The Members’ Magazine of The Jefferson Public Radio Listeners Guild June 2008

Profiles in Experience: Living Within the Autism Spectrum

The JEFFERSON MONTHLY Vol. 32 No. 6 (ISSN 1079-2015) ispublished monthly by the JPR Foundation, Inc., as a service tomembers of the JPR Listeners Guild, 1250 Siskiyou Blvd.,Ashland, OR 97520. Periodicals postage paid at Ashland, OR.Annual membership dues of $45 includes $6 for a 1-year sub-scription to the JEFFERSON MONTHLY. POSTMASTER: Sendaddress changes to JEFFERSON MONTHLY, 1250 SiskiyouBlvd., Ashland, OR 97520.

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6 Profiles in Experience: Living Within the Autism SpectrumBy Janel SalazarMy son, Jeremiah, was born onMay 16, 1982 on a sunnySunday morning in Silverton,Oregon. He was healthy and Iremember thinking howperfectly proportioned he was.Actually, he was just perfect.Jeremiah was a hungry littleguy who grew very fast andreally, the only time he criedwas for more food. He wascontent and happy.

This month’s feature is writtenby Janel Salazar, mother of anautistic son and advocate forthose who live within thespectrum of autism and thosefamilies who care for autistic loved ones. Salazar shares thestories of four autistic individuals at different stages ofdevelopment; these personal stories put faces and feelings, aswell as the frustrations and celebrations of families in front of thestatistics and sound bites we hear and see in the media.

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O N T H E C O V E R

“Simple Flower” by Kristen Willey, asuccessful and talented 7th grader atHedrick Middle School in Medford. She liveswithin the spectrum of autism.

The circulatory system of the human hand,part of the “Bodies Revealed” exhibition atTurtle Bay Exploration Park in Redding (seeSpotlight p. 14 for details).

Alison Brown, former investment bankerturned banjo master, joins Fiona Ritchie onthe June 29th broadcast of The Thistle &Shamrock.

The Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra returns to theElizabethan Stage of the Oregon Shakespeare Festivalfor a concert on June 30th at 8:30 pm. (see Artscene, p.32 for details).

Jeremiah Moore, now age 26.

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y son, Jeremiah, was born onMay 16, 1982 on a sunnySunday morning inSilverton, Oregon. He was

healthy and I remember thinking howperfectly proportioned he was. Actually,he was just perfect. Jeremiah was a hun-gry little guy who grew very fast andreally, the only time he cried was formore food. He was content and happy.

I went back to work soon afterJeremiah was born, so we both experi-enced other infants and toddlers early onin daycare. As time went by, I could see children atthe sitter’s reaching milestones like rolling over, sit-ting up, crawling, walking, talking, well before myson. From visits to his pediatrician, he was aboveaverage in all of the health indicators so for a while,I heard and haltingly accepted that babies developat their own pace. I kept working with Jeremiah oninstinct and by talking to the other babysittermoms to teach him what I thought he needed tolearn for development and growth.

By 15 months of age, Jeremiah was finallycrawling but not trying to walk. He was experi-menting with sounds but clearly was not developing speech at therate of the other toddlers who were beginning to communicate inrudimentary language. I feel very fortunate that Jeremiah’s care-giver, Shirley, who was like a grandma to us, told me that shethought there was something more to Jeremiah’s delays than justslow development. That was a good catalyst to take more action.We took Jeremiah to a neurologist in Portland who said hethought it may be cerebral palsy, so referred us to the ChildDevelopment and Rehabilitation Center (CDRC) at OHSU.

I was again, very fortunate to have access to Dr. Gene Stubbsand his research. We took Jeremiah for three observation sessionswhere professionals watched him carefully with toys, with his par-ents, and with staff. Dr. Stubbs interviewed us about Jeremiah’sdevelopment and personality. He seemed very serious and dedicat-ed to his work which was reassuring. After the sessions, Dr. Stubbstold us that Jeremiah met 8 of 16 criteria for autism. The fact thathis behaviors met half the criteria meant that he was high func-tioning. My first reaction was relief to know that something had

been identified. My second was to takeaction in a pre-Internet era.

