This guest post is by Brayden Velez, a young man on the autism spectrum who aspires to seek out to attend West Texas A&M. Brayden is applying for the Spring 2025 Making a Difference Autism Scholarship via the nonprofit KFM Making a Difference started by me, Kerry Magro. I was nonverbal till 2.5 and diagnosed with autism at 4 and you can read more about my organization here.
Autistics on Autism the Next Chapter: Stories You Need to Hear About What Helped Them While Growing Up and Pursuing Their Dreams will be released on Amazon on 3/25/25 and looks at the lives over 75 Autistic adults. 100% of the proceeds from this book will go back to supporting our nonprofits many initiatives, like this scholarship program. Check out the book here.
I have autism and I am autistic. These words are what I have heard in my Impact class. Having autism has been a challenge all throughout my life. My mom told me I was a happy baby and always had a huge smile when I took pictures. Then, around 18 months old, my smile kinda went away. When I went for checkups, the doctor noticed that I wasn’t making eye contact with her. She told my mom that she could refer me to another doctor to consider testing me, but my mom thought that I would be OK. Then, the teachers at my daycare noticed that I wasn’t socializing with other kids during the activities. The daycare offered to bring in people that could test me, and that’s what happened. The tests confirmed that I was on the autism spectrum. I was diagnosed at age 3. Also, I was nonverbal until I was nearly 5 years old. I couldn’t communicate with the kids or my teachers. That is why I started having the meltdowns.
Quickly, all the therapies and home visits started. The home visits gave my parents the support they needed to be able to help me to begin to communicate with them and others. I used picture cards and sign language. Daily routines were set up for me. Routine and schedules are important to me even today. One of the therapists gave my mom some very helpful advice. The advice to change up my routine sometimes is a challenge for me because real life isn’t routine. This has helped me to be flexible and open to change.
Yes, it’s true having autism comes with a bundle of characteristics that are hard to hide like stimming, echolalia, lack of eye contact, being sensitive to loud noises & lack of communication skills, especially with my peers and teachers in social situations or to seek help for myself in a classroom.
The most difficult obstacle for me is knowing what to say when trying to keep conversations going with my peers in group settings. So making friends is difficult because most of the time, I really like to be by myself. Group projects in classes are not my favorite because I don’t want to be made fun of, but I have made speeches and it has been scary, but has turned out OK. When I have golf tournaments and miss school, I am always ready to catch up on my missing assignments and now I do reach out to my teachers on my own.
Echolalia is another strong characteristic that I deal with to this day. I usually do this after I’ve seen an awesome movie which I am a big movie fan. Or the noises in new or old video games stay with me. Also, when I’m trying to listen to information that I need to remember, t I do repeat it as soon as I hear it. My head is full of the script or noises, and I repeat it over and over to myself. In school, this became a problem because my noise making was becoming a distraction to other students. There were times that my teachers would send me to the Impact room. I had to work hard to get this under control so that I could stay in all my classes and I did it.
I am sensitive to loud noises and have always been. I do wear headphones in school because high school halls and the cafeteria can be very loud. At one time, I moved outside and ate all alone. The noise in the cafeteria was just too much for me. That lasted for a while but now I’m back inside with my headphones and eating with my friend. Another big accomplishment, I went to a City Prom. There was going to be a dance with a DJ. I took my headphones, but after I got there I decided to send my headphones home with my mom. I wanted to see if I could do without them at a dance. I did it and I rated the night a 10, and it was awesome!
One huge plus in my life and part of my school schedule since fifth grade has been Impact class and the Impact Program. Impact class has taught me communication skills, how to problem solve social situations that I face, and how to be a strong leader. After I finish my work, I always try to help my classmates who are having any problems with their work. Most of all, it has always been a safe place for me to go whenever I get overwhelmed or sad and I’m able to talk with my teacher, Ms. Carter.
In my life, I have been told that I have the gift of uniqueness , I have always had strong and loving parents, grandparents, and siblings who have always been there for me. Every year, I have always looked forward to the next school year and I am working on planning my education after high school graduation. I need to continue to embrace my autism with all my heart because there will always be obstacles in my life that I will face. Something that is very important, that I learned in Impact is you must learn to be a strong self advocate for yourself so that you can feel accomplished when any job is done. This includes many positive affirmations to myself every day because I know not everything is easy because sometimes failure is the way to success.
Kerry Magro, a professional speaker and best-selling author who is also on the autism spectrum started the nonprofit KFM Making a Difference in 2011 to help students with autism receive scholarship aid to pursue a post-secondary education. Help us continue to help students with autism go to college by making a tax-deductible donation to our nonprofit here.
Also, consider having Kerry, one of the only professionally accredited speakers on the spectrum in the country, speak at your next event by sending him an inquiry here. If you have a referral for someone who many want him to speak please reach out as well! Kerry speaks with schools, businesses, government agencies, colleges, nonprofit organizations, parent groups and other special events on topics ranging from employment, how to succeed in college with a learning disability, internal communication, living with autism, bullying prevention, social media best practices, innovation, presentation best practices and much more!
