When Sheila Williamson came to Ole Miss for graduate school in the late 1980s, her plan was to return to her native New Jersey in five years.
Almost four decades later, she’s a clinical psychologist and board-certified behavior analyst at Mississippi State University’s T.K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability, her latest stop in a 35-year career in the state working with people with behavioral and developmental disabilities. In that span, she has served thousands of patients, ranging from young children to young adults, working extensively with assessing and treating people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
“I really saw the need here, but more than anything I saw the responsiveness,” Williamson told The Dispatch. “… Everywhere I’ve been (in Mississippi), people are just so open to opportunities to grow services and how we can serve and how we can work with families and parents. That’s what’s kept me here.”
Earlier this month, her work earned her a Torchbearer Award from the Mississippi Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities, an honor Williamson said was “very humbling.”
“I’m one of the luckiest people ever because I can say after 35-plus years, I still like going to work every day. It’s still fun,” Williamson said. “… I’ve always thought I was the lucky one to be able to work with (my patients). To be trusted by parents. And to be trusted by young people.”
Williamson joined the T.K. Martin Center staff in 2021, where she typically spends her mornings assessing patients for disorders like autism. Her afternoons can include individual or group sessions working with nonverbal 3-year-olds on basic safety and impulse control up to students navigating college life with neurodivergence.
“No day is ever the same, and no day is ever boring,” she said. “My focus has really become empowering them to figure out what’s really important to them, even starting with the little bitties. What motivates them to do the hard things to meet their goals?”
Williamson and her team practice applied behavioral therapy, a methodology she said breaks down skills and provides high rates of reinforcement addressing the challenging behaviors sometimes seen with autism, many of which involve socialization.
As “clinical” as that may sound, Williamson sees what she’s doing as “stepping into their world.”
“I know more about Legos, Minecraft and Nintendo than any grown woman should,” she said. “But … about 15, 20 years ago I just woke up and was like, ‘I don’t talk to people I don’t like. I don’t hang out with them.’ So maybe instead of being so focused on getting autistic kids in our world, I should make them like me first.”
In fact, Williamson said a common misconception about people with autism is they don’t want to be social.
“It just doesn’t come natural,” she said. “It’s draining, and every time they try, they’re judged. … We spend so much time having fun. Because social should be fun. It shouldn’t be a script. It should be exciting and funny, and you should want to do it.”
Williamson avoids words like appropriate and inappropriate, opting instead to describe behaviors as expected and unexpected.
For example, she once had a patient whom she would ask, “How are you today?” He would respond, “Good.” She worked with him on social reciprocity – the expectation he would ask something like, “How about you?”
“He came in my office one day and said, ‘Hey, Ms. Sheila. How was your Thanksgiving?’” Williamson recalled with a chuckle. “I thought, ‘My work here is done.’”
She acknowledged, though, not everyone’s journey is that simple.
“If you talk to these mothers who sleep just a few hours a day or these families that can’t go to weddings or graduations because there’s no support to watch their child, and their child is so miserable in their own body … when you get … 2- or 3-year-olds who are like that, and you get that early intervention, the goal is for them to (one day) look like the (higher-functioning) neuro-divergent people, and that’s great,” she said. “There are some in this population (for whom) that is not their destiny. … But continue to provide the services they need.”
Early intervention is key, with one of the largest gaps in autism diagnoses being children under 6. Insurance in Mississippi covers ABA therapy only if there is a formal diagnosis. Williamson’s waiting list for assessments can stretch as long as 18 months, she said. Then there’s another waiting list for therapy.
Other common misconceptions of autism are that “non-verbal is non-understanding,” and presuming that what a child looks like at age 2 or 3 will not change with time and help, Williamson said.
She said she’s seen some of her patients, who at a young age were not expected to ever graduate high school with a regular diploma, become successful college students. Others may not have achieved that level of success but “are living their best life” nonetheless.
For parents, she said, the biggest factor is their expectations after their child is diagnosed.
“I’ve seen so many times that the autism steals the joy,” Williamson said. “… I’m not a parent of a child with autism. I’ve seen it just take people’s breaths away. Sometimes you just have to sit in that for a minute with them and then get up and help them find the hope. This is not a disability without hope.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