We were referred to a new organiza-tion called The Children’s Guild, locatedon the campus of the School for theBlind in Salem where we lived. It wasfounded by Kathy Bridges who, as themother of a child with a developmentaldisability, started an organization thatprovided services in a setting that wascompletely progressive and innovativefor its time in the mid-1980s. Jeremiahreceived hour-long, bi-weekly sessions for

Speech and Occupational Therapy (OT). I joinedJeremiah to continue therapy at home. The visionthat Kathy Bridges brought to our reality made aprofound difference in our lives.

Jeremiah had taken his first step onThanksgiving Day when he was 18 months old. Hisfirst word was “uh-oh” which I realized is what I wassaying when he dropped a toy or food from his highchair. He said a few words like “grbape” for grape,and “doin” for “what are you doing,” but every wordlearned was extracted, one at a time. I tried toengage Jeremiah in play but realized that it always

ended up with his favorite plastic toy wagon turned upside down,spinning the wheel endlessly. He loved to make motor noises forthe killer Hot Wheels collection inherited from his Uncle Erik, lin-ing up each of the cars on the back of the couch. Jeremiah wouldalways stop suddenly whenever he heard the bus on 24th Streetthat to me, was just a faint noise in the distance. I used buses, cars,and heavy equipment machinery to teach colors, words, and num-bers because that’s what had his attention. Jeremiah had littleinterest in imaginative or pretend play, so action figures simplybecame more objects to line up. Jeremiah loved to see GrammyShirley, but he interacted in parallel to, rather than with, the otherkids (except for his little sister, Darcy, whom he hugged and cher-ished). In the mid-80s when the occurrence of autism was over 1in 10,000 births, I had no understanding what affect autism hadon Jeremiah and his learning and interaction style other thanwhat I could observe. I taught him intuitively.

In 2007, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) announcedthat 1 of every 150 children born in the United States has some

Profiles in Experience:Living Within the Autism Spectrum

By Janel Salazar

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Statistics collected bythe Oregon Department

of Education for the2007–08 school yearreport that 1 in 89

children attending publicschools are eligible for

services due to anAutism SpectrumDisorder (ASD).

Marcie Dixon, and her son, Preston, age 5.

� 1 in 89 school-aged children are eligible forautism services in Oregon, up from 1 in 98 last year.� Oregon is number three in the occurrence ofautism behind Minnesota and Maine.� The Oregon Legislature passed Senate Bill 1,effective in 2007, and House Bill 2918, effective in2008, to bring equality in coverage of neurologicalconditions like autism to the same level as physicalconditions. More policy will be introduced in the2009 legislative session.� Autism is a bioneurological condition and is notan intellectual disability.� Autism is a spectrum of disorders (ASD) fromnon-verbal to high functioning autism (HFA) toPervasive Development Disorder-Not OtherwiseSpecified (PDD-NOS) to highest functioningAsperger’s Syndrome (AS). ASD is a sensory process-ing condition that affects verbal and non-verbal com-munication, social interaction, and presents in repeti-tive patterns or language of narrow interests that canrange from mild to disabling.� Markers of autism: Sensitive or oblivious to stimu-lation (speech, touch, sight, sound). Lack of joint atten-tion or tracking where the parent is looking or whatthey are doing. Limited to no imitation. Playing withtoys as objects rather than imaginative or pretend play.Parallel play alongside, rather than engaging with otherchildren. Repetitive movements or sounds. Little to noresponse to name. Communicates only to get needsmet rather than for interaction. � Early Intervention: Engaging child at the earliestage to be most effective in behavioral interventionsdesigned to teach self-help and self-regulation skillsto interact effectively and develop meaningful rela-tionships with others.� People can learn to manage and thrive withautism through schedules, routines, and non-verbalcues. They are most comfortable in familiar situations.� Planning is required to meet the needs of thegrowing population of children, adolescents, andadults with autism entering into the Social ServicesSystem for residential, job training, and supplementalincome assistance. This figure can be mitigatedthrough successful Early Intervention, OregonDepartment of Education, and ESD programs, andcoverage for medically necessary treatment as pre-scribed by a physician.� The exact cause of autism is unknown. A theoryis that it may be a combination of environmentaltoxins that trigger a genetic predisposition, eitherbefore or after birth. There is controversy surround-ing the use of the preservative, thimerosal in vacci-nations. There are no reported studies to conclusive-ly prove this however there are many parents thatreport regression into autism concurrent with vacci-nations for their children. Some parents who are notanti-vaccine, feel strongly that there may be toomany vaccines given at too early of an age for chil-dren’s bodies to process in a healthy way. Autismusually appears by 30 months of age.� If you suspect autism, see your pediatrician,Asante Child Development Services, ChildDevelopment Resource Center (CDRC), Public SchoolSpecial Education Multi-disciplinary team, attend the

