Poetry Opens Up New World For Woman With Autism
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Twin Cities family is thankful they are learning more about their 21-year-old daughter.
Shana was diagnosed with moderate-to-severe autism. She has been non-verbal for most of her life. But with the help of a newer educational method, Shana is sharing her thoughts and dreams through poetry.
Her mother, Bella Stipakov, works with her consistently.
"We didn't even know what's going on with her because we didn't know how she feels, what she feels," Bella said.
But then she showed signs of progress.
"When she turned 5, all of a sudden she was able to repeat after us. But unfortunately, that's where it stopped," Bella said.
Her parents wanted to know her for years, and then they tried another method to connect. It was called Rapid Prompting Method, and Shana caught on. She could spell words, answer questions and let her parents know how she felt.
"I love my daughter to the death, you know, and this just tells me one more time I knew that she's intelligent, but she broke through the ceiling," said Mark Stipakov, Shana's father.
Shana even told her parents she wanted her bedroom to be yellow.
"This used to be bright purple because I thought she likes purple, but obviously she likes yellow more," Bella said.
Where there was once silence, there is now a voice that wants to be heard -- and it comes through clearly in her poetry. Her parents printed her first collection, which includes a poem dedicated to her mother:
"Mom I love you, mom I love home. Mom you love me, mom's love goes on. Mom holds me tight, mom's love glows bright. No love compares to Mom's. Mom, I love you so much."
"[Shana's poetry] gave me a new life, you know," Bella said.
Mark says his daughter's work has given him and his wife hope.
"If there is a hope for people like Shana, that's the best thing for the parents' hearts," Mark said.
Shana's next step is to learn how to type on a keyboard, so she will be able to communicate with people if her parents are not around.
She has told them she would like to live with other girls like her. Click here to learn more about Shana's learning with RPM.
