She then posed happily with Mimi and PapPaw...
Sydney is a 10 year old 4th grade honor student. She entered the Tropicana Speech Contest at
her school and won 2nd place.
Sydney is passionate about advocacy for people with disabilities,
especially those with autism. She
resides with her parents, Marty and Jaime Daniel, siblings Logan, Gracie and
Luke and pets, Jersey and Toby. The transcript to her speech is below.
My name is
Sydney White and my speech is about how to be a friend to a person with autism.
This is important to me because my
little brother, Luke, has autism. I also
have several friends at school that have autism.
Did you know
that one out of every 54 boys and one out of every 252 girls are diagnosed with
autism? People that have autism usually
don’t have many friends. Many people
just stare at them because they are different than us. You could be the type of person who stares. You
could be the type of person who stays away from people who are different
because you feel afraid of them or don’t know what to say. Even though we are
all different, we are all the same because we all need friends.
I’m going to
tell you how to be a friend to people that have autism. There are five steps in the process.
The first
step is, “Care, don’t stare.” Don’t stare at people who are different from
you. This could hurt their
feelings. Care about them instead of
staring at them.
The second
step is try to talk to them. Say, “Hi,”
to start a conversation. If they are having lunch you might say, “What are you
drinking?” This will help with
communication skills.
The third
step is, stand up for them. If someone is making fun of them, stand up for
him/her. You could say, “Hey, stop messing with him/her. How would you like to get
laughed at? It hurts your feelings doesn’t it?” It hurts them just like it would hurt you.
The fourth
step is walk with them and get to know them.
At school if you have a student in your class who has autism, you could
volunteer to walk with them to the cafeteria or to P.E. class. They may like it if you play soccer with
them.
The fifth
step is to volunteer to help them with their classwork. You could go to their teacher and ask if you
could help with their classwork. When
you help them, they might earn an A+!
In
conclusion, when you become friends, maybe they will give you a great big hug.
Maybe they will smell your hair or maybe they will smile. Having a good friend will make their life
better. Your life will be better, too, because you have a new good friend. Make sure you follow these steps. You may
find what I did…they are just like us and they need friends, too.
Sydney, you inspire me. Love, Mommy :)
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