autism support group to network with parents andprofessionals. County Developmental DisabilitiesServices provides access to supports and servicesincluding Oregon Technical Assistance (OTAC) for fam-ilies/individuals of any age, and VocationalRehabilitation (VRD) and Creative Supports (CSI) fortransitioning teens and adults with job placements andinterview skills, residential services, and leisure activi-ties through Person Centered Planning.� There is no cure for autism. But, there are evidence-based treatments that can make a significant differencein a child’s ability to interact successfully, some to a levelwhere they are indistinguishable from their peers.� Treatment plans can include a combination ofapproaches from behavioral therapies like AppliedBehavioral Analysis (ABA) and RelationshipDevelopment Intervention (RDI), along withOccupational and Speech Therapy, to biomedicalinterventions that eliminate gluten and/or casein fromthe diet (some people with autism have significantgastrointestinal problems), to vitamin therapy, tochelation which extracts toxic metals from the bodythat when able to cross the blood/brain barrier, canresult in cognitive impairment. Some families also takea naturopathic, or pharmacological approach. Mostagreement lies in a treatment plan that includes abehavioral therapy, OT, Speech, and possibly one ormore of another approach based on consultation withyour clinician and your own research.

Websites:www.autismweb.com/signs.htmtalkaboutcuringautism.org/index.htmwww.wrongplanet.netwww.auties.orgwww.researchautism.org/resources/AspergerDVDSeries.asp

Read:Recovering Autistic Children by Stephen M. Edelson,PhD, and Bernard Rimland, PhDChanging the Course of Autismby Bryan Jepson, MD

Things We Should Know…form of autism. Statistics collected by theOregon Department of Education for the2007-08 school year report that 1 in 89children attending public schools are eligi-ble for services due to an Autism SpectrumDisorder (ASD). This dramatic rise inautism is a double-edged sword becausewhen my son was diagnosed, society wasbarely past the Refrigerator Mother theorythat autism resulted from the absence ofmaternal warmth (it even pre-dated themovie, Rainman, that although stereotypi-cal, put the face of autism into public per-ception). There were fewer resources andgeneral understanding because of limitedautism awareness. Today, that is turningaround because autism is approaching epi-demic numbers

Autism is known as a spectrum of sen-sory processing disorders, or ASD, becauseit can manifest in an array of hyper or hyposensory issues with varying levels of inten-sity. Some children are born with charac-teristics of Classic/Kanner’s Autism, andsome develop typically then experienceRegressive Autism by 30 months of age.

No two individuals on the AutismSpectrum are alike. Add to that unique-ness, the differences that people and fami-lies affected by autism have experiencedbecause of their age and place in society atthat time. Following are profiles in experi-ences of living with autism from the per-spective of different generations:

Preston Dixon, Age 5

Preston is the first child of Marcie andDarren Dixon. “From day two you startedscreaming. We called it colic and tried awhole list of things to comfort you; vacuumcleaner sounds, different formula, soy for-mula, acid reflux medicine, swaddling,bouncing, music, sh-sh sounds in your earwhile I held you close. Nothing reallyworked except pure exhaustion when you’dfall asleep. Your “colic” lasted all day fordays on end. Then magically you’d have aday that I could change a diaper or feedyou and the screaming would stop. Then, itstarted all over again. Grammy said she sawgreat patience in me that she’d never seenbefore. You didn’t like being cuddled orheld. While being carried, you had to faceoutward to look at things around you.”

“By two years old you still weren’t talk-ing and refused to make signs that I wasusing to communicate with you. Tantrumswere the theme

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Eliza Littleton, age 16, at GreatExpectations Theater.

Autism From p. 7

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of the day. Speech therapy for two hours amonth was a nice playtime, but I think timeis what it took for you to speak three wordsentences at 2 ½ years old.”

“Then your sister was born and it madeit difficult to “help” you do things as I’ddone for you until now. Not yet three yearsold and you and I had a three-hour battleover socks. You refused to learn how to putthem on. Your hands would go limp when Itried to form your fingers to grasp thesocks. I was calm for the first two hours.”

