Interns, autistic students learn from each other

Koren Boggs makes the one-and-a-half hour commute to DeSoto County from her Oxford home at least two days a week and sometimes more, depending upon when she's needed.

When you work with autistic children, you've got to go the extra mile, said the 25-year-old Boggs.

The University of Mississippi graduate student is an intern with the school system's autism early intervention education program. She is one of three Ole Miss interns in the school system this year funded through the DeSoto County School system and by the annual "Give A Kid A Chance To Be A Kid" Celebrity Golf Tournament.

"These kids are amazing," said Boggs, a behavior specialist with the DeSoto County School System, hired last year to work with autistic children. "They have this amazing potential which is often overlooked."

Every program has a success story and Boggs said she has her own favorite. "There is one little boy who has started to talk and be more interactive," said Boggs. "He was completely non-verbal at the beginning of the year. When he realized there was a value to communication using words with gestures because he could get the object he wanted, he began a complete transformation."

Boggs said there are some students with Asperger's Syndrome, a higher functioning form of autism. These students, such as 8-year-old Joshua Hammons of Horn Lake, often do better than other children.

Joshua, who attends Walls Elementary School, is an avid reader, smiles appropriately and understands conversations-yet, he did not take his first steps until he was 18 1/2 months old. His mother, Rhonda Hammons, said Joshua was originally misdiagnosed as having Attention Deficit Disorder.

"He had trouble learning anything until they (DeSoto school officials) put him into the autistic program. That's when his whole turnaround began."

Joshua has had to undergo speech therapy from the time he was nearly 3. "He still has some problems with words but in video games, he is really brilliant."

Having an autistic child in the family can be tough on parents and siblings alike.

Justin Hammons, 11, is Joshua's older brother and says approvingly, "He loves books, boats and planes. But he's gotten used to sitting in the front seat and if he doesn't get to sit in the front seat, he pitches a fit."

Rhonda Hammons said behavior problems with autistic children are often the most difficult to understand and comprehend. "People who don't know him think he's spoiled. He's not. He just goes in his room, pitches a fit once a week and then he's fine for the rest of the week." Hammons said families of autistic children learn to deal with outbursts and temper tantrums.

Dr. Lynn Crain, director of special education for the DeSoto County School system, said there is no known cause for autism but its numbers have increased exponentially over the past decade, not only in the United States but in Great Britain and the rest of Europe.

"Some people say we are just identifying more people but I don't think that's the whole answer," said Crain.

Childhood vaccinations are being investigated as a possible cause and dietary habits are now being looked at as a link to chemical imbalances and a way to improve behavior.

Whatever the cause or treatment, the DeSoto County School system is being looked to as a pioneering program in the Mid-South, she said.

And the program in DeSoto County started as the result of one child.

"We had one child move in who had autism and we sent one of instructors, Gwen McGee, to North Carolina for training and she began to learn more and more about autism," Crain said. "That was six years ago. We believe in training. Now we have some teacher assistants who know as much about autism as many of the experts."

Boggs said the faculty at Ole Miss recognizes the work being done in DeSoto County as ground breaking.

"I would definitely say it's a model program," Boggs said. "All of the parents who I've spoken to said it's really comforting to them to see someone who has a strong desire to see their children succeed."