When Jordy Williams was born, mother Carol [Gordash] Williams and father James Williams, along with big sister Amber, were living in Calgary.

Carol started to notice Jordy was different from other children, and says when he was around 18 months, she was reading an article about autism in a family magazine, and realized that Jordy had six of the eight signs of the disorder.

“I’d never heard of autism,” she says. “Other than hearing people talk about the movie Rain Man.”

Williams was referred to a specialist, who confirmed the diagnosis, but she still didn’t fully understand what the disorder was, or how best to help Jordy.

Now, many years later, she understands more of what Jordy goes through on a daily basis.

“It’s like sensory overload all the time,” she explains. “Say you’re riding a bus. You can hear the bus, the people in the bus with you, other cars on the road, and perhaps a siren. Your brain can distinguish the different levels of sound, and filter out those that don’t matter to you, but Jordy’s can’t. For him, it’s all at the same level, and it’s overwhelming.”

Next time you’re at the grocery store, stop and listen to every sound, and imagine them all coming at you at the same level.

“Jordy used to cry as soon as we were in the lot of Canadian Tire,” she says, “and I didn’t realize why, but it’s the smell from all the tires and automotive equipment. It’s overpowering to him.”

Many times, Williams didn’t have the luxury of shopping without him, and often it just became too much for Jordy, he would become overloaded and start to cry and act out.

“It was a learning curve for all of us,” she says, “we learned coping skills.”

Someone explained it to her as the feeling of having 1,000 ants running up and down your arms.

Not only did Jordy have a sensitive brain, but he was also suffering with a sensitive digestive system.

“It was talking to other parents in waiting rooms where we learned the most,” she says.

As a parent you reach out to everything you can to help your child. Williams says she consulted with a naturopath, someone who practices a form of traditional and alternative medicine that includes diet and nutrition, herbalism, among others.

“I found out that autistic children’s brains can’t process proteins well,” she says. Modifying Jordy’s diet also helped to ease some of the digestive problems that plagued him for the first five years of his life.

“That made such a huge difference,” she says.

When Jordy was three, he started to attend a special needs class in Renfrew for a half-day daily.

“We had door-to-door bus service, with the same driver all the time,” she says, which helped Jordy remain comfortable.

He attended that school until he was ready for Grade 1.

“In Calgary, after kindergarten,” Williams says, “Jordy just fell through the cracks. I found out after Renfrew, you’re on your own.

Williams was on the verge of placing Jordy into a separate school (with 900+ students) when a public school finally called saying they had a place for him to start Grade 1.

To get to this school, Jordy now had to travel on a regular school bus, with a different driver every day. “Some were late, some were early, it was always different, and that was upsetting; routine is very important to Jordy.

“I remember vividly one instance where he didn’t get home after school until after 5 p.m.

“School finished at 3:30, and he was almost always home at 3:50, but that day, he didn’t show up.

“I was out of my mind with worry,” she says. “He can’t talk, and I didn’t know where he was.

“I didn’t know if he’d gotten off the bus at the wrong stop, never got on the bus, and the bus company just kept telling me he’d be home soon.

“At one point I was on the phone with the driver, who told me, ‘I’m here, on your street,’ to which she replied ‘I’m standing in the middle of my street, and you’re nowhere in sight!’”

Williams said the school there put all their special needs children together in the same program. “It was called the Connections class,” she says. Jordy’s class would join the other Grade 1 and Grade 2 classes during certain activities.

“In hindsight, I realize that integrating with another very loud group of strangers wasn’t in Jordy’s best interests.”

Before Jordy could talk, Carol worked with him using pictures, and hand signs to help him communicate.

“For Jordy, talking is like having a clothes dryer full of words, spinning, and trying to pick the right ones,” she says.

Finally, the family came to the realization that Calgary was not the place for Jordy, and they moved to Sedgewick, where Carol had lived for many years before.

“I called the school when we arrived in Sedgewick,” Williams says, “and since then, they’ve just gone above and beyond anything we expected.”

Williams says it’s not just the school who have been supportive, “the other students are outstanding. Everyone knows Jordy.”

CHSPS Learning Facilitator Liz Weber says that his transitional year was spent with Debbie Higginson and Penny Raynard, “who made him feel safe and comfortable. Educational Assistants Shiella Kobsar and Marie MacLeod have been with him a long time.

“They know his strengths and his challenges, and they have played a huge role in his development.

“Jordy has been at this school longer than I have, and I credit his success to the past Learning Facilitator, the teachers, our admin, but most of all… the aides, we call them Educational Assistants.

“All of our EAs are amazing, not just the ones who work with Jordy. They are one of our best resources and are integral to the success of our students at CHSPS,” she adds.

Jordy, now in High School, has had the same classroom his entire time at CHSPS, something Williams appreciates.

“As far as I know, Jordy is the school’s first autistic student,” she says, amazed at how intuitive his learning has been.

Weber says, “Now that Jordy is in High School, we wanted to provide him with opportunities that would prepare him for life after High School. “We started having team meetings in the spring, and have since met this fall as well.

“Jordy has an awesome team supporting him: his parents, teachers, EAs, learning facilitator, and AHS therapy workers, among others.

“As a team, we set some goals, and discussed strategies and opportunities that would help Jordy reach those goals.

“This year, Jordy is immersed in a wide variety of experiences and learning opportunities.

“He joins Math, Social Studies, and English class with his peers for part of the day.

“In class he participates, completes his own work, and interacts with the students and teacher, Mr. MacEachern.

“Two times a week he joins the Home Ec. classroom; he participates in demos, completes assignments, and is a valuable member of his cooking group.”

Weber says Jordy also does a lot of work within the school: he does paper recycling, bottle recycling, deliveries, concession duties, and cleaning, and soon, he will be assisting with the Milk program, too.

Brenda Herder, Battle River School Division’s Manager of Inclusive Education says, “At BRSD we really do believe in the vision of ‘Every Student, Every Day, A Success.

“CHSPS has embraced this child and tailored a program to fit his needs, instead of trying to make the child fit the school.

“That’s what it means for a school to be student centred.”

New this year, Jordy has begun working at the Wild Rose Co-op grocery store in Sedgewick two to three times a week.

“At the store he has numerous duties like facing (turning labels to the front), stocking shelves, and cardboard recycling.

“He is a valued worker, and even has his own t-shirt and name tag.

“Jordy works at the Co-op during his time with our EA Stephanie Bell,” Weber says.

“Interestingly, Stephanie worked at the Co-op when she was in high school as well; so she was the perfect person for the job!”

“Jordy has four main EAs; they are Shiella, Marie, Kristen, and Stephanie; however, all of our EAs spend time, and work with Jordy throughout the year, and make a big impact on his learning.”

Williams says that Jordy is a big movie fan, he has collected movies for many years.

“He watches them once, then files them in order, he has more than a thousand movies, but he knows if any of them have been disturbed, or if his sister has borrowed one.”

Jordy then replays the movies in his head, repeating the dialogue word for word. “He knows that there is no movie talk allowed at school, though,” says Mom.

Jordy has grown into a tall, handsome young man, with no outward signs of illness.

“That’s something that worries me,” Williams says. “He looks completely normal, but he still can’t cross the street on his own. We’ve taught him to point across to the other side to indicate that he wants to cross, but he just points and goes, without regard to traffic.”

Jordy will definitely face some challenges ahead, but Williams feels that the school has given him a very well-rounded education thus far.

The Williams family feels that they made a very good decision when they returned to Sedgewick, and they are very appreciative to all at CHSPS, the Co-op, and the community for all their support!