“The 23-week Life Skills course atLiving Water helped me deal and heal fromsome of my historical issues so that I couldbe the adult and care for you and your sis-ter. But still the tantrums continue.”

“Your medical diagnosis of HighFunctioning Autism came just after youturned five years old. When we were kick-ing the idea around last spring I wasstunned and numb for a couple of weeks.Then I was a bit relieved that there wassome type of explanation for your behavior.Relief turned to understanding and I wasable to let more things go without frettingabout them. However, that didn’t last long.I’m not sleeping well at night…I feel like Ihave an open wound in my heart…”

As a teacher by profession, Marcie wasconfident in her parenting skills. Shetalked to other moms for advice about theirexperiences. She was able to be a stay-at-home mom. She felt well prepared.

Today, Marcie is meticulous about plan-ning the schedule at home and for dailyerrands. She has learned to create routinesand use timers to manage Preston’s abilityto cope. In addition, Marcie has learnedhow to give him options that include sched-ules. Routine and schedules are very impor-tant to help people with autism manage thedifficulties they have with sensory process-ing. Like our respiratory and nervous sys-tems, the neurologic system is another sys-tem of the human body that we take forgranted if it’s working efficiently. If it isn’t,autism is one outcome. It may appear thatPreston is simply non-compliant. That is acommon reaction from people that are noteducated about autism. Many of us grew upand raised children in homes where com-pliance was expected. Autism inhibits thereception of verbal and non-verbal informa-tion (speech, touch, sight, sound) into neu-

rological processing, and inhibits expres-sion in language and interpersonal connec-tion as the product. Preston is not motivat-ed by pleasing people, regardless of theconsistent and loving direction that his par-ents provide in their efforts to teach himself-help skills. He does not like to be heldso Marcie quit trying to hug her son. Hewill sporadically show affection by givingher a hug, but hugs have to be his idea, onhis terms, and in his time. He has poormotor planning and organization. He doesnot like to attempt something until he feelsthat he can do the task perfectly, like writ-ing his name. He doesn’t join in play withthe other kids; he doesn’t know how.Preston will often play around others but isunsure how to join them. He does not showempathy when someone gets hurt yet has alow threshold for pain himself. He collectsitems throughout the house by categoryand piles everything yellow, for example,into a heap. Although his hearing checksout, Preston frequently doesn’t respond tohis name. He comforts himself by watchingclothes spin in the dryer and when he wasfive, he started flapping his arms andhands while jumping in place.

Preston received services for speechtherapy at Asante Childhood DevelopmentCenter from age two to three, but It wasn’tuntil a Kindergarten readiness test givenby his preschool teacher that Marcie heardthe word “autism” for the first time. Shewent home and researched online to onlyto discover, “this could be the answer.”Their pediatrician referred Preston toCDRC in Eugene where he received a med-ical diagnosis of high functioning autism.

Preston started Kindergarten last fall athis neighborhood school where he was eval-uated by a multi-disciplinary team. Hereceived eligibility for special education dueto the impact of autism on his ability tolearn. In December, Preston was moved to asite-based class specializing in autism in theMedford School District where he has anIndividualized Education Plan (IEP). An IEPmay include special services for speech, OT,autism consultation, social skills groups,and accommodations in the classroom.Preston receives limited speech and OT,however his parents supplement that with asmuch private OT as they can afford toincrease the number of hours. Marcie saidthey are seeing Preston’s tantrums decreasewith the sensory processing exercises thathe gets from Occupational Therapy. Herecently started saying “f” and “v” sounds

correctly so the family celebrated over din-ner by using words that start with those let-ters. Marcie is working at rebuilding her rela-tionship with her son. She’s learned thatalthough he doesn’t like light touch, he doeslike deep pressure so they wrestle, roll overeach other, and basically play rough!Preston likes board games as a result ofhours that Marcie spent using them asteaching tools. They do a lot together as anuclear family. Preston enjoys getting in thecar seat in his dad’s pick-up and going forrides. Marcie and Darren are just now goingout on dates again. The divorce rate for cou-ples impacted by autism is 80 percent. “Ourfamily is not healed yet” said Marcie, “butnow we are past survival mode.”

