Developmental Disorders

[sil.]

00:10fL FILMAKERS LIBRARY.

00:15[sil.]

00:30It's a DIFFERENT world

00:35SCOTT TURNER Hi, this is  Scott .

00:40Scott Turner Age 12

00:45STEPHEN TURNER Age 10 I'm  Sam , I'm… but they certainly do, because  Sam I'm is crazy.

00:55[sil.]

01:00KATIE Turner Age 10

01:05[sil.]

01:10All three  Turner kids are Autistic

01:15SCOTT TURNER Sorry about that interruption folks and now back to the show.

01:20[sil.]

01:25It's a DIFFERENT World

01:30MARY TURNER "Mother" I think everybody has a dream of what their child is going to be in and you know that they're going to be like them and they're going to do the things that you never got to do or give them the opportunities you never had and I think its very hard to look at your child and realize that they are not going to …to meet the expectations that you are hoping. There was a poem called Welcome to  Holland which is a very good poem for people who or for parents of kids with special needs and it talks about preparing your life for your trip to Italy and everybody is going to  Italy and they're all you know getting their money ready to go to  Italy and they are reading their travel brochures for going to  Italy and then suddenly get on the plane and the steward announces that you're going to  Holland and  Holland is a beautiful place, but it's not  Italy and you were prepared to go to Italy . So the, you know saying that you have a special need child doesn't mean it's a horrible life, it's just a different life and it was one that you had not prepared for and you hadn't been preparing for… for your entire life.

02:352005

02:40SUSAN GUIGEN Therapist I'm  Susan Guigen , I've been working with  Katie for about two years but I've been in this house for five years. I started out as a volunteer because Mary had three kids and all three of them were autistic. So she needed a lot more help. Look that way.  Any cars?.

03:00KATIE TURNER Yes.

SUSAN GUIGEN Where?… Where is there a car? Look again. Any more cars?

03:10KATIE TURNER Where?

SUSAN GUIGEN Where? No more cars. Look.

KATIE TURNER No more car.

03:15SUSAN GUIGEN I worked with just the boys, to say weren't in school full time yet and  Katie would just kind of flutter around the room. She had no concept I was here, no concept anybody was here. She would just be on her little world, flap her hands and a real big breakthrough was the one day I was playing with the kids and we are running around and she ran with us and I thought, okay, now, she knows I am here ah… she knew, no vocabulary at all, the first couple of years I was here. That has grown in leaps and bounce in the last, especially the last six months in last year. She is now able to say something hurts, I want something, I don't want something. 'No' is definitely in her vocabulary. So it makes a lot more fun. I guess maybe some of the… the harder points would be getting her to try something that she has never tried before. She doesn't want to do what I've asked her to do, but she can't  tell me why? and she can't tell me what she would rather do. So she is frustrated and she doesn't know how to communicate that to me other than to say no and scream. You're doing a good job  Katie . Keep brushing now more brushing that's it.

04:35MARY TURNER Communicating with  Katie has been a long process of learning for both us. You know we've most of Katie's needs are the here and the now, I want this, I want that and so she began to just by either dragging us to the object or dragging the object to us, that's often how  kids with autism communicate. So you know we try to intervene with a… a picture exchange system where you know we taught her when she was dragging that object to us to you know slide this picture into her hand and get her to exchange the picture and then increasing her sort of library of pictures, we were able to get her to request things that may not be immediately in her field of view and that… that increased her communication significantly.

05:252007

05:30[sil.]

05:35KATIE TURNER I want X

ANDREW TURNER "Father" I know… I know you want… you want me to close it for numbering sweetie,  Okay.

05:40KATIE TURNER All done.

ANDREW TURNER Yes, that's turn, my turn.

05:45KATIE TURNER When is it my turn?.

ANDREW TURNER It's your turn soon, okay probably at 1:30 at your time. Is that okay?

05:55MARY TURNER That's an amazing how quickly she picks up on certain technology like the computer and like this camera.

