Sports and the Spectrum
Volume 2, Issue 3 ~ March, 2007
Q & A with Dave Donch, author of "Beast"
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Positively Autism: What motivated you to write “Beast?”
Dave Donch: I’ve always been real proud of Nathaniel’s success as an athlete, especially when it comes to baseball. I asked my wife what she thought about me writing a story about a little boy with autism who surprises everybody with his remarkable talents and becomes a hero to his baseball team. She knew, of course, that I was talking about Nathaniel’s story. She told me she thought it was a great idea for a story, and that it would certainly be a story she’d want to read. So, I went to writing the story of our son’s little league experience. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever publish the story. Even so, I thought it would be nice just to write it as a gift of love to Nathaniel, and his mom—his biggest supporter and fan. Now that the story is published, I hope those who read it will enjoy it also.  
PA: How did your son become interested in baseball? DD: This was my wife’s doing. I myself never really played sports and I didn’t watch it much either. My wife, however, is a baseball fanatic. Her devotion to the New York Yankees borders on being a religion. Ultimately, I think it was the bizarre behavior my wife engaged in whenever the Yankees played on TV that drove my kids to the same form of madness. If the Yanks were blowing it, there was much yelling, screaming, pounding and stomping of feet. If they were winning there would be loud hooting, hollering, jumping up and down and clapping--all directed at the television. I think that Nathaniel found his mother’s behavior exciting, and wished to join in the fun. So it was that Nathaniel became interested in watching games on TV. He also got to watch his older brother and sister play in the boy’s and girl’s league. Finally, when he turned five, he got to play on a team too. He’s always been a bit bigger and stronger than most kids his age. He also has strong motor skills and good eye/hand coordination. He did very well early on as a player and really had fun. The rest is history.
PA: You share in your book that some of the traits often associated with autism, such as visual memory, specialized interests, adherence to a schedule, etc., may have helped your son to develop his pitching skills. How did he use these traits to his advantage? DD: One of Nathaniel’s strengths is his ability to watch and copy the physical movements of other people. Pitching is an art and a science that requires an ability to repeat precise physical mechanics over and over again. Nathaniel was able to mimic the movements of his favorite pitchers, thereby learning some of the mechanics used by professionals. Visualization is a tool used extensively by all kinds of athletes. A pitcher will actually see, in his mind, the pitch leaving his hand and traveling on a precise path to its target prior to delivering the pitch. Then, muscle memory, developed through practice, makes it happen--exactly as he envisioned it. Nathaniel’s talent for visualization has served him well as a pitcher, and also helped him become a top shooter on his basketball team. With regard to specialized interests, once he discovered that he could throw a ball well, he wanted to do it all the time. Everyday, when I arrived home from work he would be waiting to go out back and play catch. Eventually, he wanted to try pitching. His pitches were almost always strikes. After a while, it was no longer fun enough just to throw strikes, so he began experimenting with making the ball spin so that the turbulence created by the seams of the baseball caused the ball to move one way or another. He purposely threw pitches that weren’t strikes, pretending he was pitching to real hitters and getting into a full count of three balls and two strikes, just to throw a final strike and strike out his imaginary opponent. This routine quickly became a part of his daily schedule. Having structure in his daily routine is a must for him; it makes him feel comfortable if he thinks he knows exactly what will happen. This attribute of his lends itself well to self-discipline. As a result, his skills have become well developed due to frequent, regular practice over a long period of time. In summary, Nathaniel does what all serious and successful athletes do—practice, practice, and practice some more.
PA: What are the benefits of participating in sports for a child with autism? DD: There are many benefits. By participating in sports, especially ball games, the child will be included in some of the most popular social games in the playground. A lot of kids on the spectrum have a tendency to avoid activities like this because they know they’re not good at it. Spectrum children often have motor impairments which affect things such as catching and throwing accuracy or their ability to kick a ball. Not only will they shy away from playing, but their peers may intentionally exclude them because they feel they’ll hurt their chances of winning. Often times, however, they’ll be invited to play merely because the others need an extra person to make two even teams so they can have a game. This is how I personally wound up being invited to play by my peers when I was a kid. I can still recall some bad experiences and deep feelings of rejection because of the way I was treated for being such a poor player. Drawing from my own experiences, I suspect there will be many times when a kid will somehow find him or herself involved in playing sports, whether they planned to or not. They may be invited to do so recreationally by well meaning peers or family members, and will be convinced to go along, or they will be participating in games during gym class at school. When this happens, we want their experiences to be positive. This is why I feel so strongly that it’s important for parents to provide tuition and practice in ball skills for their children from an early age. It’s not necessary to turn them into sensational athletes or anything like that. The goal is simply to ensure that children have the basic knowledge and skills to enable them to participate successfully. Successful participation, in turn, provides our kids with more opportunities to sharpen their motor skills and their social skills. It can also reduce feelings of social isolation, by causing them to be more active in their community than they would be otherwise. This becomes increasingly important once they approach adolescence. In general, I think sports makes for healthier, happier kids, just as long as their involvement is managed with good care from early on.
