Clinton, Maryland -17 year-old Montel Medley graduated valedictorian at Surrattsville High school in Prince George’s County of Maryland on June 14th 2014. He had a G.P.A. of 4.0.
Medley was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3 after Medley’s mother, Roberta, realized that her son rarely made eye contact with her and had a single word vocabulary. The word was truck.
Following the diagnosis she placed her son in the infants’ and toddlers’ program run by the county’s Department of Family Services. With the program’s help Montel’s vocabulary greatly expanded. Ms. Medley says,
“He began to come around.”
Shortly after Montel went to special-education classes in Upper Marlboro. He flourished academically. When his teachers saw how well he preformed on tests he was soon sent to a school closer to his Forrestville home. There he was placed in mainstream classes and was given an aid to assist him. Medley succeeded in school and by junior year the aid was no longer needed.
Aisha Clark, the Surrattsville High school’s autism program coordinator told the Washington Post,
“When he came in the ninth grade, he was like the others in the program-they didn’t want to tell anyone they had autism. By the 12th grade, it was the first thing he told people. It was not a setback at all. He would even explain it to people. He’d say, ‘I think differently.’”
Medley is currently looking at programs that will assist him during his upcoming attendance at Towson University.
The full story by Ovetta Wiggins in The Washington Post can be read here.