Letter from a Parent of A Child with Autism

Dearest Maryellen,

I have a 6.5 year old son who has high functioning Autism. His Test of Narrative Language is at 3% for both receptive and expressive components. I introduced the Story Grammar Marker^® to him this week and we went over the book “Big Al” by Andrew Clements together a couple of times, as described in your new book “It’s All About the Story.”

I am thrilled to tell you that at dinner time a couple of days later, we were talking about our “ho-hum” day, and I mentioned to my husband that I got a headache in the morning. My son took over and said: “That was a kick-off!”  I was shocked to see how quickly he grasped the tool that he calls “Grandma's Story Marker” :-).  I then proceeded to ask him how I felt, he said “bad,” and that my plan was “to feel good.”  I prompted him with a question: “What did I try to do to feel better?”  He was able to list that I “took an Advil, drank some coffee,” and that “as a result,” my headache went away.  I then asked him how I felt after that, and he said: “Better...and that's the little heart after the tie!” I cannot believe how powerful the Story Grammar Marker^® is! My son was not able to retell an experience logically, partially due to my inability to prompt him properly. The tool helped us both. Thank you so very much!

Today, my son retold the story “Big Al” for the first time using his student SGM^®, with prompting such as “who,” “one day,” etc. He had a smile on his face after he was done! I think for the very first time he truly got the “big picture” of a whole story.

I have watched your DVD and read both Autism books, “It’s All About the Story” & “Making Connections,” that I purchased in the kit at the Social Thinking Providers’ Conference. I feel that the Story Grammar Marker^® can really help many kids like my son. I am motivated to keep on learning and spread the word!

Thank you again and best regards,

Sunny T., San Francisco, CA