Benjamin Breaking Barriers
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Mission Statement
To give audiences a broad understanding of autism and how it challenges those individuals who are living with the diagnosis—education is an important bridge to compassion. To inspire and uplift listeners through Benjamin’s example of what might be achieved in spite of autism.
Background
Benjamin Tarasewicz, a bright young man with high-functioning autism, is making a positive impact on his community by educating his peers and teachers, as well as the general public, on the challenges of living with autism. Benjamin has had years of intensive autism therapy and has exceeded expectations of what might be achieved by someone with the diagnosis. In addition to his love for theater and acting and his participation in Boulder’s top-level youth symphony (as a violinist), Benjamin has recently taken on the role of public speaker and advocate. Together with his mother, he delivers power-point presentations and maintains a blog.One special focus of Benjamin Breaking Barriers (BBB) is to educate high-school students in order to reduce bullying. In addition, Benjamin’s presentations provide an example of how students may self-advocate; BBB is actively promoting a new program being offered in the Boulder Valley School District that will help interested students to create and present mini-presentations modeled on Benjamin’s example.
Another special focus of BBB is to inspire college-age students who might consider pursuing a career of working therapeutically with the many children that are now being diagnosed with autism. In tandem with the BBB presentations, the BBB blog can be used as a teaching-tool by teachers as they conduct post-presentation class-discussions. BBB plans to develop some teacher-guidelines for suggested discussion points, activities, and writing assignments.
Autism Presentations
Benjamin’s multi-media presentation is structured to fit a standard 50-minute class period, and is geared towards high-school age students (including 8th graders) through adults. The presentation consists of a 30-minute talk accompanied by a 28-slide Power Point Presentation consisting of photos and visuals. This is followed by a 5-minute performance element (Polynesian poi-swings choreographed to Celtic music). A Q&A period concludes the presentation.
Benjamin’s mother gives a 5-minute introductory talk which is intended to give background information and to provide a sense of perspective. This is particularly important for college students contemplating work with autistic individuals and for parents of children with autism, but is helpful for high-school-age audiences as well.
For situations where time-constraints are an issue, Benjamin has an abbreviated version of his presentation which runs 20 minutes in length. This includes a brief introduction given by his mother, as well as a shortened version of the performance element that concludes Benjamin’s presentation.
If you would like to engage Benjamin as a speaker, please contact us at: malva@benjaminbreakingbarriers.com
The following file is a general Publicity Flyer: Breaking Barriers Flyer.pdf
382.9 KB
Blog
Benjamin’s blog is focused on the happenings, thoughts, and perceptions that are of interest to Benjamin as he moves into adulthood. Read about what life is like as seen through the eyes of a talented individual who happens to be different, and get some extra perspective from the viewpoint of Benjamin’s mother, who is his primary helper and team-mate in this endeavor.
You can find the blog at BenjaminBreakingBarriers.wordpress.com
Book
Benjamin’s mother is in the process of writing a book detailing the story of her life-journey with Benjamin. Please see Malva’s page on this website for writing samples.
Benjamin’s mother is in the process of writing a book detailing the story of her life-journey with Benjamin. Please see Malva’s page on this website for writing samples.
Gratitude
We would like to thank the following for their support and sponsorship:
Association for Community Living in Boulder County
Autism Society of Boulder County
Autism Society of Colorado and Arc Capital
