06-14-2005, 03:45 PM
Posted on Sat, May. 28, 2005
AUTISM
Persistence prevails; teen's ready for college
BY ANA VECIANA-SUAREZ
aveciana@herald.com
As a toddler, Jacqueline Flores did not interact with other children nor did she answer to her own name. She turned the pages of books without bothering to linger over the pictures. Tests determined that she had autism -- and an IQ of 50.
Today Jacqueline is the valedictorian at Dr. Michael M. Krop High School, with a 6.436 grade-point average. She has won so many awards and scholarships, including most recently The Herald's Silver Knight Award in Foreign Language, that the accolades fill two single-spaced pages. During her four years of high school she took eight science courses and enrolled in an extra seventh-period class each quarter. This fall, she heads to Brown University, her first choice, where she will major in neuroscience.
What happened between preschool and high school is nothing short of a miracle. But it is more than that, too: the story of perseverance, of a mother and older sister who never stopped believing, and of a young woman who refused to succumb to a label and made academics a haven from what sometimes seemed like a cruel, loud world.
''I'm so proud of her,'' says her mother, Bel Scott. ``I never even thought she would finish high school and here she is the valedictorian going off to an Ivy college.''
Jacqueline beams. Still a quiet student who sometimes struggles to make eye contact when she speaks, she understands that what she has accomplished -- against great odds -- is worthy of praise. But she would much rather not be singled out. ''I've always been very curious about school,'' she says. ``It was like an escape for me.''
In many respects, she is a young woman of contradictions. She does not like English, but she scored a perfect 800 on the verbal section of the SAT. She considers writing too subjective, a discipline that rarely deals with the concrete, yet she devours books like chocolates. She admits she is shy around people, but she logged about 1,400 hours of community service during her high school career. And she is always trying to escape the shadow of her older sister Jessica, now a nuclear engineering student at MIT -- though the two seem inseparable, often insulting each other playfully even in front of visitors.
Jacqueline and Jessica live with their mother Bel and their stepfather Clifton Scott in a modest two-story apartment in Aventura. Walls are covered with photos of the girls. A cabinet in the living room holds trophies and plaques and medals the two have earned. Up until two years ago, when Bel and Clifton married, ''it was just the three of us,'' Bel Scott says. ``We only had each other.''
Which was, quite frankly, more than plenty. As soon as the family found out Jacqueline was autistic, family members suggested she be sent to the Philippines, where her parents are from. Bel refused, and instead enrolled her daughter in an intensive program at Easter Seals.
DRASTIC CHANGES
The family made drastic changes to their lives, too. Both Bel and Jessica learned the sign language Jacqueline was being taught and they posted yellow ovals with identifying words all over objects in the house. They rarely went to social events.
''We couldn't go out,'' Bel recalls. ``We couldn't go to parties because her behavior was so unpredictable.''
She bit, she banged her head, she emitted high-pitched screams. Once in public school, life was not much better. One day she didn't get on the school bus and was lost for three hours. She eventually walked home. ''I used to get into fights with people. They would call her retarded,'' Jessica recalls. ``I hated that.''
But Bel and Jessica did not give up. They lived by the philosophy of ``We made all the little triumphs into big celebrations.''
The first sign of brilliance came in second grade, when Jacqueline won a spelling bee. Her teacher recommended her for the gifted program and fought to have her tested, even when the school counselor insisted autistic children could not possibly score high enough on an IQ test.
In fact, autism is a broad spectrum of neurological disorders that can include normal and intellectually high-functioning individuals, according to Ann Marie Sasseville, Miami-Dade public schools' supervisor for programs for children with autism. While 75 percent to 80 percent of children with autism also have some kind of cognitive impairment or mental handicap, the rest don't. ''They can be quite bright and have high academic skills,'' she adds. They're particularly challenged, however, in social situations and often don't understand the subtle nuances of language, such as irony, humor or sarcasm.
MAKING FRIENDS
It wasn't until middle school that Jacqueline managed to make friends. In sixth grade she enrolled in French -- a decision that confounded her family, since language can be particularly difficult for autistic children. Says Bel: ``I thought she was out of her mind. She was having enough problems with English.''
