Rent-to-own News - Cleek's 'fight against autism' featured in parenting magazine

The Cleek family: Johnny, John Jr., Thomas, Heather and Mary. [photo courtesy of PCWSN.com]

(Article reprinted with permission of PCWSN.com)

Heather and John Cleek Jr. of Columbia became alarmed when their youngest son, Thomas, lost his speech ability when he was two-years-old. Heather, who has a masters of education in early childhood special education, knew that they had to seek help quickly. They immediately took Thomas to the Central Missouri Regional Center, where he was diagnosed with mild autism.

Thomas is now 11, and is a fifth grader in public school. While a large part of his day is in special education, he also takes general classes with regular education kids. Academically, he is about three to four grades behind, and has learned how to read at a second grade level. Due to his memorization skills, his favorite subject is math.

Like many children with autism, Thomas’s interests are pretty narrow. He is a huge sports enthusiast. While he plays a variety of sports, his favorite is basketball, and he has played on school teams. He also won two silver medals and a gold medal at this year’s Special Olympics swim meet. His favorite basketball team is MU, and the family often attends games together.

While he does have trouble relating to others and may say or do socially inappropriate things, he’s pretty sociable and enjoys being around people.

“He really is a sweet kid. Doesn’t remind you of a child with any special needs,” says Heather.

John says the key to Thomas’ current level of functionality was early intervention. When Thomas was two-and-a-half, John and Heather started attending parent training at the Judevine Center, which is now TouchPoint Autism Services.

They then started Thomas in various behavioral and physical therapies through TouchPoint and MU’s Thompson Center for Autism and Neurological Disorders.

“It was very intensive – about 16 hours a week,” Heather says. “That’s how he learned a lot of his basic skills.”

They decided to place Thomas in public school when he turned three, due to the services that were available for children with special needs. While their other two children were home-schooled, Heather decided that she couldn’t provide the rigorous structure that Thomas required.

The Cleeks also credit Thomas’ improvement to a casein and gluten-free diet they started when Thomas was three-and-a-half.

“Thomas has a lot of food allergies, and they increase his autistic tendencies,” Heather says.

After consulting with a doctor that specialized in autism and allergies, they removed even more foods from his diet such as most corn, nuts, soy, rice and eggs.


Without the diet, Thomas can be hard to control. He can get aggressive, and start yelling and screaming and throwing things. On the other hand, his autism actually makes it easier to maintain the diet.

“He likes routine, so it’s easy to keep him on,” Heather says.

Staci Bowlen, director of TouchPoint, says the diet is not for everybody, and recommends parents consult a doctor before making any decisions since autistic children are allergic to different things. She also warns that it is a big lifestyle change and takes a while to fully implement.

After about three months, Thomas started speaking again, progressing to full sentences in six months.

“He never stopped talking,” Heather says.

Heather and John’s greatest concern right now is what will happen in middle school. It will be a challenge to figure out what program to place Thomas in and whether the new school can serve his needs as well as his elementary school does.

The one skill they’ve had to work on the most is socially-acceptable behavior. As Thomas finds it difficult referencing himself to other people, he has trouble learning basic manners such as saying “hi,” offering someone a hand and opening the door for people.

“He can also be brutally honest and say hurtful things,” Heather says.

One of the toughest things for Heather is being sensitive to what people think of Thomas, especially when he has trouble in public. She and John impose the same set of rules as other kids on Thomas so he can learn how to function in society and live successfully.

“We don’t let him get away with things because he has autism,” Heather says. Thomas acts out sometimes – throwing temper tantrums or having melt-downs. John says the frequency has gone down from numerous times a day to about once a week.

Reinforcement has worked the best – such as taking away games on his iTouch or telling him to go to his room. When there is negative behavior, often times, unless it’s in public, John and Heather would not give him any attention until he gets under control. Then they let Thomas decide when he’s calm enough to talk things over. They also make sure that he understands the importance of waiting until other people are ready to talk too.

Thomas has also found ways himself to deal with his outbursts.

“When he has a meltdown now, instead of lashing out, he may run to his room,” Heather says. “He’s trying to find a way to deal with his emotions without hurting anybody.”

Due to his autism, Thomas actually has had quite a few experiences that most kids his age wouldn’t have had. Last year, he got to throw a first pitch at a St. Louis Cardinals game, pitching a perfect strike. He has also modeled in a fashion show hosted by the Thompson Center – the first person with autism to actually participate.

Not being able to have these experiences can make things tough for his siblings. In addition, children with autism require a great deal of attention from their parents. Heather feels lucky that Mary, 14, and Johnny, who will soon turn 16, have been very supportive throughout the years. They were too young to remember how they learned to take care of Thomas, but it has always been hands-on and taken a great deal of patience.

“We kind of grew up with it and figured things out,” Mary says. “It’s always just been a part of our life, and I didn’t recognize it as a challenge.”

Since Johnny and Mary were home schooled, Heather was able to spend more time with them after Thomas started attending public school.

“When he walks in the door, he’s pretty demanding,” Heather says. “It’s hard for them to get the same level of attention.”

Johnny thinks that the most important thing as a sibling is to understand Thomas’s specific strength – athletics – and help him thrive. Both siblings play a lot of sports with Thomas when he needs physical activity.

Johnny also sees looking out for Thomas as part of his role.

“I keep an eye out for kids that don’t know him very well and help him know what he can’t do in public,” he says.

Both siblings have become involved in helping children with disabilities. They both volunteered at the Special Olympics camp last year, and Mary also was a buddy for a child at Challenger Baseball, a league for persons with disabilities.

Thomas also wants to become a buddy. Since he is relatively high functioning, he could be paired with a younger child.

However, Thomas actually relates better to older kids – especially Johnny’s
and Mary’s friends. “Johnny’s friends take to him well. They understand,” Heather says. “Dealing with kids his own age – he doesn’t know how to interact or converse appropriately. The older kids think he’s funny, and he likes to be silly.”

“Our friends have always accepted Thomas for who he is – that’s a quality that we always look for in our friends,” Mary says.

John wasn’t too familiar with autism when Thomas was first diagnosed, but he has since become active within the autism community in Columbia. He serves on both the parental advisory board of TouchPoint and the organization's board of directors in St. Louis. He has also helped lobby for legislative issues that would help fund the center and also helps with the FitZone program funded through the Northwest Rotary Club, which helps autistic adults learn better nutritional and exercise habits.

The family also organizes the annual Bowling for Autism tournament -- which is supported largely by Cleek's rent-to-own industry friends and colleagues -- which is now in its eighth year.

Bowling for Autism has raised more than $150,000 so far for TouchPoint so far, John said.

“Between the two of us, we’ve done quite a few things,” John says. Heather feels very fortunate, as not every family has the resources, time or support to address Thomas’s disorder like they do. They’ve made it a priority in their life to keep fighting and continue seeking more opportunities to help Thomas become accepted in society.


If Heather returns to work one day, she hopes to volunteer with families who have children with autism.

“So many days you’re tired, stressed out and need someone to come in and say, ‘Go take a shower, I’ve got it,’” Heather says. “Maybe I can be someone’s support, because I’ve had so much in my life.”