06:00In  2007 all 3 kids were given general commands in document their own lives

06:05MARY TURNER She has learned the connection between person that recorded by these and that's producing the results that she wanted at first. We got a lot of pictures of the close up of her fingers, because she would have the fingers of the lengths. But after a few tries you know we showed her and she was able to pick up on rather quickly. She has made some really remarkable gain from the last year communication and this is well grow who had no communication whatsoever until the age of five and then it's been a very slow, slow since then. But in the last year we found a new therapist who has worked with  Katie , who is really teaching some functional language and it made her dependent on verbal propitious.

06:55SUSAN GUIEGEN Okay, be a frog. And be a cat.  And be a dog. And rooster.

07:15MARY TURNER Stephen is very different than  Katie . He is what they consider high functioning, he is very verbal, he is able to express  his needs and wants. He doesn't have the same kind of obsessive compulsive behaviors, he doesn't seem to need to fulfill any… anything like that. So on first blush with both my boys they are really isn't a any kind of indication that there is anything wrong.

07:402005

07:45STEPHEN TURNER Scott you're not even… you're not even into the game, if you're not going to play, I'm going to put this away.  Katie is different than both of us because she has very few calm moments.

07:55MARK TURNER Yeah.

STEPHEN TURNER She has a big… she has a  tantrum. Most of the time she has a big tantrum after a bus comes.

08:05[sil.]

08:10SCOTT TURNER The teachers need to learn that she is just not the sweetest girl in the class. The teachers need to learn that. Because or else once she started feeling the temper tantrum they punish her.

08:25[sil.]

08:30MARK TURNER Do you have autism?

08:35SCOTT TURNER Yes.

STEPHEN TURNER We all.

SCOTT TURNER It's a special form.

STEPHEN TURNER Every kid in the family does.

08:40MARK TURNER Yeah, tell me about your special form.

Asperger's Syndrome (AS), is a pervasive developmental disorder commonly referred to as a form of "high-functioning" autism

SCOTT TURNER Asperger's Syndrome is kind of like autism, but you know what? It's not… it's not completely, because first thing you can talk, you can walk  at your earlier age and you can do anything and  it feels so cloak as you can actually fit in with the rest of the kids without really being noticed. Because you like how autism as severe as  Katie's , what in telling in grade one and then it improves in grade two usually. Well, that's what happened with me, I don't know about everyone else.

09:20STEPHEN TURNER But for me it was early. I am, I only hazed sever in GK, but then I got better attitude and escape when I was about six or something and then that was okay dokie, Okie Dokie. Autism is like a little power, it is like a little power and I said these  fall, fall of you got better erratic(ph), but once has no more leaves you're getting, you… you're like a normal kid again or when, but sometimes it takes longer time and the leaves don't fall as quickly.

10:00MARY TURNER You might just think there is something odd  or different, but you may realize that the  conversation is pretty much monopolized by what  their interests are. They have a hard time shifting focus you know to another conversation. They don't know when conversations particularly end when people lose interest in the topic.

10:25STEPHEN TURNER Scott I'm done like a due shape. Try to guess what that this.

10:30SCOTT TURNER Emofs(ph).

STEPHEN TURNER Nope.

10:35SCOTT TURNER Headphones.

STEPHEN TURNER Yep.

MARK TURNER What else do you like, what else  you do at school?

10:40SCOTT TURNER Oh, yeah. I get a Kudu token.

10:45STEPHEN TURNER But I have to pull one on.

MARK TURNER Scott ?

MARY TURNER They also don't solicit a lot of information from someone else. They are more than happy to talk about their subjects but they may not say, so how was you're day? Did you have a good day today? And what did you do today? And what's… what's your favorite subject in school? Their peers tend to lose interest and they may drift away you know, they won't look to somebody else who is more responsive to what they want.

11:15MARK TURNER Would you rather not be autistic?

STEPHEN TURNER Yep.

MARK TURNER Yeah, how come?

11:20STEPHEN TURNER Because excite to have more opportunities.

11:25MARK TURNER To do what?

