十八岁的自闭症少年以第一名高中毕业

binfeng2000

十八岁的爱瑞克,在四岁被诊断为典型自闭症,不会讲一句话,没有眼神对视,还带着尿布,
医生说他恐怕得终生生活在机构里了.

今天的他以高中第一名毕业,曾经到了五岁还不会说一句话的他,现在能讲流利的西班牙语.以第一名毕业有个要求，就是他需要代表全体毕业生演讲,他毫不犹豫地答应了,回家练习了两遍,这个演讲轰动了全校,被全国性电视台广为转播。

当初他父母接到诊断后,和所有的家长一样,经历了绝望，但是他们很快地从绝望中冲了出来，从绝望到接受,从接受到行动.那时候美国还没有象今天那样的多的训练理论和机构,父母是从家里的卫生间里开始训练的,因为那里是家里干扰因素最少的地方,语言没有,先教手势，从手势再学手语,从手语再学语言.现在的妈妈成了一位专家,在美国一个著名的自闭症机构里工作.

等他到了高中后,终于社交上的困难远远超出了学业上的压力，一段时间他不得不退学,不参加日常的上课时间,回家自学,在学校图书室里做功课，后来他和学校里最风光的冰球队队长成了一对朋友，这在社交上帮了他很大的忙.

至今爱瑞克申请的大学都给了他录取，他希望以后能成为一名药剂师.


http://www.gnn.com/article/eric-duquette-a-salutatorian-who-has/1124477?icid=main|hp-laptop|dl1|link1|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gnn.com%2Farticle%2Feric-duquette-a-salutatorian-who-has%2F1124477




Salutatorian With Autism Rocks Graduation Speech

SUSANNA BAIRD, AOL


(June 18) -- Doctors gave Judith and Dennis Duquette a diagnosis for their son, Eric, but they didn’t offer hope. He was autistic, they explained, and likely would end up in an institution.
Good call, the 18-year-old salutatorian joked at his graduation Tuesday.
"Today I stand before you accepted into every institution of higher learning that I applied to, so I guess, in a way, the experts were right about the institution thing."
Eric, whose challenging senior-year course load included calculus and honors physics, academically bested all but one of his 199 classmates at Smithfield High School in Rhode Island. The salutatorian honor came with a requirement: a speech.


Eric told AOL News he practiced twice and wasn’t fazed a bit.
"It felt pretty good," he said. "I was pretty confident in what I was saying and how I delivered."
This from a boy who, at 5, had yet to utter a word.
When doctors diagnosed Eric with autism, he was nearly 4. He wasn’t speaking, he wasn’t making eye contact, and he was still wearing diapers.
The diagnosis devastated Judith and Dennis. Judith told AOL News they even looked to other doctors hoping they might make a different call
Devastation gave way to acceptance, followed by action. Judith and Dennis refused to accept their son's poor prognosis.
At the time, interventions that are now standard for children with autism were not offered, so Judith researched treatment options, found toddler programs for Eric and spent a lot of time in the bathroom.
Bathrooms are boring. For Judith and Eric, they offered a perfect classroom environment.
"You need to be distraction-free" when teaching a child with autism, said Judith, who now works at the Groden Center, a program for people with developmental differences. "There was one way in and one way out."
Judith taught Eric to speak using symbols, holding up a card when he was hungry or wanted to go outside. This linguistic stepping stone led to sign language and, as his graduation speech attests, a beautiful command of the spoken language. Two languages, rather. Eric also speaks Spanish.
"The biggest thing about his high school career that's shocking for us is that he’s fluent in Spanish," Judith told AOL News. "The fact that the kid didn’t speak, that he can speak Spanish!"
Academic fluency came easier to Eric than the social half of the high school equation. People with autism have impaired ability to communicate and read social cues. Eric suffered a lot of anxiety, worrying that he would do or say something to offend someone.
During his freshman year, the anxiety ballooned to the extent that Eric dropped out of the regular school-day routine, doing his work at home and meeting one-on-one with the supportive Smithfield High staff during off hours, in quiet locations such as the library.
As he had in the past, Eric surmounted this obstacle, getting by with a little help from a paraprofessional aide and a good friend.
Colby Fugere is a Smithfield High superhero, captain of the hockey team who led the state in regular-season scoring this winter. Fugere is also a really nice kid. He and Eric are buddies; Fugere brings hockey teammates to Eric’s house to play video games. Judith said the relationship has helped Eric establish himself at the school.
"Here’s this really popular kid giving Eric this stamp of approval," she said.
Eric also received the stamp of approval in the form of acceptances to Bryant University, the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College, where he will matriculate this fall to study biology.
Eric hopes to become a pharmacist so he can combine his loves of math and science, and use medicine to help people like it did his grandfather, who passed away from cancer.
Fall’s a few months away; for now, Judith wants her son to relax. The media frenzy following his speech may not leave Eric feeling relaxed, but it has left him feeling joyful.
"I think I made a very good reputation for the town," he said. "That makes me happy."
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2010-06-18 14:04:22

kuilechenzhang

看完之后，更多的是期望！愿我们孩子的专常能够发挥。

张雁

等他到了高中后,终于社交上的困难远远超出了学业上的压力，一段时间他不得不退学,不参加日常的上课时间,回家自学,在学校图书室里做功课，后来……
燕原同学，这似乎是大都的榜样啊

yanling

爱瑞克的成功离不开父母的教育，大家一起努力，星儿们就会进步，加油！

燕原

药剂师的确是个不错的方向。

overgame

国外的四年高中是最好的试金石，不管您是高工还是爱博，最后总会原形毕露无处可遁。药剂师听起来比货架整理员强，呵呵。