- http://kuow.org/topic/coming-age-autism
- http://kuow.org/post/young-adults-autism-diagnosis-opens-doors-minds
- http://kuow.org/post/purpose-and-paycheck-job-seekers-autism-reach-both
- http://kuow.org/post/cautiously-optimistic-college-autism
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
November 14, 15, and 16, 2012. In addition, all three parts of this series aired on November 13.
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Autism is typically diagnosed and treated in childhood, but it’s a lifelong condition. Public health practitioners and researchers have puzzled over the dramatic rise of autism spectrum diagnoses in the last decade. In Washington State, the total student population has risen 3.7% in ten years, while the number of children with autism has increased 430%. Those students graduate each year into a society that’s largely ill-equipped to accommodate and accept them. But they want acceptance and freedom just as much as anyone does at that age. We meet three young men — Jordan, Rolando, and Alex — and the professionals and loved ones who support their first steps toward independence.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
Reporter Bryan Buckalew analyzed public data from the Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction to determine the raw and per capita increases of autism diagnoses in Washington State. He did not need to avail himself of our state public records act, but he did need to become facile with the data and how its structure changed from year to year in order to provide a consistent and accurate picture for our listeners. KUOW web producer Serene Careaga developed infographics and assisted in data analysis. Editor Phyllis Fletcher has academic credentials in demography and provided technical assistance in methodology and interpretation.
Explain types of human sources used.
Bryan researched the few psychologists in Washington state who specialize in treating adults with autism and decided to focus on the work of Dr. April Walter. Bryan made weekly visits to Dr. Walter’s group sessions for months and identified three young adults who have support for three distinct possibilities in early adulthood and beyond. Bryan invested hundreds of hours in developing rapport with the young men and their families in order to establish a comfort zone where they could all be verbal and honest. The tape in these stories reflects Bryan’s time investment. One of the subjects of Bryan’s stories, Rolando, is non-verbal. To portray his struggles and successes for radio listeners Bryan interviewed Rolando’s father, his peers and his psychologist.
Results:
We sneak-previewed these stories on one of our mid-morning talk shows before we rolled them out in drive-time. That day we fielded dozens of calls from parents who heard the young men in the stories as leaders, and who identified strongly with their parents. Some of the parents who called were struggling with questions and uncertainty about whether their young children will ever be independent. For them, Bryan’s series was the beginning of finding answers. For days KUOW staff responded to parents and professionals who found Bryan’s series not just hopeful, but even helpful in goal-setting and reality-checking.
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
None.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Begin your rapport-building early. Build time into your schedule to go gather one or two more pieces of tape at the last minute. In order to demonstrate progress, sometimes you need to let someone go down a path and then come back to them. When you’ve invested the time up-front to build trust, you can do that. Data is a helpful touchpoint for listeners to understand the scope of a problem. Spend enough time with the data to know what it’s really saying, and find ways of telling that story with both graphics and words. The numbers aren’t the most interesting story, though; the people are.