Dear Mike, I have a 5 year old son, CJ, with Autism. It has been a long struggle in raising him with special needs. There are no words that can convey how much "Dirty Jobs" has brought life into my son. He is much more conversational with positive behavioral changes. He asks me every day if he can watch "Mr. Mike" and talks about you often. We recently took him on an ATV ride...he looked back at me and said, "MY name is CJ and this is my Job...now let's get dirty!!!" He then smears mud all over my jacket and laughed. That's the first time I saw him laugh in 5 years. I didn't know whether to laugh or have tears of joy to see him "light up". I also attended OVERLEA '86 and worked with your brother Phil at the YMCA.
I must thank you from the depths of my being how much you have helped him break out of his "SHELL".
Does that mean you're going to be in MD next week, Mike? You should stop by Chestertown, just across the bay, and say hi to my mom and grandma. They don't know who you are, but they have crab boils every weekend. You like crab right?
My niece is autistic, and I have experience working with autistic children, so I really do know that when something like this happens, when a child is reached in a way that they never were before, no words can really describe how overjoyed you feel.
To laugh for the first time in five years is quite an accomplishment and I can only imagine the gratification you feel toward Mike.
It doesn't surprise me that Mike could make something like this happen. That is a great gift he has given you.
Best wishes for you and CJ, I hope one day he does get the chance to meet Mike.
The high school I went to back home was a "teaching school" which meant we took on students with various "capabilities" including autism and they were a blast to go to school with. To help them socialize they would participate in fund raisers where they made bracelets with our names on them and then delivered them to our classes. I took it for granted at the time, but having special needs students in my school probably helped me as much it helped them.
Arica I hope CJ does get to run into Mike next week, he's great with kids (from what I've seen)
