He goes to school, camps, skis, studies karate, takes summer ecology courses and has pool parties at his house. And these common activities arent without their challenges for Peter Champagney as a child with autism.
Peter, 9, a third-grader at Kingston Intermediate School, was diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder called pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, or PDDNOS, when he was about 4 years old. His parents, Jean and Matt Champagney, knew when he was about 2 years old that he had special challenges.
He couldnt do things their friends children could do, and it was more obvious the older he got. His hugs were very brief. He also had obvious physical challenges. He couldnt jump properly. They immediately reached out to experts like Theresa Breen of Kingston, an occupational therapist at Braintree Rehabilitation Hospital in Plymouth, for guidance to help their son.
Breen said Peter had difficulty with social communication, interpreting sensory information, coordination skills, sensitivity to unexpected touch and noise when she met him. She worked with him utilizing different techniques to learn how to approach daily life.
At Braintree Rehab, Peter needed occupational, speech and physical therapy. Breen offers individualized treatment, having met with Peter twice a week at first and then once a week before they stopped meeting when he was about 6. As he ages, hell need checkups to learn to cope with new challenges.
A typical automatic response for someone reacting to a perceived threat would be fight or flight, or preparing to fight back or flee the situation. For Peter, Breen said, its fight or flight or freeze. Working with Peter, she has witnessed what she calls successes.
His experience going to the circus, an atmosphere that would be uncomfortable for him on so many levels, stands out in his mind. He wore headphones to help dampen the noise. He held onto cloth with an unusual texture to help calm him. He followed her advice on how to approach the different feelings that came over him.
He came back to his training session and couldnt stop talking about how fun the circus was, she said.
Other successes included being able to host a pool party with friends at his house and being able to tie his shoes, one of many kinds of everyday tasks that can challenge children with autism. Breen has learned from Peter while working with him.
Peter really taught me a lot about what it feels like to have autism, she said.
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Kingston family talks about life with autism