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The Road to Success: WILL STUCKEY’S JOURNEY WITH AUTISM When you first meet Will Stuckey it is not hard to be captivated by his wit and bright personality. You could say he is somewhat of a legend as he walks the halls of the ACCESS Academy. Former teachers and therapists greet him with excitement wanting to reminisce of memories together. “Let’s let sleeping dogs lie,” Will professes in his deep, directive voice. You can tell he means business. He is eager to share of who he is today. At 16, he is a sophomore at Joe T. Robinson High School in Little Rock. He is an honor roll student and was recently invited to join the National Honor Society. “It’s multifactorial. It’s more than just grades, it is about one’s character and leadership skills,” his mother Ashley says. “We are proud of his participation in choir, band, beta club, guitar club and various social activities both at school and in church. We never envisioned that he would be thriving to this extent.” Ashley and Joe Stuckey think back to the “quiet, easy, laid-back baby” they once knew. “It was such a wonderful thing at the time,” Ashley reminisced, “but as he got a little
bigger we realized there was a reason he was so quiet.” By Will’s first birthday, they realized something was not quite right. At Will’s one-year checkup, the pediatrician was concerned about his speech development. With reservation, Ashley and Joe waited with uncertainty until a speech pathologist friend encouraged them to seek an evaluation. Ashley remembered, “His speech was not developing. He was making babbling sounds, maybe a word here and there.” Near his second birthday, they set up an evaluation with a speech pathologist. After just one or two sessions, “He literally started talking,” recalled Ashley. “One day he did not, the next day he did.” Will was discharged by the therapist. But the family made observations about his speech over the next few weeks. “It was a running monologue based on observation, but still no interactive communication,” Ashley shared. “He was describing everything in his mind, everything he would see, but it was difficult for him to request what he wanted.” Ashley remembered that they would be at the
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park and Will would run to play with the other children, but he could not figure out how to interact with them. “He had no idea what to do.” Around his third birthday, Ashley and Joe made an appointment at the Dennis Developmental Center, and Will was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. They started researching developmental preschools. Ashley said, “we were blown away by what we found at ACCESS.” Unfortunately, there was a waiting list. They took an opening at another center but Ashley recalled crying each day as she
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