AustismEDU, founded by Sharon Sexton was started in 2006. The company’s main focus is to create revolutionary educational software for the benefit of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD’s). Its mission is also to provide up to date information about Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD), which include Autism, Asperger’s Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), Rett’s Disorder and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD) via the worldwide web for families and professionals. It is also dedicated to helping parents obtain the best possible education for their children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders.

Mrs. Sharon Sexton is a parent of a child with an ASD as well as a professional. She holds a BA in Psychology from SUNY Stony Brook and a Masters of Science in Special Education from Dowling College. In addition, she has completed a three course graduate level certificate program from the University of Albany in Autism. She currently works part-time with young children with ASD’s and is in the process of applying to become a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA).

"Embracing Difference: Our Journey With Autism" Audio Slideshow

Please click here to view our new audio slideshow, entitled "Embracing Difference: Our Journey With Autism." To view the slideshow, you will need the Adobe Flash Player, which you can get by clicking here. The slideshow opens in a pop-up window. If you have a pop-up blocker, it may need to be temporarily disabled.

My Story

Autism was a word I knew very little about until my first child was born. William was born two weeks after his due date. I was finally induced into labor. After twenty-three hours of labor and only dilating 4 centimeters, William was delivered by Cesarean section. He was born on June 6, 1996, and weighed 9 lbs. 12 oz. and was 21 inches long. He was a big boy and
still is.

As an infant William rarely cried and was a very easy going baby. I remember him sleeping very well and also having some trouble sucking from his bottle. I thought nothing of it. I was told by my parents that I had the same temperament as a baby.

William walked by 1 year of age. I don’t think he ever really crawled. He started to use a couple of words at about this time and then just stopped. He rarely pointed to items or toys to get my joint attention. He was very happy watching his Disney videos, which he had memorized. He would act out scenes of the videos exactly as they were in the movies. Although he couldn’t read yet, I realized then that he had visual memory way beyond his years. He could tell you which video he wanted by just looking at the black words on the tape. He had memorized the visual layout of each of the videos. William was also a master at figuring things out with his hands. He operated the VCR and TV by the age of 1 ½ and was excellent with Puzzles.

At about 2, he taught himself how to navigate the windows operating system of a computer. William was a natural on the computer and still is. He learned quite a bit of academics from learning software such as Reader Rabbit, Disney Preschool, and Elmo’s Preschool.

At about the age of 2 ½, my husband and I decided to get him evaluated. Although, we thought that he was bright, we were very concerned with his language development. Although he could label items in his environment, he had a very difficult time putting words together and having a social conversation. He also had a lot of difficulty following directions, answering "WH" questions and communicating his needs. Needless to say he qualified for services.

Although one of his EI providers had once said to me he had Autistic tendencies, I didn’t really think he had Autism. William did not fit the image I had of Autism. He did not rock in the corner or engage in strange behavior. He did from time to time line up his cars, but it wasn’t an all-encompassing behavior. At home, he played with his Thomas the Tank Engine Trains, watched Disney videos and played games on his computer.

When his EI services lapsed, I decided to see how he would do in a typical pre-school program. He had a very rough time. He was on his own agenda for most of the school day and the teachers had a very difficult time getting him to join in with the group. I ended up pulling him out of the program and put him in a new program. I tried a local Tutor Time. He had a difficult time there also. He basically behaved in the same way he had at the other pre-school. The teachers though were very impressed with his academic skills. William could at that time label all his letters, upper and lower, numbers up to 20 and could read words. He was also doing pretty well with potty training. Tutor Time urged me to get him evaluated again. I did.

In October of 1999, a very nice man from Theracare agency came to our house to do the Psychological part of the Evaluation. It was at this time that the dreaded “A” word would finally hit home. He said that William is a bright boy with Autism. According to the CARS, an Autism rating scale, William had fallen in the mildly Autistic range. He had actually just made it on the scale. He had also said that William would “outgrow” most of it. That gave me a lot of hope. I don’t think that he realized how important those words were to me at that time. Those words would carry me through the next very difficult couple of years.

Needless to say, I was numb. While some people join organizations for support, that was not me. I needed to come to terms with it by myself and with my family. It was then that I began my extensive research on Autism. I felt a need to understand him. To understand why he didn’t learn the way typical kids did. After countless hours of reading and research and muddling through all the different terms out there such as hyperlexia, non-verbal learning disability, semantic pragmatic disorder, ADHD, etc., I was finally at peace. I was ready to now do something about his disability.

I read “Let Me Hear Your Voice” by Catherine Maurice. This was an eye-opener for me. At this time I realized that William was not getting the type of education he needed to learn and succeed. Following his evaluation in October of 1999, William was placed in a self-contained program at a local preschool for children with disabilities. He was not getting any ABA services. His speech teacher had been working on the concepts same/different for months with little progress. I knew then that he needed to be taught language using the principle of ABA in a one-to-one setting.

Now, William was almost 5 years old and was falling more and more behind. The district finally agreed to 20 hours a week of ABA therapy for William. He was also taken out of the self-contained setting and placed in an integrated setting at the same pre-school. William's progress sky-rocketed. He was now learning at an alarming pace. It was difficult keeping up with his program book. I was determined to move him as quickly as possible. He had already lost so much time. Ken and I worked at generalizing the new concepts he had learned during formal instruction into the natural setting. William did wonderfully. I couldn’t believe the results.

William is now 9 ½ years old and is a fourth grader in his home school. He is mainstreamed in all classes and has been since kindergarten. He communicates well and is working on grade level with few accommodations. He does still receive speech therapy in school for his pragmatic skills and also receives resource room services. Overall, William is doing extremely well. He takes the ELAs like everyone else and participates in band and chorus. At this point, his major deficits lie in the social domain. Although he can have a conversation with you, his ability to understand other people’s intentions, understand figurative speech/idioms, and naturally pick-up on our social customs are still difficult for him. He does however look for clarification often from us. For example, recently he asked me what the phrase “rock bottom” meant. He heard it being used in a TV commercial and didn’t understand how it was being used.

William has inspired me to think outside the box. He has made me question many of the things that we all sort of do just because everyone else does it. William is not as motivated to “fit in” as the rest of us are. He actually sees the world much more clearly than most of us do. He is not tainted by all the restrictions placed on how we “should” behave or think. William is very “real”. There is not a “fake” bone in him. I love that about him. I wish that more people were like that. He is William through and through and I love him for it.