STEPHEN TURNER To do anything.

11:30MARK TURNER Yeah.

STEPHEN TURNER But it's great because I didn't get a cubage about the disability or board and you need  to meet, you need to meet… have disabilities.  I have disabilities, but its also fun being autistic, because you can… because you can also like  but you can also… they could do  anything that normal kids can't do.

12:05MARK TURNER Like what?

STEPHEN TURNER I have no examples at this time.

12:10[sil.]

2007

12:15MARK TURNER So do you remember you've been trying and explain it to me and to somebody who doesn't know what autism is? Your going to explain what it was like to be autistic?

12:25STEPHEN TURNER I wouldn't really do that

MARY TURNER No.

12:30No

MARY TURNER How come?

STEPHEN TURNER Just not me.

12:35MARY TURNER Are you autistic?

STEPHEN TURNER It's just I don't know… I don't know what… what it is and how to explain it.

MARY TURNER How would you explain to one of your friends at school?

12:45STEPHEN TURNER I wouldn't

MARY TURNER No.

12:50STEPHEN TURNER No

MARY TURNER What about somebody who didn't know you?

12:55STEPHEN TURNER I wouldn't even say hello

MARY TURNER Really?

STEPHEN TURNER Really

13:00MARY TURNER Do you think there are things about that… that are good though that make you different and special in a good way?

13:05STEPHEN TURNER No

MARY TURNER No…

13:10Stephen cam

13:15[sil.]

13:30STEPHEN TURNER Game 1. It's an easy game.  Want an expert game. Here it is.

13:35MARY TURNER What if they ask you about your sister?

13:40STEPHEN TURNER I would say she's special.

MARY TURNER Yeah.

13:45STEPHEN TURNER She has a disability.

MARY TURNER Would you explain what it is? Would you tell them what she has trouble with and somewhat she likes, what she doesn't like?

13:55STEPHEN TURNER Not really

SCOTT TURNER I don't think that Stephen would do it. I'm not  Stephen but I'm just saying that he wouldn't really tell you that unless some, you are one of his good friends or someone who understands.

14:10MARY TURNER You also like talking about it?

14:15SCOTT TURNER No. I don't like to talk about it at all.

MARY TURNER So once you start feeling upset it's really hard to get away from that upset feeling?

14:25STEPHEN TURNER You could say that again except it's very hard. The bad things are more than 60% more often in my head than good things

14:35MARY TURNER 60% more often?

14:40STEPHEN TURNER More than…no… about… probably more than

14:45MARY TURNER More than 60% bad… bad thoughts in your head at all times.

14:50STEPHEN TURNER mm-hmm

MARY TURNER See you have to try extra hard to get the good stuff to come to the surface?

14:55STEPHEN TURNER The surface is where I keep the junks stuff

MARY TURNER The junk stuff?

15:00STEPHEN TURNER The bottom is where I keep all the useful things

15:05MARY TURNER The bottom of…

STEPHEN TURNER My brain

MARY TURNER The bottom of your brain is where you keep the useful things?

STEPHEN TURNER Yeah.

15:10STEPHEN TURNER Because that's where it travels to everywhere else …else in the body

15:15MARY TURNER Oh, I see and so the junks that's floats at the top, it doesn't get to the rest of your body?

15:20STEPHEN TURNER Yeah.

SCOTT TURNER Like if somebody gets mad, about what Katie does and, I know that she does do on purpose, I do… I give some that knowledge to defend her and hope that here she is an understating person.

15:35MARY TURNER My eldest was actually diagnosed  after the twins.  Katie was the most severe out of the three, so I noticed most of the developmental delays in her first and  I was actually going through the sort of process of testing and diagnosis when  Scott was in during Kindergarten. Scott at school was exhibiting some Echolalic behaviors they call it where they are repeating phrases or words either immediately or delayed after the fact and some you know running around in circles and… basically repetitive movements.

16:20SCOTT TURNER If there was two things about me I could change. First thing if I was not autistic and I was just normal, I would… I would be and if I was not afraid of roller coasters, those were the two things I would change about myself.

