Peter Winstead's Story

His Second Act: Early Intervention Program helps child with Asperger’s Syndrome achieve success on stage and in life

Witness his performance on the stage, and you might never know that, as a three-year old, he was so unnerved by social dynamics that he would bark at people instead of speaking. Watch him put on a costume and assume a British accent, and you’d probably not suspect that he was once unwilling to make eye contact with his teachers. See the young man Peter Winstead has become, and you might not quite recognize the struggling little boy he used to be.

For much of that progress, his parents credit the Early Intervention Program at the Lucy Daniels Center (LDC).

In the early years of his life, Peter—an only child—often behaved in ways his parents found odd. “Our son was a very strange two-year old,” says his mother, Hope. “Considering that most two-year olds exhibit unusual behavior, that’s saying something.” Hope remembers that Peter was easily upset by loud noises and struggled to interpret social cues. Leaving the house took arduous preparation. “We had to micro-manage every outing because his responses could be so unpredictable,” she says.

Peter struggled to adapt to the social demands of the preschool his parents placed him in when he was two. Believing that a preschool with a stronger emphasis on social skills was what Peter needed, the Winsteads enrolled him in the three-year old classroom in the Childhood Enrichment Program (CEP) at the LDC.  The Center’s educational staff quickly noticed the difficulties Peter was having in the classroom and asked for the guidance of Dr. Barbara Snider,  an LDC psychiatrist.  After observing Peter in the classroom, ,  she recommended placement in the Center’s Early Intervention Program (EIP), where Peter could get more support in learning appropriate behaviors and coping skills.

It was a crucial intervention at a critical time in Peter’s development.  “The EIP provided our son with the help and guidance he needed,” his mother says. “The teachers helped him learn how to navigate a preschool classroom at his own pace.” The low teacher-to-student ratio helped. “They eased him in, accommodated his interests. He was allowed to find his way in dealing with his issues… so that later on he was able to rise to the challenge of regular life and succeed,” she says.

The Center also provided vital support for Hope and her husband, Mark. “No one at Lucy Daniels ever treated us like we were weird or strange,” Hope remembers. “They… never made us feel like bad parents.”  At a time when the public understood little about  Asperger’s Syndrome—the neurological disorder Peter was eventually diagnosed as having—the expertise of the clinicians at the Center provided much-needed understanding for the entire family. “Our weekly meetings with Dr. Snider helped us learn coping strategies and created a sense of hope for Peter’s future,” Hope says.

Now nearly 12 years old and flourishing at a school with an integrated arts focus, Peter is smart and opinionated, loves computers, and relishes theatrical roles that, in his words, are “memorable and make people laugh.” In the school’s drama program he has found an environment that encourages his strengths and helps him cope with his continued lack of optimal social skills. He still struggles in decoding many social cues—it may not always register with him that he has said something that has upset someone, for example—but he is appreciated by his teachers and his peers for his hard work and talent.

Center Executive and Medical Director Donald Rosenblitt notes, “Some children come into this world with neurological differences that affect their ability to live in conventional society.  With early intervention of the type the Center offers, these differences will often be much less extreme, and the children can grow into confident and capable adults, taking great pleasure from their capacities and unique gifts.” The early intervention and acceptance provided in his preschool years at LDC have played an essential role in Peter’s success, the Winsteads believe. “The Center really helped Peter come to terms with how his brain works, with his version of reality, so he could move forward and feel confident,” his mother says. “He has known for a long time that he has Asperger’s Syndrome and just incorporates that into his unique self-image. He likes to be different than everyone else.”