My New Life

Life has changed.  I am learning.  For the first time my brain is being challenged, and I am enjoying the true chance to begin a real education. 

Doing online school has broadened my understanding of creative writing.  I also have learned about really cool concepts in biology.  I studied about the shrinking of the Aral Sea in environmental science. 

I am with my mom all day and she is making sure I stay on schedule.  On my interesting lessons, I can work for hours.  

I can do all the work.  I had worried that it would be difficult.  Olivia is doing the same math that I am doing, which is cool and funny.  My only problem is that it takes me a long time to type, especially essays.  It is frustrating.

I brim with a desire to learn. Life really is nothing like before.  It was like suffering a million shocks of electricity. 

The course of my life has been altered.  Like a higher power has just been unleashed.  My Gram didn't see me find my voice, but I feel like she is the reason I am doing this.  

Little by little, I am gaining confidence. 

Lights are going off in my head, more like the Aurora Borealis.  How beautiful it is to learn.  Life is going to be so much better.  Living with autism and apraxia is always going to be challenging.  I am forever going to need help.  But I am not going to be ignored.

I will advocate for myself.  Like at church, I told the teacher that I need my mom to go with me to my first confession.  I was proud of myself.  I am determined to be as independent as possible.

Tomorrow is a New Chance

Tomorrow is a really exciting day.  It is the first day of my online school.  My mother applied to the school.  We were not sure if the school would let me enroll because I have never been in a normal classroom.  I have always been in a special education classroom.

Having to prove that I am smart has been frustrating.  For a long time I wanted to be able to just be known as understanding what people said.  Now I want to learn and be challenged.

I am so excited about starting my classes.  I am nervous, too.  I am worried about getting my assignments completed on time because I am slow at typing.  Knowing that my mom will help me stay organized is a big help.  Lots of hours of work have gone in to this moment.

Over the summer I had to take tests at an office of an educational diagnostician.  I had to show that I can learn.  I felt so much pressure. I so wanted to do well but it was so scary to be typing in front of someone I did not know.  I think I did OK but I could have done better.  Part of me wishes I had done better but my mom says the report helped me get into the online school.

Tomorrow is a symbol of how someone should not give up. I am so hopeful for my future.

Olivia, My Sister

Olivia is my sister.  Having a friend who is also your sibling is truly wonderful. 

Olivia is normal.  Perhaps normal is not the best way to really describe her, but dramatic begins to paint a picture.  

I love nobody the way I love Olivia, verifiably and so beautifully.  Olivia is two years and two weeks younger than I am, and I remember when she played with me when we were little toddlers. She would chase me around our house and say my name repeatedly which made me laugh. Little legs would scamper around the halls really quickly.  Somehow she never became tired of chasing after me.

Olivia is going back to school, and I am feeling sad.  Having her home for the summer is really great. We have been reading books together, sitting close to each other. I like spending the mornings reading stories about people and the challenges they face.  I am happy that we like the same kind of stories.

I know she has had to do a lot of things for herself.  I have always had to have a lot of help from my parents and so she has had to be independent.  Lots of times she has played the role of older sibling.  I am lucky to have her for a sister. 

Olivia brings so much music and laughter into my life.  Theater is her favorite thing and so she is always singing.  The songs may be loud but I can't imagine life without getting to hear her sing. 

Olivia is the most important person in my life because she understands me in ways other kids don't. Olivia is the very best sister.  I just cannot say in words how much Olivia means to me.

  

My Favorite Place, My Backyard

Listening to each drop of water just is nothing like music.  It is more like choruses of angels singing. Listening to waterfalls is like music from heaven. Little sounds envelope my ears and I imagine that the answers to all of life's mysteries can be found in the very channeling of energy that pulls the water down to the pool below.  Just near the pool I see the leaves in the trees envelope my vision and I deduce that God has placed things of beauty in our lives but whether we see them is on us.  My beautiful backyard is just my favorite place.  Life is better because I can share this with the people I love most in the world, like my good mom.  My mom found the way for me to do this, and she answered my prayers for a voice.  It is not a normal voice, but it is the voice of my brain and I find myself being glad to describe what I have always wanted to say.  

Mom's note:  Daniel is happy to be sharing his thoughts with the world and hopeful that parents of non-vocal kiddos will introduce typing to them and pursue it even when the early-going is rough.  

 

Majestic Crashes, by Daniel

Today I asked Daniel if he would like to write a piece of fiction.  He responded that "books have more words than I can type."  I told him that I had no doubt he could write a book but why not just start with a short story.  Without hesitation, he began to type.  

When typing first started to click for Daniel -- when it REALLY started to click -- it quickly became apparent that my son has a beautiful mind.  Every day brought surprises. Somewhere along the way, I stopped being surprised, but I never stop being amazed. 

This is my son's first piece of fiction:

Majestic Crashes 

Little asteroids crash to the ground.  The animals scurry to safety.  In the very chaotic scene a dark cloud begins to cover the Earth.  Life must now no longer harbor disease or disability.  Mankind must be fair and make peace.  Just born babies should be without disabilities and disease.  Justice is not a concept but a reality.  Life is better because the asteroids from heaven begin to frighten the dark forces of the world.  Stars illuminate the night sky beyond description.  God leans down from the clouds and his voice echoes from the mountains.  He finds the sick and heals them.  He finds the blind and gives them sight. He gives voices to those who cannot speak and hearing to those with no sound.  He gives strength to those whose bodies are hampered by frailty and weakness.  God comes to the world and morning brings a new day.  