16:40Scott cam.

SCOTT TURNER Yes I'm having a flying adventure in my brain. Do you see it?

16:45SCOTT TURNER Oh yeah, oh yeah, recording me, recording me, oh yeah. Whenever I score a goal in soccer, I'll never regret it instant, you know because of how much noise they make and right at tournament too.

17:05MARY TURNER Okay, so you're mid play, you've got the ball, people start cheering, and you turn and run away.

17:10SCOTT TURNER Yeah.

MARY TURNER Because it's a cheering that's freaking you out.

17:15SCOTT TURNER Yeah.

MARY TURNER So then they are like what the heck is he doing, he's running away from the ball when he had or break away. Do you know why, how the other players are feeling when you high tailored away from the ball? How do you think their feeling?

17:30SCOTT TURNER Highly annoyed.

MARY TURNER Right. So you understand what their feeling?

17:35SCOTT TURNER Yeah. Except that's it's just so overwhelming at the moment, it is just an almost instinctual reaction. It's a pretty bad combination and of course even  Mrs. Rogers says guy you can do better than that.

17:50MARY TURNER So bring your support workers at the school have a hard time understanding your actions.

17:55SCOTT TURNER Yeah. Alright.

18:00SCOTT TURNER I give up on this… thing about understanding other people's emotions

18:05MARY TURNER You give up, because it's getting too complicated.

18:10SCOTT TURNER It's a way too hard.

MARY TURNER Okay. We can let that go.

18:15SCOTT TURNER All I can manage is my own emotions. They're hard enough.

18:20Stephen cam

18:25[sil.]

18:30MARY TURNER They're very bright boys. They love to read and with the amount of reading they do they accumulate a vast knowledge of facts and they love to share their facts, which is very fascinating to an adult.

18:45SCOTT TURNER Where Indies for endurance, InScript was in ancient language and then there was Indo-European and then there was hooga booga.

18:55MARY TURNER There is what?

SCOTT TURNER Even before Indo-European, there was hooga booga.

19:05STEPHEN TURNER Did you know that some… that somebody suffered from you know.  Wyoming , suffered from, it's a base ball.  Longest time anyone one has, who lasted for…  25 hours 60 years that's approximately 400 bathroom… because he get, it is the largest hiccup ever heard.

19:30Scott cam

SCOTT TURNER Man this is such good data… hmm

19:40MARK TURNER It's hard to make eye contact with somebody you don't like?

SCOTT TURNER Yeah or somebody I don't…

19:45MARK TURNER Or Somebody you don't know you have to lie with?

SCOTT TURNER Yes, it's quite… yeah it's almost like mental noise. It's just as if setting as noise.

19:55MARK TURNER Interesting.

SCOTT TURNER And it's a… and it makes me just  feel like hearty when they don't do there.

20:00MARY TURNER Friendships for them are, it take a lot of work. They have to be very cognizant of the fact that  they need to make it a reciprocal conversation  or interaction. A lot of those kind of skills  need to be taught.

20:20Stephen cam

20:20SCOTT TURNER That's why… that's why our  joy having my brother and sister around more than other kids. I can relate to them better than if so it anyone else.

20:35MARK TURNER So what… it's an advantage to you to have brother and sister who understand your disabilities and that…

20:40SCOTT TURNER Yeah, especially since they have the disability themselves and they are familiar.  Here  Stephenthe piano star and me watching from my perspective on the same. Terrible job, terrible, terrible job. How is that piano working out?  I think that  Katie is interested. May I just think that she wants it? Even though I may look like a cheery smile on my face it may be a convincing fake. I'm not a… I'm not always the cheery happy boy that everyone think so I am and of course I often feel sick whenever, as sometimes when I feel… when I feel emotion… when I feel emotion is pressing down negatively on me. Tummy ache, headache, sore throat anything can be triggered. It's almost as if my emotions trigger, my mental as if my mental state is connected with my physical state.

