Luminous
A Catholic Woman and Her Thoughts on Life, the Universe, and Everything
Saturday, April 07, 2007
There was the Music
For Catholic with Autism, Before the Words came, There was the Music
 
By Nancy Westlund
3/27/2007
Catholic Herald
 
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Catholic Herald) - I sat in the third pew in Sacramento's Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, tears flooding my eyes. A male baritone's voice filled the vast sanctuary with exquisitely soulful music, verses of the Lord's Prayer unfolded in seamless beauty.
 
That was seven years ago, on the wedding day of my niece, Pagette Aduna, her brother Michael Valcour's voice took my breath away.
 
Since then, Michael has sung in countless concerts and performed in front of huge audiences from San Francisco to Hollywood.
 
There was a gig with entertainer Huey Lewis at a Marin fund-raiser, open mike performances at the Joey Travolta Family Theatre in Los Angeles, and music engagements at City Hall in San Francisco and at the state Capitol.
 
But Michael's story is not about a singer with obvious talent seeking fame.
 
It's about parents discovering their child locked in another world, then choosing to enter that world with faith and determination to set him free.
 
Born in Daly City, Calif., on Jan. 22, 1973, Michael Valcour, 34, was a beautiful baby.
 
But during the first year of his life, Michael's parents, Kathy and Arnold Valcour, found their second-born child was incredibly quiet, never looking directly at his parents or anyone else.
 
"I remember walking up the stairs, holding him and talking to him and feeling like I was talking to the wall," said Kathy Valcour, during an interview last month in the Valcour's Sacramento home. "Around the age of one, I waited to hear the word 'mama' and did not hear it."
 
Michael began crying in the night, and his parents discovered there was only one thing that comforted him.
 
"Music seemed to be good for him," Arnold Valcour said. "We even started singing when we talked to him."
 
When Michael was two, the Valcours' concern over their young son escalated as his verbal expression was limited to repeating the alphabet and numbers while watching "Sesame Street" television shows.
 
After naming one of his favorite "Sesame Street" songs at that time, Michael told me he remembers "wishing he had the sounds" to sing along.
 
By the time her son was three, Kathy Valcour, a former elementary school teacher, remembered reading about autism in a psychology class and wondered if Michael might be autistic.
 
But when she asked his pediatrician about that possibility, she was given a diagnosis of "delayed development."
 
Consequently, Michael was enrolled in the Marin Child Development Center near the Valcour's Novato home.
 
When Michael was five, he was, in fact, diagnosed with autism.
 
A complex brain disorder that inhibits a person's ability to communicate and develop social relationships, autism is, according to a 2007 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, increasingly prevalent. Incidents of autism have risen from one in 166 children in January 2004 to one in 150 today.
 
Once Michael was diagnosed as autistic, the Valcours worked tirelessly with public and private school officials to devise an Individual Education Plan that would provide the one-on-one instruction he needed to succeed.
 
But they eventually became alarmed upon observing their son began demonstrating somewhat bizarre, negative behavior such as hitting and kicking.
 
Then Michael's parents saw a television show which would be the answer to their prayers. The show featured Barry and Susie Kaufman and their autistic child, Raun, who was close in age to Mike but behaving normally.
 
Arnold Valcour decided to fly to New York to meet with the Kaufmans.
 
"They told us to accept Michael where he is, be with him and enjoy him and bring him over into our world," Arnold Valcour said.
 
If Michael bounced up and down, his parents bounced up and down. They did what he did 12 hours a day, and rejoiced as Michael began talking and making eye contact.
 
Then when Michael was 10, the family, then members of Our Lady of Loretto Parish in Novato, had an even more powerful, life-changing experience.
 
"Michael led us back to church, closer together, closer to God," Kathy Valcour said, explaining that due to Michael's delayed language processing skills, he had not been enrolled in religious education classes or received the sacraments of baptism and confirmation.
 
In fact, the entire family had drifted away from church.
 
After consultation with their pastor, the Valcours began attending "Life in the Spirit" seminars, a program that provides instruction on the power of the Holy Spirit in people's lives. They attended religious education classes and Mass as a family.
 