PA: What factors do you believe contribute to successful participation in sports for a child with autism? DD: There are many factors, and these will vary depending upon the individual child. I’ll talk about some that I feel are universal with regard to high functioning autistic and Asperger’s players, but apply to typical kids as well. Understanding the basic rules of the game is important. The methods used to help a child with this will vary depending on a particular child’s learning style. Those who are visual learners will learn best if they are given physical demonstrations that they can watch and then practice repeating what they’ve seen in the form of practice drills. Watching other people play or even playing sports video games can help them learn how the games are played. Auditory learners, however, would require a different approach. My experience is limited to working with kids who are highly visual, but I can offer a suggestion that may benefit those, who like myself, learn better from verbal instruction. Carol Gray has developed a system for writing stories that are effective at helping kids on the spectrum improve their social skills. Not only can the stories be used to teach social skills, they can also be written in such a way as to help the child understand fundamentals of a sport. I actually came across such a story on the internet that was written to help a spectrum child learn how to play soccer. Once a parent or coach learns Carol Gray’s method, it can be easily adapted for baseball, basketball, football, etc. This brings us to our next important factor for success—social skills training. Participation in team sports can be a powerful socialization therapy. However, it’s common knowledge to us in the autism/Asperger’s community that ASD kids tend not to learn social skills automatically like typical kids. Thus, in order for sports to be beneficial, we have to be aware that such children can learn social skills, but will need to be taught these skills explicitly and concretely. I highly recommend that parents make sure their kids are receiving social skills programming and perspective taking instruction from qualified teachers as early as possible. Then, we should adapt this for their involvement in sports so as to support positive social interactions with teammates and coaches during team practices and games. In an ideal world, every youth sports organization would have an autism consultant/therapist for each locality who would be responsible for taking care of this. Unfortunately, our youth sports organizations are not yet developed to this degree. It’s definitely something worth fighting for. Another thing that is of great importance is for parents or caregivers to encourage and assist the child with the development of physical skills needed for competence in the particular sports they’re interested in playing. These skills can be improved through practice—I’ve witnessed it first hand with several of my players who had demonstrated poor motor skills and eye-hand coordination due to autism, dislexia, and other types of developmental problems. This requires lots of private one-on-one practice. Usually, dad is a great candidate for this job, but it could be anyone, such as mom, a big brother/sister or someone acting as a big brother/sister. The important thing is to do it frequently, regularly, and keep it fun by making a great-big deal over every little improvement. Praise is a must. Sometimes praising a kid indirectly is way more affective than praising them outright. Both forms of praise are important, but if your child overhears you telling others how impressed you are with their hard work and with something they did really well while practicing, it’s likely they’ll be highly motivated to keep up the good work. There are other factors for successful participation and they are controlled by the team. By “team”, I mean the coaches, teammates, and family members of players on the team. These factors are acceptance, commitment to the development of the players in all areas of human development, and respect.
PA: A coach is an important part of each player’s success. What strategies can a coach implement to help ensure a successful experience? DD: In addition to being a sports instructor and manager, the coach is the spiritual leader of the team. It’s up to you, if you are the coach, to shape the spirit of the team into a healthy, positive one. If you succeed in doing this, then a strong foundation for a good experience for all of the players will have been built. You won’t be able to achieve this without the help of some key people. Therefore, you will begin by creating strong relationships between yourself and your assistant coaches, parents, and players. You will use these relationships to generate an understanding amongst everyone on the team of how important it is for all players to have a positive experience. You will demonstrate care and respect for all, and work to foster this attitude within the hearts of your coaches, players, and parents of your players. You’ll keep strong lines of communication open at all times, especially with the parents of your player with autism, so that you will better understand his/her needs. Once you understand the child’s needs, you’ll do whatever it takes to fulfill them. If this means, for instance, that the child needs an aide to remain with them at all times to assist them while practicing or playing, you’ll do whatever you can to arrange this. You’ll need to make decisions with regard to when and where to play your kids, giving consideration to individual ability and safety. Getting hurt is never a positive experience for any player, so please keep this in mind when giving field assignments. There comes a time when kids begin to be less influenced by adults and more influenced by their own peers. That being said, I’d like to propose another strategy that can be extremely effective. You may be blessed with a player on your team who stands out as a leader. The other kids will tend to look up to this individual and vie for his or her attention. You can do a world of good if you can influence this player to take up the cause of supporting the success of their teammate with autism. This person will help, encourage, and praise their autistic teammate, and set an example for all the other players. Soon, the whole team will take up the cause. Nathaniel had such a player who befriended him on his Pony league team, his name is Luke. Luke is a good player with a positive and upbeat attitude who seemed to understand that Nathaniel is different. I can’t recall him ever saying anything bad to or about anyone, and he seemed to be liked by everyone on the team. He stood behind Nathaniel, and was a big part of his success. It worked for Nathaniel and I’m sure it can work for others.
