Hi my name is Antoinette and I am raising funds for Denver, a 11 year old boy with Autism. Denver lives in a remote part of North Carolina close to Smokey Mountain National Park. He was diagnosed with Autism as a very young boy, but did not receive the intensive intervention that could have helped him develop key skills. Denver does not speak. People who know him well can often understand his basic communication, but he does not have the functional communication skills that would allow him to communicate with strangers or express more complex things, such as feeling sickness or pain.

I heard about Denver when I went to pick up some lumber from his grandfather. While we were loading the truck he asked us what we did for a living. My partner is a psychologist. I explained that we both used to work with kids with Autism, but that I was now retired. He told us that his grandson, Denver, has Autism and that they didn’t know what to do. Denver was hitting himself and banging his head almost constantly, and could only be calm when he was holding on to his grandmother. They were very worried and exhausted from constantly trying to intervene. Both he and his wife were retired. He was only cutting and selling lumber to get extra money to pay for his grandson’s care.

We offered to come back and meet the family if that was alright with them, and ended up volunteering our time once a week to work with them for a few hours. His family is very caring and patient. His grandparents have used the techniques we have taught them and are very committed to working with him as much as they can.

I am happy to say that as a result, Denver rarely engages in self injurious behavior. He has also begun eating solid food and building some pivotal skills, such as imitation and interactive play.

He is a bright boy. He appears to understand a lot of language and sometimes responds by whistling.

But Denver still has a lot of urgent issues. He needs a communication system so he can successfully interact with people outside his family. He often gets lost in repetitive behavior and routines, such as spinning objects and touching things in a particular order. He sometimes reacts aggressively when he can’t make himself understood. He needs toilet training.

We plan to keep volunteering as we have been but we believe Denver needs more. Based on the progress he has made he would greatly benefit from working with a therapist for at least 2 hours every day rather than two hours a week. There are no resources available to pay for more help— he has been on a waiting list for years but there just aren’t enough public services to go around.

When his grandmother recently asked me what would happen to Denver when she and his grandfather were no longer able to take care of him because they were too old, too sick or no longer alive, I felt a desperate need to find a way to help them pay for needed services and the materials that can help Denver be more independent.

These would include daily play therapy, treatment by a Speech and Language Pathologist, communication software and hardware, an adaptive bicycle, a treadmill, and access to a swimming pool.

Please help if you can. Any amount will be much appreciated. Thank you for reading this.