Main Page
Individual with Autism
Living with the Challenges of Autism
Table of Contents I. Overview
III. Sensory Issues
IV. Dealing with autism and its problems
VI. Directomes
VIII. Theological Perspective
X. Other information of interest
My journey began in 1980 when I was born in Jacksonville, Florida. We lived there until the summer of 1981, when we moved to the neighborhood of Queen’s Lake in Williamsburg, Virginia. I do not remember anything about living in Florida. I was approximately 18 months old when our family moved to Virginia.
Since my parents noticed shortly after arriving in Virginia that my behavior, speech, and social patterns were considerably different from other toddlers, I was referred to an early intervention program to help determine the problem. A multi-disciplinary team evaluated my development and determined that I was significantly speech delayed as well as socially delayed. A team of professionals at TEACCH in North Carolina determined that I had autism at age 3 and that I would live with this condition for a lifetime. My first words did not come until I was 4 years old. Therefore, my mother and sister had to use sign language as a means of communication, although I remember little sign language today. During these early years I would throw temper tantrums, such as throwing a vacuum cleaner down the stairs or throwing wood sticks whenever things did not go my way. I would also otter profanity and scream inappropriately in public.
During the early and mid-1980s, I received occupational therapy, speech services, and cognitive early intervention from Child Development Resources, a non-profit agency that offers early intervention and comprehensive services to young children with disabilities and their families. CDR also offers training sessions for child-care professionals. On occasion they will have a child with autism, but those with cerebral palsy and mental retardation are more common. My memories of this program are limited to my final weeks there. Some of these memories included rolling on the floor mats (a form of sensory integration), playing with my Legos, and gazing at the electric pylons nearby.
While also attending a public pre-school special education program 5 days a week, I was enrolled in a play school at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church. It was also known as co-op since parents were actively involved in the program’s operation. The class met a few times each week. Memories include the instructor, Sue Swadley, our recess outdoors, and an activity called “show & tell,” where everybody would bring in something they treasured and explain why it was important to them. My mother relieved me from my special education class to attend play school in Williamsburg.
After retiring from this program, it was time for new, exciting activities. My mother and I decided that attending a camp for children and adolescents with disabilities might be helpful. For three years, I spent a few weekends of the year at Camp Easter Seal, located 30 miles north of Richmond, VA. Every summer they hosted a week-long program which I also took part. I would often get homesick at camp and hanging out near the front entrance made me feel closer to home. During the summer of 1988 I attended a summer camp at a different Easter Seal facility west of Roanoke because I wanted to be in the mountains. I never returned since the facilities were not air-conditioned and some of the counselors were strict and impersonal. I always resented how Camp Easter Seals mandated a 90-minute rest period during the early afternoon, but if I were to attend this camp now, I would love to have this afternoon nap.
Yorktown Elementary was the site for pre-school about 15 miles from Williamsburg. Although I was placed in a special education setting, the class encompassed all disabilities and it didn’t work out all that well. My mother told me about one incident where my unruly behavior resulted in dismissal from speech therapy, at which point she began searching for a different program. The program chosen was PACES, an acronym for Peninsula Area Cooperative Education Services, with Kathleen Schutte as the program coordinator. She was excellent at providing mental and emotional guidance. My mother was quite impressed with this program and the highly individualized education they provided.
My first memories of a school environment, although somewhat unclear, are of attending Grafton Bethel Elementary School as a part of PACES. This Program had several special education classrooms with a majority of the pupils having autism spectrum disorders. Some had especially severe language problems, some still not developing speech by their 15th birthday. After a year or so at Grafton Bethel, the program moved to Forrest Elementary school in Hampton, about 30 miles southeast of Williamsburg. During my six years with this program, I steadily improved in both behavior and social skills. Beginning in first grade, I was mainstreamed or included with the regular math classes at that school, followed shortly by regular spelling classes. This educational set-up worked out very well for all of us. It also gave me my first exposure to written homework.
Forrest Elementary marked the beginning of more vivid childhood memories. I especially remember those daily visits to the playground, being scolded for misconduct, and back-to-school nights. I also remember those 40-minute bus rides to and from school each day. Occasionally, I would have the bus driver wear a wristband made from construction paper since I enjoyed the way it looked and also asked the bus aide to rub my head since that was pleasurable. I frequently resented the requirement to wear seatbelts while the bus was parked in front of the school in the morning. I still don’t understand why they made us do that! Some of my bad behavior resulted from what I thought was an unreasonable practice for which I had minimal patience.
