2019t know how to\u00a0talk to him. But now that they\u2019re both adults, he\u2019s the inspiration for the CU Denver student\u2019s career aspirations. Sien\u2019s\u00a0brother has autism, and\u00a0with her\u00a0special education major, she\u00a0wants\u00a0to\u00a0help\u00a0students like him. Jordan Sien and her brother \u201cWe need to\u00a0set […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":10952,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}