Event Helps Dearborn Families to Understand Autism

His name is JR Calder, and he’s a bundle of energy.

Six-year-old JR has an infectious smile, many friends in his kindergarten class and a near-perfect baseball pitch honed only from watching the game on television. He’s also a child with autism.

JR, along with his mother Andrea Calder and several family members, converged with other families at the gymnasium for the school’s first Autism Awareness Night on Thursday. The goal of the event is to teach children, parents and other interested individuals how children with autism learn, what coping mechanisms children use, and how they interact with peers without autism.

Nicole Piechocki, a special education teacher specializing in autism at Nowlin, organized the event.

“It’s the first time we’ve done anything like this, and we hope that people learn about autism,” she said. “I hope it creates understanding.”

The event kicked off with an introduction in the school’s cafeteria. Afterward, students and parents made their way to an information and activities area in the gymnasium. Tables were set up with activities that mimic unique sensory situations, noise tolerance and a “walk in their shoes,” as well as an information booth for parents and a raffle with many prizes.

For the attendees, autism’s cloud of mystery became a little clearer, and for children, the activities were just plain fun.

At the sensory table, teachers set up several games meant to teach children about autism. The area was a hub of activity, which included a trampoline that helped children learn how their peers with autism can sometimes have a difficult time focusing when there is a lot of activity and noise.

The 100 children with autism at Dearborn Schools who will be mainstreamed into regular classes with other children must learn coping mechanisms to deal with such issues, and events like the Autism Awareness Night help assure parents like Andrea Calder that the district is working to make sure children with autism are understood by those without autism.

“(JR’s) like other children, and gets along with other children, but some people just don’t understand what autism is,” she said. “Events like this will help people understand that (children with autism) experience things differently.”

In other words, misunderstanding their environment can be seen as misbehavior, and a meltdown may seem like a tantrum, when in fact, children with autism may simply be experiencing difficulty in processing what’s happening around them.

Autism is a disorder that affects neural development, which can impair communication and the way a child processes information. It’s not known what causes the disorder, but what is known is that it is becoming more common. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, one in every 110 children is diagnosed with the disorder.

Those numbers mean that people without autism are highly likely to meet and interact with autistic individuals, and will need to understand how such people see the world. And in turn, people with autism will need to develop coping skills.

Larry Simon, principal of Nowlin, said the autistic children get along well with other children.

“I’ve never once seen or heard about a fight between a child with autism and one without (autism),” he said. “They all get along nicely. It gives me a lot of hope. It’s life-affirming to see that children can get along so well together.”

Children without autism are already learning about their peers in many ways; when the school has an event or an assembly, loud applauding has been replaced with “jazz hands” because excess noise can be difficult to process for children with autism.

The Autism Awareness Night will grow and change each year going forward, and might be held during the day for all of the children at Nowlin to experience, Piechocki said.

“We’re hoping people receive information and begin to understand autism,” she said.