The beginning of fourth grade marked some very important changes. The administrators of the PACES program, especially Kathleen and my parents, thought I had stellar potential in a normal school separate from PACES. I had more ability for academics and thus the transition began. Before I knew it, I was in a special education classroom at Magruder Elementary School in Williamsburg in our own school district. At first, I would go only once a week until I “graduated” from PACES in the spring of 1990. The transition process was very difficult for me since I had made some strong emotional attachments to many of the program instructors. They had a special ceremony at PACES on my last day there.
The last half of fourth grade at Magruder was quite a change from PACES. I was placed in their special education program, which was only one room instead of the multiple rooms at Forrest. This room had about 8 students with various learning disabilities, but I was the only one with autism. Most had either attention deficit disorder or dyslexia. Toward the end of fourth grade, I began to be partially mainstreamed with all of my regular classes. At the end of the year, I made a friend with Mario from math class. This was one of the best friendships I ever had. When I entered fifth grade, I began attending all of the regular classes just like everybody else in the school. In other words, I was fully included. I did have some helpful support from the special education program with regard to written work. An accommodation was made for me so that I could spend some of the day in the special education classroom, which served as a retreat center. My persistence to do my best was evident when I made the honor roll there. Less restriction with my educational setting occurred as I continued through sixth grade at Magruder. However, despite my success with grades, I felt like a social outcast.
Seventh grade marked the beginning of a new school, Queen’s Lake Middle School. Here, I was even less dependent of the special education support because I needed less and less assistance from them with my schoolwork. The special Ed teachers did notice that I lacked a sense of humor and they intervened by having me read humor and laughter books that would help me find the humor in jokes and daily situations. Other than that, I had the same curriculum as everyone else in this school and was responsible for completing all written homework assignments in a timely fashion and took regular tests and quizzes in the class. I would go to the special Ed room for extra time on tests or to just get away from the annoying students who did not always respect me. I frequently had lunch in this room whenever the cafeteria got too chaotic (no surprises here). I also became involved with some of the school’s extra-curricular activities, those being the drug-free program and their Kiwanis Club, a.k.a. Key Club. Another highlight was being inducted in the Junior National Honor Society as a result of mainly A’s and B’s in seventh grade. Activities away from school included being a member of the neighborhood summer swim team and a bowling league. I still have many trophies from my active participation and improvement while on these teams. Most of them are simply participation trophies, while a few of them are most-improved trophies.
Becoming a member of the Boy Scouts of America in middle school was quite rewarding, after it was strongly recommended by a neighbor. I eventually became an Eagle Scout during my senior year in high school as a result of my persistence with the Scouts. The first camp-out was in Shenandoah National Park, but the experience was ruined by awful weather conditions. It was chilly, wet, and foggy, not to mention a bit windy. Fortunately, most of the future camp-outs yielded more pleasant weather. I attended four one-week summer camps while I was with the troop. I always dreaded the final days before summer camp since it was often very warm there and there was a strict scheduled to be adhered. It certainly paid off by earning merit badges. I also earned the mile-swim award at two summer camps. Unfortunately, I did not earn the disability awareness badge while I was in the Scouts. At the time, I was still not interested in this area, but boy has that changed! While I was in the Boy Scouts, I earned 37 merit badges and held two leadership positions, scribe and assistant senior patrol leader.
Middle School also marked my beginning romantic interest in members of the opposite sex. In the eighth grade, I got involved in three different relationships, and they all occurred during the last semester! I met my first girlfriend in the guidance counselor’s office oddly enough. The word about our brand new relationship spread like wild fire all over school! We were both in there since we had similar social problems that needed to be discussed. She was also provided services from the special education program for reading difficulties. This girlfriend lasted a mere two weeks, the second one month, and the third for three months (this relationship came back in future years, but they were all temporary). The interesting thing about my third relationship was how rapidly it developed. We were members of the same church youth group and the group decided to go watch “Much Ado About Nothing.” Before the movie started, the two of us had nothing to say to each other. Ninety minutes later, we were madly infatuated! The first two girlfriends did not care for me at all after we broke up, nor did they care about my autism. My faux pas with the first two relationships was when I talked about them to other classmates without their knowledge.