I remember worrying if Jeremiahwould have enough language and interac-tion skills to be successful in school. I wor-ried about how the other kids would treathim. It was a very surreal sensation towalk away from Richmond Elementarywith him standing in the window watch-ing me as I left him there, hoping that wewere all prepared.

Eliza Littleton, Age 16

Eliza is a very petite and polite younglady who neatly pulls back her shoulder-length blond hair and has an affinity forpretty bling bracelets. I met Eliza this winteras a student of Great Expectations Theaterfor Youth with Neuro and Other Diversitieswhere she was enthusiastic about stagecraft.It was fun to see the excitement between herand another teenage girl student when theydiscovered that they’re both fans of theSpice Girls and Grease.

Eliza is the daughter of Vance andTerry Littleton, and has lived in Ashlandsince she was a year old. Eliza was a quiet,happy baby that babbled a lot. She walkedat 15 months after minimal crawling. Shewas verbal and even memorized the soundtrack of Little Mermaid. People thoughtshe was shy in comparison to her olderbrother, Sam. Eliza didn’t look to her momfor approval or use non-verbal communica-tion. At age 2 ½, a daycare provider sus-pected there was some difference in Eliza’sdevelopment. By age 3, she engaged inecholalia which is the repetition of a ques-tion or phrase, immediate or delayed,rather than giving an appropriate response.She could become fussy around noisy chil-dren. Another daycare provider referredEliza and her family to CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

Asante Child Development Services forevaluation. Terry made a remark at thetime that she didn’t think had any realmerit. “It’s almost like she has autismbecause she’s happy to be by herself.” Theywent to a local neurologist who thoughtEliza may have had Rhett’s Syndrome.Terry and Vance were shaken to learn thatgirls, who are the only ones to get Rhett’s,have a lifespan up to 8 or 10 years. Theywere referred to a pediatric neurologist atOHSU in Portland who gave Eliza a med-ical diagnosis of PDD-NOS (PervasiveDevelopment Disorder – Not OtherwiseSpecified) which is on the high functioningend of the autism spectrum.

Eliza entered a program calledStructured Teaching. She was very visualand did well with picture identification.She was reading words on her own byKindergarten and sentences by 1st Grade.Before Kindergarten, Eliza did six weeks ofApplied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) whichteaches children how to problem-solve anddevelop effective sequencing through repe-tition and reward. They are then able togeneralize these skills to other situations.It seemed like a good “jump start” in help-ing Eliza to engage in a give-and-take learn-ing situation. She did well, but theLittleton’s experience showed that it playedinto her desire to have right/wrong, yes/noanswers for everything.

“Mind-blindness” is a marker of autismwhich is the difficulty in reading thenuances of other people. For example, wecan anticipate how people respond to us bytheir body language and facial expressions(the pragmatics of speech). These are skillsthat infants develop through joint atten-tion, or watching and imitating their par-ents. Children with autism need to betaught these skills which can still presentin a scripted style of speech, but through avariety of behavioral treatments, they canfunction effectively and develop meaning-ful and expressive relationships. The besttreatment plan to pursue depends on theindividual and their unique place on theautism spectrum. Treatments have themost impact not only for efficacy and func-tion, but for future cost-containment if ini-tiated as a very young child. This is whyEarly Intervention, or early detection andidentification, and an awareness of autism

by clinicians, caregivers, pre-schoolproviders, and parents is so important.

Eliza responded well to RelationshipDevelopment Intervention (RDI) whichfocuses on developing skills for social inter-action. These are skills that Eliza and herparents continue to practice.

Eliza loves instant recall question andanswer games. It is more difficult for her tounderstand inference. Although she is veryhappy in her family setting, Eliza has strug-gled with sensory overload at school. Shehas never been a target of kids at schoolwho are generally kind to her. Eliza askedher mom, “Should I invite friends over?”Not so much because she feels lonely, butbecause she’s learned that that’s what kidsdo. Terry has organized play dates betweenEliza and friends, with and without disabili-ties, since she was a little girl. They play orcook or do some kind of activity at home, orthey take field trips to see Dogs for theDeaf, and now also the mall! Eliza was in aHealthy Kids program at Ashland MiddleSchool where she learned that she likes torun. Now she loves running on the AHScross country team, but always with a part-ner to help with safety issues like crossingthe street. Eliza has difficulty with spatialmotor and left/right connections. For exam-ple, she writes the first diagonal line of theletter “x” then struggles to write the cross-over line. Occupational Therapy is essentialfor Eliza’s development. The family nowcontracts a private Occupational Therapist.Eliza is very verbal and uses questioning asan interaction strategy. This is a strategythat her mother is using as a teachablemoment with non-verbal cues to incorpo-rate a variety of communication styles.

