Will Meets Snow

Many of you met our son Tuesday evening when KOMU aired a story on him. Yesterday, here in Columbia, Will met snow for the first time. During Ashley's interview, I mentioned how we celebrate the fact he looks at the world a little differently.

Yesterday, we were reminded not to take something as downright cool as snow for granted. Interestingly, Will's aversion to wearing something on his head gave way to this fantastic lid when he understood: "First hat. Then outside." (thanks to the deliberative skills of mama).



Please enjoy your weekend. We will, too.

Response to Will

Today Will's story aired, and again I must say that I am really enjoying watching this series unfold. Today we focused on a family that was from our own neck of the woods, (Columbia).

When watching the story I was really touched by what I saw. The mother and father of this young boy say they love him so much and are willing to do anything to help him.

This kid is so cute and it is really inspiring to see that even through all the obstacles that he faces on a daily basis the ones around him love him unconditionally. Also, it was interesting to see just how much he has therapy and to kind of get a look at the therapy and what is involved in that process.

It is really great to have been working on this for the past six months and now for it to be actually airing is an awesome feeling!


I love all the behind the scenes extras available on our web site KOMU.com
It gives us a look into this new way of doing an investigation and also gives the viewer a better understanding of the process of putting together a series like this. You can view things like slideshows, behind the scenes interviews, as well as related documents.
Well done Ashley and Meredith.
I would love to hear from you please comment!
Be sure to visit our web site at KOMU.com for more information.

Will's Story aired

I'm so excited to see the story about Will Miles air on KOMU.

On the station website www.KOMU.com, we have extras such as a behind the scenes package, a slideshow of pictures from the shoots that we went on for Will and the Miles family, as well as extended interview clips and links to the websites of some of the resources that Will has used.

It was so great to finally see this all come together and I encourage everyone to keep checking the blog and post your comments as well as visit KOMU.com to see everything that we have done for this series.

Please Comment here on this post about Will.
See his story here Will

Will-First View

Here is a sneak peek for our bloggers about our shoot at the Miles. Thanks to Meredith for putting this together!

Will- Meredith

I am so glad to have gotten the opportunity to meet the Miles family and their 3 year old son Will. Watching Will run circles around the KOMU car just after we pulled in and set up some of our equipment showed me just how cute and fun he is.

I really enjoyed being able to observe Will’s occupational therapy, it was a great way for me to see how Will is able to communicate as well as some things that he enjoys doing such as puzzles. I have been on one other shoot with a family and I believe that the combination of the two have really started to open my eyes to what it is really like to be affected in some way by autism.

I felt that the interviews with Will’s parents, Tim and Dee, went extremely well. I loved being able to hear about what his parents hoped for Will years down the line and some of his therapies, as well as about their lives and how Will is such a big part of them. Tim Miles made a point that his son is not bad and they did not do anything wrong, he’s just different, just like some people are right handed and some are left.

As we were doing the interviews Will was occupied with other activities such as his dinner and games on the computer, although there were times that he would come into the living room to see the interview, just out of curiosity. Being able to see just how interested Will was about everything around him was very neat and I enjoyed the visit to his home very much.


I can’t wait to share more of Will and the Miles’ family story with you.

Pictures from Will's shoot

Will

We went to the Miles family on Thursday. This is our last family shoot. Will is three years old and has autism. He is such a cute boy. We went to Will's house and got video and pictures of a therapy session. I think this will add a lot to our series, because we have not attended a session yet. There is a separate room in the house for Will's therapy.

The Miles are a local family here in Columbia, MO. Tim Miles, Will's Dad has blogged on here about Will. It was neat to talk to a family that has been watching this series unfold.

Will is the center of Tim and Dee's world. Dee and Tim are beyond dedicated for their son's needs. The house is setup to accommodate Will to help him improve developments.

The most compelling part of the shoot is when I was interviewing Tim. He told me he hopes someday he can hear Will tell his Mom he loves her. I can't wait to share their story with you in just a few weeks!

Will Shoot

Here are some pictures from our shoot. We will have blogs, video, and more pictures up within the next few days....

Meet Big Stank Willie

Hello in there.

My name is Will Reis Miles, and I am a handful. Sometimes.

I am two years old, and I do not talk. But don't think I am not smart and that I don't know what you're up to.

I study things very closely. And because I am a studier, I think I can help you like I have helped mama and daddy.

You see, some doctors say I have this thing called Autism - which does not mean I am sick like I have a headache or a broken arm or rickets or that I will be throwing up on you any time soon. It just means that I look at people and cats and balls and wheels and door hinges and the other stuff differently than most people.

That's why I can help. I've taught mama and daddy to understand some pretty darned important stuff and, maybe even importanter, I've taught them some stuff about what's not really important after all.

I've helped teach them to separate the truly important from the merely urgent. Ask my dad - he's helping me write this stuff (even though I can type myself on the computer - except that shift key for things like parentheses - it baffles and frustrates me).

As I look back on my life, I see some basic things that will help you with your kid and maybe your cat or your dog or your business, too.

Over these next few weeks, I will give you a gift of some of the lessons I've learned over the years. Soon, I'll turn three, and who knows what I'll know by then, huh?

This might become a book someday soon that my daddy says will help raise money for research and treatment. This is our first step. My daddy says it should be called Big Stank Willie's Straight Poop. He calls me Big Stank Willie not because I stink (I tend to smell like apples and that blue shampoo we use), but because it makes him smile. Daddy says it'll be a short book. We don't have time for long books anymore - which is too bad - but life is too short to spend much time on the which-is-too-bads of the world.

See - there's your first lesson. Already. I told you I was smart.

You'll be lucky you met me, bub.