Aaron Conner Interview For this interview, I chose the mother of a 12 year old boy named CJ.

Her name is Erin and she lives in Mobile, AL. I first asked her what type of disability her son had and she told me that he has Classic Autism and also has Attention Deficit Disorder. I then asked Ms. Erin when the disorder was identified and how she was told. In college Ms. Erin studied early education, took classes on special education and helped at a special needs camp. She noticed that CJ had the tendency to order his toys in specific ways when he was very young, had not made any language gains, and was very angry and aggressive. This was at 18 months, and at two years she took CJ in for his two year checkup and the doctor bluntly told her that CJ had Autism and ADD and that there was nothing they could do to change it. She told me that she took the news very hard but that her husband stepped up and was positive about the situation and held the family together. I asked her what caused the disorder in her son and she told me that it has never been pinpointed what caused it. She said that at the time a lot of babies were getting diagnosed after having vaccinations but she said CJ never had speech and lost it like many others did. She implied that she didnt want to know what caused it for fear of the possibility that it was her fault. My next question to her was does CJ understand what his label of Autism means? She told me that he realizes that he is not like other kids but that she has not expressly told him that he has a disorder called Autism. She wants him to live as close to a normal life as he can but she realizes he is beginning to see that he is different.

Ms. Erin said that her family and friends were very supportive and were a blessing to them. She said that her family was loving and affectionate to CJ but were also hard on him in helping him learn to speak. She said her husband was a great dad and would spend massive amounts of time with CJ playing and loving him while being patient. The one problem that she faced was her mother-in-law who was convinced that God was going to heal CJ completely. She would baby CJ and often disagreed with Ms. Erins decisions to put him in special programs. Cj would act differently after being with her and she seemed to fight her on many things dealing with CJ. Ms. Erin had a year of early intervention physical occupational therapy for CJ. The therapist would come once a week but CJ was already two when they started and only stayed in for one year. CJ currently is attending a public school for special needs students from ages 3 through 21 in Mobile, AL. The school is called Augusta Evans and has a population cap of 270, has a cap on IQ for students who are allegeable, and has a waiting list of students trying to get into the school. The school has grades k-12 and even has a work program for students until they reach 21. CJ is in the seventh grade and has been there since kindergarten. They were mostly happy with the therapy but after only a year they did not see as many results as they would have liked. She did say that she gained a lot of good ideas from the therapist. She is very pleased with the school he is now in. She said he made major gains there such as becoming potty trained at age five and a half. I asked her what she would have liked to known about when she first found out about her sons disorder. She said that she wishes that Autism was as well studied and understood as it is now. She said that there are new groups such as baseball leagues, cheerleading groups, acting groups, teen groups and many other groups available for children with disabilities and she wishes

they were available earlier. She basically wishes that there would have been more awareness about autism when her son was first diagnosed. I asked her what a typical day looked like for CJ. She said that CJ wakes himself up at 530, eats, dresses himself, and walks to the bus all on his own. (She was very proud and excited about this). She said he then goes to school and then has one of three extracurricular activities to go to after school whether it be baseball, cheerleading, or acting. After practice she said CJ likes to eat dinner and then play on the Wii, the iPad, or with his train set. He then goes to bed at 830. Ms. Erins husband died around five years ago and so when I asked what her greatest need was she said that it was a male role model for her son. She said that CJ is going through puberty and he has many questions that a man should answer and not her. She said she sees him long for male friends and a man to look up to and she prays that he gets one soon. As we were talking I asked her what wisdom she would depart into the next generation of teachers and parents. She said that she would love to see a generation of teachers that understand that not one strategy works for all situations and that all children are different. She said that teachers need to have a variety of techniques to draw from because each child will struggle differently and needs specific help. Along with that she said she would tell the future teachers to be patient with the kids but not lenient. As I said earlier her mother-in-law was very lenient with her son and she could see his progress diminish because he was being babied. She said to treat the children as we would any other child but know that they will need different help than other students. Pick your battles is the next thing she said to do with Autistic children because she has had to let some things slide with her son that otherwise would have been a three hour battle. Finally she said to realize that the parents of these students are often tired, angry, and scared. They need our help and we should be patient and offer them any form of assistance.

Ms. Erin has said that the most positive part about her son having Autsim is that it has caused her to appreciate every victory in her life no matter how small. She said they would work for so long just to get CJ to write one letter or say one word and she knew he was working so hard and when he finally could write the letter A she was so proud. This has helped her be appreciative of small victories in all areas of her life.