April is Autism Awareness Month, a meaningful time for parents, siblings, friends and neighbors who intimately know someone with an autism spectrum disorder. For others, it’s an observance of a mysterious disorder, increasingly creeping into the national vernacular because of its growing prevalence among our citizens. (One in 54 boys in the United States and one in 88 children in the United States has an ASD.)

Autism Awareness Month is a good time to reflect on the importance of working together to find treatments and a cure for ASD. It’s also a good time to share the joys of successes achieved by individuals who have an ASD and to provide insights into how our community can serve families living with ASD.

The McCarver family is an Arkansas family living with ASD. At two, Grayson McCarver was diagnosed with autism. His parents, Karen and Heath, began the lifelong work of advocating for their child. Grayson started attending preschool and receiving therapy services at ACCESS. Karen described Grayson as “severely autistic” at the time, screaming for hours in frustration and unable to verbally communicate.

It’s a vastly different picture painted than the one painted by his current teacher, Rachel Walser, at Little Rock Christian Academy. “As Grayson’s reading and writing teacher, I have appreciated all his contributions to our classroom,” says Walser. “His writing never fails to delight because of his dry sense of humor and creative perspective.”

Ten years after his diagnosis, Grayson is an active 12-year-old boy, grumbling about cotillion duties and interested in playing his guitar and playing video games with his friends during “Guys Night Out.”

When talking with his mother, it’s clear those 10 years were full of hard work from Grayson, his family, his teachers and his therapists.

“When you parent a child with autism, you have to take the responsibility to help that child succeed,” Karen said. “It’s ever-evolving.”

Success for Grayson was defined differently at every age. When he was in preschool, learning to communicate was key. As ACCESS Preschool Director Monika Garner-Smith, M.Ed. explained, “We often see significant change in children when we’ve had the opportunity to provide them early intervention treatments before age three. We helped Grayson by giving him the early means of communication and coping strategies and immersing him in intensive language instruction all day rather than an hour or two per week.”

Later, to prepare to transition Grayson to another school after seven years at ACCESS, Karen and Heath created an 18-month-plan with the help of his teachers and therapists.

“It was, ‘How are we going to get him here?’” Karen said.

Grayson was enrolled in academic therapy. There he worked on specific learning challenges related to his diagnosis, such as problem-solving, making inferences, learning how to “read” people and sequencing homework assignments and in-class instruction.

Karen and Heath also enrolled Grayson in cotillion and encouraged other activities designed to enhance his social skills.

The work continues. As she and her son have conversations about going to college and living outside the family home, Karen asks herself, “What am I doing to prepare Grayson for the life skills needed here?” She credits Grayson’s success with many factors. They include early intervention, doing lots of research, touring and planning for school transition staying positive and proactive, celebrating the abilities Grayson has and facing challenging situations head-on. “It’s not always pretty, but you must put your child in situations in which they can learn,” Karen shares. Grayson’s own hard work, support from other family members, such as Grayson’s siblings, Hudson, 16, and Keegan, 9, and an extended support network have all been important.

When asked what advice she has for other parents, Karen responded, “Every child with autism has a mold that’s broken. No matter where your child is on the spectrum, don’t underestimate your child. Give him more credit than you think he should have. Don’t ever underestimate what your child can do.”

Autism in Arkansas Resources

The fourth annual Arkansas Walk Now for Autism Speaks event is Saturday, Oct. 5 at the Clinton Presidential Center. The walk is a great place to raise awareness and funds for autism research and meet other Arkansas families living with ASD. Visit the group on Facebook.

The national Autism Speaks nonprofit offers an online resource guide of Arkansas service providers at AutismSpeaks.org.

Find Arkansas-based peers living with ASD through meetup.com.

Learn more about ASD-related topics (genetics, ABA therapy, GI disorders, apps, Arkansas-based services, etc.) at the Team Up Autism: Putting the Pieces Together conference April 1-3 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Little Rock. Click here for registration information.

Summertime blues? Camp Aldersgate offers both weekend respite and summer program camp programs for children and youths with ASD. Siblings and friends may join in on the fun at the Kota Camps, which are inclusive, weeklong summer overnight camps. A-camp is, a six-week summer day camp. Learn more at CampAldersgate.net and Acamp4kids.com.