Nassim: Just because he's nonverbal, that doesn't mean he has nothing to say

I was having an ordinary day two weeks ago, nothing notable or exciting had happened. I was busy brainstorming topics for this next column and wasn’t really coming up with much, until I saw something a friend shared online from the University of California Berkley’s website: “Minimally Speaking Autistic Student Wins Soros Fellowship for PhD”. Many times, for young adults diagnosed with autism at a level which involves minimal to no spoken language, the diagnosis can also involve behavioral difficulties. These can include, at times, self-injury or aggression and other challenges, such as wandering from safety, with 31% of individuals on the autism spectrum also being diagnosed with an accompanying intellectual disability, according to AutismSpeaks.org.

However, individuals with a diagnosis of autism and minimal to no verbal skills do not always have an intellectual disability. According to UC Berkley, Hari Srinivasan was diagnosed with nonverbal autism and severe oral motor apraxia (a communication disorder that affects the motor skills needed for expressive language) at age 3. He is capable of verbalizing about a dozen simple words and phrases surrounding his basic wants and needs but for anything beyond that, Srinivasan uses assistive communication.

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Srinivasan wasn’t able to demonstrate much of his true capabilities until middle school, when his parents decided to remove him from the self-contained special education classroom (part of the California public school system) where he went each day due to insufficient opportunity to interact with his typical classmates aside from lunch, recess, and add-on classes like art and library.

Instead, they opted to enroll him at California Virtual Academy at San Mateo, a charter school which offers a mainstream education through “alternative learning technologies.” Here, Srinivasan began to show his parents that even though he may not be a very big talker, he was still capable of doing very big things. He won awards for creative writing and poetry and was named high school valedictorian.

When the time came for him to pursue higher education, people around him were understandably skeptical. But after completing an associates degree in psychology at San Jose City College, Srinivasan enrolled at UC Berkley where he was welcomed with open arms by the faculty, staff and students.

On campus, Srinivasan found his fit at The Daily Californian, the campus newspaper where he has written more than 50 articles, many of which are devoted to disability issues including a column titled “The Person Inside,” in which he details his personal experiences with autism. He has also taught courses on autism under the sponsorship of Dr. Stephen Hinshaw, a psychology professor who studies ADHD, psychopathologies, and the stigma of mental illness.

Srinivasan is now a recipient, along with one other UC Berkley student, of the prestigious Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. Srinivasan’s parents came to the United States from India. The $90,000 award recognizes immigrants or children of immigrants who are poised to make significant contributions to U.S. society, culture or their academic field, according to the article. The money will help fund his Ph.D in neuroscience at Vanderbilt University.

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Since first reading the article on the UC Berkley website, I have now re-read it several more times. There is no doubt in my mind that the level of parental support and involvement Srinivasan has had made a huge difference. But what really had me thinking is whether our country needs a complete redesign of the self-contained classroom model in special education. That is worth another column entirely, which we don’t have time for now.

Research has shown that children with disabilities who spend a greater amount of time around their typical classmates in the general education setting make more gains both in social and emotional development as well as academic progress. I think in Srinivasan’s case, his story speaks to the power of making accommodations to help kids with disabilities get the best quality experience possible with their typical peers, but also, challenging them and encouraging their talent and skill. A key is finding an appropriate method of communication, preferably at a young age, so you as a parent are able to truly see what they are capable of.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Column: Educational achievement is possible for people with autism