Student with autism navigating school life and experiences

I am a fourteen-year-old boy, studying at present, at a special education school. A few months after I turned one, my mom started noticing that I behaved differently or "strangely" (in her precise words) as compared to other toddlers. She also noted that such atypical behavior started surfacing immediately after I was administered a succession of vaccinations. As months passed, she started becoming anxious as I stopped making eye contact with all, even her. I refused to look people in the eye when addressed and started exhibiting repetitive behavioral patterns (for instance, I would solve a puzzle, jumble it, and again set about solving it) (Nagle, 2011). At age two, I'd stopped talking and seemed to be lost in my own world. If my parents took me out with them to supermarkets or other places having bright or flashing lights, I would grow fussy and distressed. Every small sound had me on edge; I was quick to startle. Even in a deep slumber, I would suddenly tense and stiffen, despite not hearing any sound. My parents' desperate attempts to engage me in normal play and get me to be attentive and responsive ended in failure. To exacerbate their frustration, I was eating only two foods all the time and had developed excessive sensitivity to particular fabrics. At age three, I was communicating completely, both verbally and non-verbally (Johnson & Rensselaer, 2008).

My language/speech and occupational therapy commenced when I was two and my therapist recommended testing me for autism spectrum disorder, a test which came back positive about the time I turned three. During preliminary assessment, my score fell within the ADI-R's (Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised) clinically significant levels in every area. My intellectual capacity couldn't be assessed using standardized means at that age. While a nonverbal tool was used, I ended up being fixated on the response cue cards provided for answering test questions. Likewise, I developed an unnatural interest in a spiral-bound stimulus book for the entirely wrong reason: the binding and not the books content, as was required of me (Grissom, 2012). Just after getting diagnosed, I was enrolled in OT (occupational therapy, for tackling my sensory problems) and ABA (applied behavior analysis for twenty hours weekly for reducing my tantrum behaviors and fostering adaptive skills), besides language/speech therapy.

My parents were recommended by a friend of the family to admit me to a Montessori in our locality in order to improve my development; however, this only worsened problems for us all. I failed to imitate other children's behavior or even play with them. At age 4, I was babbling and only using single words instead of sentences while talking, unlike my peers. This inability to convey my feelings, thoughts and views verbally left me highly distressed. My parents received daily reports of my abnormal behavior, as did my peers (to whom our teacher would express insights into my conduct). Assembly required all students to congregate in a circle, but I was always running into its midst and dancing, which was initially amusing. However, with time, it was viewed as a disruption and I was labeled by teachers as a problem student. The constant negative school reports led my parents to approach a psychologist who recommended placing me in a school for special needs students, together with therapy two times a week (Ross & Jolly, 2006).

Hence, I ended up enrolled in Springfield Elementary School's special education program. My parents viewed this placement as rather promising. The guidance and assistance of a professional counselor also aided them in coping with my problem. The school's individualized education program (IEP) team established improved communication skills as their chief goal for me. I could imitate signs; however, I had never, up to now, attempted to independently initiate signed speech. The team recommended a visual system approach as ideal for me since it would stimulate me to initiate interaction. The Picture Exchange Communication System focuses on individual students' unique interests, rather than coercing them to pay attention to unappealing objects.

My chief goal, as established by the team, was initiating communication with others, to ensure I forge better, meaningful relationships with fellow students and to decrease the frustration I experienced when normally interacting with others. My progress left my parents proud and thrilled. I learned to effectively convey my thoughts, opinions and requests to others. My peers reported an improvement in my mood and demeanor; my tantrums decreased as did my agitation at school. I was also subject to Sensory Integration for remedying my sensory processing issues. This process involved my exposure to just the right amount of sensory stimuli for improving my information processing abilities (Lober, 2015).

As the years passed, my parents understood that, besides being different from others by age in terms of my academic and social challenges, I was also different from them on several other, more positive counts. I was better skilled than my peers in certain areas. For instance, nobody had to teach me to navigate TV menus, computers or the Internet. Also, I was good with numbers. I could count to a hundred by tens, fives and ones, and could remember which tracks I preferred on any given song CD at home (Ross & Jolly, 2006).

This, however, wasn't enough to alleviate my distress over the countless other things which came harder to me than to my peers. Until a couple of years ago, I was still facing trouble comprehending spoken language. This left me highly frustrated as I was often left feeling clueless as to what the other person, or a group I was a part of, was talking about. I had difficulties understanding where my parents were going, the duration of their absence, what rules to follow, and how things are to be done. I also lacked friends as a young child, since I had no idea how I was to play with playmates or toys. While I enjoyed others' company, I couldn't imitate the things they did, or even find them interesting. I suffer from concentration issues even now, thus failing to hear what others require of me. My attention is totally reserved for what piques my interest and this makes learning other things tough for me. My brain is a storehouse of movies which I am able to easily play back when not engaged in the present. Further, I tend to perseverate on things (i.e., getting a scene, phrase or movie out of my head is difficult) (Ross & Jolly, 2006).

In the future, I plan on concentrating on my education in order to earn my own living and lead an independent life. With regard to the sort of job I aspire to hold, I have many aims. On the recommendation of my teacher, I intend to follow the computer science field. Although I do have some qualms regarding how I will interact with colleagues at the workplace and how they will view me and behave towards me, my parents, therapists and educators assure me that my confidence and aims will help me succeed. Furthermore, my current school provides vocational training. Although my mom is also anxious about whether I'll land a job, she feels I will succeed if I am fortunate enough to find considerate people at the workplace (Aslan, Ozbey, & Yassibas, 2013).

References

Aslan, Y., Ozbey, F., & Yassibas, U. (2012). "I Have Lived an Autism Experience. Autism is an Interesting Disease": The Life Story of a Young Man with Autism. International Education Studies, 6(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ies.v6n1p74

Grissom, M. (2012). Autism Spectrum Disorders: Case Study: Treatment. School of Health Professionals. Retrieved 6 February 2017, from http://shp.missouri.edu/vhct/case4108/treatment.htm

Johnson, J. & Van Rensselaer, A. (2008). Families of Adults with Autism (1st ed.). London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Lober, G. (2015) Autism Spectrum Disorder: A case study of Mikey. Retrieved from http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3638&context=honors_theses

Nagle, M. (2011). The Path to Diagnosis: A Case Study of Two Children with Autism. Education Masters. Retrieved from http://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/education_ETD_masters/253/

Ross, D. S., & Jolly, K. (Eds.). (2006). That's Life with Autism: Tales and Tips for Families with Autism. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.