Jaydan clapped his hands and pumped his fist in the air while laughing

Beth Krueger sat on the porch of her West Jefferson Street home one sunny afternoon in late April, waiting for the school bus to drop off her 16-year-old son Jaydan Murphy.Jaydan stepped off the bus with a huge grin on his face, laughing and waving to his mother. She took his hand and the two walked up the sidewalk to their house.Jaydan was diagnosed with autism when he was 1-and-a-half years old. He is mostly non-verbal, able to communicate in one- or two-syllable sounds or through his own version of sign language.“He gets his point across,” Krueger laughed. “He does gestures, sign language. He doesn’t do complete sentences, but he has a communication device.”It had been a week since Jaydan was last home. He was staying at his father’s house while Krueger recovered from a back injury. Jaydan clapped his hands and pumped his fist in the air while laughing, leaving no doubt he was happy to be home.

He also insistently patted his thigh, a gesture that Krueger says means he wants his pillow – a source of security for him. While waiting for Jaydan’s father, Rickey Murphy, to bring the pillow from his house, Krueger started making Jaydan’s favorite food – pizza, or as he calls it, “pa-pa.”Soon enough Rickey stopped by, just long enough to drop off the coveted pillow in its faded plaid pillowcase and Jaydan’s report card with all A’s and B’s. The father and son exchanged their own set of signals to tease Krueger and then said goodbye.After going through the stack of children’s books appropriate for elementary-aged students in his backpack, Jaydan is soon settled comfortably on the couch, his special pillow on his lap, eating pizza and holding his mom’s nap blanket hand. They sit side-by-side watching the educational cartoon “The Magic School Bus.”When Krueger and Jaydan look at each other, neither one needs to speak to say, “I love you.”Two-and-a-half miles away, second-grader Colton Smith arrives home from school about an hour after Jaydan does every day.

Colton also has autism and is non-verbal, and like Krueger, his parents have rearranged their lives to care for their special needs son. It takes creative solutions, patience and adaptation, but the families will do whatever it takes to make sure their children receive the services they need to learn, develop their communication skills and work toward a life of as much independence as possible. The families don’t do it alone, either, as schools, private centers and community-based programs offer additional support and expertise.When Colton arrives home from Bon Air Elementary School, he likes to watch movies or play on his tablet until bedtime. His mother, Leslie Brannon, says they have tried to keep Colton entertained with different types of toys, but he likes air conditioned blanket to put things in his mouth and keeps coming back to a balloon game or Angry Birds on his tablet anyway.Daniel Brannon, Leslie’s husband, describes Colton as a typical high-energy 8-year-old who likes Ninja Turtles and listening to music.

“The only difference with him is he hasn’t figured out the whole speech thing yet,” Daniel added.One afternoon in May, Leslie and Colton sat side-by-side watching the movie “Robots.” Colton is almost constantly in motion, rocking back and forth on the couch and occasionally clapping his hands or smiling. He stops moving only to play a game on his tablet.Colton was diagnosed with autism when he was 2-and-a-half years old, and it has been an ongoing learning experience for his family as they accommodate his special needs.“I noticed he wasn’t like my [then] 3-year-old. It was like overnight he couldn’t speak anymore, so I knew something was off,” Leslie said. “It’s new to us still, even though he’s 8.”A communication program on Colton’s cartoon blankets tablet allows him to select simple phrases like “I want,” “I am” or “eat” and then push other buttons to fill in the blank with different foods, places and things. Leslie isn’t sure Colton fully comprehends what the buttons mean, and they have an upcoming appointment at Easter Seals Crossroads disability services in Indianapolis to learn about some other options for communication devices.