Autistic teen gets artistic

Mel Cooke, Sunday Gleaner Writer

THE FIRST time Winsome Baker tried to get Vejay enrolled in basic school at the standard three years old, she was told her son needed to be able to say he wished to go to the bathroom before being accepted.

So she took Vejay, now 13 years old, back home and taught him some basics of language and bathroom procedure. When she returned to the school a year later, Vejay was accepted, but "they noticed he had a problem. Some things he should know at his age, he did not know".

Baker had noticed it at home as well and says "Vejay is a slow learner". But 'slow' turned out to be a result of Vejay being autistic. She says that at basic school "they recommended him to Mico Care … . They had him there for nine weeks". After going to and from Mico with Vejay for just over two months, "they found out the problem. They recommended him to two years at Mico Special Education".

Vejay's diagnosis was not that unusual - and is apparently getting more common. In a 2002 Gleaner story, it was reported that autism has been associated with between two to six persons in every 1,000 in the population in 2001, and boys are affected four times as often as girls. In 2002, other national sources put that figure at one in 250. Then, in 2008, The Gleaner reported that the autism diagnosis figures had increased rapidly from the 1970s when there were two diagnoses annually, to 40 per year in 2006.

Autism is a neural development disorder which results in impaired social interaction and communication skills and is marked by repetitive behaviour.

Baker has two other sons and did not know what next would happen with her son after Mico. "They said I could do a continuation at a school that took special children," she said.

That was simply not an option.

Vejay ended up at the Adonijah Group of Schools at 20 Elspeth Avenue, Kingston 10, after Baker found out about the school from a co-worker whose child attended the institution. At Adonijah for five years, Vejay's childhood passion for art has blossomed into a beacon of hope for his mother.

"When he was about four years old, he said to me 'Mommy, draw the crib'. I drew it and he said it was not complete; it was not finished. He took it from me and put in some details. When I look at it, I smiled, because I saw the details I had left out," Baker said.

Soon after Vejay did another drawing, this one depicting the same scene in the daytime and the night. In the night, the door was closed and cars parked; in the day, the sun was out and there were butterflies around.

first drawing

Vejay smiles when The Sunday Gleaner asked him what was the first thing he drew and, after a couple seconds, replied "a dog".

"I draw anything that I have in my head and try to remember it," Vejay said.

"He did a lot of art in his younger days, but I did not save them. He had lots of paper all over the house. It's a neighbour who said I should save them," said Baker.

Art's significance to Vejay is underscored by his reaction to being disturbed. "One of the worst times to get him angry is when you trouble him and his art," said mom.

Vejay has tried to sell his drawings, but said "I ask my teacher and other people but they haven't. I wonder if they would prefer me to give it for their birthday".

He is much more into arts than sports and told The Sunday Gleaner, "I don't like football that much. I like cricket and I like tennis a lot, but I have never played it", swinging his arms as he demonstrates "how you have to watch the ball and hit" in tennis.

Having seen her son go from not speaking to producing accurate drawings, Baker said "He was so slow I didn't believe he would come this far. Even on quiz one night I had to applaud him. The past students from Clarendon College could not answer the question and he did!".

And, as Vejay sits the Grade Nine Achievement Test next year, mother and son are both looking forward to a placement at St Andrew Technical High School. After that, the next step is art school at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts.

"I don't know where that will take him from there," Barker said.