Andy was diagnosed with autism at age 41. Growing up, Andy was identified as having many disorders in addition to mental retardation, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Our parents took him to many specialists in the 1950s and 1960s in their search for help or a cure. They were told Andy had brain damage, and he was given a label of "trainable mentally retarded." There was no mention of autism, though many of the early letters from our mother indicate Andy had many of the symptoms of disconnectedness that we now associate with autism. Andy was given medication to calm him down, taken through crawling patterns to improve his brain connections, and tutored in reading to fix the problem.
In the 1960s, when self-contained special education programs were just beginning in a few city schools, Andy was bussed to class after class. His explosive behavior determined his destiny. Even special education classes could not handle his unpredictable angry outbursts. Our parents and the neighborhood where he grew continued to have difficulty with his intensive and volatile behavior. At age 14, Andy was placed in a Lutheran Home for Mentally Retarded in California.
Since that time, Andy moved in the 1908s from California to Oregon, from an institutional setting to a group home to a crisis home, back to a group home and back to a crisis home many times. He has been unable to hold a vocational placement even in a special services workshop. His behavior gets in the way of his success and relationships. Because he was not diagnosed with autism until age 41, he is too old to receive autism services available to students under 21 in our current state educational system. As a consequence of no autism training interventions, his explosive behavior remained the same.
That is... until Andy became part of Marie's Agency, Empowerment Services. For the first time in his adult life, Andy has someone working with him to improve his academic, behavioral, and life skills. He is given tools to calm himself and avoid explosive behaviors. He is becoming aware of the triggers that stimulate his anxiety. Marie has consulted with our family to learn about and implement calendars, daily plans, and calming tools that will improve Andy's life when he visits our home.
The outcome of the work of Marie and her staff is that Andy is beginning to feel like he can improve, that certain skills he is learning are helping him, and that others look forward to working with him. One recent weekend evening when I was talking with him, I asked what he did that day. He said, "Oh, I went to Marie's for a Blazer Party, and I had a good time." There is no higher words of praise than Andy actually enjoying the company of others. It is a testimony to the caring nature of Marie and her team members who hosted a party on the weekend for adults who would otherwise have spent it alone. Because of Empowerment Services, Andy has new possibilities.