Christopher Willard chooses a small, blue antique chair and sinks his tall, lanky frame into it.
It gives him a slightly comical look, rather like a giant squished into an elf’s chair.
But then, that is Chris, the life of the party and a chatterbox.
He works alongside Richard O’Donnell at the historic and picturesque Hillary House.
Mr. Willard, a 20-year-old Grade 12 student and Mr. O’Donnell, who is in Grade 10, are both high school students at Aurora High School, nearing the end of their workterm. The young men both have autism.
“They both enjoy coming here,” said Dennis Gould, the educational assistant with the York Region District School Board who accompanies the students. “They get pretty ramped up. It gives them a sense of pride.”
The pair works Tuesday mornings.
They are both in a community class at the high school and will earn a certificate of completion rather than a diploma.
Having autism affects a person’s ability to concentrate. A person with autism can only focus for a certain length of time and will need to constantly switch tasks.
Mr. O’Donnell is non-verbal and only answers specific questions. Mr. Willard is very verbal.
“He is very expressive. He does not hold back,” Mr. Gould said.
The aim of this program is to get Mr. Willard and Mr. O’Donnell working with others, following instructions and, later on, moving to other community-based programs.
Mr. Willard waves his arms around and moves his body back and forth, apparently nervous around a new person.
What does he like about coming to Hillary House?
“It is fun. It is cool,” he says, later admitting he likes his work placement better than school.
The placement ends in mid June.
Mr. Willard enjoys hockey, playing on two teams and his favourite movie is Garfield.
“Everyone is going to miss Chris. He is the life of the party. Chris has a personality where he keeps you laughing the whole time. He is always in high spirits,” Mr. Gould said.
Mr. Willard and Mr. O’Donnell water plants, dust furniture, mop floors and do gardening outside. Mr. O’Donnell is “extremely capable” and takes direction well, said Joan Patterson, a volunteer at Hillary House who also runs the gift shop along with other tasks.
Just as these two young men have learned quite a lot, they have taught those around them quite a lot, too.
If you come into work in a bad mood, you cannot stay that way for more than 10 minutes, Mr. Gould said.
One of the huge strides the pair has made is they are both able to take blue boxes and trash to the end of the driveway, right near busy Yonge Street.