Meet Billy, part of Spectrum Support’s vocational and day program in Frederick, MD. Billy has been through a lot of challenges and made so much progress since he started with Spectrum several years ago. He is an incredibly smart and optimistic young man. When Billy started with Spectrum, he did not have the ability to communicate verbally. He had to eat through a tube and barely had an appetite. Billy and his family decided to take a risk to improve his quality of life, and he got deep brain simulation surgery. His staff describes the surgery as having 2 rods put in his head that essentially function like a pacemaker to help his neurons fire. The device sometimes needs its batteries changed.
Ever since his surgery, Billy has made great strides in communication! Although he still mainly uses sign language and typing things out on his phone to communicate, we have seen continued improvement in his ability to communicate verbally! He can now make sounds to form words and short sentences, and his speech capability is expected to continue to improve over time. He also no longer needs a tube to eat, his appetite has improved, and he has gained some weight, which he is proud of!
Billy is a real renaissance man – he is passionate about many things. He has done everything from horseback riding, started writing a book, participated in the Special Olympics (for tennis), and tried his hand at photography (until he faced some technical issues with his camera breaking). Billy tells us he is a video game expert on multiple game systems, and he has even taught a class on video games. He is currently enjoying playing the Mass Effect series. Billy enjoys his current job as a personal shopper for Walmart. He was excited to show off how many steps he gets in each day at his job while putting together orders for people. He had a high score one day of 18,942 steps last month (about 9.5 miles!), and his daily average number of steps is over 13,000. Billy is very self-sufficient and not only arranges rideshares via Uber to his job, but also does not require any on-the-job coaching or supervision. Billy’s fearless and optimistic spirit and excitement to try new things is an inspiration to everyone around him! We can’t wait to see what else he will accomplish!