The folks decided that a private high school was the next order of business. It was Walsingham Academy. This school did not have a special education classroom, so I was completely on my own. I was in the same category as everybody else, wore the school uniform, conformed to the same rules, and did the same amount of work. My hard work and dedication paid off when I received B-honors for every year except my junior year when the demands were too great. My mother provided all of my teachers there with information concerning my background and how to cope with autism. I would occasionally schedule conferences with my instructors when problems arose with their class, whether academically or behaviorally.
As tenth grade came, my classmates started driving to and from school on a regular basis while I did not drive. By their junior year, almost all of them had their driving licenses and drove to and from school everyday. Mom and Dad thought it was in my best interest not to drive while I was still in high school. Nevertheless, it was very irritating. At Walsingham, school clubs became yet a bigger part of my life. I was an active member of the newspaper staff, yearbook staff, Key Club, and Track & Field for one spring season. I was also secretary of their science club for my sophomore year, and secretary of the Student Cooperative Association for my senior year. One of my duties as a member of the SCA was to read off announcements to the school through their intercoms. This was a privilege only for officers of the SCA and the National Honor Society. Even though I was involved with all of these clubs, I didn’t socialize much outside school.
In June of 1998, I graduated from high school with the rest of my senior class. This marked a major milestone in my life. A week later that same month, I was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout at a scout ceremony which was held at my church, although I had completed all of the requirements 5 months earlier.
I had summer jobs as a busboy in local restaurants while I was in high school. The first job was at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, where I was responsible for wiping down the tables and cleaning the trays. I was fired from this job when I finally succumbed to the requests for free drinks by a group of pretty girls in the cafeteria area. I had told my supervisor that they had spilled their drinks and requested refills. The management discovered that this was not the case and I was guilty of theft and thus dismissed immediately. Therefore, I had to look for a different place to work the following summer. I chose a neighborhood restaurant, and unlike the first, this job provided me with tips. This job also did not have the best of endings when I left the company without giving management proper notice. They required a written statement two weeks in advance of leaving. The third summer job was at yet a different restaurant since I was not eligible to work for the same restaurant again. This was my least favorite of the three jobs since I did not receive tips nor did I enjoy what I was doing there.
After a long summer came college at Christopher Newport University in Newport News. This was a totally new experience for me, being in a new environment, taking more difficult courses, and having more freedom. Perhaps one of the biggest changes was not knowing many people there. Since I did not know most of the students, I remained rather introverted. During my freshman year at the university I lived at home and my mother provided transportation to and from school, although I supplemented the public bus system for some of the my transportation. I wanted to live in the dormitory but the folks did not think I was ready, although I thought I was well prepared to embark on that. This way of life was extremely aggravating for me since I wanted to leave home like everybody else did from Walsingham Academy. Let’s face it, I was simply different from them.
The disability services at this institution are good. My diagnosis of autism allowed me to recieve them. The services offered are extra time for tests and other in-class assignments, copies of class notes from other students, and typing up assignments that must be completed in class. These services were the most helpful in my English and math classes when I frequently needed extra time for completing tests and essays. Although I received these disability services, the professors cut me no slack with the work they expected from me as a member of their class. My grades were not as great as those in high school since the change was so drastic for me. I even had to drop two classes during the second semester of my freshman year. I simply wasn’t ready for them.
Due to my heavy workload, I was not involved much with school organizations, but I did participate in some of the activities they sponsored, including dances. I did join a youth group called Canterbury that was affiliated with my church and the College of William & Mary for my freshman year. At the time, my closest friends were with this group. I had fun being a member of this group, going on retreats, having weekly dinners after church services, and playing billiards in the Canterbury room. This was a new experience also, but I quickly fell in love with it when everybody there made me feel right at home. I was even a member of their board for a short time, but had to resign to keep my grades from slipping too much. The board would meet weekly and I was responsible for gathering acolytes for the Sunday evening services. It required a level of social ability which I did not have then.
