PARENTAL ADVICE
strations at Sam’s Club. I hand out free samples. It’s
kind of like selling. I make the samples, advertise
them, and get people to buy them.
It’s a good job for me. It caters to my need to be clean.
It also helps me learn to be more friendly and open.
I had to learn to smile and wave to people. It helped
me with my social skills.
Dr. Moore: I recall from the book that you had also
started selling your art. Can you explain to readers
how that began?
Note: The steps Cosette and her mom took to get to the
point of selling her art are described in greater detail in
The Loving Push.
Cosette: I first worked at a small, local harvest festi-
val in 2014. I drew images on index cards and gave
them away to kids. If they wanted me to color them
in, they had to ask their parents for a dollar and then
I’d do that. I made some money, and I thought, “I can
find my niche!”
That’s the thing you have to do. You have to do what
makes you happy and what makes you distinct. Go
with your favorite thing, and that is how you build
your niche. My art is a mash-up between video game
characters and other popular media characters from
TV or movies. I make silly fusion drawings. I just let
my imagination go wild when I draw.
I got known as the person who does this and built a
fan base. I like drawing silly and cute things. So now I
go to Comic-Con conventions and sell my work.
After I graduate, I want to work in illustration or
graphic design. Maybe I’ll do illustrations for greet-
ing cards or books or maybe art for product design
for a company.
Dr. Moore: I have no doubt you will succeed. I remem-
ber in the book we included a great picture of you, as
a toddler, standing with a paintbrush working at your
easel. You were barely old enough to stand up! You
were adorable by the way. Do you remember that?
Cosette: I remember thinking, “Don’t put that in the
book—it’s embarrassing!” [She chuckles.] But Mom
thought it was okay, and it was. When I was little no-
body taught me how to paint, but later when I could
read I got “how to draw” books, and then in middle
school, I had an art teacher.
Dr. Moore: Painting can be messy, and you said you
like things clean. How is the sensory experience of
making art for you?
Cosette: Messiness bothers me. I don’t like painting
at all! It smears and doesn’t dry quickly, and it’s hard
to correct. I don’t work with chalk or charcoal either.
I like my pen or pencil or using computer programs.
Dr. Moore: That makes sense. Okay, I have one last
question. If you could illustrate a book for kids with
autism, which I think you would be great at by the
way, what would you want it to be about?
Cosette: I’d want it to say it’s okay to be this way. The
main thing is letting kids know they are not weird or
alien; they are just different. They’re not failures and
don’t have a disease. I’d say, “You’re you and here’s
how you can understand you.” When I was a kid, I
didn’t know what was wrong with me. I’d tell them
how to live with autism and how to tell other people
they’re not broken.
I’d tell kids, “This is what sensory issues feel like.” I’d
explain how it feels to be awkward or anxious.
I’d help them to tell other people what they need,
too, like how to tell them they don’t always under-
stand what other people are trying to say. And that
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