Opening a path

A martial arts teacher finds special meaning in helping autistic kids

DURHAM -- Two rows of children in crisp, white uniforms called gis practice karate facing a mirrored wall at the Carolina Martial Arts Center.

One child, a 12-year-old boy, seems to be having trouble. He keeps falling out of line. Then, in the middle of following instructions for complicated, multistep moves, the boy suddenly breaks into a spin, vigorously flapping his left hand in front of his face.

Sensei Kevin Gurganus matter-of-factly instructs the child to get back in line, pointing out clearly where he must stand. The boy does so, and the class proceeds. But minutes later, the child is again in the wrong place.

Gurganus patiently puts a note card on the blue floor mat to mark the spot. The boy takes his place and the class goes on.

The boy has autism; he has difficulty with communication, interaction and motor skills. He is one among a few with autism spectrum disorder who learn the karate moves alongside their typically developing peers in this dojo.

That's why the other students don't seem disturbed by the disruption -- this is the way things are here. In fact, a mantra of courtesy and respect for individual difference is recited enthusiastically when class begins.

And that mantra is demonstrated each day because of Gurganus, whose desire to help kids with special needs is reinforced by personal experience.

His son Zackary, 9, has autism too. But Zackary does not learn karate in his father's dojo. "He cannot follow detailed directions," says Gurganus.

Driven by the hope that he will someday teach his son, Gurganus, 45, uses his ki -- "energy" in Japanese -- to give meaning to the roles that define him: doting father, special education teacher and sensei in a dojo who has always tried to give both the able and the not-so-able an equal chance.

"These are life skills that kids use every day," he says. "Self-defense skills are the end result of karate. But they are like a spare tire in the trunk. The path that you take to reach the end result is important."

Gurganus' path began in 1974, when he was 12 and started his training in Shito-ryo karate, a Japanese martial art form. He taught in his first dojo in Plymouth at 16.

After completing a bachelor's degree in physical education at then Atlantic Christian College, now Barton, in Wilson, Gurganus moved to Durham in 1984 and started his own dojo in 1991.

Two years later, he met the woman who would become his wife, Vicki. They married in 1994. Vicki had two children from a previous marriage; they decided to add another. Zackary was born in 1997.

Zackary was 2 when he was diagnosed with autism. Students at the dojo told the couple about the new early intervention program at the Frank Porter Graham Early Intervention Program in Chapel Hill.

Once Zackary was enrolled, Gurganus and his wife spent a lot of time at the program. People started to notice.

"Seeing us hanging around, the director of the child development program asked me jokingly about getting a job there," he says. "I applied for a teacher's assistant position and taught there for two years until Zackary aged out of preschool."

Reaching out

Gurganus moved on too. In 2002, he got a job as a teacher's assistant in a class for autistic children at Durham's Hope Valley Elementary School. Two years later, he moved to Little River Elementary School, Zackary's school. There, after special training, he became a language facilitator. He now assists two hearing-impaired fourth-graders at the school.

He can't remember any more when he decided to bring special needs children to the dojo. But he remembers it took more patience than usual, and some experimentation, to make it work. And it was rewarding.