Last year I was named one of the Director’s Choice by Stories of Autism. I’m hoping to win that title again with one of my two submissions for the project. Stories of Autism is dedicated to heightening autism awareness through the exhibition of its portraits and stories of children and adults on the autism spectrum. The project strives to achieve this through independent exhibitions of its work and by partnering with other organizations whose goals align with this mission.
I was assigned two subjects this year. First, meet 2 1/2 yr old Lucas. He was a ball of energy! Being a sensory seeker and non-verbal, he was constantly on the go. He kept getting off the bed to run, so we shortly gave up and I brought out a milk crate for him to sit on and a box of band aids, and then he was focused on emptying the box and sticking them through the crate. At least it got him still. LOL. I will share his full gallery after editing it, but my submissions are due, so I had to get those done first.
Next up was 10 year old Dominic. We decided to go outside in this beautiful weather. His little brother was so great with him, and Dom had a great day. While normally he runs and doesn’t follow directions well and can be aggressive, he was super easy for me. Everything I asked of him, he did. While Dominic has some speech, it is mostly repeating what we say. The word that got the most interest from him was “taco”, which he was rewarded with after the session. ; This picture is deceiving because it looks like he posed and looked at me and smiled, but in truth, eye contact was very hard to get – which is why I loved this image so much.
But it was all worth it.