But it proved to be a prescient choice. Her ability with French, a language nobody in her family understood, gave her confidence. In high school, she not only won the Silver Knight Award in Foreign Language but she also came in 10th of 12,760 participants on the Grand Concours Exam, a national test that measures proficiency in grammar, reading, and listening comprehension.
In the classroom, she challenged herself with rigorous courses. In 10th grade, for instance, she took Advanced Placement Biology and Advanced Placement Chemistry.
''She'd ruin the curve for the rest of us,'' quips sister Jessica, who was in the same chemistry class.
''Too bad,'' whispers Jacqueline with a sly smile.
Michelle Russell, a teacher at Krop High, met Jacqueline when she enrolled in her ninth-grade biology class and joined the school's Key Club. Back then she shied away from group projects and preferred to work alone. ''But that changed over time,'' Russell recalls. ``I think she gained confidence as she did more things. She gained her footing.''
Jacqueline became active in various volunteer programs but dedicated herself principally to the Victory School for Children with Autism and Related Disabilities. There, she organized a ''sensory room'' for the children to develop control of their fingers, helping them perfect their sign language. This often meant devoting entire summers to the program -- then attending Miami-Dade College in the evenings, where she was completing dual enrollment courses.
''I wanted to do that for them because I know what it's like,'' she says. ``They were in their own little world, but so was I.''
Russell, who supervised many of the community service hours as the Key Club sponsor, said Jackie was ''very driven'' in both her academic work and extracurricular activities. ``It's been a personal crusade for Jackie. Everything she does comes genuinely from the heart. I think that because of her background and her own struggles, it makes her feel more compassionate, more understanding.''
Now the family is preparing to send off to college the daughter they once thought would never leave home, the daughter everyone said would need supervision into adulthood. A time of celebration has also, once again, become an occasion for worry. It is especially difficult on her mother who, with tears welling, admits: ``I'm worried. It's hard to let go.''
Bel recently bought her daughter a hamper and is teaching her the basic skills of survival -- how to do laundry, how to shop for groceries, how to pay bills.
''I learn by repetition,'' Jacqueline explains, then without skipping a beat: ''But I'm not worried. I'm excited!'' She lets out a squeal of delight, waving a Brown University pamphlet and for emphasis repeats: ``So Ex-Cited!''
Miami Herald: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/liv...751209.htm
AUTISM
Persistence prevails; teen's ready for college
BY ANA VECIANA-SUAREZ
aveciana@herald.com
As a toddler, Jacqueline Flores did not interact with other children nor did she answer to her own name. She turned the pages of books without bothering to linger over the pictures. Tests determined that she had autism -- and an IQ of 50.
Today Jacqueline is the valedictorian at Dr. Michael M. Krop High School, with a 6.436 grade-point average. She has won so many awards and scholarships, including most recently The Herald's Silver Knight Award in Foreign Language, that the accolades fill two single-spaced pages. During her four years of high school she took eight science courses and enrolled in an extra seventh-period class each quarter. This fall, she heads to Brown University, her first choice, where she will major in neuroscience.
What happened between preschool and high school is nothing short of a miracle. But it is more than that, too: the story of perseverance, of a mother and older sister who never stopped believing, and of a young woman who refused to succumb to a label and made academics a haven from what sometimes seemed like a cruel, loud world.
''I'm so proud of her,'' says her mother, Bel Scott. ``I never even thought she would finish high school and here she is the valedictorian going off to an Ivy college.''
Jacqueline beams. Still a quiet student who sometimes struggles to make eye contact when she speaks, she understands that what she has accomplished -- against great odds -- is worthy of praise. But she would much rather not be singled out. ''I've always been very curious about school,'' she says. ``It was like an escape for me.''
In many respects, she is a young woman of contradictions. She does not like English, but she scored a perfect 800 on the verbal section of the SAT. She considers writing too subjective, a discipline that rarely deals with the concrete, yet she devours books like chocolates. She admits she is shy around people, but she logged about 1,400 hours of community service during her high school career. And she is always trying to escape the shadow of her older sister Jessica, now a nuclear engineering student at MIT -- though the two seem inseparable, often insulting each other playfully even in front of visitors.
Jacqueline and Jessica live with their mother Bel and their stepfather Clifton Scott in a modest two-story apartment in Aventura. Walls are covered with photos of the girls. A cabinet in the living room holds trophies and plaques and medals the two have earned. Up until two years ago, when Bel and Clifton married, ''it was just the three of us,'' Bel Scott says. ``We only had each other.''
