 
Brad Doherty/The Brownsville Herald
Rolando Davila,8, who attends Pullam Elementary, draws a series of characters on the board in his classroom on Thursday. Davila is very artistic and is autistic.
Mr. Bean rears back in fright, hair on end, eyebrows raised, mouth wide.
The cartoon figure, which 9-year-old Rolando Davila also identifies as himself, is part of a story the youngster had inscribed across a drawing board.
Davila is autistic, and his disorder is characterized by an impaired ability to communicate and form normal social relationships. It is also is marked by patterns of repetitive behavior.
Despite their myriad challenges, however, many autistic children also show enhanced talent in specific areas. Davila has an advanced ability in both art and music.
“He’s always liked arts and crafts, since he was 3 years old,” said his mother, Cecilia Beltrán de Davila. “He loves his sister (Carolina) so much. He always includes her in all his drawings. He’s very loving.”
In the cartoon strip on the board, Rolando also has drawn a character with a button-down shirt who frowns angrily at Mr. Bean, while a zombie with a black eye and a devilish grin hovers behind him.
“They’ve been playing zombies,” said Pamela Downing, Davila’s teacher at Pullam Elementary.
Downing has worked with children with autism for 13 years. At first she was teaching a “Basic Skills Unit” that was not specifically geared toward children with autism, although she had some children in her class with the condition. Sbout seven years ago, though, the district created what was called “Structured For Life.”
“It’s a specialized life skills unit,” she said. “It’s not only children with autism, but about 95 percent will have autism. It’s a sensory perception disorder, so you might have some other children in there that are not labeled with autism but who might have sensory perception issues.”
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