Celebrating World Autism Month
Written by Team Clearcover | May 11th, 2022
This April, Clearcover presented our first speaker sessions to honor World Autism Month. We followed the lead of organizations like Autism Speaks which celebrates the month by "sharing stories and providing opportunities to increase understanding and acceptance of people with autism, fostering worldwide support."
To further expand Clearcover-ers understanding of autism, we were fortunate to have Kris Tibbetts, Director of Product Management, and her family share their experiences of living with autism over a series of two sessions. First, Kris and her son Noah, an undergraduate student at Loyola University Chicago, related their journey of living with Noah's autism diagnosis, his path to college, and his hopes for the future. In a follow-up discussion, Kris's daughter Sarah, a senior at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, shared her experiences of growing up with an autistic sibling and how they have informed her career path.
In the first discussion, Kris recounted Noah's early signs of autism, explaining that, at 18 months old, Noah only had one word and would have multiple daily meltdowns. After he was diagnosed shortly after his second birthday, Noah began a series of therapies and services including speech, occupational therapy, home therapy, and applied behavior analysis (ABA). From the age of two on, Noah was in various therapies for 40 hours a week but, as Noah joked, he never got paid!
As Noah grew up, Kris discovered therapies and activities that most helped him through a series of trial and error. For example, while team sports were not the best fit for Noah, he excelled at skiing and even competed on the Special Olympics team. Nearly 10 years ago, Noah joined a theater program and found that he acted differently there than he did at school or in any other situation. He flourished in theater and his dedication to performance art has led to his undergraduate studies toward his BA in Theater Arts.
Noah shared that his greatest challenge is socializing, specifically integrating into groups and making connections. He would rather people come to him than join an ongoing conversation. He has found that theater and improv have helped him learn to read people and has eased socializing. Noah also struggles with perfectionism and Kris has worked intensely over the years to help him accept being less-than-perfect all of the time. Noah now credits his autism with enabling him to be detail oriented, organized, and dedicated to putting effort into the activities he most enjoys.
During their discussion, Kris emphasized that autism is a spectrum and that therapies and activities that work for one child may not work for another. She also found that, for Noah, certain successful tactics would stop working after a while and she would have to try something new. Her overall advice to parents of autisic children is to "learn to appreciate the small wins," and to continue to try different therapies, services and activities to find the ones that best fit the needs of their individual children.
Noah credits having a supportive parent like Kris with getting him where he is today - living on campus at Loyola, a Dean's List student who plans to get his own apartment and work in theater after graduation.
The week after Clearcover-ers heard from Kris and Noah, Kris's daughter Sarah took time out of her schedule as a college senior to talk to us about her experiences of growing up with an autistic sibling, and how they set her on her current career path.
Throughout her life, Sarah describes herself as Noah's biggest cheerleader at his skiing competitions and theater performances. Kris added that Sarah has also been Noah's staunchest defender and became resourceful in dealing with Noah's breakdowns, adding that Sarah developed an expert ability to problem solve and think on her feet to determine what tactics would calm Noah in various situations.
Sarah's decision to become a special education teacher stemmed from her experiences growing up with Noah, managing with his meltdowns, defending him at school and developing their relationship which, she told us, is stronger now as young adults than it has ever been. Sarah enjoys the problem solving aspect of working with special education students and knows that, even if a meltdown has to last for two hours, the child will always reach a resolution. Every meltdown, she informed us, is a learning experience for the child.
Kris and Sarah spoke to us about the various ways that they managed Noah's behavioral issues growing up. They acknowledged that every child is different, and that strategies that work at one point in a child's life may not prove helpful after a year or more. Sarah's general advice for handling meltdowns is to step away, breathe, talk about why the child is frustrated, take a look at the big picture, and make a plan.
Kris's advice to all parents is to do their best to balance the activities and needs of all children, even though it may not always work. Sarah urges parents to give themselves grace and to remember that, even though they may not always get it right, they will find balance. She also encourages parents to ensure that all siblings support each other.
We are so grateful to Kris, Noah and Sarah for taking the time to speak to us about Noah's autism journey. For many of us, their inspiring stories increased our understanding of autism and how it affects individuals and families.
At Clearcover, we're committed to fostering a people-first culture in which all employees feel heard and understood and are comfortable to show up to work as their true selves and contribute to their maximum potential. If you're looking to work for a company that values the vast array of backgrounds and points of view that all employees bring to their teams, we invite you to apply for one of our open positions today.
