Classmates form business to benefit autism research |
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| Education | |||
| Written by Kristin Babcock | |||
| Tuesday, 07 July 2009 23:00 | |||
 Visitors to “Gus’ Goodies” might want a snickerdoodle cookie, a blueberry muffin or some type of chocolate-chip treat. Visitors can ask Gus himself which dessert out of the array to purchase, and without hesitation, he will say, “All of them!” If he had to choose one himself? “All of them!” This is Gus Wong’s summer: two days a week are spent baking, and one day is spent selling his baked goods around Johnson County. It is a business formed this summer by Gus, paraprofessional Jodi Stanley, third-grade teacher Lindsey Frazier and Gus’ third-grade classmate Elia Robertson. Since the year ended at their school, Santa Fe Trail Elementary School in Overland Park, Gus’ Goodies has raised $300 for Autism Speaks, an autism science and advocacy organization. Gus has autism, and the bake sales started as a way to help him keep social skills sharp over the summer, Frazier said. “I tutor kids over the summer and he doesn’t need any academic assistance,” Frazier said. “Mostly he just needs help with social skills. Tutoring him one on one with that is not really going to work; he just really needs to be out.” In their baking and selling sessions, Gus and Elia are practicing math skills –measurement, fractions, making change for customers – and hygiene as well as interaction, Stanley said. Both Stanley and Frazier said they began to feel sad in the spring when they realized they would no longer get to have Gus as a student, Frazier said. “There are several times where if a teacher is having a bad day you will take Augustus by and have him say ‘hello.’ You can’t be upset or cranky when he is around,” Frazier said. As he bakes, Gus shows his enjoyment by cheering when “The muffins are done!” Or he will display a satisfied grin and say “perfect” as he licks batter off a mixing beater. Elia sat next to Gus through their third-grade year. Sometimes she would help him when he would forget classroom manners like raising his hand in class, she said. “I like helping him because he is funny and he makes me smile,” Elia said. At the beginning of the year, Frazier said her third-grade class learned a lot about autism. They learned about how Gus might act differently sometimes and they learned how to help him out, she said. “If they don’t know what it is, they are scared of it,” Frazier said. By the end of the year, a group of students helped defend him when a school bully was coaxing him to repeat “bad” words, Elia said. “They all thought he was a normal kid and they respected him,” Elia said. Stanley said Gus is “an awesome student to have” in class. “You will learn in your life to deal with all kinds of people and autism is more common,” Stanley said. “They just embraced his individuality and I think it made them closer as a class.” The Centers for Disease Control reports that about 1 in 150 8-year-old children had an autism spectrum disorder in 2007 and the prevalence is growing. Frazier and Gus chose the charity to donate bake sale proceeds to. “I said why don’t you give the money to a charity that helps students with autism?” Frazier said. “And he said, ‘Why, do we need a cure?’” Gus said technology and education can help people with autism communicate. Autism Speaks works to fund medical research and raise awareness. Along with Elia, Gus has practiced greetings, approaching customers appropriately, carrying on conversations and making eye contact at his bake sales, Frazier said. “He’d made so much progress and I didn’t want to see him lose that over the summer,” Frazier said. “My favorite part of this is watching these guys progress. His relationships with people are fabulous. Watching him grow socially is awesome and watching him hang out with Elia. It’s just something we chose to do, not something we have to do.” Every customer that arrives at Gus’ Goodies helps Gus reach his life goal: “To meet everyone I can meet!” Frazier said the group is taking Gus’ Goodies week by week. The most difficult part has been finding locations that will allow them to host a bake sale, she said. Those interested in hosting a Gus’ Goodies bake sale or making a donation can contact Frazier at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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