| Part 4: The awakening
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More on Timmy: I was disappointed with my efforts, thinking the edited piece was less than compelling to potential adoptive parents. All I had was a little boy hunched over a microphone babbling incoherently. I did add the voice of the social worker explaining Tim’s requirements. In my opinion, at the time, the Wednesday’s Child segment was not very compelling. After we ran the piece, I called Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange to see if anyone had called. There had been a few who social workers could check out. Later I found out that one of the calls had been a match. The couple eventually adopted Tim. After about one year I asked the social worker if I could visit the adoptive home and see who these people were and how Tim was doing. They lived in a small-town west of Boston and the reunion was set. When I arrived in Rehobeth, I located the small, tidy home on a quiet residential street. Above the front door of the house was a homemade sign saying: “Welcome Jack Williams.” Inside the door above the entryway leading to the front room was another sign. This one said: “We love Wednesday’s Child.” On the couch were three young children, including Timmy. The adoptive couple had welcomed me warmly. Russ, the father, said that they had discovered something quite unexpected. When Russ had bought a computer, he left it on in the kitchen and when he returned Timmy was hunched over the keyboard and was typing. This was a complete shock because Timmy was non-verbal. But there on the screen were words. Months passed and Timmy made surprising progress. Soon he not only wrote words, but whole sentences. Russ decided to purchase a small, portable computer for Timmy. With that background, Russ asked me to sit down at the dining room table and asked Timmy to join us. “Go ahead, Jack, ask Timmy whatever you want.” “What’s my name, Timmy,” I asked. “Jack Williams”, Timmy taped and hit a button, so a strip of paper came out with the printed response. “Why am I here?” Again, Timmy typed his response: Wednesday’s Child. “Where do I work?” “WBZ, TV4, the station New England Turns to;” proving Timmy was very aware of facts and had been watching the news, where the phrase was being used in a big promotion. You see, Timmy was acutely aware of things, but he was autistic. It was discovered later that the reason he had banged his head against the wall during our initial meeting, was because of his frustration over being unable to be understood. He desperately had wanted to be adopted and he thought his chance was disappearing. It proved to be one of the most important things I have ever learned: do not judge anyone or anything at first impression. Later the family adopted another child with autism, a girl. A sidenote: the two still live in a special home together,
and yes, Timmy still never misses watching the news.
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