22:00MARK TURNER That's very great.

SCOTT TURNER I think it's making me sick. My good thoughts really are words in you.

22:05MARK TURNER So what would your good thoughts be?

SCOTT TURNER Like a picture, Sometimes I see them as picture, sometimes as I see them as movies and once actress on advertisement, when that advertising jingle that I watched on TV a lot recently.

22:30MARK TURNER That's something that you thought it was amusing or?

SCOTT TURNER Yes.

MARK TURNER Made you happy that's when you can run that through your mind and change how you feel?

22:35SCOTT TURNER Yeah. Hey dad what you're putting in for dinner?

22:45ANDREW TURNER For you nothing.

SCOTT TURNER What? No really I feel like.  What? Fine that a lot of people that hear the words Asperger's Syndrome either worry about, the parents worry about whether its contagious and made the thoughts often spring up. I never really let socializing with other kids. All I did was… I'm much preferred to just hang in a corner. I meet  myself with Metoma(ph) like maybe trying to figure out how many, like I'm trying to figure out, look I'm trying to figure out a problem, like I'm trying to figure out a problem that ends up with four and gives us all for it. Operations, each only once,  I try the craziest mental mappings and it keeps  me amused. The other kids would, the other kids the only way to keep them amused is plunk a video game controller on top of their lap, when I'm alone, nobody tries to talk to me that a peaceful life that's what I… that’s how I, that's exactly what I would prefer.

24:15ANDREW TURNER Three and four is coming around.

Right.

24:20[sil.]

24:25SCOTT TURNER It's related to the film.

MARK TURNER I'm so excited about seeing  Mike on Friday, you talked about it every night this week and mum when you're going to get these cakes, Mike wants to teach me how to skate. I can't wait to go skating with Mike , you were just absolutely presidios of Friday night with excitement about going skating with  Mike so to say you'd rather spend time at home.

24:45SCOTT TURNER I think that a little bit of coming out of… coming out of "my brow" would be a great. Ever since I became friends with Mike , I think I've learned a lot about the other side of life. I mean, a new typical life.

25:00ANDREW TURNER What was that thing you said earlier about videogames, that the normal kids just play videogames all the times and is that because you never play video games.

25:10SCOTT TURNER No.

25:15ANDREW TURNER What you're actually doing is propagating the material.

25:20MARY TURNER So if somebody was watching that videogame and they call "Oh this poor boy all he wants to do is be alone."

25:25ANDREW TURNER And be love to alone.

MARY TURNER And they don't realize that you will love to spend time with  Mike and you love to spend time with your brother and you want to go to a water park and be around, let's we go(ph) water park.

25:35ANDREW TURNER And you are not going to rafter skiing and you love to in all sorts of things where there are lots of people and…

25:40SCOTT TURNER Yeah just as long as it doesn't involve but social interaction, its free.

25:45MARY TURNER What do you think playing with  Mikethen, is there social interaction.

25:50SCOTT TURNER No it's mindless, no it's mindless stuff. We love to give mindless stuff.

25:55ANDREW TURNER There are still some social…

MARY TURNER You need somebody else, its social. Do… do you thing you remember the negatives a lot more than the positive  Scott ?

26:05SCOTT TURNER Yeah!

Just you… you have to try and remember the positives as well.

26:10MARK TURNER It was like the other day remember coming home and I said how was your day at school? And you said, "It is horrible" and I said that you have any good  thing that happened to you today? You said no, not one good thing, you know then I just reminded you that  I think you somewhat special and lunch you had, Oh yeah, excellent for lunch I had a good lunch.

26:30SCOTT TURNER I think that may be I should write a diary with its positive page and then one negative page and then one positive page and then one negative page

26:40MARY TURNER My kids have taught me patience, understanding, acceptance. They've also taught me to see every little thing and realize that every small accomplishment is a huge accomplishment. It… it… it they've taught me not to take things for granted and it made those little firsts in life that much sweeter.

27:10Katie cam

27:15[sil.]