Student deals with autism by making elaborate costumes

KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) - For some, buying a Halloween costume at a department store is good enough.

Not for Kendalyn Johnson. The 18-year-old Eastern High School senior wouldn't be caught dead in a store-bought costume. That would take all the fun out of building her own.

She started doing just that in junior high when she decided to attend a costume contest at a Halloween party. After a bit of Google searching, Kendalyn came up with an idea. She knew she liked optical illusions, so she decided to design and build a costume that made her look like a headless person. The twist to the outfit was creating the illusion she was carrying her own head in a jar.

"With mom's help, I made it and I actually won," she said. "That's what gave me the idea, 'Well, maybe I could make more costumes. Like, better costumes.'"

And she has. Over the last five years, Kendalyn has concocted extraordinary elaborate outfits that one could easily mistake for a prop in a blockbuster movie. Her costumes have won accolades at contests, and one even made a brief TV appearance recently during a segment on Good Morning America.

After catching the costume-making bug from her first outfit, Kendalyn began brainstorming other ideas. For one of the costumes she decided to create a game piece from the kids' board game Candy Land. It was a creation she constructed with help from her mom, Lisa Hutchinson, to wear during her school's homecoming parade.

Then came an outfit more complex and intricate than anything she had yet attempted. Its name was Shadow Strider, a spooky, looming four-legged figure draped in black with a white mask. The costume required Kendalyn to wear stilts and learn how to walk on them.

"I enjoy making characters that are kind of creepy," Kendalyn said.

The front legs were aluminum stilts wrapped in foam and black cloth. She and her stepdad constructed custom-made stilts for the back legs.

When she wore it to the annual Indianapolis gaming convention called Gen Con, she took home first place in a costume contest.

From behind the mask and from her perch high on top of the stilts, she could see only the floor and people's feet as she lumbered by in the costume, but the comments she heard while hidden inside her creation made her smile.

"I've heard 'What is that?' and 'Oh, that's scary,'" she said. "They usually think I'm a guy, which is funny because they can't see my face. I don't ever say anything because that's not what my character does."

Now, for the past seven months, bit by spray-foamed bit, limb by furry limb, Kendalyn has constructed a new, staggeringly intricate creature in the basement of her family's Greentown home. Star Wars fans will recognize the beast as a Tauntaun_a snow lizard who wanders the ice planet of Hoth in "The Empire Strikes Back."

And in April, after applying some finishing touches, she took her creation on a walk, of sorts, down the sidewalk of her suburban street.

Standing nearly 7-feet tall, the large animal with curved horns and covered in frosty-looking fur slowly trudged past cars, mailboxes and garages. The presence of Kendalyn's Tauntaun turned the perfectly mundane suburban scene into what could have been an episode from "The Twilight Zone."

And atop the giant beast sat its rider, Kendalyn. Except she wasn't sitting at all. Two stuffed, human-looking legs flank the Tauntaun's sides and give the illusion she's sitting. In reality, Kendalyn is standing on 2-foot stilts inside the creature's legs. As she takes a step, the Tauntaun takes a step.

From her towering position on top of the beast, Kendalyn said she can't help but have a different perspective on the world. But having a unique perspective isn't anything new to Kendalyn. She's used to that, because she's always seen the world a little differently.

A FRESH POINT OF VIEW

Kendalyn was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when she was in second grade. The developmental disorder has affected her ability to effectively socialize with her classmates and peers, but that's forced her to develop her own unique point of view on the world.

Take something as straightforward and obvious as a front door. Kendalyn said when all she sees are "dull and boring" gray and brown doors in her neighborhood, it inspires her to want to paint her door bright green.

"I might see an object and think 'Oh, that's cool,' and everyone might think 'Oh, that's gross or that's weird or boring,'" she said. "I think it'd be cool to have a hobbit house and everyone else is like, 'No, give me a normal brick house with a driveway.'"

But that unique way of thinking has led to some great results.

