Mom uses giant potato tour to educate her son with autism
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — A 4-ton potato on wheels rolled into Colorado Springs, and for one local family, the stop turned into a meaningful teaching moment.
Susan Wiley bundled up her family and braved the cold to see the traveling Big Idaho Potato Tour, hoping the larger-than-life potato could help her son understand something he lives with every day.
Her 16-year-old son, John, has autism and Type 1 diabetes. Wiley said visual, real-world experiences often help him better understand complex ideas. Seeing a massive potato sitting on a flatbed truck quickly sparked his joy and curiosity.
John began asking questions like how the potato got onto the truck, where potatoes come from and how food travels across the country.
For Susan, those questions opened the door to something bigger.
She said the moment allowed her to talk with John about how food is grown and transported, and how certain foods like potatoes and other starches work in his body. It also touched on the family’s Irish heritage and how potatoes shaped his ancestors’ history.
Wiley has four children — three of them on the spectrum. She says it was important to her that her family never lived in fear of the diagnosis, but instead learned how to embrace it and educate themselves on how to best support and bond with their children.
She hopes other parents navigating an autism diagnosis feel inspired to try outings like this, explaining that simple experiences can help children build social and emotional skills.
“It’s the little things like that that are huge so that way he can go out and see and interact with people and see things he wouldn’t normally see,” Wiley said.
Sarah Wiley, John’s older sister and a nurse, credits her medical interest and compassion to growing up in a household where autism was understood rather than shunned. Throughout the visit, she helped support John, encouraging his curiosity.
Susan said she wouldn’t change John’s autism, calling it part of what makes him who he is. But managing his Type 1 diabetes has been much harder.
Before recent technology, Susan Wiley says she had to wake up every two hours during the night to check John’s blood sugar. Now, with a continuous glucose monitor, she can track his levels remotely and even receives alerts if he eats something he shouldn’t, which could cause his blood sugar to spike or drop dangerously.
The Big Idaho Potato Tour helps support diabetes-related organizations during its travels across the country, helping raise awareness for families living with the condition, amongst other causes, while promoting tourism to Idaho and Idaho potatoes.
John says he’s thankful for the attention and funding the tour brings to people living with diabetes and other disabilities.
You can track the giant potato truck online to see which town the truck will roll into next here.
Stay up to date with the latest local news, sports, and investigations by downloading the KRDO13 app. Click here to download it from the Apple App Store. Android users can download it from Google Play here.