PA: What can players do to support a teammate with autism? DD: The best thing teammates can do is to remain supportive by doing things like helping them practice, not making a big deal if the child says or does something unusual, staying positive, and avoiding being critical—no matter what. This is difficult, because when you are playing, you want to win. It especially becomes difficult during play-off games and all-star tournaments, where losing a game might mean that you will be done playing until next year. As a youth coach and as a parent of a child with autism, I implore all players to understand that it is important for your autistic team member to have an opportunity to experience the personal growth that can be achieved through playing sports. Your autistic teammate may help you win, or they may help you lose. Whatever the case, it’s important to remember, at all times, that the real purpose of youth sports is learning. If we do it right, we will all grow in our athletic abilities and knowledge of the game. More importantly, we will grow emotionally, psychologically, and socially. That’s what youth sports are really about. That being said, is winning at this level really all that important? It is, to some extent, but not to the extent that we lose sight of the benefits of participation and behave in ways that contradict what we’re trying to accomplish. There are literally millions of youth league games being played all over the world every day. In the grand scheme of things, it makes little difference which team won or lost. After time, the details of the games will be forgotten. All that will remain are the memories of how we treated one another. How would you like to be remembered? Let the answer to this questions guide your attitude and actions.
PA: In the book, you state that children with autism “are capable of achieving great things and finding considerable happiness.” Why is this positive attitude important for families, teachers, and service providers? DD: When I first received a diagnosis of autism for my son from the doctor who tested him, it was a very grievous time for me. What I knew about autism was learned strictly from a fictional movie, and I became sad and melancholy thinking that my child was going to be like that character in the film—incapable of any meaningful interaction with other people. I wish I’d known back then what I know now—that my son would grow to become someone who loves and cares for his family, laughs and has fun a lot, and is down-right funny at times. A positive attitude is essential, because as much as we love them, their behaviors can still be troublesome and challenging at times. It can become so easy to become impatient or critical after awhile, and we may be tempted to use criticism to try and “fix” them. I don’t think that criticism is an effective means of accomplishing anything, unless your goal is to wreck such a child’s self-esteem. There are plenty of unknowledgeable and non-empathetic people out there whose behaviors toward such a child will work to destroy their self-image. As family members, teachers, and service providers, it’s our mission to make sure they grow to believe in themselves. They must be made to feel that they are of great importance—for they truly are. If we can maintain an upbeat and positive spirit, we will succeed in our mission.
PA: Your book describes the importance of using individual gifts and talents. How can we encourage and nurture our children’s unique interests and abilities? DD: I think it’s crucial to share in their interests, and to praise them often for their abilities. I didn’t care much for baseball or other sports. Nathaniel’s feats of athleticism during games when he was very young often times surprised a lot of people. This wasn’t because he is autistic, in fact, very few people were even aware that he is different. His feats were surprising, because the things he did required knowledge and skills not usually present in kids his age. Even I was surprised with the plays he sometimes made on the field—and I was his practice partner. I quickly realized that this is who Nathaniel is, and this is something he loves. I’ve tried to help by learning more about sports and sharing my knowledge. I’ve learned to give him lots of positive feedback, even when he fails, because his efforts should be acknowledged just as much as his great moments. He’s a perfectionist who’s very hard on himself and needs to be reminded that it’s okay not to be perfect all the time. I’d like to help him in math also, as this is another strength area of his. Unfortunately, I have a mathematical ability deficit and his abilities are already well beyond mine. The best I can do is to acknowledge his gift of numbers with praise, and occasionally try to help him solve some “word” math problems.
PA: Your book covers one time period and experience. Are there any recent experiences or events that you’d like to share? DD: Much has happened since Nathaniel’s final year of little league, where the story ends. Last year, when he was in seventh grade, he tried out for the modified baseball team at his school, along with fifty other seventh and eight grade students. The coach picked only a few new players; Nathaniel wasn’t one of them. This caused us considerable heart-break. He worked so hard preparing to play for the team. Months before tryouts even began; he began going to the local YMCA to run and work out on the various machines to get in the best shape he could. He’s kind of a big guy, but he lost a good deal of weight because he wanted so badly to be picked for the team. He wasn’t happy about not making the team, but he wouldn’t let it keep him down. He played Babe Ruth over the summer. For the first time in his life, he teamed up with his big brother, Noah, on the Auburn Firefighters. Both boys had a great season, overall, and their team made it to the championship. They didn’t win the championship, as the starting pitcher in the final game ran into trouble in the third inning and gave the other team a 3-2 lead. Nathaniel had to pitch the final three innings of the game because all of our fifteen year old pitchers had sore arms. He pitched beautifully, with his brother catching and calling for pitches from behind home plate. He gave up one un-earned run in the seventh inning, but his performance against this tough line-up was impressive. Soon, tryouts for the modified team will begin. I recently overheard Nathaniel telling his brother about a meeting he has for tryouts this coming Thursday. There was noticeable pleasure in his voice as he spoke the words. I can tell he’s getting excited. We’re confident he’ll be on the team this year. |
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