Portable computer helps autistic boy to 'talk' (extract)

YUMA, Arizona, USA: Blanketed in the incandescence of the desert sun, Gene - eight years old and autistic - plays in the backyard with a hose and a bucket. It's no swimming pool, but he makes do. He discovers that when his torso and legs fold together, he can fit his rear end into the 5-gallon bucket. But soon, he realises that he's stuck. Suddenly, his smile vanishes. "Help," he yells to his sister, limbs flailing, stranded upside-down like a turtle on its shell.
       After his sister helps him out of the bucket, he barely dries off before darting inside to play video games, which - aside from swimming - his family says is his favourite pastime.
       "He's great at that game," said Gene's mother, Shari Walters. She said that Gene is good with electronics. One recent night, he programmed the CD player to go off at 2 am and woke up the family.  "I think he'll be electronic when he grows up," his mother said.
       This summer, Walters plans to enter Gene into the Special Olympics for bowling and, of course, swimming. "There's a lot of hope for kids like him," Walters said. "They really can do a lot of things."
        When Gene was four years old, doctors told his parents, Walters and her husband, Gene, that their son was autistic. "We always knew there was something different about Gene," Walters said. "He didn't speak much. He probably hasn't said more than five three-word sentences in his life."
       Gene is one of at least 50 identified autistic students served by Yuma Elementary School District 1, according to Kitsi Tams, the district's director of special education. But Gene has been talking more lately. "A few days ago, he said: 'It tastes good'," Walters declared, beaming with maternal pride … 

To read the entire article you need to order this back issue

Looking Up, 16-page English PDF Edition, Back Issues and Current Issue

Privacy

Copyright declaration