Darby Rich: Autism awareness is super important because it is an issue that is becoming more and more prevalent today, more kids are being born and diagnosed with autism. The issue is a lot of parents don’t know the early signs that can help your child make great progress in those earlier years. This is where they can really improve. Our goal is to help people understand those things better in the general community.
Aimee Day: Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder and what it does is causes social and communication impairments. So families usually see delayed speech, like in my son's case. They might see that they are not playing with other children or socializing. These are some of the stereotypical symptoms that families see and sense that something is off and that they should go see a doctor. In the past it was more difficult to diagnose.
Aimee Day: This is difficult to say, but there has been some progress made with boys, however girls are still under diagnosed. This is because a girl’s symptoms are different than boys. The criteria that they are using for diagnosing autism is based on observing boys and those are things like repetitive movements and the specific subjects that they enjoy. Girls seem to display autism in different ways.
Aimee Day: Based on my personal experience I was actually relieved after my son's diagnosis because then I actually knew what was going on and I could jump from there. As long as you have the proper support in place then your child can be successful, they can still reach their goals, be independent, and have a meaningful adult life.
Darby Rich: The A&M basketball players have probably been the bridge to my son, Case, making progress. Case has made unbelievable progress socially, he attached to our players a lot faster than he did to his own peers. Case hugging our guys and our guys hugging him, communicating and high fiving, those things opened him up to do that same thing to his own peers. He considers them his big brothers, but we consider them really the bridge from his aloneness.
Darby Rich: Next Saturday's game (February 3rd) is a two-part thing. One for autism awareness and then to also let people in the community that have kids with autism know that there will be some special things at the game like a sensory room. One of the things that kids with autism don’t like is bright lights and noises. We will provide a day for them to enjoy the game in a different setting.
Darby Rich: With the team, we have got to get back to doing what we do. If anyone is going to take the blame, I will take the blame. I thought we had a really hard summer. We conditioned more this summer than ever, worked really hard in the weight room and did some things to test their mental toughness. I’ll be the first to say I am gutted with the way this thing is coming down. I just keep looking in the mirror, not sleeping at night thinking what I could have done different or more of to have made this go differently. I don’t have the answer right now, but we are going to find the answer and we will not allow what is going on to bleed in any deeper.
Darby Rich: You have got a guy that is at the forefront of our business in Jerry Schmidt. What is important to know about Jerry Schmidt is that there are old school strength coaches and there are new school strength coaches. Jerry is an old school strength coach who is also very bright and who has adapted to new school training. They are going to work hard, they are going to lift heavy and lift explosively. But, he is also going to use the new technology to help him improve conditioning techniques and monitor guys. He is a great addition because of the way he's able to blend the old with the new. I don’t think we could have made a better hire.”