Which was, quite frankly, more than plenty. As soon as the family found out Jacqueline was autistic, family members suggested she be sent to the Philippines, where her parents are from. Bel refused, and instead enrolled her daughter in an intensive program at Easter Seals.
DRASTIC CHANGES
The family made drastic changes to their lives, too. Both Bel and Jessica learned the sign language Jacqueline was being taught and they posted yellow ovals with identifying words all over objects in the house. They rarely went to social events.
''We couldn't go out,'' Bel recalls. ``We couldn't go to parties because her behavior was so unpredictable.''
She bit, she banged her head, she emitted high-pitched screams. Once in public school, life was not much better. One day she didn't get on the school bus and was lost for three hours. She eventually walked home. ''I used to get into fights with people. They would call her retarded,'' Jessica recalls. ``I hated that.''
But Bel and Jessica did not give up. They lived by the philosophy of ``We made all the little triumphs into big celebrations.''
The first sign of brilliance came in second grade, when Jacqueline won a spelling bee. Her teacher recommended her for the gifted program and fought to have her tested, even when the school counselor insisted autistic children could not possibly score high enough on an IQ test.
In fact, autism is a broad spectrum of neurological disorders that can include normal and intellectually high-functioning individuals, according to Ann Marie Sasseville, Miami-Dade public schools' supervisor for programs for children with autism. While 75 percent to 80 percent of children with autism also have some kind of cognitive impairment or mental handicap, the rest don't. ''They can be quite bright and have high academic skills,'' she adds. They're particularly challenged, however, in social situations and often don't understand the subtle nuances of language, such as irony, humor or sarcasm.
MAKING FRIENDS
It wasn't until middle school that Jacqueline managed to make friends. In sixth grade she enrolled in French -- a decision that confounded her family, since language can be particularly difficult for autistic children. Says Bel: ``I thought she was out of her mind. She was having enough problems with English.''
But it proved to be a prescient choice. Her ability with French, a language nobody in her family understood, gave her confidence. In high school, she not only won the Silver Knight Award in Foreign Language but she also came in 10th of 12,760 participants on the Grand Concours Exam, a national test that measures proficiency in grammar, reading, and listening comprehension.
In the classroom, she challenged herself with rigorous courses. In 10th grade, for instance, she took Advanced Placement Biology and Advanced Placement Chemistry.
''She'd ruin the curve for the rest of us,'' quips sister Jessica, who was in the same chemistry class.
''Too bad,'' whispers Jacqueline with a sly smile.
Michelle Russell, a teacher at Krop High, met Jacqueline when she enrolled in her ninth-grade biology class and joined the school's Key Club. Back then she shied away from group projects and preferred to work alone. ''But that changed over time,'' Russell recalls. ``I think she gained confidence as she did more things. She gained her footing.''
Jacqueline became active in various volunteer programs but dedicated herself principally to the Victory School for Children with Autism and Related Disabilities. There, she organized a ''sensory room'' for the children to develop control of their fingers, helping them perfect their sign language. This often meant devoting entire summers to the program -- then attending Miami-Dade College in the evenings, where she was completing dual enrollment courses.
''I wanted to do that for them because I know what it's like,'' she says. ``They were in their own little world, but so was I.''
Russell, who supervised many of the community service hours as the Key Club sponsor, said Jackie was ''very driven'' in both her academic work and extracurricular activities. ``It's been a personal crusade for Jackie. Everything she does comes genuinely from the heart. I think that because of her background and her own struggles, it makes her feel more compassionate, more understanding.''
Now the family is preparing to send off to college the daughter they once thought would never leave home, the daughter everyone said would need supervision into adulthood. A time of celebration has also, once again, become an occasion for worry. It is especially difficult on her mother who, with tears welling, admits: ``I'm worried. It's hard to let go.''
Bel recently bought her daughter a hamper and is teaching her the basic skills of survival -- how to do laundry, how to shop for groceries, how to pay bills.
''I learn by repetition,'' Jacqueline explains, then without skipping a beat: ''But I'm not worried. I'm excited!'' She lets out a squeal of delight, waving a Brown University pamphlet and for emphasis repeats: ``So Ex-Cited!''
Miami Herald: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/liv...751209.htm