A friend in Daniel

No one represents this year’s slogan for Autism Awareness Month — The Heart of Acceptance — better than Daniel Dascoli.
A student with autism at Dingman-Delaware Middle School, Daniel is great at math and enjoys music. Like many of his peers, he loves watching football, baseball, basketball, and Nascar. He is also a talented young artist whose work is being considered for regional art competitions.
Autism can make communication, social interactions, and using language and abstract concepts difficult. However, Ms. Tara Edmonds has noted that Daniel’s art offers a communication bridge.
“As with any student, it’s very interesting to see what Daniel chooses to draw, but particularly because I don’t always know what he’s thinking,” Edmonds said. “Spatially, how people put things on the paper says a lot about how they see themselves in the world.”
In Daniel’s case, the main idea takes center stage. But then his work spirals out from there, and he fills in any empty space. And everything has its own space on the page, which, according to Stages of Artistic Development (Dr. Viktor Lowenfeld, 1947), shows maturity and organization — things that are important to Daniel.
He also uses a lot of repetition in his work. Edmonds describes each part of the picture as feeling very narrative.
“It’s like a record of his thoughts — a clue to how he thinks,” Edmonds said.
How does he feel about making art?
“It makes me feel better," Daniel said.
His love of art is apparent in the smile on his face when he's in Ms. Edmond’s class.
“He likes to draw and color,” TSS worker Mr. Mike Paleno said, noting that Daniel has a great abstract style. “I love his work and hang it in my house for people to see and ask me about.”
One of his earlier pieces also hangs in the permanent art collection at the Dingman-Delaware Primary School.
“I’ve known Dan since kindergarten," said Paleno. "He is an amazing student and friend. He does his best every day and really has a great love for school, friends, and family. He has a fun and loving personality and has always been the smile in both mine and others’ lives.”
But Daniel has come a long way with the support of his family, "Mr. Mike," friends, and teachers. He has overcome many of the behaviors intrinsic to autism through the years, and looks forward to growing up and becoming more independent.
These days, Daniel can also be found on the stage, “singing and dancing with the best of them,” said Paleno.
DDMS drama director, Ms. Ruthie Schneck agreed.
“He has perfect rhythm," she said.
How to direct him is a learning curve for her, she admitted. She has to be more specific and direct with Daniel than with other cast members.
“I absolutely love him," she said. "He’s such a super kid. On stage, he’s a part of the team, and the rest of the cast has really come to love him too" — which she attributes to their spending time and working with a person with autism.
Which just goes to show that autism awareness truly is the heart of acceptance — for Daniel at DDMS and for others like him everywhere.