Therapy helps kids with autism open up
Gives families tools to communicate
Denise Mangiante of Memphis felt like something was missing early on with her son, Will. He didn’t make much eye contact, he rarely responded to his name and he flapped his hands when excited, along with other obsessive behaviors.
Their pediatrician reassured her that everything seemed f i ne, but when Will t urned 1 , he sti l l didn’t have many words, and Mangiante’s concerns continued to grow.
She made an appointment with a neuropsycholog i st to eva luate Will, even submitting a video t hat documented his quirky behaviors. She got a diagnosis she never expected — Will had autism. He was just about to turn 2, and Mangiante felt heartbroken.
“Now that I look back, it’s so clear — but at the time, I really felt li ke I was making t his entire thing up in my head,” she said. Will i mmediately began t herapy at Janna Hacker and Associates, a Germantown-based group of specialists who provide speech-language, occupa- tional and social therapy. Mangiante says the words began coming and they finally enjoyed long-awaited progress. Mangiante and her husband, Gene, also received t ra i ni ng a nd learned how to work with their autistic child.
“Autism presents many different ways in children. Sometimes, it’s helpful for parents to see YouTube videos of different children with autism to see t he differences,” Hacker said.
The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention estimates that 1 in 68 children in the United States has been identified with autism spectrum disorder. April 2 is recognized as World Autism Awareness Day. I f parents suspect t heir child has autism, Hacker says a speechla nguage evaluation is a good place to start. Then, referrals can lead to additional testing.
“It made me a better mom to learn how to communicate and bond with my son, and that comes with understanding his needs,” Mangiante said. “It seems so random, but my biggest struggle was figuring out how to play with my own child, because children with autism don’t like the typical things everyone else likes. Through therapy, we’ve made great strides.”
Three days after Will’s diagnosis, the Mangiantes’ lives changed again: they had a baby boy, Michael, who would present new challenges. He seemed different from Will at first — he interacted, showed great eye contact and loved to be held. But at 18 months, Michael lagged behind in language. Soon, he began banging his head when frustrated and he lost his social skills. The family’s pediatrician advised them to show “tough love” and ignore his behavior. Then one night in his crib, Michael woke up with a swollen bruise that spanned from his hair line to the bridge of his nose. This was far from typical, Mangiante thought. With both sons now on the autism spectrum, Mangiante says it felt like information overload involving numerous evaluations, paperwork and phone calls.
Today, Will, 4, attends Holy Rosa r y Cat ho - lic School in Memphis. Through t he school’s Angel Program, children with autism are offered intensive instruction in a classroom with typical peers, who serve as role models on how to speak, how to behave and show what is appropriate. When Michael is old enough, he will also attend Holy Rosary, but for now, they’re focusing on ABA therapy and socialization through language play groups at Janna Hacker and Associates and their specialist, Michele Wilson.
Michael’s eye contact has ret urned, a nd his head banging continues to improve. For Will, his autism causes more fear than expected for everyday events.
“If I turn the wrong direction on a street, it hurts him,” Mangiante said. “He doesn’t understand that we can go a different way, and he’s scared of what will happen. If music is too loud, he pulls down his ears and his face turns bright red, screaming because he’s scared.”
While the demands of living with two sons with autism are great, Mangiante says she and her husband work closely as a team — and they love seeing the world through their boys’ eyes.
“Children with autism really are smart kids, you just have to find a way to communicate with them so that they can open up and see the world,” she said.
For more information about local autism support and education, visit the Autism Society of the Mid-South at www. autismsocietymidsouth.org.