The
Telegraph/MARGIE M. BARNES Matt Wilkerson, front, and his twin brother,
Eric Wilkerson, both of Edwardsville, play video games in the family
living room. The boys have a high-functioning form of autism.
When
children scream, cry and throw a tantrum in public places, most people eye
the parents and walk away, wondering about what parents are lacking these
days.
Carol and Jim Wilkerson of Edwardsville knew they weren’t bad parents, but
with their twin boys thrown out of multiple day care facilities when they
were toddlers because of repeated behavior problems, they were at a loss as
to why. They decided that the attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder
category that the boys were placed in didn’t fit, and they wanted to know
why.
After taking their boys to a pediatric research hospital in Atlanta, where
they formerly lived, they learned that Matt and Eric, now 13, have Asperger
Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism. It was a new diagnosis for a
specific type of a pervasive developmental delay in the mid-1990s, when the
twins were some of the first diagnosed cases in the Southeast.
"We knew we had a problem, and until then, it was just bad kids, bad
parents. So we were so relieved to find out that there is a name for this,
and we can now focus on therapies," Carol Wilkerson said.
Many types of autism are generally first recognizable in children between 2
and 3 years. The conditions involve impaired social development, delayed and
deviant language development and an insistence on sameness, patterns,
abnormal preoccupations or resistance to change.
It is estimated that nearly 400,000 people in the United States have some
form of autism, including Asperger Syndrome.
When the developmental disability the boys have first was labeled in 1994
and the conditions became better understood nationwide, just the opposite
typically happened in social settings for the Wilkersons.
"People were going to label our kids no matter what we did, so if we had a
medical explanation, people could more easily understand. Unfortunately, it
doesn’t work that easily in the boys’ social settings," Carol v said. "They
are still not perfectly comfortable at school, but they misunderstand and
misinterpret so many things, so going to school can be much more stressful."
Not always do the boys misunderstand conversations with other students;
sometimes they understand all too well. She said that while some youngsters
can be cruel, others often try to be overly nice in a superficial way,
mostly because they don’t understand how to communicate with the boys in the
first place because of a fear of the disabled. Their mother said those
awkward attempts at friendliness are transparent to Matt and Eric.
"They treat me differently, and I don’t know why," Eric said. "I don’t hate
having it. I just get frustrated."
Carol Wilkerson said that between the cruelty of some middle-school students
and the well-intentioned patronization of others, it’s difficult for the
boys to make many friends.
"That’s why it’s a blessing that we have the two of them, because they’ve
always got somebody to relate to," she said.
However, a special social skills class at Edwardsville Middle School has
been developed for the Asperger Syndrome population, she said, a suggestion
she made after moving to the district.
"The schools here are great. Our big concern was having a good setting for
the boys in school. We wanted them to have the attention they need," she
said.
Matt and Eric are well-informed about their syndrome. Matt said he knows
what makes him different than most other children.
"It’s something that makes my brain work differently," Matt said.
Carol Madison, executive director of the Illinois Center for Autism in
Fairview Heights, recently told the Madison County Mental Health Board that
there has been a significant increase in the number of autism cases in
recent years and that those cases are becoming more severe.
At the mental health treatment and educational agency, dozens of autistic
children and a few adults learn to manage their conditions and lead
productive lives, which is often a rocky, uphill road, Madison said.
For 25 years, the non-for-profit center has been the only facility in the
state specifically for children with autism. All of the students came to the
center after a failure to function properly in public schools.
"We often see biting, kicking, scratching, pulling hair -- if you can
believe it, we’ve seen it," Madison said.
In each classroom, several students work with two teachers or speech
therapists, all the while with a one-way mirror and an emergency alarm
button on the wall in case of violent outbursts. When a teenage boy loses
his temper in a math class and lunges at one of the teachers in the room,
the other teacher pushes the alarm, and four people come in to hold down the
emotional student. After several minutes, the boy is calm enough to be
released, and the class can resume.
"The thing is that none of these behaviors are any different than the
behaviors of so-called ‘normal’ children. The difference is that the
behavior interferes with the learning at all levels," Madison said. "Doctors
are identifying it more, now that they know what it is."
Because of the short attention spans of the autistic children, classes are
kept to 30 minutes. This schedule also allows for many subjects to be
covered, including speech therapy, art, computer training, math, social
studies, language arts and social skills training throughout the five hours
per day the clients spend at the center.
"The parents of these children have a special place in heaven," Madison
said.
The center’s primary goal is to prevent unnecessary institutionalization of
people with autism and to help people with autism achieve their highest
level of independence within their home, school and community. A variety of
services are provided, including behavior modification therapy, speech and
language therapy, parent and family support services, individual vocational
and job skill training, and individualized education programs.
For more information about the Illinois Center for Autism, call (618)
398-7500 or visit www.illinoiscenterforautism.org on the Internet.
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"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
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"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
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