My Thoughts on School, By Daniel

Growing up, I needed to tell teachers that I was doing work that was too easy.  School was really frustrating for me.  Right around kindergarten, I started to feel left out.  Kids going to my school sometimes forgot to talk to me.  Maybe they thought I didn't want them to talk to me, but I wanted it very much.

Starting in the first grade, I went to Journey.  I liked it there.  Going to Journey was the best year of elementary because the teachers didn't treat me like some little baby.  I found Journey to be a safe and happy school.  I sincerely liked my teachers there.  Kids so much tried to work hard for them.  I always had interesting work to do, like working on their computer, and singing songs.  I very much missed Journey.

In second grade, I had some good friends. They have probably not missed me but I miss them. My homeroom teacher was good to me.  She was so motherly.  I probably liked the second grade best after Journey.  The kids still talked to me.

The third grade just started going downhill.  I just needed to learn, but everything was too easy.  I started to hate school.  The truth is that I hated being there so much that I would not do what they asked.  Like my teacher would give me only easy matching sheets, and I thought this is ridiculous.  I wanted to learn math.

In fourth grade, I liked my homeroom teacher very much.  Just going to school really made me so miserable.  Kids would not talk to me.  I had terrific aides.  They were so patient.  Going to school though so made me very sad.  Just the same boring stuff was given to me every day.

In fifth grade, I went to a new school.  It was just kind of the same thing.  My teacher was very nice and dedicated.  Her class was for kids with autism.  My parents hoped I might get the help I needed but they just kept doing the same boring stuff. Life was awful.

My parents then decided to put me in a private school.  Just so much bad stuff happened there that I was relieved when my mom took me out. I hated it.

My parents then put me back in public school and I started at middle school.  My first thought was that going to middle school would be really exciting.  Life had to get better.  My teachers were nice but just being there was awful.  Kids made fun of me. Kids just laughed at me.  My only friend was Gabe. Gabe treated me with kindness and showered me with attention.

Kids should be more like Gabe.

Hardly nothing changed in the classroom.  I felt so hopeless. Nobody believed in me.  My mom started teaching me to type.  She told my teachers how I could spell.  I don't think they believed her because they didn't try to teach me typing. When my mom took me out of school it was so great.  Her decision to home school me changed my life.  Now I have hope for my future. Life is so much happier.  Knowing that I don't have to go back to middle school makes me so very happy.

Kids like me just need a way to communicate.  It needs to be the most important thing a teacher does. My teachers did not think I could do it, but I can.  

Mom's Note: Daniel chose the subject matter for this--his second post. I believe that when a person goes 14 years without a voice, he should be free to express his thoughts exactly as he wants to.  I have plenty of my own thoughts with respect to the failures of our school district.  One of the most significant is that I truly believe there were many kids in his class who would have liked to befriend Daniel, but they needed the assistance of an adult to make that happen.  I wish that our school district had been committed to ensuring meaningful inclusion for my son.  But it was not.  

(Journey refers to Journey Learning Center in Grapevine, TX.)

Daniel's First Chapter

I have never been at a loss for words.

Until recently.  

Trying to describe what is happening in my son's life--in our lives--is not easy for me.  How can you describe the single most beautiful, fascinating thing you ever have witnessed?

Today, Daniel became the writer.

And here is what he wants the world to know--at least for starters. Every word, every sentence--even every comma--all his.  

I am sharing with his permission.  As he told me, he was nervous about it, but "I want you to post it for all the kids like me.  You can tell their parents to believe in their children."  

Here is the first chapter of Daniel's story, in his own words:

I realized that I am different way back when I was little.  I knew I couldn't say what I needed to.  I remember one time my mom kept trying to get me to say cookie.  She was holding a cookie and kept asking me to say the word.  I thought that she seemed like it was so important that I say it.  Her face just seemed so sad.  I wanted to tell her that I just very much would like to say the word so badly.

Going to my grandparents' house, I always wanted to tell them how happy I was to see them. I wanted to let them know how much I loved them.

I thought that maybe one day I would wake up and the words would come out.  Often I would have just little sounds like parts of a word.  I expected to be able to one day get whole words to come out, but it never happened.  I thought I would never be able to do what I needed to make the parts of my mouth cooperate.  The words were in my head.  My parents so much wanted to know what I was thinking.

Every time that I tried to say that I understood my parents I got so frustrated.  I heard every thing they said and understood all of what they were saying. They were not really sure just how much I understood.  They have always tried to help me be happy but I was really miserable.  

I so much kept on hoping that I one day would be able to make them know that I am understanding and I am smart.  

I don't know what I would have done if I had to go through life every day without any words.  I would have lost the true desire to live.  I would have been trapped in only my head and then I think I would have lost my mind.  The world would have remained the same monotonous place and I think I would have given up on ever being able to talk to anyone.  

People have underestimated me.  Like at school, people treated me like I was a little kid.  People would assume that I was like a baby.  They even laughed at me like I would not know they were making fun of me.  Teachers thought I was so easily entertained.  Day after day, I wanted to learn but nobody would teach me.  

I am so glad my mother took me out of school.  I am just making so much progress with typing.  I am going to get to pursue a good education and a new life.  Just the knowledge that my family understands I am listening is so wonderful.  

Life is just harder and really frustrating when you have autism.  I wish the world would understand that people with autism just want to have friends.