AUTISM THERAPY
James is now in kindergarten. He is in a self-contained
classroom getting a very excellent one-on-one education. His
teachers even decided to do a little testing on his reading skills
to see where his reading level might be. Using the sight words
they have for kindergarten, he reached level 28, and they said
that was still easy for him.
of what he was responding to, and what he wasn’t.
We noted that if we walked up behind him and said
his name, he would not turn around. He didn’t even
seem to notice that we were there until we were in
front of him. Loud sounds around the farm, such as
fireworks, loud bangs, and pops, would scare him. So,
we discovered that maybe he could hear, but maybe
only at certain volumes.
That’s when I decided to do some further research. I
looked up different articles on the Internet on deaf-
ness and why he might not be responding to our
voices. Those articles mentioned a few additional
things that were accurate with James’s behavior. Is
there hand-flapping? Check. Is there banging or cov-
ering the ears with loud noises? Check. How about
routine—does he get upset with a change in routine?
(You would not believe how many times I walked the
stroller around that farm, because when the stroller
stopped, he had a complete meltdown.) That’s when
I read the word autism for the first time. His dad and I
read on and decided to rule out deafness. A few days
later, our new suspicions were confirmed in the au-
diologist’s office: “Mr. and Mrs. Wigginton, James can
hear just fine.”
That’s when autism entered our lives. Not long after
that, we took James to a pediatric neurologist, and
James was diagnosed with autism on January 20,
2015. James has two half-sisters and a half-brother,
and it was going to be a big lifestyle change.
In the months and years following, James did begin
to babble and talk, but it was nothing anyone could
comprehend. We accepted all of James’s silly little
autism quirks and were adjusting, but not without
struggles. He was actually beginning to talk small
words, in English, just enough for us to understand
his wants.
Then one day, it happened. Chris was outside wash-
ing the car and was letting James join in on the fun.
I was in the kitchen doing dishes. He walked in with
James and said: “James just said Freestar.” There was a
look of shock and bewilderment on his face.
“Really, Chris?” I said in my best doubting-Thomas
voice. “I know you are so proud of James and all the
things he can do, but he cannot read.” I took James
outside to the van; I had to see this for myself. He was
only three years old; no one had even taught him
letters yet. He was barely speaking our language. I
stood there in shock as I heard my baby boy read.
And his language took off from there. We purchased
books on several levels. Now, mind you, his pronun-
ciation was not 100 percent accurate, but it was pret-
ty close. Time went by, and he improved every day.
Then it occurred to us. Is he actually understanding
what he is reading? What were the chances that he
could read and understand too? Unfortunately, the
answer was no. If you asked him anything about the
word he had just read, he would just mirror the word
right back.
This brings me to the present day. James is now in
kindergarten. He is in a self-contained classroom
getting a very excellent one-on-one education. His
teachers even decided to do a little testing on his
reading skills to see where his reading level might
be. Using the sight words they have for kindergar-
ten, he reached level 28, and they said that was still
easy for him.
So where do we go from here? Thus far, I have talk-
ed about autism and hyperlexia. Now I am going to
touch base on something a little more difficult.
Within the complexity of autism with hyperlexia is
the challenge of comprehension: Does the child ac-
Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 87 |
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