Last month, Echo the Tauntaun, which Kendalyn named after the Rebel Alliance base on planet Hoth, made its debut at the Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, Florida. An estimated 70,000 Star Wars fans attended the celebration, and many of them, like Kendalyn, were wearing homemade costumes of their favorite characters.

Kendalyn was there among it all. She was even shown on TV walking across a stage wearing her Tauntaun costume during a segment of Good Morning America's coverage of the event.

Being around such a huge crowd would make Kendalyn, the 18-year-old high school senior, uncomfortable. But Kendalyn, rider of Echo the Tauntaun, felt completely at ease.

"I don't really mingle with people that often, just because I'd rather not," she said. "I'd rather stay at home and pet my cat, you know. That's the life right there. But when you put on a costume, partially because they don't know it's you, you can just walk right out there. It's kind of nice. It makes you feel more confident."

For Kendalyn, building and wearing costumes has been one way to express her unique perspective on the world. Now, her hobby has also become a way for her to deal with the kinds of social situations which have challenged her all her life.

DEALING WITH AUTISM

When Kendalyn was young, her mom would get calls from the principal saying her daughter was getting in fights with other kids during day care and kindergarten. Lisa said it was strange, because she never saw that side of her daughter at home.

"I just saw sweetness at home," Lisa said.

As the fighting progressively got worse, she decided Kendalyn would try counseling. Lisa thought since she was going through a divorce, maybe that's what was causing Kendalyn's bad moods. Things eventually calmed down in the first grade, but her behavioral issues started up again in second grade.

So a counselor suggested Kendalyn get tested for autism. That same year, she was diagnosed with Asperger's.

"There were a lot of tears," Lisa said. "It wasn't necessarily because Kendi was different. It was because I wasn't sure how everyone was going to treat her. I didn't know how easy or hard her life was going to be."

Lisa said Kendalyn never struggled with communicating with people, like some kids with non-verbal autism. Her biggest obstacle was picking up on social cues. For example, when Kendalyn was younger, she didn't always know how to read people's faces. She couldn't figure out if they were bored or excited or nervous about something. She couldn't understand when people were being funny.

"It was frustrating for her," Lisa said. "She didn't get the joke, or she didn't always get what was funny."

Over the years, though, Kendalyn was able to pick up on jokes and wisecracks more often thanks to her dad and her two older brothers, who Kendalyn said have a great sense of humor. The fighting and other behavioral issues also ceased once she was surrounded with a quieter, more structured environment. Mood-stabilizing medication also helped.

Still, struggling to grasp social situations left Kendalyn exhausted after school. Lisa said the best way she knows how to help is simply to listen when Kendalyn vents about what bothered her that day, like someone cutting in line at lunch or being put into a group project for class.

Sometimes Kendalyn just plainly tells her mom that "I don't get people." To which Lisa usually replies "I know," or "Neither do I."

That's all led to Kendalyn having a hard time forming friendships with people her age.

"I don't have very many friends," Kendalyn said. "The friends that I do have are older than I am. I like to hang out with more mature people because they are easier to get along with."

Lisa said she thinks one of the big reasons Kendalyn has a hard time making friends is because she comes off as shy and unengaged. But she wants to engage. She just doesn't know how.

"People miss it," Lisa said. "She is so neat and they miss it. And I hate that for her because it's not her fault. It's just not."

Kendalyn will be the first person to tell you that she chooses to be quieter in social settings, but that doesn't mean she's afraid to talk.

"I don't consider myself to be shy," Kendalyn said. "I'm just quiet. There's a difference. I wish people would know I'm not a shy person. I just don't talk a lot. That's a misconception people have. I wish people could see I'm not trying to be snobby or stuck up."

As she's gotten older, she's been able to deal with things like working in groups and school activities a little better, although she admits she only has enough patience to get through the end of the school day.

It also helps that Kendalyn has an individualized education program at school that allows her to go to a special area during tests where she can ask questions if she doesn't understand something. She's also not required to go to pep rallies or convocations since the noise and stimulation bother her.

