Raising Davis: One Family’s Journey with Autism

The beautiful brown-eyed baby boy never slept through the night. He never looked at his mother who would hold him and rock him for hours as he cried. Before he was two years old, Davis Hampton Shelton was diagnosed with autism.

Catherine, ‘00, and Jason Shelton began what has already been a long journey with their son, now four, with some of the worst fears and most diffi cult questions any parents could imagine. They also began without many resources to help them.

“It was horrible,” Catherine said. “Nobody could tell me where to go and what to do. I was trying to fi nd someone to tell me what my son needed, and there was nobody there. I just stayed online for hours searching for answers.

“Unless you live with it, you can’t imagine the frustrations—the tantrums, the not sleeping. You can tell he’s miserable, but he can’t tell you what’s wrong.”

But the Sheltons never gave up hope. Today, Catherine proudly plays a video clip of her son in his newly found four-year-old voice correctly identifying the color green.

“I thought he would never talk,” Catherine said. “I just cry every time I hear a word. It’s been four years, and I had never heard that little voice. When he puts his hand on my face and says ‘mamma’—that keeps me going. It’s just little steps.”

The little steps take big effort. With autism, early intervention and intensive therapy are key. Davis receives 35-40 hours of specialized therapy every week.

“We do everything we can to keep him in our world and not let him get into his,” Catherine said. “I don’t ever want to look back and wish I had done more for my son.”

One of the keys to Davis’ success has been a carefully controlled diet. It took the Sheltons time and research to determine that gluten severely impacts Davis’ ability to sleep. They are also working with their son to get him to eat a larger variety of foods. For now he will only eat foods with a crunchy texture.

“For two years he never slept,” Jason said. “We had him on formula and later on Pediasure which his system reacted to in a similar way that people react to morphine. Once we took him off of certain foods, the difference was tremendous. If he has gluten, he doesn’t sleep for two days.”

“People don’t realize that with autism you have to heal the whole body,” Catherine added. “The changes we see in Davis when he is getting the proper nutritional balance are unreal.”

The Sheltons would love to share the lessons they’ve learned about diet, therapy and hope. “A lot of parents of autistic children don’t want to talk about it, but I’ll spend days with anyone who wants to talk to me,” Catherine said.

For those of us who are not directly impacted by autism, the Sheltons hope that by getting to know Davis we will all better understand autistic children.

“I don’t want anybody to ever put Davis down,” Catherine said. “People stare at some of his behavior, and I know they are thinking ‘he’s a brat.’ I just wish people had a better understanding of autism. Davis is different, but he’s wonderful. He’s loving. He’s happy. He has a chance at a great future.”

Averett Introduces Program to Help Meet Needs of Autistic Children

When Hampton Wilkins’, ‘73, ‘87, grandson, Davis Hampton Shelton, was diagnosed with autism a dream began to take shape.

“We look back and think how nice it would have been to have a resource center to walk in and say ‘I think my son is autistic, what do I do? Where do I turn?’” Wilkins said.

If Wilkins has his wish, the parents and teachers of autistic children will soon be able to fi nd resources at Averett. Wilkins is helping to raise funds and spearhead the plan for the Averett Center for Excellence in Autism Education. With a strong teacher education program already in place, the program is a natural fi t for Averett and clearly addresses a regional need.

Virginia is tied for fi rst in the nation in the number of autism cases per capita. A recent survey of 314 Danville and Pittsylvania County teachers report having a child with autism in their classroom at some point during their teaching careers. Yet training opportunities for teaching autistic students are limited. Eighty-percent of survey respondents indicate that they have had no instruction over the past fi ve years in teaching autistic students.

In response to this need, Averett will begin offering graduate level classes this fall for certifi ed teachers who desire to learn the best practices for teaching students with autism. The curriculum consists of a three course, nine credit hour program that involves both classroom study and hands-on work in the fi eld. Future plans call for the creation of a resource center and an on-site teaching lab.

“We all pray that Davis will some day be in the mainstream educational system,” Wilkins said. “We don’t know what his capabilities are, but we have seen tremendous improvement. We hope one day that Davis will graduate from Averett and have a family of his own. The creation of this resource center at Averett will help many parents and autistic children see their dreams come true.”