The sound of silence. Why is silence important when it comes to autism? What can we learn from it?

I will teach you why I tend to stay silent since I was very little.

I never really talked much, and I chose not to form much words for a while. One of the biggest reasons why I prefer not to talk at all was because I never wanted to say anything that was not appropriate to say or to embarrass myself and to others around me. No matter what it is! Even if I was asked a question, I would stay silent not knowing how to respond. Took a very long time up to five years until I was given the confidence to speak more frequently. Words are words now, and I feel like I can say anything that comes to mind; especially when given some very hard questions that may be very sensitive even to me.

I still get pretty silent at times. So much so that I have found myself drawn to people my age that are silent too. There was a time when I was at a design and engineering class, and all the time, I would...

Kind of important to gain income and keeping a house. But why else are jobs important? Especially when it comes to autism?

Can someone with autism successfully get a job?

The answer is yes! I have autism, and I have had many jobs from being a maintenance worker at the bookstore to making boxes for the fudge at the candy store to being a keynote speaker are some examples. Believe me when I say that before I start taking on these tasks in new jobs, it can be very scary at times. Thinking that I wouldn't have the social skills or having a simple conversation with the employer, but with daily training beforehand, I have managed to achieve what seemed very hard. One of the biggest secrets in succeeding in that are is wanting the opportunity to work wherever; I believe that when you want the job, you will soon be able to get it.

I know a kid a few years younger than me, and this kid walks slowly, can hardly ever speak and mostly make moaning sounds, drools on some occasions, has that...

One of my favorite things to do is to play sports.

I was not into talking verbally growing up to be honest with you. Usually am the silent type often times, so why sports?

Well, for one thing, when it comes to sports, most of the activities don't require speech, just action and movement! Growing up, I would mostly move around all over the place even to the point of not knowing how to keep my hands to myself by mistake; So my teachers and parents encouraged me to do some fun activities outside during recess or in the backyard.

Actually, before school time, I was still encouraged to be active when I was two. May be diagnosed with having autism at age three, but still, my mom made sure I was doing something that involved moving around whether I have autism or not. Think it was something to do with Mr. Golden Sun. Can't believe I remember how it goes.

Sports was fully discovered when I grabbed a soccer ball with my hands and some kids yelled "HAND BALL!" and learned that there are rules...

"Every picture tells a story." says the artist.

I love photography! When I was in community college, I took a photography class to learn more about my camera and what else I can do with it. Love to find good the good angles.

When I was just a sprout, I never knew what a camera is, instead I would line up my toy cars a certain way and the next thing I would do is that I would stand, crouch, or lie down on the floor looking at the toy cars differently. Like to make them look like they are going fast when I align them a certain way and see them in certain ways. When I got my first camera, first thing I took a picture of was myself by mistake. The flash was bright, and I had permanent blindness for at least ten seconds. But boy did I had a blast with that camera! Took a lot of pictures of my toys until I ran out of film. Disposable cameras are cool! Then I went to digital later on when I was with my Dad more. Dad sure knows his tech, and I am almost always behind when it comes to...

Did you know that before I wrote my book, I have always wanted to be a race car driver? Any kind of racing for that matter. If it involves race car helmets or any kind of helmet, then that means I am about to go really fast!

My parents were very serious about me wearing a bike helmet whenever I ride my bicycle. It's the law and it's for safety. Later on after growing out my hair for a bit, I began thinking that helmet hair looks pretty cool! Even when my hair is already spiked up.

I have been very into automobiles when I was very little; the little toy cars and trucks or any kind of thing with wheels that go fast. What I would do is whenever I play with my toy cars, I would sometimes align them in specific ways. Then, what I do next is that after I put them in their places, I then move around looking at the cars in a scenic kind of way; almost like a photographer would do, except I didn't know how to really use a camera that well back then. But it's true, I would look at the cars...

I love naming things! One of the many things Tyler McNamer enjoys doing. Why is this little task so interesting and fascinating?

For fun, whenever I have a stuffed animal or a stature figure or a transportation vehicle like a bicycle; I would want to be attached to them even more by giving them names.

Here are some examples and reasons why I gave them their names

• Red Bike: "F2" (Function 2 stickers on my bike)
• Snowboard: "Earth Spinner" (When I look down at my board, the world looks like it's spinning fast)
• Fit Meter: "Tiny Trainer" (The Fit Meter may be for calculating steps and calories being burned along with how high I have climbed, but the Fit Meter is like my little buddy gadget)
• Callie & Marie: "Little C & Big M" (Two figurines based on the hit video game, Splatoon by Nintendo. The reason why I named them Little C & Big M only on the figures is because of my last name. McNamer Big M... Little C)
• Pen: "Wilbur" (Named after Wilbur Wright of the Wright...

Tyler's School Presentation Video

My first professional public speaking engagement was in a middle school. Kopachuck warmly welcomed me to their event in which they have hired me to give some incite in autism and to share some motivation for the summer.

I can spend hours looking back and feeling down about how I have handled everything there, such as my movements after the speech and the way I styled my hair; not the most skilled hairstylist back then. But I would rather talk about good things about the event, and plus, it was my first professional public speaking event in which I was hired to speak and sell some books!

My dad told me that middle school students are one of the hardest groups to speak in front of. Couldn’t really figure out why that is, but I knew that I have do something to entertain and educate these kids. So I got on it with the outline and Dad coached me on how to use the outline well. Part of the outline contained some fun entertaining information about the...

One of the most fascinating body parts. Eyes give off the most emotion, and I do tend to study them oftentimes during my off days when I’m not working.

During my free time, when it’s cold and rainy outside, I would make these little avatars on the Wii U called Miis. These Mii characters show off what the person look like based on their facial features. Been making over three hundred of these characters, and there have been some good feedback from my creations. The secret has always been the same for me; hair first, eyes last.

Mii or not, people may look a certain way or what they want to look like, but I feel like their true identities rely on the window of the soul, the eyes.

When I was very little, I really did not like looking at people’s eyes. Eye contact was pretty darn difficult! The reason why is because I felt like they give out way too information, and that I felt like I was lower than them and that I was in big trouble; that’s why I would look away...

Getting hungry just thinking about it.

When I was much younger, I would eat nothing but peanut butter jelly sandwiches, cereal, pizza pockets, and spaghetti. That’s basically it. Today, I’m eating a whole wide variety of things to eat!

Food may play a huge roll in the autism spectrum; remember the part about having a routine and that change is very difficult to those who have autism? Well, that’s no different when it comes to food. You get so used to eating the same thing that it’s hard to expand the taste buds and try new food items.

How did I go from a picky eater to eating just about anything the world feeds me? My parents encouraged me to try new things; if I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t have it for a while, but then as I grew older, I started to like the food item I tried. It may sound like the fact that we’re all the same when it comes to food, but autism takes a much longer time to be flexible with different tastes. Never give up when...

You’ve seen them in comic books, movies, television shows, video games, toys, and so on. What makes a superhero? Well, besides superpowers, every hero has one thing in common, they save lives.

As the years go on since the thirties, the comics develop a more personal story to tell for each hero, and tell these stories in different ways. For example, after Superman crashlanded in Kansas, what happened after that? He sure lived in his adopted home for a long time before he donned the red cape.

Every one of these heroes have some story to tell before they became heroes. All of them relatable in a way for completely different people. Realistic but with many fantasy twists to make the stories very enjoyable. Batman’s parents were killed, and he spent his whole life fighting similar criminals that cause havoc in Gothem; Flash’s mother was killed, moved on as a scientist, and then became the Flash fighting crime. Later on, there was a story where he was fast enough to...