Life with autism

Jordan Blackwell

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My name is Jordan, I’m 8 years old. I am in third grade and I have autism. I have two brothers and a sister. When I was really young, like 2-3 years old, I didn't eat very much. I didn't walk or talk for a while, either. I had helpers (therapists from First Steps, Mom adds) who came to my house every week. After a while I was walking and talking. My family took me to Chinatown buffet and I really liked the spicy chicken. I started eating a lot of spicy food, my mom said she thought we had to wake up my tasting!!

I went to preschool which was difficult because there were so many different things to do, but soon my teachers taught me what to do using stories and then it was easy. I like school. I am really good at math and reading. I used to go two grades up for math but this year I go with a special group to do harder work. I have headphones at school to use when it gets too noisy. If I get bored waiting at lunch for my teacher to pick us up, I help wash the tables. I like talking with my friends at lunch; sometimes they are really silly and we laugh a lot. I don't drink milk, so I keep a box of juice pouches in my cubby to take to lunch every day. I am teaching my class some of the BrainGym stuff I am learning with my OT. I used to hate fire drills, but they don't bother me as much now. It helps to know when they are going to happen. I go to Cub Scouts; my mom and dad are my leaders. I love to earn belt loops and pins! My favorite I earned was fishing—I caught two large-mouth bass in my grandma's pond. I went to summer day camp. I took my headphones because it got really noisy a lot of times. I got to be a special helper during big group meetings; it was fun because I got to ride in the golf cart and run errands, like refilling water jugs and stuff. I make lists of what I need to do to earn my badges and then I check them off. I have good friends at Scouts.

I love to play Monopoly. It has two of my favorite things: numbers and money. I have a golf edition of Monopoly; golf is my passion! I want to play professional golf and live on my own private course some day. My favorite family vacation was when we went to Florida to visit my “double uncle” (great uncle), who lives on a championship course. I got to play all the golf I wanted for three days!!! I also have played on soccer and basketball leagues. My mom bought me video games of both of those so I could learn the rules first. I'm pretty good at remembering and copying what I play on video games. I do a lot of fun things with my family and friends. My autism just means some things are a little different for me. That's my life with autism!