Below is a link to a newspaper column by an old friend – or at least acquaintance – who I haven’t seen in years (we were never running buddies, but I always enjoyed visiting with him). It’s written by newspaperman Wyatt Emmerich about his son, who has autism, and let’s just say that this is one of those rare cases where autism has bestowed a great gift along with its limitations.
Wyatt, the columnist and father, is a brilliant guy, and there does seem to be some link between high IQ and autism. At any rate, here’s the link to the story. I’m glad for Wyatt and his family, and wish his parents were alive, as this would bring them a great deal of joy.
You will note that the newspaper column mentions Donald Triplett, the first person ever to be diagnosed with autism. The Atlantic wrote a story about this some time back. Triplett is alive and well, and travels on his own quite a bit. He is without question an odd duck, but he is accepted as part of the Forest community. Here’s a link to the Atlantic article:
Thank you so much for posting these links. It’s stories like these that give me great hope for my 17 yo autistic daughter, intellectually gifted but very quirky and socially inept. I often worry about how she’ll manage when she goes off to college this fall, but she is one of the most positive and determined people I know, in addition to being really smart. She’s come so far since she was diagnosed at 2 and I thought she’d never even be able to manage kindergarten. She continues to amaze me every single day and even though I still have doubts about how things will turn out for her, I have tried to adopt her positive outlook on life and hope she achieves everything she wants to.
@Mom2jl I don’t know if you watched the video about Triplett on the Atlantic article, but he’s plenty different, but older people are far more accepting of differences. He apparently sits at the coffee shop with all the other men working crossword puzzles and interjects comments from time to time without ever looking up. They just love him for who he is.
I think it is of note that both of these men are from affluent families. Tripplett’s family was wealthy and he obviously has some type of trust fund that allows him to travel regularly. Wyatt owns a plethora of weekly and small daily newspapers. I think it’s easier for parents with resources to provide for these kids and bring out their full potential.
Are you familiar with Jacob Barnett? He’s an autistic young man who is also a genius and quite possibly a future Nobel prize winner in physics. His parents were told he would likely never read or tie his shoes. His mother pulled him out of school and began working with him and other kids by focusing on their passion areas. She wrote a book called: The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing Genius. It’s definitely worth a read.
Thank you @intparent! I may just do that. Right now we’re still waiting to see which colleges she got into–so far she’s gotten into 2 safeties out of 9 total schools she applied to, all within 4 hours of where we live (Southern California).
Money definitely helps. There is a pro golfer who just built a school specially designed for autistic children in Florida, which is great for those 100 children but there are probably thousands who need the school just in that district. I think it also matters how many other children there are in the family and if there are two parents working with the child.
My friend’s daughter has autism, has a high IQ, but the mother is an expert in the field and devotes hours and hours to this child every week. The grandparent could pay for a private school for a few years. College plans had to be adjusted because she still needs to be at home (they tried residential college, but it just didn’t work). I don’t think this girl, who is quite smart, could be as advanced as she is without the parental assistance, and it is much more than I could ever have given my child as a single, and financially strapped, parent.
My daughter’s college has an autism center that has psychology students working with children. The range of needs is of course very wide. Famous sports figures support the center, and there is a program where the sports teams at the school share their sports with students at the center, which is how my daughter is involved. Again, money and time is necessary.
My son’s 2nd grade teacher told me that “mainstreaming” was not working for him and that he needed to be sent to a specialist school for autism. We decided that she was just a poor, lazy teacher and we requested that he be swtiched to the other 2nd grade class. Today, he’s a nationally recognized classical singer and a junior in college on the Dean’s List every semester. So, guess who was wrong? Disclaimer: he did have speech, OT and social skills therapy through the school district and private therapy in middle school, but otherwise always in a “typical” or GT classroom. Sure, it takes him longer than a “typical” kid to adjust to new situations and learn social skills, but he’s getting there. He’s got a ton of acquaintances, a couple close friends and as much social interaction as he can handle.