Lab Assignment

Autism's First Child - The Atlantic

Story from The Atlantic
Autism’s First Child
By John Donovan and Caren Zucker

Out of all of the stories I researched for this lab, this was by far my favorite. First, the subject was incredibly interesting; autism is a pretty contemporary diagnosis with a lot of research and activism prevalent in today’s medical community and to read about the first person associated with the disease is eye opening. The authors wrote the story on Donald Tripplet, the first person ever diagnosed with autism. This piece also contains a video with some insight from the authors on how the story was developed. My favorite areas of the piece are the interjections of the scenes where the text focuses on Donald. Readers gain a great insight into Donald’s life, his passions, they way he engages with others, and how autism has affected his life. What inspires me about this piece is the way the writing doesn’t feel like a report, but the authors make the subject feel real and build the character so readers understand more about the subject. Although the text is full of facts and medical history at some points, I do not feel like I’m reading a boring medical journal. I feel like I can learn how to report on a subject including the important facts while showing the reader a character, rather than telling the reader about the subject.


Parallel Play-The New Yorker

Story from The New Yorker
Parallel Play
By Tim Page

I enjoy author Tim Page’s recollection of his life prior to his Asperger’s diagnoses. I think this piece approaches multiple angles. First, Page delves into childhood memories that demonstrate his “differences,” but he also weaves medical history of the syndrome within the memoir moments in the piece. Most of my writing has been mostly within memoir, so I think this piece provides me with an example of an author writing on their own experience while making the piece about more than just their life. Page’s structure isn’t so chronological, which is also something I would like to experiment with. I tried with my 25 page assignment in my last writing class, but the piece ended up working better with a chronological frame. Although, I think that is part of my own writing style. I like when things flow and seem to follow right after the other, which is why I am so fond of the chronological writing structure (even though sometimes it’s boring).


Navigating Love and Autism-The New York Times

Video/Story from The New York Times
Navigating Love and Autism
By Amy Harmon

-This story incorporates a five minute video about the subjects of the piece. The story follows Jack and Kirsten, two college students from Massachusetts who both have Asperger’s syndrome. What inspires me about this piece is the video aspect; it’s provides a different method and outlet to tell a story using video and pictures. The video does not include nearly as much information as the supplementary article, but it shows the essentials of Jack and Kirsten’s relationship. I think I can learn a lot about the more visual aspect of contemporary nonfiction. With our society’s increased dependence on the internet and advanced forms of media, I want to acquire a better understanding of digital media within writing and reporting.

Free Write

For this free-write, I am trying to “try on” the voice of the authors in Autism’s First Child to create a scene and build character. The scenes within the piece focusing on Donald have quick sentences that are descriptive but to the point.

“Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas, Mario! Come here, and give me a hug.”

Mario, my godson, opens up his little arms and walks towards me. I bend down and pick him up. He’s almost too big to carry around anymore.

“Can I have a kiss, please?” His light brown hair swoops across his face; it’s almost too long to see through, but he doesn’t like the process of a haircut. He closes his lips, shuts his eyes, and gives me a big kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Mario, you’re so cute.”

“Your welcome!”

I put him back down on the floor, and he makes his way around the room saying hello to the rest of the family. Mario walks into the kitchen clutching his Buzz Lightyear toy tightly in his hand. He rolls a kitchen chair out from under the table.

“Mario, want some chips?” His mother asks.

“Chips. Chips, chips.”

She opens the bag of Lays potato chips and sets it down on the table. Mario, still holding his toy, starts eating his chips one by one. He counts each chip and smears the salt from his fingers onto his blue jeans. Potato chips are Mario’s favorite food. He’s allergic to wheat, eggs, and peanuts, so every food he eats has to be checked to ensure he isn’t allergic to any ingredients. Now that his allergies have developed, it is difficult to get him to try new foods. He won’t eat things he has never tried and even getting him to touch new foods is difficult progress.

After Mario finished his chips he went into the dining room. I stayed in the kitchen helping my grandma cook dinner. A while after, I noticed Mario wasn’t in the dining room. He wasn’t in the kitchen or the living room either.

“Gabriella,” I called to my baby cousin, “let’s go find your baby brother.”

Gabriella and I walked up the steps to the second floor. The light was on in the bedroom at the top of the stairs. We stepped into the room to find Mario, still gripping tightly onto Buzz, lying on the bed singing.

“Mario, what are you doing?”

“Hi!” he says back.

I sat down. Gabriella jumped onto the bed behind me. Mario sat up; his eyes open wide, a big, bright smile grew on his face. They started to jump on the bed and pretended to fight each other. Even though Mario is only four, and Gabriella is two years older than him, he is still much bigger than her.

“Oh noo!” Mario yells as he plops onto the bed. The two get up and fall down and laugh. Mario has the most infectious laugh. They laugh so hard they can’t even catch their breath. He loves playing with his sister.

Their jumping is interrupted by a loud voice from the kitchen saying dinner is ready. Gabriella jumps off the bed and heads straight for the door. Mario lies back down in the middle of the bed, holding Buzz, and playing with his feet above his head.

“Come downstairs, Mario. It’s time for dinner.”

“Noooo!”

“Come on. Me and Gabriella are going downstairs. The faster you eat your dinner, the faster we can open Christmas presents.”

“No!”

After a little begging, Gabriella finally persuaded her brother to come downstairs. Since he couldn’t eat the seafood and pasta everyone else ate for Christmas, he had gluten-free pancakes and sausage. He didn’t want to eat any of it. Instead, he laid on the coffee table in my grandparent’s living room watching cartoons. He stayed just like that, lying on the coffee table, hanging onto Buzz, for the rest of dinner.

Lying on flat surfaces is Mario’s habit when he needs to calm himself down. When he gets upset it’s best to leave him alone and allow himself to calm down. Mario has autism. He was diagnosed when he was about two years old, and since then we’ve become accustomed to his habits, his likes, and dislikes. He absolutely adores Toy Story, and he seems to always have Buzz Lightyear or Woody in his hand at all times. When he answers a question, if he answers at all, it’s always a very short answer. He repeats himself a lot. He has outbursts and becomes attached to things and won’t let them go, like Buzz. Despite his social quirks, he is intelligent for his age. Ahead of most of the children in his daycare class, he can read, count, spell, and understand concepts that children a few years older than him have yet to learn. With help from counselors and therapists, Mario has improved through his social differences. Each time I see him I can tell he’s getting better. I remember when he used to cry every time I held him as a young toddler, but now he gives hugs and kisses and tells everyone “I love you!” He gets better expressing himself and engaging with others. Even though he still has some adjustments to make, he’s the happiest boy I know.