Posted January 22, 2014
Pat Skerrys experiences with his son, Owen, have inspired his autism outreach efforts. (Mitchell Layton/Getty)
On Monday night, Pat Skerry was babysitting. Which is to say he actually was parenting, though the difference can be blurred amusingly by the harried existence of a college basketball coach. Anyway, it was closing in on 7 p.m. when Skerrys son, Owen, was working the iPad and in particular a specific app his mother installed to help him understand words and communicate.
Owen, nearing his fifth birthday, is autistic. His vocabulary and language skills are limited. His intuition is not. Which was how Owen calculated the time of day and tapped into his sense of routine before tapping into technology to issue a pronouncement to a somewhat preoccupied dad.
I want to take a bath, Pat Skerry was informed.
Hes an unbelievable wizard on the iPad and some of these electronic gadgets, Skerry, the Towson basketball coach, said in a phone conversation Tuesday morning. Hes a heck of a lot smarter than I am with that stuff.
If Skerry cant quite use a touch-screen as adeptly, he can use his position and his platform to advance awareness of the condition that he says affects more children and families than people know. He and Marshall coach Tom Herrion one of Skerrys best friends in the profession and the father of an autistic child as well have sent lapel pins to their peers nationwide in an effort to sponsor Autism Awareness Day in college basketball on Feb. 1.
The initial email Herrion and Skerry sent to coaches cited statistics that show 1 in 88 children and 1 in 54 boys are now affected by autism. And that treating autism can cost a family $60,000 per year, while not every state recognizes it as a condition to be covered through medical benefits. The pair sized up the nationally televised games that Saturday and bought blue pins from the Autism Speaks organization to distribute to 82 coaches who will pace the sidelines that day, in order to thrust these issues into wider consciousness.
Were fortunate, we had early detection we had many resources, therapies in and out of the classroom to help facilitate some of his needs, Herrion said of his 8-year-old son, Robert. All things considered, were probably on the fortunate side of the totality of autism. Nonetheless, anybody that has a child that has any sort of special needs or diagnoses, the biggest thing is youre trying to allow your child to be normal. In todays society, as a parent, thats your biggest fear. You try to educate people so they understand.
Skerry has had autism awareness events on Towsons campus and both wear the blue lapel pin regularly. It has the desired effect, with referees and those working the scorers table asking questions about what it means. But there is that effect, and then there is the effect of near 100 percent agreement to participate from coaches on national television.
Read more:
Towson’s Skerry, Marshall’s Herrion team to raise autism awareness