Thursday, May 27, 2010

Happy Graduation Adam!

Back in college I took a job with a family where I pretty much hung out with a boy with autism. His name is Adam and he was 12 years old at the time. I was majoring in Psychology at KU. I ended up loving working with Adam and switched my major to Applied Behavior Science with an emphasis in Working with Children With Autism. I owe where I am today not only to Adam, but also to his mom Linda who guided me in the direction I have taken in life. After working with Adam for 2 1/2 years I learned to be patient and to find humor in things that nobody else laughs at. Some of my favorite memories that I still talk about today is when he told me, "Go home Lindsey, I hate you, you are fired! (while throwing an action figure at me.)" and when he told Matt that he was a "Bloated Beanbag." We still laugh at these today. Adam loves Batman and video games and I bet he could be anyone at Mario. We loved going swimming and going to museums. We would even take trips to Walmart where I would give him $10.00 and he would buy a Batman toy, and pay for it with the money I gave him by himself. He is an amazing boy and I love hearing from his mom how he is doing. He is a success story.
Last weekend Adam graduated from Free State High school in Lawrence, Kansas. His family is moving back to Omaha, Nebraska where hopefully Adam can volunteer at the zoo. I am so excited for him. Best wishes to him in life AFTER high school! Here are some pictures of him.

Playing at the Natural History Museum. One of our favorite places to go!

Fishing!

The last picture I took of us before I moved :( Look how big he had gotten!

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