A Student’s Voice on Autism

This is a school project about autism by Taylor McCarthy. She is an 11- year- old girl who has known Crew for four years. It is amazing how a young girl can understand the work involved with having a child with autism, and most adults can't.

Autism is a disability where children and adults of all ages have trouble socializing, learning, and talking (some don't even talk). Autism is a disability that over 500,000 under 21 have in America. 1 out of 150 kids (in America) have autism. As many as 1.5 million people in the United States of America are have autism. The brain of an autistic person is 10 percent bigger than the average brain. The brain of a person with autism has much less neural activity than a healthy brain.

When parents, special aids, teachers and children try to teach an autistic child how to say things they tend to say, “Say thank you.” So the autistic child will reply, “Say thank you.” This is called ecolayic. They repeat what you ask them to, conversations that they have overheard or parts of a movie. This is one of the ways people with autism learn. Some also learn with phrases such as, “Show me ready!” The autistic child will become familiar with this and understand what to do.

There are different types of autism. Asperger's syndrome is the highest functioning type of autism. A child or adult with Asperger's socializes and responds more than a person with autism. People with Asperger's also tend to associate with adults rather then their peers. This is because they have trouble reading facial expressions of other children. Rett's disorder is the lowest functioning. Some people with Rett's disorder don't even talk. They just rock back and forth. There is also PDD-NOS and childhood disintegrative disorder.

When you associate with as autistic person, the individual generally glances away and does not make eye contact. You may have to repeat things to the person with autism before he or she answers you back. This is because a person with autism can't process words as fast as we can.

Many parents wonder how their children with autism will function as adults. Higher functioning people, such as people with Asperger's, should be able to function in a society by themselves. Lower functioning people, such as people with Rett's disorder, may need other family members' support.

I observed the behavior of an autistic person named Crew. Crew is a student in the 4th grade and he has autism, which is on the lower of the functioning scale. Crew enjoys sounds. He will play movies on his DS just so he can put it up against his ear and listen to it. He also likes to run. When I am with Crew, he will say “Run! Taylor Run!” He pulls me around and has me run with him for about ten minutes or so. He also runs around with his DS to his year. He loves to watch movies, but he will only watch them if they are Paramount Picture or Hollywood Films. Crew will rewind his favorite part of the movie repeatedly. Sometimes he will rewind the opening theme song of Paramount Pictures just to listen to it. He enjoys wearing his pajamas. One thing that he does that I that I find interesting is that when Crew wants something, he will go to Microsoft Word and type it up multiple times and then tape to the chalkboard in his kitchen. Also to communicate, Crew will go to a very special application on his ITouch. This application helps him communicate.

Crew also likes to play with people's faces. He will squish your cheeks together and mush your face around. He has trouble parting with people he comes to know very well. Crew becomes very upset and cries. When he becomes upset, he does two things to calm himself down. He says, “Take a deep breath.” Then he takes a deep breath and calms down. He also says, “Zip it, lock it, put it in your pocket.” Then he becomes very quiet and calms down.

There is no known cure for any type of autism, but hopefully one day there will be. Some scientists believe the vaccines the babies receive after birth causes autism. Others believe it's the environmental conditions such as toxins or pollution. I have been around autism all my life. Crew and my autistic cousin are a big part of my life. These facts went right over my head. This report gave me a chance to stand in their shoes. I hope that my report gave you a feel of what these special children are going through and what anyone associated with them are dealing with.