Eliza had one-on-one aides through the5th grade at Briscoe Elementary.Kindergarten through the 8th grade atAMS was very productive. High School hasother challenges with what Terry definedas a “student vs. subject orientation” wherethe priorities are placed on college andgrade point average. The No Child LeftBehind (NCLB) Act does not adequatelyrecognize practical curriculum options forstudents with special needs and Educatorsthat strive to implement them. In additionto life skills, these students would benefitfrom an array of vocational skills training.Eliza also attends Willow Wind Schoolwhere she is in a Global Studies class of 15students. She has no special accommoda-tions and is thriving. Her peers volunteerto mentor and include her on email for

class projects. Many parents of K-12Special Education students have expressedhow meaningful it is to have a peer mentorfor their child. In High School, it’s a conun-drum because students that would mostlikely volunteer for community servicehours through peer mentorship haveextremely full schedules not only withother volunteerism and activities, butpreparing for college.

Eliza has good verbal skills, and hermother feels she could have a career whichtakes advantage of these. Her left/right issueis the biggest obstacle to independent living.She doesn’t drive. Terry and Vance areactively researching options which mayinclude a cooperative community and cot-tage industry that has minimal to no relianceon cars. Her parents realize that they mayneed to create the best option for Eliza.

Jeremiah had many excellent teachersin Salem and Olympia public schools, anda couple that were ill-equipped. Despite anadult/dad coach that got in my face forsigning Jeremiah up for T-ball and someother displays of ignorance, he has friendsand enjoys life. Jeremiah became comfort-able with who he is and I love him just theway he is.

Michael D. Fox, Age 29

Michael was born in Southern Californiain 1979. His mother, Nena Scuderi-Foxnoticed the difference between Michael andhis older sister, Selena, who was very verbal.The pediatrician told her that boys candevelop slower than girls. At age five,Michael had four sessions with a top childpsychologist in Los Angeles. He sat downwith Michael’s parents and told them thattheir son was severely mentally retarded andthat to save themselves from a life longheartache, he should be institutionalized.Michael’s dad had a nervous breakdown andhad to be hospitalized. Nena got mad. Sheflatly rejected this prognosis and tookMichael to UCLA Medical Center six monthslater where he was diagnosed with autism.

Nena placed her five-year-old son inpublic school. It lasted three weeks. Thereaction was that they didn’t have the timeto handle a special needs student. This was1984 and ten years since the passage ofFederal IDEA legislation which provides forinclusion of students with developmentaldisabilities in public schools. Do those ofus much over the age of 30 remember stu-dents with special needs in our classrooms?

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Michael runs laps or does squats. He cando 1,000 jumping jacks. He’s been swim-ming practically since birth. He played soc-cer at Walker, basketball, and volleyball. Hewas treated like one of the team. At somepoint, Michael’s diagnosis was specified toAsperger’s Syndrome, which is a higherfunctioning autism. People with Asperger’s(AS) have the communication/socializationprocessing delays, and perseveration on agiven topic (like Albert Einstein on theTheory of Relativity), but do have typicalspeech and language skills. One of

Michael’s Asperger traits isto walk on his tip toes. Nenaand John worked withMichael to walk heel to toewhich Nena observed, less-ened his other Asperger’stendencies. To this day, shereminds Michael if he’s walk-ing on his toes and sees a dif-ference in his personality.

The family moved toHelena, Montana whereMichael started the 8thgrade. The next year, he wasfailing classes in high school

so John home-schooled Michael for oneyear. When Michael returned, he earned allA’s and B’s. Although high school was over-whelming, Nena took Michael off of an IEP,thinking that he’d need to learn to “makeit or break it.” Michael played Woodstock inthe school’s adaptation of “Snoopy” andauditioned as The Dancing Magician forHelena’s Night to Shine talent show. Afterthat performance, he was hired to do showsat the community hospital and MasonicHome. Michael graduated from high schoolat age 21 with a B+ average. He was alsovoted Helena High School HomecomingKing by his classmates. To celebrate gradu-ation, Nena and Michael spent a week inLondon and Paris. Michael said “I’ll neverforget that trip.”

