You may recognize Ben Gretchko from his viral high school commencement speech a few years ago. Though the 2020 graduation season looks different this year, we hope that encouragement can be found through Ben’s story and successes. Check out the Ben Gretchko Story video and exciting college updates below!

Ben will be a senior at Western Michigan University in the fall of 2020, and will live in an apartment with a friend.  He is expected to graduate in 2021 as a journalism major with a marketing minor.  His grades are very good (he had a 3.75 for his second semester of his junior year, and his overall GPA is a 3.64!)  During his junior year, he had a paid part-time internship with WMUK, which is an affiliate of NPR.  For work during the summer break, Ben is a very enterprising Instacart Full Service Shopper! He is the lead news reporter for the Western Herald (which is the college’s newspaper), and he has an unpaid internship this summer at HOM TV, which is a television station in the Lansing area.

A word from Dr. Solomon:

Ben Gretchko shows the potential that children with autism have. Ben started off with a diagnosis of mild to moderate autism. He had no words at 3 years of age and was in his own world. He received intensive early intervention from age 2 1/2 until 5 years of age through The PLAY Project, our parent coaching program, where his dedicated parents (who worked full time!) learned how to promote social interactions, imagination, and emotional intelligence which led Ben to improve his social abilities and cognitive development. After this intensive early intervention, as Ben began elementary school, his family worked closely with the school to create a curriculum and IEP (Individualized Education Plan) that was challenging but not overwhelming. His family had high expectations that Ben could reach his full potential. Even in high school Ben needed help especially with math but he graduated and was nominated to give a speech at his high school commencement. His family hired a tutor for college entrance examinations. They never gave up believing that Ben could go to college. Western Michigan has one of the best programs for young adults with higher functioning autism. Ben has thrived there and, as his update shows, he is scheduled to graduate with a high GPA and great prospects for the future. Congratulations Ben!!

“After many months of speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and sensory integrative therapy, our 2 1/2-year-old son could not utter a word or make eye contact, and his preservative behaviors consumed much of his day. Within months after our family’s enrollment in The PLAY Project our son began his remarkable journey of progress… we would shudder to think where we would be today without the PLAY Project and Dr. Solomon’s enthusiastic and wise guidance.”

– Steve and Lisa Gretchko for Autism: The Potential Within by Richard Solomon, MD