Autism to Brilliance
The Blake Cochran Story
He is a beautiful child with blonde hair, blue eyes, and symmetrical features. Blake Cochran's mother Clair was desperate to find help for her eldest son. At two years of age, Blake became autistic and went through a quick spiral downward into his black hole where his vocabulary dropped dramatically to no more than 15 words. He would have no eye contact, would not point, laugh and ultimately became mute and non-responsive.
Clair and her husband went through a time of denial and then grieving; however, the two quickly realized they would have to make a new commitment to Blake with new lower expectations. They revived with a deeper commitment and affirmation that they would do whatever it took to find help to flip the switch and see Blake wake up.
Clair describes their ordeal with tears and tenderness. "My husband and I started our battle by enrolling Blake in the University of Tennessee Pediatric Program until the age of four when we transitioned to the Bill Wilkerson Center of Vanderbilt University. As we worked with various professionals, local and regionally, it became apparent the best results were coming from those professionals which possessed a positive and optimistic attitude where above all, they challenged Blake by not giving in."
At this point, the couple looked for more ideas to help Blake, and they became intrigued with one therapist who was unlike any of the others. Karen Pryor, a licensed physical therapist known for taking unique approaches to children with Downs Syndrome, Spinabiffada and Autism, seemed to be making the best progress with an out of the box approach where she took an unusual amount of time to get to know Blake without forcing the relationship. She stressed to Clair that every child is unique and especially those with challenges brought on by handicap and Blake presented Karen with signs of waking up to life outside his own parameters. Autism is, as defined in the dictionary, "mental state by disregard to external reality" and Clair realized that Karen really clued into this trait and realized that Blake could very well be cognizant, even though he did not respond, speak, look or point toward external happenings.
Karen Pryor is a spunky, energetic and sincerely dedicated therapist who worked with Blake in the school he attended during the summer of 2005 and Clair also brought Blake to Pryor's holistic physical therapy clinic as well. "I learned early on that Blake was very particular with the foods he would eat although he rarely refused candy offered as reward for cooperative behavior," said Pryor. "I quickly realized he was very intelligent. He would recite the Superman and Thomas the Train movies. He often used different voices for the different characters, as well as talking to the unseen. His mind seemed to flow on several tracks at the same time.
One day my 25-year-old son, Jett, and I worked together with Blake in the gym at the clinic. I asked Jett to use his intuitive abilities to reach Blake. I felt that if Blake could just wake up from this parallel dimension, he would be able to function within our society. After a short amount of time, Jett said Blake could not interpret his surroundings and felt fearful about what may be safe, what was real and what was not. Blake could demonstrate echolalia. Jett felt this repeated behavior appeared frequently because Blake heard the words and he felt safe to repeat them."
Karen and Jett agreed that Blake might be one individual who can see and hear in at a wider frequency spectrum than most. They explain why people continually asked Blake "What are you doing?" or "Why are you talking to space?" Karen continues, "In reality, we are the limited beings. Blake is able to receive the information from a computer screen or a television. We wondered if we could design a type of mega pixel clothing for him that would enable him to pay more attention to a teacher."
Jett explains that in order to engage someone that sees the world in a completely different way may be similar to someone on a psychedelic drug such as an acid trip. He suggested trying a few things to capture the interest of Blake's illusive mind. "We would think he was busy with a therapeutic activity, when something else would happen to gain a reasonable response from Blake." Karen continues. "Jett and I, being of like mind – many tracks – decided to incorporate several activities with Blake. Jett was the engineer of activities on this particularly miraculous day. Thomas the Train video was playing on the television. For the kinesthetic hunger, we placed Blake on a stationary bike. He is quite athletic. Blending with the illusion and reflection of the mental images in Blake's mind, Jett encouraged him to blow bubbles. The combination of activities seemed to open a veil for Blake and gave him a glimpse of our dimension we presently live in. He was conversant, logical, looked at us directly and smiled. We wondered if this practice could be applied to others with autism. We decided to share the experience we had with Clair and the teachers in his school." Karen remembers.
"We talked to Clair and told her of our thoughts and activities we wanted her to incorporate in Blake's daily life. We guided her to ask Blake questions about what he sees or hears and to remain open and non-judgmental. She agreed to our plan, feeling all the time that Blake would "wake up" into our dimension. We all believed he would be able to learn, talk, and relay his needs and express emotion. Even though we asked permission to work with Blake in seemly unconventional ways, Clair had confidence in our years of experience with pediatrics and trusted we would do our best."
The team customized an individual program for Blake that contained elements of sensory stimulation combined simultaneously with visual and kinesthetic activities. Bake reacted with increased attention and seemed bored or uninterested when treated otherwise.
The next school year was a challenging one. Karen asked Blake's teacher to reward him in other ways besides candy; however, the teacher did not change the behavior. Clair did restrict the sweets at home. Karen suggested the integrated multisensory therapy approach to his teachers and they replied they did not have that kind of time. She hoped they would use their approach with all of the delayed children and replace the less productive activity time, such as sitting in front of a puzzle or a piece of paper and expecting the child to attend to task without direct help.
Karen saw Blake two times a week the 2005-06 school years. They worked together on the multisensory dimensional therapy program called Parallel Play. There was a great deal of time, respect, listening, and supporting Blake's attempts to relay information and communication with his family and with Karen. He ultimately learned additional skills in relating to other children and communication and showed good progress. Karen and Jett had great hope that he would soon wake up.
Karen said "On a Thursday morning in October 2006, Clair caught my arm and said with tears brimming in her eyes, 'You were right. You were right about Blake, he is awakening. With your therapy and direction, he will be able to learn and function. I just wanted to thank you for helping him, not giving up, directing others who worked with him and giving me my son.' I was overwhelmed with emotion and gratefulness. I thanked her for being compliant with the program, which may have seemed far-fetched. I also appreciate Clair believing in my mission and me with children. We hugged and congratulated each other for Blake's victory."
A proud and enthusiastic Clair Cochran confirms, "Today, Blake is in a regular classroom with a teacher's aide to assist him. The social opportunities to interact with other children have made a world of difference in Blake. It is quite evident in his desire to attend school, be more independent and most importantly, the frequent smiles that come across his face when popping my head in the door of his homeroom, warm my heart and make me so very grateful. Blake is also proud! We are thankful that Karen strongly suggested we push Blake to be in a normal setting two years ago and finally we were able to convince the school system to allow this as it was in Blake's best interest."
Karen Pryor urges everyone to understand that each child is as individual as his or her face, fingerprints, learning potential, and function. "Blake and my own son, Jett, taught me to be open to the brilliance in every individual. For them, it was as easy as A, B, C."
Karen Pryor owns Health Sphere Wellness Center with offices in McMinnville, Bellevue and her primary location is in Brentwood, TN. Each year she works diligently to come up with new games, methods of treatment and ways to stimulate children to grow and overcome many of the hindrances of their handicap. She has seen Downs Syndrome children advance ahead of their ages…a Spinabiffada baby walk and Blake Cochran wake up. "I can treat adults every day all day long and it's a good thing to see them quickly recover from bulging disks and all types of pain causing injuries and ailments. However, it's when I get the opportunity to work with the children that I am blessed because the good that can come for them is for a lifetime."
Karen Pryor can be reached for questions at Health Sphere Wellness Center in Brentwood. (615.376.7876)
To have Dr. Karen Pryor speak at your event, email kpryor@caringhealthsource.com.