Returning to Ashland in 2000, Michaelattended Rogue Community College forover two years before transferring toSouthern Oregon University where he isnow a senior majoring in Communicationswith an emphasis on video productions,and is earning a minor in Applied Multi-Media. This June, Michael is going toHawaii to film a capstone project with hisclass. The Success at Southern programhas been instrumental to Michael’s successat the collegiate level with assistance intutoring, note-taking, and time and a half

on tests. In the end, Michael has to achievethe grades on his own. Michael made theDean’s list last fall and is a lifetime memberof the Honors Society.

Michael started as a volunteer at RogueValley Television and has been on staff asthe Public Access Equipment and StudioManager since 2005. He hosts “Mickey theBalloonman” show and busts the moves onhis own “Dance Machine” program. He hasan apartment and lives independently inAshland. He has a checking and savingsaccount, and credit card that he hasn’tused. Michael hasn’t decided yet if he wantsto drive. He is interested in a girlfriend andsomeday, marriage. Michael had manyfriends that were girls in school whom hewon over with his good manners andrespect.

Nena and her son have a relationshipbuilt on communication. When Michael wasabout eight, Nena saw a program that shewas inspired to try with him that day afterschool. He came home and she justwrapped her arms around him, strokinghim, telling him what a wonderful person heis and that she loves him. After three hours,Michael quit resisting and hugged his moth-er back. Now they hug each other and say“I love you” every day. It is very clear thatMichael is still on quite a journey.

My Jeremiah graduated from the culi-nary arts program at New MarketVocational Skills School in Tumwater,Washington. He doesn’t drive but knowspublic transportation like the back of hishand. His culinary skills are employed atPizza Hut where the homeys call him J-Dog.

This is dedicated to my Dad, JohnScherrer (1930–1997). I heard the wordsyou were trying to say.

Janel Salazar leads an Autism SupportGroup that meets every second Thursday ofthe month at 7p.m. at RVMC SmullinCenter. She co-organizes projects throughThe Autism Group Foundation, a non-prof-it organization, and serves on the Boardsfor Living Opportunities and AshlandSupportive Housing (ASH). Salazar pro-duces Autism Evolution at Rogue ValleyTelevision and is a policy advisor for Rep.Peter Buckley on issues related to autism.For more information contactjanel@mighty.net or (541) 324-6660.

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In our schools? The passage of IDEA waslandmark and has resulted in a level ofinclusion that makes it hard to imaginepublic schools without such diversity. Nenaplaced her son in a school for the “handi-capped” that he attended for four years. Itfocused on life skills however Nena alsowanted an academic curriculum forMichael, so the school started sendinghome ten, three letter words for Michael towrite three times. This was the beginningof many situations that Nena used tochange perceptions of how Michael, andpeople with autism, can learn.She bought Michael a dic-tionary where not only did hewrite the words, he had tolook them up and use in asentence. To this day, the dic-tionary is one of Michael’sfavorite books where he lovesto search for new words.Nena learned that her sonhas an exceptional memory.Michael was tutored in phon-ics during the summer whenhe was eight, and did verywell. Nena also taught herson basic math that was missing from hisschool curriculum.

Nena had remarried when the familymoved to Ashland. Michael was ten so theywent to Walker Elementary where theydetermined that based on age, he’d enterthe 5th grade but academically, was still inKindergarten. So Michael started at Walkerin the 3rd grade. He was pulled out forreading, English, and math. At an IEPmeeting, she asked what the other studentswere learning in math: multiplicationtables. “Why not Michael?” Because he’sautistic. Shortly after that meeting therewas a three day weekend. Taking advantageof his memorization skills, Nena putMichael into his room with a lose bag overhis head to eliminate distractions, where hewas tasked with reciting multiplicationtables. On Tuesday, the other studentswere up to 3x3 and Michael could respondwith any random problem up to 20x20 - towhich Michael immediately told his mother,“400.” Michael’s step-dad, John, workedwith him every night after school.Multiplication was followed by division.Michael’s handwriting was very poor sothey worked on printing, and then cursive.Michael would say “I can’t” and John wouldsay “Yes you can.”

To burn off energy or adrenaline,

JM

Michael D. Fox