Autism coverage from Fox 5 in Atlanta recently was very eye-opening. I’m sure the intention was to inform the public about the differences in people with autism and their needs.
It was very compassionate and caring, but there was a troubling underside to the interviews.
The host of a local talk show, Portia Bruner, interviewed the parents of a 10 year old girl with very obvious signs of classic autism as shown on the video.
The parents described very clear signs of regression that they witnessed in their daughter.
June 10, 2024, Fox 5, Atlanta: Portia: Autism
Nathaniel and Carla Moultrie are the parents to 10-year-old Camille who was diagnosed with autism when she was 2 years old. Her parents are making it their mission to educate others about autism spectrum disorder.
Carla: My husband Nathaniel actually noticed it first. He noticed she wasn’t pointing and she wasn’t really using her words any longer, a lot of crying, just noise but no words. He made the first observation. . . .
Nathaniel: I would take her to daycare every morning, so on our ride, on those mornings, it was a lot of conversation in regards to, I was very keen to the noises she would make.
She was saying small words, say certain things and even eating. She would eat anything, anything we’d put before her, she would just enjoy it.
All of a sudden, I saw this digression. She went from not eating what she normally would eat, and then we would go to daycare in the mornings on the commute, it was dead silence. . . .
It was kind of gradual. It was gradual over time that I noticed, and then I brought it to Carla’s attention. I said, ‘Hey, do you know Camille hasn’t said a word in like weeks now?’
I found that very strange because even though she wasn’t forming full sentences, she was still saying like ‘Ma,’ ‘Dad.’ She was formalizing words.
She just went mute, and just silence, and that just troubled me. I just had a sense that something else was going on.
Carla detailed how they went to several developmental pediatricians and eventually got an autism diagnosis.
She went on to explain that self-regulating movement like stimming can be seen in autistic children like Camille.
Portia: Which is why you two wrote Ausome Girl about this beautiful, awesome girl named Camille.
Although the rate of autism wasn’t mentioned, a disorder affecting one in every 36 children officially, including one in every 22 boys, has to be a concern of parents today.
Viewers could see how severely affected Camille is, including her continuous movement, noise-cancelling earphones, constant chattering and detachment from the situation.
No one explained why Camille lost her speech or what the future will be like for her. This is the side of autism that is rarely covered. Fox 5 is to be congratulated for actually showing us the truth about autism.
The interview continued with a very accomplished and talented young woman with autism and her parents. This is what usually makes the news when autism is covered. It’s easy to imagine that autism has always been around as shown in this young woman.
Singing sensation Morgan Janay found that music therapy helped her stay calm while dealing with autism. She joins Portia at the table with her parents to discuss her autism diagnosis and how music changed her life.
Portia: Welcome back to this conversation about people who are thriving on the autism spectrum.
Morgan is clearly very high functioning and articulate. She demonstrated her talent for song writing and singing. Seeing her, I’m sure, gave hope to many parents of children with autism.
Still, it is hard to move on from the story of Camille.