A major leap in my independence came after my Freshman year. I was ready to move into the residence hall. As you might expect, this initially worried my parents, since I would not be living at home that year. They realized that dorm life was a necessary transition step, so they went ahead with it. Nonetheless, I enjoyed living at school very much and made many acquaintances doing so. My social life improved significantly from the previous year. In fact, I met Amber Eldred at the Homecoming dance that February and she quickly became my girlfreind in the ensuing weeks. Having a girlfriend like Amber has lifted me out of the social abyss and thus I felt more socially competent. It truly is wonderful to have a companion who is always there for you and willing to help out in troublesome situations. Had I not lived in the residence hall, I probably would not have met her.
The main area of interest and study for the future will be meteorology and autism spectrum disorders. I have always been fascinated by the weather and its effects on the environment, especially when dramatic weather changes occur. Right now, I would be interested in being a weather forecaster at either a local National Weather Service office or a local news station. I am also interested in learning as much as possible about autism and how we can help our citizens understand it better via public speaking and writings. As for my first two years at CNU, I was not taking any weather-related classes since none are offered at this university. I plan to transfer to a college offering a major in meteorology. Since this requires attending a college out of my home state of Virginia and thus living independently in a dormitory, I plan to attend CNU for at least one more year and then try to live in their dorms. Another major transition yet!
Table of Contents Copyright 2001, David Hamrick. Do not reproduce without permission of the author.
I sometimes have trouble perceiving feelings accurately from another person’s point of view. It often helps to have somebody who thoroughly understands the situation, such as a mentor, tell me how the other person actually feels or what that person might be thinking in his/her mind.
I often have difficulties maintaining long-term friendships. While in high school I often had much difficulty finding dates to school dances. In most cases, they either had a date already or they told me they had something more important to do at the time, but I’m sure it frequently meant that they were simply uninterested. I always had problems spending time with my classmates outside of school hours. They usually had their own cliques and obviously I was not a member of any clique. Consequently, I often felt ostracized and depressed as an adolescent.
I have never been crazy about authority figures (who is?). Strict and rigid teachers and school administrators are not my friends. I prefer instructors who are lenient and allow us to be who we are provided we don’t cause a disturbance to others in the class. While I was working as a busboy, I seldom felt at ease talking to a manager or supervisor. My last job as an office assistant at Child Development Resources really changed my feelings about the workplace. I felt very comfortable working with people whom I known for years. Otherwise, I feel like autism makes no difference with summer jobs. I have difficulty paying attention for extended periods of time, such as during a long and boring English class on medieval literature. In class, I would often stare at things around the room, especially air vents, and gazing out the windows rather than focusing on the lecture. Excessive daydreaming is also a problem when I’m in a mental fantasy. Completely bare classrooms without fluorescent lightning would be my recommendation for improving this problem.
Understanding and comprehending literature is a tedious task. English and writing classes have always been a dreadful experience since they require extensive reading, interpretation, and unfortunately, analysis. Poetry is especially tough with all of its hidden meanings and metaphorical language. I’m better at understanding concrete facts rather than fiction and literature.
I have been known to be judgemental. Perhaps one of the reasons for my social isolation in school is that I criticized minor imperfections on behalf of others. Some of my classmates from highschool noted in my yearbook that it seems I had an opinion on everything. In fact, I often imposed my opinions and feelings on others, which is a character flaw.
Many people in our society speak before they think, and I am certainly no exception to this. For example, I was engaged in a conversation with a co-worker recently and we were talking about Walsingham Academy. When she asked me how one of the nuns was doing, I replied incorrectly by saying “She is a veggie now.” This is similar to calling a person with mental retardation a “retard.” The correct response in this situation would have been “She is in a vegetarian state,” or “She is suffering from a major illness.”
Small talk and typical conversational dialogue have always been difficult. I have always enjoyed serious discussions more than chatting informally with acquaintances. In this day and age, small talk is how friendships are frequently formed and I feel that my lack of social savvy with small talk is indeed an inhibiting factor in my social life.
Table of Contents Copyright 2001, David Hamrick. Do not reproduce without permission of the author.
Most people within the autism spectrum experience some forms of deviation from normal sensory processing. In addition, they may also use their senses in unusual ways that many people fail, or in some cases, simply refuse to understand. I can certainly relate to some of these abnormalities as an individual with autistic disorder. Although some autistic people share certain qualities in regard to sensory issues, it is important to note that the sensory characteristics vary widely for each individual affected. Here, I shall describe my main sensory issues and abnormalities.
