ROHS Student Creates Calendar to Benefit Autism Organizations

Donna Yates noticed her 18-year-old son Dylan could draw anything at a very young age.

“Since he was in preschool, he's had a very strong visual sense,” she said of the senior. “You could show him a picture of anything, and he would draw it.”

What Yates didn’t recognize 15 years ago was that her son had autism spectrum disorder.

“He had all the red flags, but people back then didn’t know what they do today,” she said. Yates said she noticed early that Dylan had difficulty holding a conversation and making eye contact and that he liked to jump on the couch.

“He needed a sensory diet,” she said.

Once Dylan was diagnosed, Yates set out to get him the best education she could. Dylan has gone to a couple of different schools in the area, but he found his niche in Royal Oak Neighborhood Schools—thanks in part to Anna Lukezich, a visual imaging teacher at the high school.

Dylan, who spends much of the day in classes with cognitively impaired students, is accompanied by paraprofessional Deb Jablonski in the mornings to take Lukezich’s digital art class. Jablonski says he has become an expert using Adobe Illustrator, a graphic design and illustration software.

“Sometimes he surprises us,” Jablonski said. “He comes up with his own ways of manipulating the software—things we didn’t show him.”

In the classroom, Lukezich developed an interest in Dylan that went beyond grading his class assignments. She took note of him. She discovered he loved holidays and was obsessed with dinosaurs. After giving it some thought, she came up with an idea to help Dylan put together a calendar.

“He was able to do everything himself,” Lukezich said—from creating the images  for each month, to laying out the grid for the days and weeks, to the folding involved. “He even punched the hole at the top so you can hang it,” she said.

It could have stopped there, with the accomplishment of creating a single marvelous calendar—but it didn’t.

Lukezich, who has a background in marketing, got the school print shop involved. Fifty copies of the calendar were produced, and the teacher helped her student set up his own micro enterprise to sell his calendar last spring. The first run of calendars sold out instantly.

“She has an open mind,” Yates said of Lukezich. “She didn’t have to go out of her way, but she did.”

With the help of Dylan’s grandparents, who gave him his graduation money early, Yates had 500 of the calendars made. Nearly 300 of them have been sold to date.

The proceeds from the calendars are divided among Autism Connections of the Judson Center, the Autism Society of America — Oakland County Chapter and a fund for Dylan’s continuing education.

Yates said her family is still in the process of figuring out what is next for Dylan after graduation. The success of his calendar has given her hope that it might be possible for her son to pursue an art career in some capacity.

The calendars cost $10 each and may be purchased at the following locations:

• Royal Oak High School Craft Show, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday
• Friends of Different Learners Holiday Bazaar at , 6-9 p.m. Dec. 1
• Yellow Door Art Market, 3141 W. 12 Mile in Berkley. Visit its website for store hours.

To learn more about Dylan Yates, visit his website at DylanYatesArt.com.