The person that I interviewed was AJ. He is a six year old boy with Autism, who is one of the smartest kids that I know. As I was interviewing him and his parents, I learned a great deal about just how smart he is, considering that he started reading at 41/2 and started recognizing letters, numbers and patterns at 31/2.
One of the concepts that really jumped out at me during the interview was when his mom told me that they started noticing symptoms of Autism at a very young age, but he wasn't diagnosed until he was 20 months. The amazing thing is that his parents started therapy right away, and by 26 months, he was seeing an Occupational Therapist and Hippotherapy at just over four years of age. His parents are very supportive of him and only want the best for their child (as do most parents), but what amazed me even more was the fact that they don't let AJ's Autism discourage them in any way. AJ is a very bright kid with great futuristic opportunity because his parents have been pro-active and really helping their child through therapy.
For my service plan, I chose to focus on AJ's goal of better communication, by having him work on answering questions and requesting help when he needs help, instead of just whining. Since, I work with AJ in a therapeutic riding setting, I focused my care plan in that direction. One of the first goals his parents told me they wanted for him in therapeutic riding is that AJ becomes completely comfortable with horses and learns to ride on his own. So, I had this as one goal and focused on better communication for the second goal, with a couple of objectives to help reach this goal.
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Wow thats a young age to start having autism. It sounds like his parents are on top of it and getting him some great help as well. It sounds like AJ is a very bright young boy and has a lot to look for in his future. Sounds like you had a great time interviewig him and his parents.
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