Joshua Ward

Loganville, Georgia (Senate District 9)

In a world full of distraction and noise, the musician sits down at his piano. Fingers hover over the keys, waiting. Before a single note is played, he commands the room with a powerful pause, letting silence fill the space. You have to want this moment, to taste what’s about to come. Joshua Ward knows just how to tease out that expectation, whether he’s playing for an audience of 2 or 200.

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Josh is a 17-year-old man from Loganville, Georgia who has autism. He’s also an incredibly gifted piano player and an aspiring mechatronics engineer (an interdisciplinary combination of mechanical, electrical, and software engineering). When Josh was four years old, his mother, Henri Johnson-Moede, gave him a tiny toy piano for Christmas. He eagerly took it into his room and emerged twenty minutes later having taught himself the quintessential song, “Doe, A Deer” from “The Sound of Music.” Right away, Henri recognized Josh had a unique talent. In those early days, she sought teachers to help him learn, but Josh did better on his own, especially preferring to teach himself music by ear. Later on, Josh went back and started learning from teachers and learned to read music because he and Henri both felt he’d gone as far as he could from teaching himself.

By the time Josh was nine years old, he won his first major competition, taking first prize in Autism’s Got Talent. He took third place the following year. Josh has a fascinating talent for creating interesting blends or fusions of different styles. He might play a classical tune but throw in jazz notes here and there. He lists Ray Charles amongst his idols because of the singer/songwriter’s ability to infuse gospel with blues and vice versa. He also talks about how much inspiration he draws from the story of Blind Tom Wiggins, a piano player who was blind and had autism. He was the first African American to give a command performance at the White House in the 1800s.

According to Josh’s mom Henri, herself a nurse practitioner, Josh’s early life was qualified as truly early. He was meeting milestones early right and left–lifting his own head at three weeks, walking at seven months, talking at nine months. While it was all fun, nothing felt out of the ordinary because she also had started walking at seven months. Then, after Josh’s sister, Breanna, was born sixteen months later, everything just seemed to come to a screeching halt. He wouldn’t kick a ball, refused to touch wet grass, and although he had taught himself the alphabet, he wasn’t really communicating. “In retrospect,” Henri says, “skipping developmental milestones is common with some kids with autism.” After her son’s new patterns began to emerge, Henri reached out to Easter Seals and a developmental pediatrician. Josh was diagnosed with autism shortly before his third birthday.

At the time, they were living in Florida. Henri spent 3 months in the Orlando area evaluating one autism school after another. She was searching online late one night and found an autism school in Lakewood Ranch, Florida that followed the PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System),which helped Josh get back to talking. When Henri made the tough decision to move to Georgia for better career opportunities, she had to go back to the drawing board on finding the right school for Josh.

They had a less than ideal first try with a public school, which was massive and caused daily sensory overload. The transition was emotionally taxing. At his second school, Chestnut Academy, despite average IQ scores, Josh was placed in a special education classroom for lower functioning students because he required more socio-emotional support. The lead teacher did not agree with the school's decision to put him in this classroom and staunchly advocated for him. Eventually he moved to a more appropriate classroom situation, where he can flourish.

Josh’s grandmother, Annie, whom he calls Nana, immigrated from Liberia thirteen years ago to help take care of him and Breanna. As is so often true with our Nanas, Josh is a big fan of Annie’s cooking. He details her rice and veggie dishes he most frequently requests and takes to school for lunch as well. The two of them hang out after school when he’s not doing homework and love watching classic game shows like “Press Your Luck” together.

Another important person in Josh’s life is Thomas, his stepdad. Thomas is a physical education teacher and he, like Annie, talks about the adjustment he had to make about cultural differences and expectations around children and discipline when Josh came into his life. He and his new mother-in-law smile and nod at each other across the room as the bond over the ways that Josh has encouraged them to view the world in more flexible, responsive ways.

On track to graduate in 2026, Josh would like to go into a college or certificate program that combines mechanical and electrical engineering. He recently surprised his family by installing the ceiling fan and light in his bedroom very quickly. “The first time I tested it,” Josh says, “it was wired wrong. I thought that was why it wasn't spinning, so I had to disassemble some of the parts to rearrange the wires before reassembling. When I reassembled my fan, I had to test it but without the blades or the motor housing.” Josh seems to understand intuitively mechanical things the same way he does music.

Josh currently receives no government support. As he moves toward the end of high school, however, Henri says that she’d really like to explore programs like the Medicaid waiver, and anything else that might be possible to help him live independently in the community. It will be crucial as Annie has declared her intention to move back to Liberia when he graduates. As Henri says, “College will be a huge adjustment. He's been mostly an A student, but the social/behavioral issues sometimes interfere with his academic focus. This consequently drives his grades lower. We have to find the right program for Josh that will help him navigate the social emotional learning.”

He’s already come so far, and there are somany more places to go. Maybe, even, the White House.

Writer: Shannon M. Turner Photographer: Haylee Anne Fucini-Lenkey