Challenging Autism

The Journey Continues

It has definitely been a long road raising my son Alex who continues to struggle with severe communication and behavioral issues. As many may know, we as parents work within the confines of state child services as they age through high school only to arrive at a key transition point which marks the beginning of adult services. Unfortunately, that seems to be where the path ends and thick forest begins. For 4 years we struggled with the adult community services and everyday it became more and more apparent that a new approach would be needed to get Alex to the next level in life.

In 2021, EvilRabbit Enterprises introduced a newly developed approach for positively supporting young adults, ages 21-30 who have been diagnosed with severe autism/PDD with associated behaviors and communication challenges. Our program was developed around my son, Alex Schael who exhibits destructive behaviors, cognitive challenges and impaired communications. With the onset of Covid19, I temporarily moved Alex out of his state provided home supplied by Person Directed Supports and into my home for the duration of the shut-down. At that time he had a required 2:1 supports criteria. We decided to have 1 caregiver, Martin Silva Jr., come to my home during the day to assist while I work my current job at Hewlett Packard Enterprise where I am a technology sales professional.

As an adult in the state supported program, Alex is prescribed to take 13 different medications each day and after spending 3 years in the adult program his weight ballooned to 223 pounds due to inactivity and inappropriate diet. He has kicked out windows of house assigned vehicles, punched holes through walls and generally spends quite a bit of time sitting in his room sleeping.

Immediately we began an aggressive daily schedule, listing planned activities and executing these activities. Most days we start with a hike up and down the local mountains- Alex was challenged at first and exhibited extreme behaviors. His time for 3.5 miles at our local South Mountain trail was over 70 minutes. Today he is able to navigate the trail in 39 minutes and is becoming an accomplished runner.

We added other activities including vehicle rides in the community with specific assignments including photography of cars and animals at the Game Preserve. At my home we initially built a prototype training studio with advance chain driven spin bikes (better simulates real bike conditions), free weights for training and a collection of bicycles that can be ridden at our local Rodale bike track. Alex has been able to build consistency with the weight training program leading to balance and strength increase. He also began to swim laps in our pool and can consistently swim 20 laps (down and back).

Our diets are now limited to three meals per day, no sweet drinks, very limited snacks. In just 4 months we were able to reduce his weight to 186 pounds and today he maintains at 183. With this highly disciplined approach we have seen a significant reduction in behaviors and are now able to introduce education and skills training. Education is provided through a grade school skills book and computer based training.

For skills Alex is quite adept at lawn mowing and general yard work. He is also great at walking our German Shepherd- an activity he enjoys. Most importantly, Alex respects his caregiver who can now expertly guide him through daily tasks and continue to work with him on future educational initiatives.

Based on the data we collected and success of Alex’s training, we developed a new approach that utilizes the key components of our methodologies and applies it to young adult males in a phase one approach. Recognizing that each individual has unique challenges, our goal is to initially recruit 4 clients and guide them in the same approach we use with Alex- all within a team dynamic.

Welcome to Phase 2 of our program where we introduce this approach to our community: Program components- Non-Stop Approach!