Tyson is a passionate videographer. He makes flipagrams, creating short films through editing, effects, and voice-overs. Sometimes, the videos take up to a week to complete as Tyson makes between 200-300 stills. He is a self-taught overachiever and will watch one of his favorite cartoon episodes, then memorize it. Tyson has a photographic memory which allows him to recall the lines at a quicker rate than the average person. Then using figurines, Tyson moves them inch by inch and shot by shot, precisely positioning the characters to construct the flipagram. Then, he produces the loop-over and voice overs for every character, re-shooting the film over and over and over until the finished product is designed to his delightful specifications. Videography is not only Tyson’s niche, but also relaxation therapy.
Hardships and fears persist but Tyson continues to make monumental strides every year. One involves his ability to manage frustration. He is now better equipped to express himself emotionally, and his once frequent lash-outs happen less often. Tyson has the self-awareness to realize when he is about to get “stuck,” and instead of letting the overload fester, he can voice how he wants to react when the frustration creeps in.
“I will tell you: I have cried,” Taneka explained. “Sometimes when he is trying to work on his flipagram and he is trying to be creative, he will get stuck and not realize he is getting stuck. He will walk into the living room, and he has the glassy eyes, and he goes and sits on Todd’s lap, because Todd is the one now that has the back rub, the conversation: ‘I don’t want you to cry. We can do this in a different way. Tell me if you are angry, tell me if you are mad and talk about it.’ He gets so frustrated and will come down and say, ‘Mommy, I’m stuck.’ So, I say, ‘What are we going to do? Are we going to cry it out or talk it out?’ He will go sit with Todd or call Todd on the phone, or he wants to cry it out, but the fact that he understands that it is happening is huge. Because, before he didn’t know what was going on. Back then, it would happen more often than not because he couldn’t talk. He fights through it.”
The other eclipsed milestone is Tyson no longer bolts from safety. Autism itself does not affect life expectancy, however research shows that the mortality risk among individuals on the spectrum is twice as high as the general population, in large part due to drownings and other accidents among children. Darting is an…
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