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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018
Life With Our “Artistic” Child By Kami-Leigh Agard
Meet William Hernandez, The Artistic 'Autist'
When local autism mom warrior, Yvonne Colon, posted a Facebook video of her son, William Hernandez, age 22, playing the keyboard, I was spellbound. I knew about William’s amazing face-painting skills, but I had no idea he is a budding pianist. William is truly an artistic 'autist,' and after having my face painted into a bewitching peacock, while chatting with him about his art and life goals, I understood why his mom refers to him as “her Rain Man.” Before I plunge into my interview with William, here are some jewels of information his mom shared about her autism journey with him. Colon said, “I told my son, ‘You are not going to stay in your world, you are going to join us in our world.’” When William was younger, Colon relayed that he was nonverbal, lacked eye contact, had problems understanding and expressing emotions, but she was determined to change that. “I have training as a daycare teacher, and used my skills
to teach William. I refused to let him just be labeled and written off as autistic. I knew my son had something special. He is God’s gift, not to just me, but the world. You have to have a connection with your child. You have to enter their world. I painted his face to get him to maintain eye-to-eye contact. He had to keep looking at me, while I playfully painted and spoke with him,” she said. Colon said that she saw William had an obsession with stuffed animals, so she took him to the Bronx Zoo to show him real animals. “It was at the zoo, he saw this famous face-painter, Christopher Agostino, and William became transfixed, wanting to try face-painting himself, and worked hard on perfecting his art. Also, William loved books, and to help him with communication, we started creating books of our own, where initially I would draw the pictures and write the words, while he dictated the story. Then soon, he was writing the story himself,” Colon said. Colon has saved all these books from over a decade as a reminder of his beginnings, and his maturation today. “When he had difficulties in understanding not just his own emotions, but others, I worked with him by writing an emotive word, and asking him to write a sentence using the word. For example for the word, ‘Overwhelmed,’ he wrote the sentence, ‘I started to get overwhelmed, so I started to tantrum.’ William has come a long way, and I’m so proud of him. At his high school gradu-
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ation this past June, he received two awards. When I see the beautiful works of art he creates with his face-painting or when he plays the keyboard, I’m stunned. This is why I had business cards and pens made up for his face-painting business, Wonderful Faces. Just recently, I took him to an electronics store to look at keyboards, he turned to me and said, ‘I’m ready for a piano.’ I remember when he just used to just bang on the keys. Now look at the beautiful music he plays, learned by ear. As parents, we have to recognize what type of learners our autistic children are. William is a visual learner, and I too became one. The keys to parenting a child with autism are love, faith and patience,” Colon said.
The Rockaway Times I began watching his videos on YouTube, and wanted to transform people’s faces. I started studying photos of animals, and trying it out on myself and family. I choose the location for the shapes and landmarks of the face to make it look perfect. KLA: What are some of your favorite animals and characters to paint faces of? WH: Chinese warriors, tribal people, owls, fish, skeletons, spiders, butterflies, anything! At a community event, I painted Senator Sanders’ face as a tarantula spider. Pretty cool! KLA: What is your ultimate dream? WH: I want to make my future bright by getting a job, and building my face-painting business, Wonderful Faces. I also would like to have a family of my own one day.
Q&A with William Hernandez: KLA: How long have you been KLA: What do you understand face-painting? WH: I’ve been painting for five about autism? WH: Autism makes me differyears. After I saw Christopher Agostino face-painting at the ent to make my life and others Bronx Zoo, I wanted to do it too. better.
TMLA Tennis Comes On Top
The Mary Louis Academy’s Varsity Tennis team defeated St. Anthony’s High School on October 19, to win the state championship for the second year in a row. This victory comes after defeating Archbishop Molloy High School for their seventh straight Brooklyn/Queens Championship and a victory over Notre Dame Academy of Staten Island for the City Championship. Congratulations to the team and their coach Christina Cordes ‘11 and assistant coach Christina Martin.