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Angela Book-Glynn: When I think about Lynn
and where he came from in his lifetime, autism
really didn't hit the maps before 1990 a whole lot,
you didn't even hear about it.
You hear that early intervention is so
important.
I wonder how much Lynn would have that
opportunity for those early interventions in
rural Iowa clear back in the '40s and '50s.
I think that's really important to think about
and how he has progressed in his life and the
challenges he has gone through going many, many
years without even being known what his diagnosis
was.
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Do you want to put your light on?
Very good.
Casey Ehn: Lynn is 72 years old.
He's very, very sweet, laidback and easy going.
He's very affectionate.
You want a hug?
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Casey: Lynn loves everything farming from
beans to combines to John Deere green, he loves it
all.
Cow.
Yeah!
Very good. Very good.
Casey: He also loves his morning coffee, and his
afternoon coffee.
♪♪
How are you?
Casey: Lynn communicates verbally.
Typically he will communicate using one to
two word phrases and it is very scripted so it's
things that he has heard in his past or things of
interest to him.
What about this guy?
Cow.
That's a cow, yeah.
And what about this guy?
Look here.
What's this?
Oink, oink.
What's that?
What is it?
Pig.
It's a pig.
Good job.
Casey: He can make requests for things that
he wants or needs verbally but typically staff just
kind of know what he wants and can help him out.
Sometimes he'll point, sometimes he'll lead staff
to what he wants.
Good job.
Casey: Lynn grew up around farms with his family.
His father unfortunately had passed away when he
was young and his mother was no longer able to care
for him because his aggression was too
significant.
At that time she had moved him into a facility in
Story County where he continued to display some
aggressive behaviors that were very challenging and
the facility was not able to care for him the way
that he needed.
When Lynn came to us in 1995, and up until last
year, he was able to be part of our vocational
program on our farm.
He really enjoyed that farm work being that he
grew up in a farm background.
Last year he was working, when he would like to,
when he chose to work.
Then he retired.
I don't think he fully understands the concept of
retirement.
But it is pretty exciting to think about someone
with autism starting from having a lot of aggression
and not being very successful in a vocational
setting to being independent and be able to
retire as a neurotypical person would.
♪♪
Casey: Balance Autism provides a lot of
different living opportunities for adults
with autism.
Lynn transitioned from our ICFID program, which is
our campus program, more intensive care, to our
home and community-based services, which is in the
community and less restrictive for him.
Lynn was able to transition into that less
restrictive environment because of the skills that
he gained through living in our ICF facility.
He decreased his aggressions to virtually
nothing and he is really just very independent.
He does need a lot of cares with hygiene tasks
and mobility because of his age, but other than
that he is very laidback and easy going so he was
able to live in an environment where he has
more freedom of choice.
So tell me what you want to buy.
Do you want to buy milk?
Cheese.
You said cheese.
That's good.
Do you want to also buy milk?
Yeah.
Casey: Lynn has staffing 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week.
Staff really try to involve the individuals
that we serve in every decision-making process
that we have and every choice that they would
have.
With grocery shopping he goes whenever he really
wants.
Typically staff try to assist them with going
grocery shopping once a week and then when they're
at the store they follow a grocery list based off of
a menu or whatever meals Lynn wants to eat for that
week.
Careful.
Easy.
Thank you.
Do you want to say thank you?
Thank you.
Thank you. You guys have a good day.
Casey: Guardianship is a challenge with Lynn's age
and the fact that he has autism.
What happens if he needs nursing home care?
What nursing home is he going to go to?
Who is going to provide that care for him?
Angela: Lynn is in his 70s.
He has a guardian that is well in their 80s.
This is not uncommon.
It is so important that we have somebody set up as a
successor for that guardianship and that if
something was to happen it's not a fun
conversation, nobody wants to have these, but if
something was to happen to your guardian you have to
have somebody lined up, ready to go, to support
your loved one.
When you have someone with autism you typically think
we're going to work on these intensive maybe
behavioral strategies to shape their behavior or
change their behavior and then also focusing on
those communication skills and the social skills.
A lot of people forget that there is actually a
life being lived also.
So that is really important to us that he is
able to do those things.
Angela: I think Lynn is an inspiration for anybody.
At 72 years old he is still very humble and
laidback and he has grown so much with decreasing
his aggression to nothing.
My advice for family and friends who have a loved
one with autism would be to help get that
intervention that they need, help them grow their
social skills, find a communication system that
works for them and they're able to communicate their
wants and needs, and also just most importantly is
help them live a fulfilling life.
♪♪
This program is part of the Move to Include
Initiative made possible with support from the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private
corporation funded by the American people.
♪♪
The Max and Helen Guernsey Charitable
Foundation, in support of educational programming on
statewide Iowa Public Television.
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