Layden's Lineup

By Jessica Wray

At the ripe age of 3, the only things greater than the smell of fresh cut grass and the freedom of the great outdoors is a good movie – Monster’s Inc. – and the vibrant color orange.

Layden Vaughn loves his trampoline. The small, one-person contraption rests in the living room, and his mom says he can’t get enough of it.

On Facebook, there’s a video of Layden – small snapshots of his personality shown in bouncy, chaotic energy that only toddlers know how to harness, and a cute, cheeky smile. He does this little dance, with his hands on his hips, his upper body waving back and forth to an unheard beat playing in his head.

In one part of the video, Layden cradles two handfuls of toys carefully, like every child does in the ever-frustrating process of having to move your toys to the perfect play spot. He hugs them close to his chest, the Monster’s Inc. action figures sticking out in all sorts of angles from his small hands.

He sets them down on the table, his perfect play spot.

But Layden doesn’t make any noises. He doesn’t bang them together in an unseen battle between Mike, the one-eyed monster, and the big, blue and purple-spotted Monster’s Inc. character.

Instead, they’re lined up carefully. In a perfect, neat little row.

Because, his mom says, Layden doesn’t play with toys. He never has.

At 12 months, she said, he was on track with other children his age physically, but wouldn’t talk, nor would he try too. High anxiety in social situations – even with family – gave her another reason to suspect something might be off about her little boy.

At 18 months, Layden’s line of toys began in earnest.

When Layden was almost 2-years-old, his mother, Rachelle Vaughn, 26, took him to a pediatrician, where the doctor put her in touch with First Steps, an Indiana program that works with very young children. They told Vaughn Layden had a sensory processing disorder – a disorder that effects how the nervous system takes in and decodes messages through the senses, and transmits to motor skills and appropriate behavior.

“They said that he qualified to have them work with him until he was 3,” Vaughn said. “They worked with him for a whole year. He had speech, occupational therapy, and developmental therapy.”

Each therapy session, she said, was once a week for an hour. She noticed improvement, but had always wondered if there was a different explanation for Layden’s problems.

“When he turned three, it was actually almost a year ago, it was at his big meeting,” Vaughn said. “(His therapists said) that he, without a doubt, had autism.”

One in every 88 American children are on the autism spectrum, autismspeaks.org says. Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD, is a general term for various complex developmental brain disorders. And on the Autism Society of Indiana webpage, they say the numbers are higher – “according to a new government report that found that 1 out of every 50 school-age children – roughly one on every school bus – has the condition,” the website says.

  According to autismspeaks.org, a website dedicated to the national advocacy and awareness for autism, says “these disorders are characterized, in varying degrees, by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors. They include autistic disorder, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified , known as PDD-NOS, and Asperger syndrome.”  

Since Layden received a straightforward diagnosis from his therapists saying he has autism, it’s been an uphill battle for the Vaughn and her husband, who also have a 2-year-old son, Cooper.

The problem, she said, isn’t that there aren’t any programs for autistic children in her area, or that there isn’t anyone willing to help – it’s about finding ways to pay for treatment.

“He just recently got into ABA therapy. Before that, as soon as he turned 3 last fall, he started in developmental preschool, because we couldn’t get him into ABA therapy with our state insurance,” Vaughn said.

ABA therapy, or Applied Behavior Analysis, is a treatment commonly used for children with autism. Behavior analysis works with how learning takes place. A common tool used in ABA is positive reinforcement.

One exercise his therapist uses with Layden, Vaughn said, includes giving Layden a snack or a toy, and telling him he has to wait to pick it up or go to it.

“He’s up to 10 seconds,” Rachelle said.

And she was proud. For Layden, who is energetic and always moving, 10 seconds is a huge accomplishment.

But paying for this kind of treatment is pricey.

Vaughn said she called everyone. No one was willing to help her, she said. Their insurance company would tell them to call someone else, and then someone else again. It was a never ending circle of run-around phone calls.

So, she said, they had to get off state insurance, and they went with a private company instead.

Now they pay for insurance out-of-pocket. It’s what they need for Layden’s therapy, and to keep seeing him progress, she said.

And progress he has.

Franklin College student Morgan McClellan, a junior journalism major and Layden’s aunt, said Layden has made strides since starting his therapy.

When he eats, she said, he’ll take one bite of a chicken nugget, run around for a minute, and then come back to the table to take another bite.

But now, she said, “He’ll be able to sit at lunch for 25 minutes.”

And that’s not all.

For a child who wouldn’t speak, and didn’t seem to want to try a year and a half ago, Layden now says short, fragmented sentences, that he enunciates pretty well, Vaughn said.

“He has started talking. He communicates what he wants with words now,” Vaughn said.

And the shining moment for her, she said, was something many other parents take for granted.

“Love you, mom mom,” he said, in a clear voice, not disjointed or higher pitched like his broken speech had been previously.

It was his “I love you,” in the clear voice of Layden, something Vaughn had never heard before.

“I cried, and I held him for like an hour. I knew it was in there.””

The therapy has been working, she said, and she hopes more people come to understand what autism looks like, and know that it’s different for everybody.

“I don’t want to change who Layden is,” Vaughn said.

And McClellan agrees.

Him lining up his toys, she said, she thinks is his way to cope. It’s something that he’s figured out how to do on his own.

It’s not just autism awareness any more, it’s autism acceptance, and autism appreciation. You shouldn’t just be aware of it and try to fix it. Autism isn’t something that I believe anymore should be cured,” she said.

At the recent lecture given by Elaine Hall, “Parenting a child with special needs: A spiritual journey,” junior Natalie Miller asked Hall a question and addressed the crowd. Her insight into autism comes from a special relationship with the topic. Miller has autism.

“I feel that what’s between our ears and what’s inside our ribcage is more important than a doctor’s diagnosis,” she said.

She asked Hall, “How do you get neuro-typical people to try and enter your world?”

“I know my entire life I’ve had to look at the real world and I’m glad that I do have the insights that I have, but it’s my world and how I perceive things. And it’s like people treat it as if it doesn’t matter. No one takes the time to really try to see where I’m coming from. I can tell from how they’re talking, they’re wanting to get it over with. I feel this almost every single day, with even people I know care, and it hurts me. How do you get people to understand you when they’re not interested to begin with?”

In response, after a moment of silence, Hall said it’s time to “stop looking at the deficits, and start looking at the assets.”

It’s the things Layden does that people consider is autism that makes McClellan see his special gifts.

“You slowly figure out that all the things that they do that are autism, are the cute things they do. Things that you don’t want them to ever change. I think the most important thing to know is that for people who have autism, they shouldn’t be any different than who they are.”

Vaughn, McClellan, and their family have started a fundraiser as part of Autism Speak’s awareness campaign, a walk in Indianapolis June 15.

Those interested in donating, or learning a little bit about Layden and his family, can check out their Facebook page.

Their team is named Layden’s Lineup.