How to Train a Superhero: A Story of Autism

By Teresia Dulaney

How to train a Superhero: A Story of Autism is a must-read for all parents. This book was written to encourage and inspire any parent or person, not just parents of children with disabilities. Teresia shares her journey of raising two sons on the autism spectrum. Within these pages, there is laughter, tears, passion, and encouragement as Teresia shares their search for diagnosis, the challenges they faced training them up and her personal testimony of God's revelation concerning their disabilities. She reveals the ten lessons her sons taught her and stories of the amazing way that God is using them for His purpose. Even though this is a story of autism, there are many biblical truths about raising children. You will be encouraged and uplifted by this amazing story about an ordinary family who, by God's grace, raise two superheroes for His glory.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9781098005955

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How to Train a Superhero

A Story of Autism

Teresia Dulaney

Copyright © 2019 by Teresia Dulaney

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Preface

While I have often wondered what this finished project would look like, I had always envisioned Tommy’s picture in a superhero costume on it. The question has been what superhero costume to use. He has so many favorite superheroes. The other question would be, would we run into copyright issues with these big corporations even if he was wearing a licensed costume of theirs? I really didn’t want to get into all that legal stuff so how could I avoid it? The best solution in my mind was that I needed Tommy to design his own costume so that we could make it. I had been intending to teach Tommy to sew so that he could create and make things to sell in his future business. Starting with a costume is not the best way to ease into teaching someone how to sew, but it was the immediate need in order to finish my book. I just decided that I would have Tommy design the costume and then we would take it slow as I started to teach him the language of sewing. I knew that I would have to do some of it myself, but there were things that he would be able to sew and we would figure it out along the way. The most important thing was for him to design the costume. After all, when I first learned to sew, I chose a complicated blue denim jumpsuit to be my first project in home economics class. I think I remember having to rip out a few seams before that got finished as well.

Teaching Tommy to understand abstract words is always a challenge. If it is not concrete where you can create a visual representation to pair with it, you have to become very creative to teach him things. Words like favorite and design your own were going to be two concepts I knew would be difficult. After several attempts of trying to get him to understand about designing his own costume, I knew he didn’t get it. This costume idea couldn’t even make it past first base without him comprehending this concept. My attempts only ended up with him responding with existing superhero favorites of his.

I decided we needed a trip to the fabric store. My plan was to have him look at pattern books and pick out patterns for different superhero costumes. I can sew but I am not in the habit in creating patterns for clothing so we needed a basis to start with. He kept leaning toward one particular pattern that had a lot of different cuts to create a patriotic costume. I wasn’t sure what he had in mind so I asked him to show me some fabrics that he liked. I followed him as he started picking out fabrics that I knew were of existing superheroes. Each time that I would say, No, we are not making a Mr. Incredible costume or No, we are not making a Power Ranger costume, I knew based on his color choices and the superheroes he had in his mind, he still didn’t understand. So I decided to go with what seemed to be his favorite pattern and use it as a basis of trying to make him understand what I was asking. Then we went home. Over the next couple of weeks, I made some attempts at comprehension to no avail. In the meantime, Tommy was anxious to make a costume and reminded me several times a day, whether via text or verbally, that he wanted to make his costume. Each time I would say, Yes, Tommy, I know. Question is, How do I get you to understand what I need you to do?

One day, I was studying the pattern, looking at what notions and fabrics were needed, and my eyes were drawn to the black-and-white outlined picture of the costume on the back of the pattern package. It hit me. That’s it! If I could somehow use this coloring book drawing to communicate making his own design with him, maybe we could make some progress here. We went back to the fabric store and I asked him to show me what fabric he wanted to use for each section of the costume of the drawing. Well, he was beginning to get excited and was just all over the place with wild suggestions for fabrics. Some of which, he obviously was still thinking of existing superheroes. I knew that I wasn’t exactly gaining any ground in my efforts but I still felt this was still going to be the tool. I just needed to find the exact way to use it and make it work. I went back to the pattern book table to ponder some more while Tommy went back to shopping around the store. While sitting there, I was reminded that modeling was the best method for times like these. So I started thinking about how to model what I was asking. I decided that some good old-fashion coloring fun was the answer. I told Tommy we had to go and headed for the front of the store. He followed me, questioning where we were going and when were we coming back. In all his broken sentences and language, he was basically letting me know that he wanted to get his fabrics so that we could make the costume. I assured him that we would be coming back. We went to the office supply store and bought some markers. I made about twenty-five enlarged copies of the coloring book drawing on the back of the pattern. Then we went to lunch.

At the restaurant, we found a large table that we could spread out to have a coloring session on. I began trying to communicate to him what design your own meant by showing him how to color his own superhero costume. I started modeling and telling him that I was designing my own by coloring it the way I liked it. I modeled several different coloring renditions while pairing it with the repetitive vocabulary for him to associate with my actions. At first, he responded by copying all my designs, but I would tell him those were my designs and he didn’t need to copy them. He gradually began to understand. After several attempts, he started producing his own. I was so excited that I was finally getting through. By the end of lunch, he produced many renditions. I asked him about his favorite and he narrowed his choices down to three. I informed him that he can choose one that he wanted his costume to look like and then we would go back to the fabric store to buy the fabric. He made his choice and off we went.

The nice thing was that we now had a plan before entering the store and we also had a visual as to what it looked like. I was sure picking out the fabric was going to be a breeze. Thinking that was my first mistake. I forgot what expensive taste Tommy has! The fabric he chose was the most expensive fabric he could have chosen. Even at the forty percent off sale price, it was way more than I wanted to pay for a superhero costume. However, I looked at it from an investment standpoint and what is was going to be used for so I justified the expense. Tommy was beside himself with excitement. After still another hour of me figuring how much to buy of each color, he left the store elated. There was no room for error since the fabric was too costly for mistakes.

Several weeks went by, I was not able to set the sewing machine up to get started. Tommy was constantly on me, but running the business was getting in the way. I finally set aside a day that we could at least get it cut out. I spent the whole evening teaching him words like pattern, tracing, pinning, and cutting out a pattern. He was very focused and happy through the whole process because he knew his costume was on its way. The cutting part was no problem since he spends hours a day cutting out superheroes that he paints on paper. Several more days went by before I attempted to get the sewing machine out. The last time I used it, I was having problems with the tension. I wasn’t sure if I had to get it serviced before we were able to use it. After testing it several times, it appeared to be working well. Each time Tommy reminded me about wanting to get his costume done, he would say pattern machine. I would chuckle because I realized that I hadn’t used the word sewing machine with him as of yet because we weren’t at the point of using it. He had, however, been taught what a pattern was and what that word meant. So he put the word pattern, understood that the machine made the costume come together and he came up with the words pattern machine, which was used to finish the job. It can be funny when you are aware of how the mind processes information. I’m reminded that we all process things differently and how that effects our perspective on things. I’m truly amazed and intrigued when I see how both of our boys process information. It helps me understand them better and helps me recognize more teachable moments. I look forward to going back and teaching him more about sewing simpler projects and then turn him loose to