Table of Contents Copyright 2001, David Hamrick. Do not reproduce without permission of the author.
IV: Dealing with autism and its problems
WHAT WE SHOULD DO:
Table of Contents Copyright 2001, David Hamrick. Do not reproduce without permission of the author.
I have had excessive interest in the following objects and activities:
Table of Contents Copyright 2001, David Hamrick. Do not reproduce without permission of the author.
All throughout my life, I have been fixated by various visual stimuli in the environment. I have coined a term to describe a particular visual stimulus I deal with daily, and other individuals with autism spectrum disorders may experience similar situations. I have assigned the name directome, and came up with this term since it contains the word “direct”. This stimulus attracts, or directs as the name suggests, an extensive amount of staring by the person experiencing it. This phenomena is affected by the amount of light reaching the object. In a very dimly lit room, the directomes are barely noticeable and are often ignored by the observer.
After several periods of refining the definition, directomes are certain points or regions on particular objects or pictures which attract a superfluous amount of attention by visual fixation. These fixations do not all come at once, however. They develop gradually by continuous stares at the object or picture concerned. There is an exception to this rule however. Identical objects or pictures never seen before would possess the same directome intensity, principally school photos and yearbooks. Once they fully develop, they tend to remain associated with a particular object for a very long time, sometimes for over a decade. Most directomes tend to decrease in intensity after several years of staring at them. My first yearbooks from elementary school at one time had numerous intense directomes, but as I have viewed more modern yearbooks, those in the earlier books are less visually profound. I will sporadically look at the old ones, but my main focus is the most recent.
My school yearbooks, especially the most recent, are where the maximum number of directomes can be found. Usually, when I’m staring at the pictures, I notice these directomes before noticing the person behind the picture. It is possible to take my mind off them and concentrate on the particular person. I would more likely notice the real person and not get fixated on directomes if I focus on pictures previously unobserved, and this includes the sections of my yearbooks which are seldom studied. By far, they are associated with the females on each page, and many women have more than one directome with their pose. My attention is attracted especially to the strands of hair, the eyes, and edges of clothing on the person, and it seems like this phenomena is not related to how physically attractive a particular person is; some directomes have been associated with some really poor poses. Some of these stimuli have a greater intensity than others. Curly strands of hair with light glimmering from them seem to be the best candidates for directome formation. Long, straight strands of female hair will also work. Color pictures are more dramatic than the typical black-and- white pictures.
The directomes found on human pictures are best viewed at a certain angle. For me, the best way to stare at my yearbooks or other pictures is to have them lying flat on a desk that is in front of me. For the directomes that appear on a wall or ceiling, viewing them from above or sideways would have an effect on their intensity. I’m accustomed to seeing them from a certain perspective. I have tried viewing the yearbook pictures in a mirror image, but the directomes are not nearly as intense. They are barely noticeable if I turn the yearbook upside down, or in other words, turning it 180 degrees around.
I often stare at those found on female pictures when I’m fantasizing romance with the girl I want to be with. The fantasizing is not as intense without these type of directomes present, but nonetheless still possible. After I would have sexual or romantic activity with a woman, which was rare, I would go home and stare at the female pictures in my yearbook for hours. I call this the “aftermath” of the romance, and staring at the female directomes is part of the experience. This does not apply to the directomes found on inanimate objects, such as TVs, radios, rocks, bookshelves, etc. I tend to associate them with non-personal events, such as weather drama.
The effect of directomes can be very overpowering if they have not been viewed for a extended period of time, especially a large quantity of them, such as all those that appear on a yearbook page. When I leave home for several days, I often take my favorite yearbook with me so that I can look at all the directomes without too much time elapsing between each visual contact. It is not feasible to take all of the objects in my room which have them though. That is why I don’t immediately go to my bedroom when I get home from extended overnight trips, since the sight of all the directomes at once would be more intense than normal and thus visually uncomfortable. To deal with this situation in a “visually comfortable” manner, I will enter the room with dim light to gradually get reacquainted with the directomes and the general setting. This method will also suffice if I have not viewed my yearbook pictures for a while. During my freshman year in college, I went for two months without opening my senior yearbook, which was my sacrifice for the religious season of Lent that year. I will also be more sensitive to them following punishment or wrong-doing on my part. If I have been screamed at or criticized by somebody for being rude, I will often try to avoid contact with directomes, especially those in my yearbooks, since viewing them would be more awkward. I will eventually start viewing them again however.
