The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

Hear an adult with autism share reasons behind his puzzling behavior. Discover through his first-person narratives how typical people have reacted to him, demonstrating even more bizarre behavior. Through writing and music, learn techniques his family uses to enhance his communication and get to know him to highlight his strengths. Everyone with autism has strengths, interests and gifts to share with the rest of the world.  As family members, it’s often our role to help others get to know the person behind the autism.  Research and best practice has shown that there is often a lot more going on inside individuals on the autism spectrum than meets the eye.  This session demonstrates how one family has worked together to draw out a young man with autism’s personality including his opinions, emotions and sense of humor.

Alex Seyler is a 25-year-old man with autism who is extremely shy and quiet.  He has difficulty speaking to strangers and is viewed as a loner and aloof by those who do not know him well.  Alex is often difficult for others to understand; he whispers to himself and slurs his words when he does speak out loud. 

Early on, his family discovered that he exhibited strong spelling skills and was developing a very unique writing voice at school.  Through the use of scaffolding, journaling, technology, amplification and music, his family has slowly gotten to know the person behind the autism. 

During this session, Alex begins by verbally sharing his personal explanations (which have come out through his writing over the years) behind some of his own puzzling behaviors. 

His mother, Alison, will briefly share the early writing sample from school that started this family on their trajectory to get to know the person that Alex is.  Alex will continue by verbally sharing several humorous and poignant anecdotes about bizarre interactions with typical people because of his disability.  Alex is in the process of writing a book on this subject.  Alex will also share a few highlights from the family holiday letter that he writes annually.  Thanks to his unique perspective on life, everyone who receives it says it is the best letter they receive.  By hearing these high interest first-person narratives, participants begin to catch a glimpse of his internal emotions and thoughts.

During this presentation, Alex’s mom and brother will demonstrate the techniques they have used over the years to get to know the interesting and endearing person Alex has become.  These techniques include scaffolding (breaking down writing assignments into small pieces), journaling, technology, amplification and music to help with organization, cueing and annunciation. 

Throughout the presentation, Nick - Alex’s brother and caregiver – will use his original hip-hop music beats to keep Alex on track and moving forward.  These age-appropriate beats, along with the use of a microphone and high interest stories, help Alex come out of his shell and shine.  These tools and techniques help him speak up and annunciate so that he can be easily heard and understood. 

This session demonstrates how families can help an individual with autism highlight his or her strengths and interests to others.  Sharing this information with educational and community professionals who work with a person with autism will help others get to know and appreciate the true person behind the disability.

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