Michael's older sister Pagette, then a teen-ager, introduced Michael to Christian rock, a form of music he continues to enjoy singing today.
 
"The Holy Spirit was moving through our lives," Kathy Valcour said. "It gave us the courage to go on."
 
Michael began attending a private school in Novato that provided one-on-one instruction, formed relationships with children his age, and later enrolled in special music classes in the Novato School District.
 
He was playing every musical instrument he could get his hands on, from the violin and trumpet and then the guitar.
 
"We heard these notes coming from the bedroom," said Kathy Valcour, recalling the joy of hearing her 16-year-old son singing and strumming "Lean on Me" on his guitar, a song he learned in chorus class at a Marin high school.
 
Once Michael began singing, there was no limit to his hunger to learn more.
 
By the time he was in his early 20s, the Valcours enrolled Michael in the music department at the College of Marin.
 
It was as a singer in the college chorus that he met Donna Dutton, a retired choral music teacher who was providing support services for people with disabilities.
 
From the start, said Dutton during a telephone interview with The Catholic Herald, Michael was a stand-out.
 
He joined the chorus which included some music majors, and was a quick learner. "He had natural (musical) ability and once he learned the words, he never missed one," Dutton said.
 
Michael still had some mountains to climb.
 
Singing classical music required skills new to him, such as proper breathing, phrasing, and mastering classical music written in Italian, German, French and Latin.
 
Dutton said "singing an Italian aria required not just learning music and words but performing in an elegant way."
 
When Michael decided he wanted to join the college's prestigious chamber singers, he practiced for the required rigorous audition and joined the group.
 
"Over the years, Michael not only succeeded (as a music student)," Dutton said, "he became the class star."
 
But it was at a 2001 recital performed at the College of Marin's Lefort Recital Hall in which Michael memorized 23 songs that transformed the singer into a performer.
 
"He is fearless in front of an audience and the resonant quality of his voice is excellent," said Dutton of her former student, adding she is not surprised at Michael's accomplishments since leaving the College of Marin.
 
"Michael has found a passion that allows him to go out into the world of emotion. He has a lot of heart."
 
Since moving to the Sacramento area in 2003, the Valcours, members of St. Joseph Parish in Elk Grove, Calif., have devoted their time to arranging engagements for Michael to perform with such organizations as Actors for Autism and the Governor's Committee for the Employment of Disabled Persons.
 
They send out DVDs featuring Michael to television network shows such as "Oprah," "48 Hours," and "60 Minutes" and are working with producer Joey Travolta on a documentary entitled "Possibilities and Disabilities."
 
Michael's parents also provide transportation and behind the scenes technical support for all of their son's performances.
 
Keeping a busy schedule, Michael currently attends Cosumnes River College in Sacramento where he continues to study music.
 
To prepare for frequent "gigs," he practices daily, sometimes into the wee hours of the morning, and keeps a strict exercise schedule to stay in shape for the physical demands of performing.
 
During my interview with the Valcours, I asked Michael how he felt about singing. After sharing with me that he has most "fun" singing popular music, the conversation shifted to who had the best voice in the family.
 
Arnold Valcour, a tenor who studied music in his youth and was also blessed with a fine voice, provided an answer.
 
"The other night I asked Michael who has the best voice. He looked at me and smiled said, 'Me,'" said an obviously proud father, quickly adding, "and he's right."
 
Symptoms of autism
 
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Web site, www.ninds.nih.gov, identifies behaviors which characterize autism.
 
Three distinctive behaviors characterize autism. Autistic children have difficulty with social interaction, with verbal and nonverbal communication and exhibit repetitive behaviors.
 
The hallmark feature is impaired social interaction. As early as infancy, a baby with autism may be unresponsive to people or will focus intently on one item to the exclusion of others for long periods of time.
 
Children with autism may fail to respond to their name and often avoid eye contact with other people. They have difficulty interpreting what others are thinking or feeling because they can't understand social cues such as facial expression.
 
Many children with autism engage in repetitive movements, such as rocking and twirling, or in self-abusive behavior such as biting or head-banging.
Written at 6:49 AM by Luminaria2112.
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