♪♪
Then leave a little space and put a
capital P.
Kittie Weston-Knauer: For him, because of the
autism, there are just certain things in his life
that kind of get in his way.
♪♪
Kittie: But he has figured out ways to make
it work.
Now, he's not, going to be able to tell you that
because he's non-verbal.
I think one of the things that we have done as his
parents is to help him to understand that he's got
to also help himself.
♪♪
Kittie: So our son JP is 38.
Here's a young man who exudes love for others and
people do really in turn share that with him.
Were there four last time we came?
Kittie: JP was born in April, so had him going to
child care at about five months.
And that's when we began to have the medical
issues, chronic upper respiratory infections,
chronic ear infections.
But even before then one of the things that we
noted was he wasn't lifting his head on his
own.
And he wasn't trying to roll over.
Now he's a year old and he's not walking and he
wasn't developing speech.
The doctor referred to it as apraxia, a totally new
term for us, because the muscles were not
developing as they should, which would allow him to
be able to form words.
Kittie: The other thing also was our pediatrician
had us working with a child psychiatrist because
he wanted to be able to get a full picture of what
was going on with JP.
Now, mind you, he's two years old at this point.
He's having the issues with digestion and he's
not forming words, he's not walking, he can't
hear.
He was finally healthy enough at about age two
and a half, he was now making sounds, trying to
express himself, still using sign language, but
we still don't know that he's autistic.
But that developmental delay is still there.
The other thing was he began to walk now, pull
himself up, crawl, pull himself up, walk.
Wow, at two and a half he's now walking.
♪♪
Kittie: That was a major step in his life and
for us the beginning of relief.
♪♪
Kittie: And so we finally get a diagnosis.
He's four and a half and we're saying, wowee, now
we know what it is.
We all learned sign language because he had no
language but he picked up that sign language just
like that.
He's now able to communicate with us.
♪♪
Kittie: One of the things that I learned at a
very early stage with JP was we couldn't just focus
all of our lives and our attention on just JP
because we also had another son who had
interests, who wanted to be out in the world doing
things.
And then of course we had our own interests.
♪♪
Kittie: We're a cycling family.
JP has refused to ride any of the many bicycles that
we've ever had.
However, whenever we as a family take off just to
ride bikes, he's always been with us.
♪♪
Kittie: In 1988 I began racing BMX bikes.
And so I never stopped racing bikes just because
of JP's autism and I think that is probably one of
the healthiest things that I could do because I'm
still going to be the mom of an autistic son.
But I have that other side, that side that says
you name it, you can get out there and continue to
do it.
So yeah.
Love me some BMX, y'all!
Kittie: So, JP, what did you wind up doing
today?
JP: Leaves.
Kittie: Okay, you wound up raking up the leaves.
And what do you like about the seasons?
JP: The fall.
Kittie: The fall.
Why do you like the fall?
Kittie: Well, what do you get to do?
JP: Halloween!
Kittie: Yeah, Halloween.
And what did we put up for you?
JP: Dragon.
Kittie: Your dragon.
And what did you put on the windows?
JP: Lights.
Kittie: You put the lights.
What will we put up next after Halloween?
JP: The turkey.
Kittie: Turkey.
And what season will turkey be?
JP: The blow up turkey.
Kittie: The blow up turkey.
So we'll put up the blow up turkey.
JP: Way too early.
Kittie: It's way too early now, yeah, I know that.
Kittie: He loves going to the theatre.
He and I go to Civic Center performances.
Kittie: Let's see, here we are.
We have, that one, I remember that one, that
was a funny one.
Yeah. And you remember Waitress?
JP: Yeah.
Kittie: Yeah. That one's over with.
Kittie: He loves looking at the newspaper every
morning.
Yeah, I know he's got to be reading, but he also
looks for symbols and pictures.
That's why he looks at the weather because you have
the symbols for the weather.
Kittie: He enjoys going around and being with
other people and that's not an issue for him
anymore.
Kittie: This afternoon where are you going to be
going?
JP: The zoo.
Kittie: To the zoo.
All right.
And you're going to be going with your SCL
worker, Karly.
Karly: Are you ready to go to the zoo?
JP: Yeah.
Karly: Get to see lots of animals?
JP: Yeah.
Karly: All right.
Karly Summy: Easter Seals Hourly SCL Program is
supported community living.
So kind of our goal is to get our clients who have
disabilities out in the community to work on goals
that they have set.
So that could be working on their social skills,
that could be money management, things like
that.
Karly: Look at the flamingos.
Karly: How do they stand on one leg?
(nature sounds)
Karly: Those birds.
Karly: Those are the kind of birds I'm scared of.
They're too big.
Karly: Those monkeys are so cute.
Karly: Have you been here when they've been
swinging?
Usually they swing from the top.
Karly: JP, are you having fun at the zoo?
JP: Yes.
Karly: What is your favorite thing we've seen
so far?
JP: Giraffe.
Karly: The giraffes.
Would you like to have a giraffe as a pet?
JP: No.
Karly: No.
Karly: What are we on the way to go see?
The lions.
(lions roaring)
Karly: There's another one.
Where are the other two?
Usually they're always sleeping.
(lions roaring)
♪♪
Kittie: One of the
concerns we have always had is what would life be
like for JP beyond us.
What we have to be able to do in our own mind is to
hope that we can put together a living
situation that will enable him to continue to live
the kind of lifestyle that he has grown accustomed
to.
That's a tough one.
And so one of the things we're looking at is how do
we make this home his forever home.
What is it that we need to do to assure that that
would happen where he could have some services
that would come in for him?
♪♪
Kittie: We want JP to know that life will
continue for him beyond us because that is what will
probably happen.
And so, for him to know I will still be able to
continue to do the things I have been doing for the
last 38 years.
♪♪
Kittie: Why do you like to keep going to
this?
Do you enjoy these?
JP: Yeah.
♪♪
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 PBS.
♪♪