That's why Lisa said she is so amazed that when her daughter dons one of her costumes, she can be around tens of thousands of people at gaming conventions like the one in Florida.

MAKING AN IMPRESSION

Wearing a costume makes it easier for Kendalyn to cope with large crowds. But her hobby does way more than that. As Kendalyn sees it, building costumes is a way to set herself apart and do something truly special.

"Everyone has something unique about them," Kendalyn said. "I think this just might be my thing."

That's why it didn't matter that her back was aching and she was roasting inside her Shadow Strider costume at Gen Con. The reactions from the crowd made everything worth it. Kendalyn said she knew she was leaving a lasting impression on people - an impressive feat given that it's hard for her to recognize social cues.

"I get joy out of seeing other people's reactions to it," she said. "Hearing grown men freak out because they didn't know who I was is fun. It gives me something to do that a lot of people don't do. This is a way I can be special, like different special, and set me apart from other people."

Kendalyn said making an impression is something she hopes to continue to do with her most recent Tauntaun costume, which she plans to take to other conventions and costume contests.

After all, it took about $500 worth of supplies and 300 hours of work to put it all together. When it was all said and done, the outfit required 30 bottles of spray foam, 10 cans of spray glue, hundreds of glue sticks, 30 feet of fur and countless newspaper strips they used to paper mache the Tauntaun's heavy head.

Kendalyn said it was a daunting project, and sometimes it seemed like they would never get the costume finished. No matter how long it took, though, there was no way Kendalyn was going to settle for a store-bought costume.

"That's cheating," she said. "I feel a lot of pride with my costume, which is nice. I wouldn't feel that way if I just handed the cashier the money."

FORGING A BOND

Kendalyn and Lisa have always been close. But working on costumes together has added another layer of depth to their relationship that both say has been good for them.

But that doesn't mean they always see eye-to-eye during the creative process.

"We argue sometimes over how things should be done," Kendalyn said. "She slows me down because I want to go 50 miles per hour on this project. She makes me stop and think of the finer details. I don't really think that way."

Those different mindsets have led to good results, though. They both come up with ideas the other person may not have considered.

"There are things we are complete opposites on, and we've figured out how to make that work," Lisa said. "I like it when I can take a step back and let her be the one that figures it out. Because she can and she does."

Lisa says working so closely together has been immensely good for her own patience. Whenever Kendalyn doesn't understand something she's trying to explain, she tries to be visual with her explanations. Since Kendalyn struggles with abstract ideas, she tries to be very clear and concrete with instructions.

More than anything though, it's been great quality time spent with her daughter before she leaves for college in the fall.

"I think she likes to make the costumes because it gives us something to do together," Lisa said. "I think she truly likes spending the time with me, which is nice because it's not typical ... I get to be her best friend because she doesn't have a best friend."

"We are pretty close," Kendalyn said. "I think a lot of teenagers break off from their parents, I don't know why, but I don't think I ever did that. I like to spend time with my mom."

Which makes it all the more bittersweet that the Tauntaun may be the last costume the mother and daughter make together - at least for a while.

Kendalyn will be attending Huntington University next school year and she wants to be either an animator or a video game designer.

"Mom tells me that this is my last costume and of course I say, 'No it's not,'" Kendalyn said. "Since I'm going away to college soon, I probably won't be able to make any costumes with her. Which leaves the question who am I going to make costumes with? I'm not very good at making them by myself. If I can find someone to help me, I'll continue my costume making escapade."

But Lisa said she's sure her daughter is headed toward a bright future as she heads off to college - whether that includes building her elaborate costumes or not.

"I think all of life has led up to hopefully her having a really, really good future," Lisa said. "And I really hope she's able to be independent. She wants to live in the woods in a cave somewhere and I think she could. I think she'd miss me a little bit and would have to figure out a way to have the cat, but I think life is going to be good for her. It's time for it to be."

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Source: Kokomo Tribune, http://bit.ly/2pU8VHB

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Information from: Kokomo Tribune, http://www.ktonline.com