Joyful Jubilant Learning

The Game of My Life: A True Story

The Game of My Life: A True Story Of Challenge, Triumph, and Growing Up Autistic
By Jason J-Mac McElwain, Daniel Paisner

Jason McElwain shot a final three-pointer to rack up a school record of six three-point baskets and 20 total points in the last three minutes of the final game in his senior year. But, the most incredible part of the story is that J-Mac, as he’s affectionately known, performed this incredible feat in spite of the fact he was diagnosed with severe autism at a very young age. Thanks to early detection and increasingly sophisticated behavioral interventions, and parents who go the extra mile, life can hold more promise for children like Jason.

J-Mac replays the magic four minutes against the backdrop of his life as he sees it, along with Daniel Paiser, New York Times best selling author, in The Game of My Life: A True Story of Challenge, Triumph, and Growing Up Autistic. Jason’s mom and dad, brother, coach, basketball players and friends share their minds and hearts in anecdotes. Because Jason tells most of the story himself, brings a poignancy to it that readers will enjoy.

ESPN gives us glimpse of Jason’s life and those last momentous four minutes when Coach Jimmy Johnson said, “Jason, you’re in.”

Here are a few snippets to give you pieces of the fascinating kaleidoscope you’ll find in The Game of My Life …

Jason: “I still had my dream of playing basketball on the high school team and winning a sectional title. I don’t know were that dream came from, or when I started talking about it, but it was always there, for as long as I can remember. I told myself the coach could cut me from the team, but he couldn’t cut me from my dream.”

David McElwain, Father: “My thing was, at the beginning of a new season, with a new coach, I never wanted to tell anyone he was autistic. I wanted Jason to make his own first impression. My wife, that’d be the first thing she’d do. She’d call the coach right away and talk to him about autism, but I didn’t want Jason to be treated differently. I didn’t want the coach to be afraid to put him into the game. He could play just like any other kid could play, but he was also autistic.”

Debbie McElwain, Mother: “You can’t imagine what it’s like, to be the mother of a child who was diagnosed as severely autistic as a toddler, to struggle with him the whole way through all his doctors’ appointments and his special-education classes and his autistic outbursts and all the other things that had to happen differently for him, to see the disappointment on his face as he watched the other kids do the things he couldn’t do, and then to have this one great moment where we could all just close our eyes and think he was like everyone else. Really, you can’t imagine it. I wanted to jump from my seat and run down to the court and hug Coach Johnson and the other coaches and the other boys on the team and everyone in that gym, really, for helping Jason to experience something like this.”

Jim Johnson, Coach: “The first time Jason shot the ball, coming off that screen, he missed so badly. It wasn’t like him, to miss so badly. He missed about six feet, left…

My heart sank for Jason, but he was fearless. He came out gunning. This was one of those times where the autism helped. It’s weird to say this, but he was so completely focused on scoring that nothing else seemed to bother him. He was in such a zone. That’s just how he is. Typically, when you put a kid in the game like that and he shoots an air ball, he’s very apprehensive to shoot again, from embarrassment. But Jason doesn’t get embarrassed. This just rolled off his back.”

Jason, learned to walk late, but by mimicking his brother, Josh, and literally following in his footsteps Jason was soon on his way. Because Josh loved basketball, so did Jason and he pushed himself to learn. He made shots over and over in his driveway court playing knockout or H-O-R-S-E with Josh. Every Christmas his mom bought him a new basketball and say it was from Josh. His love for basketball was obsessive as he focused so much time and attention to it.

Though he struggled to learn words and talk as a child, and though he has not yet been able to graduate from high school as most of his friends, Jason wrote his own rap lyrics that express the essence of his story in this must read book…

Never give up, never give in.

Be motivated in everything you do,

If you want to catch a dream.

The sky’s the limit.

Give all that you can,

If you want to catch a dream.

Jason built dendrite brain cells for new skills he practiced daily. He tapped these to achieve an incredible triumph in the last four minutes of the final game! What’s stopping you from reaching your goals?

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Post Author Dr. Robyn McMaster is Sr. VP of the MITA International Brain Based Center. She equips leaders with practical brain based tactics that optimize satisfaction and output at work. Check out her blog, Brain Based Biz to see how you can tap into more of your brain to ratchet up your life and work.

"But... I'm Not Smart Enough"

You ought to go back and get your PhD, Robyn, Ellen Weber remarked at the end of a MITA session for leaders.

But, I'm not smart enough...

You're one of the most brilliant people I know, Robyn... 

I was stunned.  First by this revelation about my own beliefs that came on the spur of a moment, as well as Ellen's response.

But, I'm too old...  You see, I was 58, and had not been in school for 30 years.  Talk about something far fetched in my mind... getting a PhD was just that.

Nonsense, Robyn.  You can learn well at any age... 

That summer, Ellen and I attended a one week session with business leaders, doctors, teachers, and writers at Chautauqua Institution. I found intellectual challenges during the daily sessions so stimulating, I began to rethink possibility of attending university. 

There were so many hurdles... such as, passing entrance exams...interviews...finances  Once again, I began to question whether I could do it... if I was truly smart enough and if the cost, time, work and effort were worth it. 

Like me, many folks hold myths about their brains.  And myths about the brain prevent people from developing their gifts and talents. 

Let's examine the myth I believed about myself... Other people are smarter than me...  Much of this idea comes from the notion that intelligence is fixed.  Academics had the notion that intelligence was fixed and not subject to change.  Most of you remember taking IQ tests to determine how intelligent you are.  Howard Gardner, of Harvard University,  shows in Intelligence Reframed, that IQ tests tend to measure only two intelligences: verbal-linguistic and logical mathematical without consideration of the full range of intelligences. 

Recent research show much about the brain's plasticity.  The brain's amazing plasticity enables folks to grow more dendrite brain cells in any area just by participating in new activities.  Then, as one goes to bed and sleeps the brain keep rewiring...

For me, participating in doctoral studies and conducting a research project at university stretched my mind to points I could not envision even at 40. 

I stepped out to take a risk, to stretch beyond everthing I could imagine.   I did it.  I walked down the aisle to receive my academic hood and diploma at the University at Buffalo four years later.

Ellen Weber encouraged me along this journey.  My husband thought I was crazy, but told me to go ahead.  He and my family supported me, too. 

Was it worth it all?  Absolutely!! 

Who's the person you would really like to be... and what myths might you begin to shatter?  Thoughts....

Thanks so much, Rosa, for the invitation to write my story for Joyful Jubilant Learning. 

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Robyn McMaster (Ph.D.) is the Senior Vice President of the MITA International Brain based Center. Robyn explored practical applications of MITA through both research and extended practices in several countries. Her Ph.D. in May, 2004, at the University at Buffalo, earned Robyn the opportunity to further explore collaborative curriculum development  for leaders and university learners through MITA applications there. At the invitation of University of Rochester, she currently serves as adjunct faculty to medical entrepreneurs.

Visit Robyn at her blog, Brain Based Biz.