These visual fixations can create problems in the classroom. Autistic people, including myself, who experience this phenomenon, tend to gaze at the posters, desks, or other objects in the classroom that have directomes. This often results in lack of attention in class. When I was in PACES, I remember an instance where I was allowed to bring some of the directomes I saw in class home with me after the end of the school year, but not exactly sure as to which year it was. The word “WELCOME” was posted with individual letters in the front of the room, and each letter was fixating to me. I really wanted to have these letters for myself, and after a year of begging, the teachers allowed me to have it. It is important to remember that this is not always possible and should be considered only as a last resort. To remedy this situation for children or adolescents with autism, it might be helpful to have limited posters in the room, and a windowless room would be even better. If this is not possible, make window coverage minimal by placing cardboard or other opaque material against the glass.
Another problem with directomes is focusing on driving. It can be very dangerous to stare at them on familiar trees and landmarks, especially other trucks and cars, which are prime candidates for their formation in my case. I also get very distracting by thunderstorms, so I will let somebody else take charge if I’m driving with companions. If an autistic adolescent is interested in and capable of driving, I would suggest that they start practicing on a lightly traveled road that they are not familiar with but known well by their parents or guardians. When I started driving in 1997, my mother would take me to an office park on weekends since the traffic was light. Since I had not been there many times before, it was an ideal time to learn basic driving techniques without the fear of getting fixated on directomes. After mastering the rudiments, I began driving on the streets in my neighborhood, and then the major highways. It appears that the level of directomes encountered on the road has significantly decreased in number and poses less of a danger.
Directomes may be experienced by different people in different ways. For example, children watching sand or dirt drift through their fingers for long periods of time may be observing a similar visual effect. In their case, they may associate directomes with mobile objects, while I discern them chiefly with stationary objects. In addition, this behavior may also constitute a sensory issue. If that is the suspected case, sensory integration may be a valuable option to investigate.
It is important to note that not everybody with autism experiences this visual fixation and recommendations should differ on an individual basis. What works best for myself may not work ideally for somebody else in a similar situation, but these methods are definitely worth a try.
Table of Contents Copyright 2001, David Hamrick. Do not reproduce without permission of the author.
I compare my mental processes and emotional feelings to a weather map with actual atmospheric phenomena which are discussed below. I believe this is an effective method of organizing and better understanding my own self-esteem. This representation has been developing in my mind for years and to some extent, use it to predict my moods in the near future. Complex weather systems form in my mind and present themselves as different emotional states. Each type of weather heralds its own form of mental thought.
COLD: This environment fosters diversion and high self-esteem and elevated resistance to potential trouble.
HOT: This environment can easily foster frustration and potential anguish as divertissement is minimized.
WIND: It determines the extent of either warm or cold weather by its direction and speed. As usual, a north wind brings elated emotions and a strong north wind brings very cold conditions.
RAIN: If the temperature is slightly above freezing, rain indicates pleasant times but not as good as snow. In most cases, rain indicates that general displeasure is occurring, and deteriorates with higher temperatures.
SNOW: Generally means an elated state of mind and sometimes includes romance, which enhances its intensity.
BLIZZARD: A great deal of intimate romance is present and this is the superlative of all the weather elements.
THUNDERSTORM: This can mean one of two things. It could represent severe mood disturbances and punishment or it could indicate extreme romantic activity that was not anticipated.
SUN: Indicates the absence of any well-defined feelings or emotions and the presence of clouds means a slightly greater intensity of my current mood.
HUMIDITY: This is a correlation with the amount of stress currently being observed. High humidity can be a problem even though the temperature is low.
DROUGHT: Lengthy depression and very lonely.
Table of Contents Copyright 2001, David Hamrick. Do not reproduce without permission of the author.
It is sometimes difficult for me to understand religious doctrines and concepts from a scientific point of view. Although I struggle with understanding and accepting Christian religious views, I do make a sincere effort to attend Church during the school year to keep with the Christian tradition. I have included this section to show how I can turn an abstract concept such as this into something more tangible and concrete.
