Personal Narrative: A Person With Autism

Many of us have heard of the neurological disorder called autism, and have a general sense of what the term "autism" means and all of the typical behaviors that belong in its category. Yet, I must question how many of us out there who do take an interest in autism really understand how having this disorder can totally distort one's perception of what one experiences in the world. A person with autism senses things differently than we normally do, and also responds to them in other ways – what we would call "abnormal behaviors". Why is this so? According to scientists, MRI research studies have shown that the brains of autistic individuals have particular abnormalities in the cerebellum,

Originally, I was drawn to speech pathology after my sister’s diagnosis of Autism at the age of three. Watching Diane struggle with language development and acquisition while other children seemed to grasp these skills naturally is what initially sparked my interest in helping families like my own. At the start of my junior year, I set out to obtain experiences working with different populations. Toward the latter half of junior year, I became involved as a clerical volunteer at the Sacramento Scottish Rite Childhood Language Center. By senior year, I was balancing a full course load alongside three volunteer experiences. In addition to Scottish Rite Childhood Language Center, I divided my time between tutoring at a neighboring elementary school in the Twin Rivers School District and serving as an intern at the Autism Center for Excellence (ACE). During my undergraduate experience, I welcomed the opportunity to work with students that struggled with literacy, language, and pragmatic skills. After graduation, it was my goal to obtain additional experience in the field as a speech-language pathology assistant.

When I first found out my brother had autism, I didn’t know what to think. At first I blamed myself because I spent a lot of time with him ever since he was born, showing him how to use iPads, computers, and other electronics and I thought these things had something to do with it. Even after people have been telling me that there is no clear cause for autism, to this day I still can’t help but think that I had something to do with my brother’s disorder. As his older brother though I promised myself that I would do whatever it takes to help my brother live with his disorder and still become a functional member of society. My family started by placing my brother under Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy. The therapy sessions took place at

Autism Spectrum Disorder affects various aspects of an autistic child’s life. Many children are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder every year, while others go undiagnosed for an extended time, or even for their whole life. A child exhibiting delays in language benchmarks or showing little interest in the surroundings should be examined for possible ASD. Language is often impaired and although the level of impairment can range from severe too unnoticeable in each child, a child is likely to have a delay in another area, like coordination of motor skills, if not in language. Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disorder that causes impairments in various aspects of language development.

Autistic infants often show little or no interest in other people and lack typical social behaviors. For example, they may not smile at their mother's voice or make eye contact with caregivers. Autistic children fail to develop normal relationships with their parents, brothers or sisters, and other children. Often they seem unaware of the needs and feelings of other people, and may not respond if another person is hurt or in distress. They also fail to make friends.

My story begins when I was in my late teens as the door closed, the lock latched, and I stood there with my hands in my pocket shocked. Tears ran down my dark circled eyes, I looked to my left, then to my right, looking for a place to hide. The weight of the world was on my chest, and suffocating seemed inevitable as the seconds dragged on. That is when the adolescent psychiatrist arrived. It had been 5 nights since I last slept, 3 days since eating, and yes, I had just been voluntarily committed into a mental health outpatient facility. Until these moments, I had never really thought about my family history of mental illness but it soon plagued my mind. I remember my dad’s alcoholism and depression,

“Being yourself” is one of the most common ideologies promoted to students at young ages by their teachers and parents. If this ideology is true, then why are so many students being bullied physically, verbally, and virtually for being themselves? Moreover, assuming a student does not have the ability to change himself in physical and mental respects, how can he overcome his hardships? I would now like to move onto an incident where I was ruthlessly bullied for being autistic. It was in the 5th grade, I was the only South Asian student, and the area I had been living in was predominantly inhabited with people of Caucasian background. That being said, it was generally hard for my classmates to socialize with me, in addition to the fact that I was suffering from autism.

Years ago, I had to go to my biological father’s house during the summer. He had three children, Wyatt, who was 16, Devin, who was 13, and Colton, who was 12. I used to like going to his house during the summer, but after a while it got boring and I saw unfair treatment among his children. I didn’t want to go to his house anymore, so I talked to him about it. That conversation changed my life for the better.

I remember my high school days where I used to not take school as seriously as I should've. I had a 1.76 GPA when I graduated in 2013. I was just busy looking at sport websites like ESPN and tweeting on a regular basis. I hated school so much that I never wanted to come back ever.

I have never told anyone my story until now. During Hurricane Katrina, my family moved to Houston, Texas, as Jared, my little brother, entered his toddler years. As my little brother progressed in age, my mother realized he developed slowly in comparison to my younger cousin, so she began to research answers for my brother’s out-of-the-ordinary behavior before a psychologist tested him. When she received the news that my little three-year-old brother was diagnosed with high-functioning autism, she started to search frantically for help from doctors and educational programs. When I discovered Jared’s diagnosis, I was nine-years-old and confused. As a child myself, I did not know how to react to my brother’s condition and felt entirely helpless;

After completing my graduate training I plan to continue researching these areas while performing neuropsychological assessments in order to help families and educators identify appropriate programs for the child. The experiences I have accumulated and my passion for the field have allowed me to develop into a highly suitable candidate for the program and I am very excited to get started working on these core areas of autism

One strange day a mentally disabled teen sat in the chair next to me during school lunch. The teen seemed partially atrophied and his movements were like that of a puppet; he would rub his hands together in excitement, however the hands themselves remained almost entirely limp, only forced together by his arms. He began to attempt to communicate with me. He made strange movements and screeching sounds, attracting the attention of several students in the vicinity. As I felt the gaze of more and more people on us, I wished to escape the situation. I wanted to get up and go to the bathroom, to get more food, or anything that could allow me to escape the spotlight. Unfortunately, leaving him when he was clearly trying to talk to me would be

The two children I chose to discuss is Lexi and Wyatt. Both Lexi and Wyatt has ASD also known as Autism Spectrum Disorder. What is interesting about these two children is that although they both have the same disorder they do not act the same. Lexi shows that she has ASD because I see some stereotyped movement that we talked in class such as flapping hand and rocking back and forth. I remember when she is around new people, like enter the the Miracle Project I felt that she was uncomfortable because she was very fidgety, she couldn 't stop flapping her hands and turning in circles.She is quiet and her verbal skills are not high functioning because she is not good at expressing herself. She loses her train of thought easily when expressing

People have many choices in life- some are made for them, some they choose themselves. Among the five individuals viewed, each with exceptionally poignant inspiring stories, Cody was a personal favorite. Like Cody, I was born with many differences, numerous and complicated to the point my parents were told that had I been born even five years before, they would have watched me die. Among the handicaps I possess, hearing deficit has had the most impact on my life. I am almost completely deaf in my left ear, so I wear a hearing aid. And yet, like Cody, my disability has not stopped me or kept me from my passions. I find it ironic that my greatest passion lies in music, an art that requires the capability to hear.

Autism is a complex disability, as the way it manifests in each child differs in severity across numerous characteristics. Children diagnosed with autism qualify to receive special services and a “free, appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment” under the federal legislation, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (Hunt & Marshall, 2012, p. 15). Autism was added to IDEA in 1990 as a new disability category. The legislation defines autism as “a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age 3 that adversely affects a child’s educational performance” (Hunt & Marshall, 2012, p. 301). The “Rules for the Provision of Special Education” from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction of Washington state also outlines eligibility and individualized education programs for children diagnosed with autism (Rules for the Provision of Special Education, p. 11 & 46). Furthermore, the DSM diagnoses autism when a child shows “qualitative impairments” in social interaction, communication, and “restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities” (Hunt & Marshall, 2012, p. 302).