I've been lurking at wdwmagic.com for months now (for reasons which will become obvious shortly), and just finally registered on this board. I thought I would share a story with you.
My son, Benjamin (often referred to as the mancub), is autistic. We first began to notice something was not normal at around nine months old when he did not begin talking like most kids. By twelve months we *knew* something was wrong. After several months of testing, he was diagnosed as being autistic. By age 5 he was still not speaking any recognizable words, although he had picked up some basic sign language. Then came the first breakthrough...
He had always loved watching Disney films, especially Fantasia and Jungle Book. One day when he was five I was singing "Bare Neccessities" to him. He was watching me intently, and I stopped halfway through a lyric... and he filled in the next word. His first spoken language came courtesy of Disney, and that has been a huge lever ever since.
He is nine years old now, and last year we took him to WDW for the first time. We were pretty sure he would lke it, but we were afraid he might be overwhelmed by too much sensory input. Boy were we wrong. For five straight days, Ben was in heaven. I have never seen him so absolutely grounded and focused for such a long period of time. There is something about the completely sculped environment, including the background music, that connects with him. We went again earlier this year and witnessed the same effect.
After years of searching, we have finally found a lever big enough to move his world. I am fortunate enough to work as a software developer, and my company has no problem with me working remotely. At the end of July we will be moving from Seattle to Orlando so that we can make use of WDW as one huge therapy environment. If there is one place on earth I can imagine Ben growing up, getting a job, and being able to function as an independant adult it is at the Magic Kingdom.
The Magic Kingdom, indeed -- it certainly has been a miracle to our family.
My son, Benjamin (often referred to as the mancub), is autistic. We first began to notice something was not normal at around nine months old when he did not begin talking like most kids. By twelve months we *knew* something was wrong. After several months of testing, he was diagnosed as being autistic. By age 5 he was still not speaking any recognizable words, although he had picked up some basic sign language. Then came the first breakthrough...
He had always loved watching Disney films, especially Fantasia and Jungle Book. One day when he was five I was singing "Bare Neccessities" to him. He was watching me intently, and I stopped halfway through a lyric... and he filled in the next word. His first spoken language came courtesy of Disney, and that has been a huge lever ever since.
He is nine years old now, and last year we took him to WDW for the first time. We were pretty sure he would lke it, but we were afraid he might be overwhelmed by too much sensory input. Boy were we wrong. For five straight days, Ben was in heaven. I have never seen him so absolutely grounded and focused for such a long period of time. There is something about the completely sculped environment, including the background music, that connects with him. We went again earlier this year and witnessed the same effect.
After years of searching, we have finally found a lever big enough to move his world. I am fortunate enough to work as a software developer, and my company has no problem with me working remotely. At the end of July we will be moving from Seattle to Orlando so that we can make use of WDW as one huge therapy environment. If there is one place on earth I can imagine Ben growing up, getting a job, and being able to function as an independant adult it is at the Magic Kingdom.
The Magic Kingdom, indeed -- it certainly has been a miracle to our family.