Even though my beliefs about God may be different from most peoples’, I would by no means consider myself an atheist. There is no scientific evidence to prove that such a being exists in the universe. Nonetheless, I do believe in the spirit of God. To me, God consists of tiny subatomic particles (too small to be detected by even the most powerful microscope) found in every square inch of the universe, but since God is not concrete matter, these particles have zero mass. These particles are constantly bombarding us and we are not always aware of their existence. We can tune in to the existence of these particles whenever we wish and are consciously aware. This practice is my definition of prayer. I compare it to the stations on a radio band with each station representing a different type of prayer. The volume of the radio dictates how intensely the praying was at the time. When the radio is turned to the off position, the particles are no longer being detected and the particular prayer is over. In my opinion prayer is virtually synonymous with wishing or intense caring.
Table of Contents Copyright 2001, David Hamrick. Do not reproduce without permission of the author.
On the morning of April 25, 1999, I had a vivid, weather related dream:
Had a dream about an approaching snowstorm. Late at night, thin clouds were beginning to obscure the moon. Shortly after the clouds arrived, the first round of snow came, with about an inch by morning. There were flurries in the morning, and families members were arriving for a gathering at our house. By the time I got up, there was a great deal of snowfall in northern Virginia, but according to the radar, it looked like most of the snow would pass us to the north, with a band of heavy snow and wind headed our way. Looking at the radar and from what they had told us, they had passed through a thunderstorm with blizzard conditions approaching Williamsburg from the northwest. Once of them retorted, “It was worse than hell.” Looking towards our west, the clouds did not appear as threatening as I thought. Once the storm arrived, the clouds lowered and we were fogged in with gale force winds. The snow was not as heavy as I would have liked to have seen, but we got a few inches out of it. Numerous lightning strikes were reported in the Hampton Roads area after the storm had bypassed us. Four inches of snow accumulated by evening. The next time I looked out my window, hoping to see a heavy blanket of snow, it was less than an inch deep on the roof of the sunroom below the window. A mixture of rain and sleet was falling, and the last weather report I heard predicted much more rain was on the way, and the worst of the rainstorm was yet to come. At that time, the temperature was in the upper 30’s and rising. I went out for a walk to see what was happening, and by the time I got back home, no more snow was left, except for a few slushy areas on the grass.
Table of Contents Copyright 2001, David Hamrick. Do not reproduce without permission of the author.
X. Other information of interest
Dave Hamrick
FightAutism@aol.com
Table of Contents Copyright 2001, David Hamrick. Do not reproduce without permission of the author.
Anderson, E., & Emmons, P. (1996). Unlocking the Mysteries of Sensory Dysfunction. Arlington, TX: Future Horizons, Inc.
Fouse, B., & Wheeler, M. (1997). A treasure Chest of Behavioral Strategies for Individuals with Autism. Arlington, TX: Future Horizons.
Gillingham, G. (1995). Autism: Handle with Care! Arlington, TX: Future Horizons.
Grandin, T. (1986). Emergence: Labeled Autistic. Novato, CA: Arena Press.
Gray, C. (1994). Comic Strip Conversations. Arlington, TX: Future Horizons.
Howlin, P. (1997). Autism: Preparing for Adulthood. London: Routledge.
Janzen, J.E. (1996). Understanding The Nature of Autism. A Practical Guide. San Antonio, TX: Therapy Skill Builders. A division of The Psychological Corporation.
Quill, K.A. (1995). Teaching Children with Autism. Strategies to Enhance Communication and Socialization. New York, NY: Delmar Publishers, Inc.
Rimland, B., & Edelson, S. (1994). The effects of auditory integration training on autism. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. 3 (2), 16 - 24.
Siegal, B. (1996). The World of The Autistic Child. Understanding and Treating Autistic Spectrum Disorders. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Willey, L.H. (1999). Pretending to be Normal: Living with Asperger’s Syndrome. Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Williams, D. (1992). Nobody Nowhere: The Extraordinary Autobiography of an Autistic. New York, NY: Times Books.
Suggested Websites:
Future Horizons, Leading publishing company on autism
Copyright 2001, David Hamrick. Do not reproduce without permission of the author.