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AUTISM SPEAKS Annual walk raises money for autism
By Cecilia Buckner
As a kindergartner, Thomas was very slow with speech, threw
tantrums longer than other kids and was not very social. He also
played with his toys differently — lining up his race cars, instead of
rolling them.
When he had to be forcefully removed from the playground as a
child, Thomas’ mother, Beth Selbe of Santee, wondered if he would
grow up to be an independent, successful young man — if he would
even make it out of kindergarten.
The inability to face transitions is just one of the behavioral issues
associated with autism spectrum disorders, said Selbe, an Autism
Speaks committee member. Changing classes or merely taking a different
route home can cause a meltdown for someone with an Autism
Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Although experiences like the playground incident were difficult
N O N P R O F I T S
for Selbe, what troubled her most, when Thomas was diagnosed with
autism at age 4, was the prospect of how public insensitivity may affect
him. This concern has somewhat subsided for Selbe, since
Thomas, now 19, has begun his second semester at a local community
college.
“Don’t shortchange your child!” Selbe said. “Don’t tell them that
they can’t achieve what they want to achieve.”
One of every 88 children in the U.S. at 8 years of age has an ASD,
according to the Center for Disease Control. Symptoms of the developmental
disorders in the spectrum, including delays in speech and
behavior, usually become apparent in the first few years of a child’s life
and vary in degree. The three most popular development disorders in
the spectrum include: autistic disorder; pervasive development disorder
not otherwise specified; and Asperger syndrome.
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