Hi
My
name is Will Conway, and I am a graduate student at NYU. I am writing
today to tell you the story of my family, and my younger brother Whitney.
When Whitney was born, his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, and he
developed much differently than other children. Whitney was diagnosed as
severely autistic and we were told that he should be institutionalized.
Whitney
was completely nonverbal until the age of 7. His lack of communication
also resulted in many behavior problems. Whitney would often run away
from people, and if he was forced to do something he would bite people.
Every
doctor that analyzed Whitney said his prognosis was very bleak and he would
never have a normal life. However my mother is a researcher in the
neuronal process behind communication and she saw signs of intelligence in
Whitney. These signs were based on his visual Intelligence. Whitney
was a wiz at puzzles, loved pop up books and could take apart just about
anything. He also loved to study the intricately of objects and play with
shadows on the wall. Many experts dismissed these behaviors as
Self-Stimulation or perseverations, But as a family we used these as the
foundations as helping Whitney.
When
Whitney’s IQ was tested during IEP meetings, his scores were well below average
on almost all of the sections. However his visual intelligence was
strong; well above age level. We used Whitney’s visual intelligence to
teach him to communicate and become a regular person. Whitney is now a
junior majoring in chemical engineering at
My
experiences with Whitney has had a profound effect on my life. I am
writing today because I often think how close we were to institutionalizing
Whitney. If we hadn’t understood how Whitney’s mind worked, we never
would have been able to reach him. I have been researching Visual
thinking on the internet and was surprised that there was not more information
on the subject. My mother and I are building a website to help identify
children like Whitney, and I waned to let you know about it. Because we
remember how difficult it was to be a family searching for answers, we would
like it to be a resource for parents.
You can learn more about Whitney by visiting www.drflorance.com
Thank
you for reading my story; If you have any questions, please feel free to contact
me.
Will
Neuroscience
Graduate Student