Jaylen Arnold, a Florida resident, radiates inspiration and continues to help others as well as educate kids and parents alike about one of our country’s most disturbing growing trends – bullying.

Recently Jaylen took time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions about his crusade and his mission to help millions of children. Don’t forget to watch his PSA at the end of this article.

Part 1:

1.Why and when did you create www.JaylensChallenge.org ?

My website was created in May of this year. I created it because I wanted to find a way to help kids that were still getting bullied.

2. Tell us a bit about Tourette’s Syndrome? When were you diagnosed with Tourette’s?

I was diagnosed with TS at 3 years old. Tourette Syndrome is this little thingy in your brain that makes your body do tics(move and make noises) when you don’t want it to. You can control your body, my body controls me.

3. Many parents are exhausted of hearing labels; however you are a shining example of perseverance. You reference yourself as an “alphabet” kid – explain that to us?

Well, that’s because I have Tourette Syndrome, Asperger’s, and Obsessive Compulsive. When you have a disability, the doctor’s always write it by your name and they abbreviate it to make it easier. So I have TS (Tourette), ASP (Asperger’s), and OCD (obsessive compulsive) which is a lot of letters of the alphabet!

4.You are determined to be a voice to fight bullying (which I may say you are definitely a voice to be heard). Explain to us how bullying has effected you and how you are helping others learn how to prevent bullying.

When I was copied and laughed at for my tics, it made my Tourette’s much worse because it stressed me and then my Asperger’s was getting all overworked because Aspergers is part of Autism and I was a real mess. My mom took me out of school for a little while and then put me back to my old school where I wasn’t made fun of. I’m teaching kids about bullying because when I went back to the school that made fun of me later and told them about my problems, the kids listened and they said they were sorry. So I just thought and talked to my mom and said “this is easy, someone just needs to tell all these bad kids”. I had seen kids get physically bullied at that school when I went there.

5. You mentioned that public school was difficult for you. Do you feel that we need more education and awareness about bullying in public schools and how to you think we can do this?

ABSOLUTELY!!! Just call my mom or email us through my website. We will COME to your school and teach your kids about bullying and why you shouldn’t do it! Or if mom won’t let me come that far, they will send you all the stuff and we tell you how to do it with the whole school.

Part 2:

6. Why do you think bullying is more prevalent in public school verses private school?

Because in my private school it is Christian and they make you go by the Bible and Jesus don’t like bullying. Plus in private you don’t want to get sent to the principals office because she will call your parents!!! In public school, those kids aren’t scared of the principals office OR their parents!!

7. Do you have tips for parents that are not able to afford private schools, however their child is being bullied in their public school? What tips do you have for the kids that are being bullied?

TALK TO YOUR KIDS!!!!!They are not going to just tell you one day. I didn’t tell my mom. I even took up for the bullies because if I told my mom and dad, my dad would have went to the school and took care of it and I was scared what my dad would do to the bullies cause he is a police officer. Plus the bullies will make it worse if you tattle. So you have to talk to your kids. And if your a kid getting bullied, TELL someone and always stay with your friends. Bullies won’t bully 5 kids together. But keep telling until they take that kid out of that school and deal with them. Don’t hold it in like I did. My parents only found out because my Tourette’s got so bad and my mom had to keep taking me to all my doctors so much.

8. What does your family and friends think of your mission and the media attention you are receiving? What hobbies do you have and what do you do for fun?

Oh my family loves it and they all wear my wristband but I’m still just Jaylen to them. They have always loved me sooooo much! Everyone’s proud of me but my nanny and mommy tell all their friends at work all the time. For fun I do all kinds of stuff. I like to play on the computer, ride my wiggly worm, go to the park, and go to theme parks!!!

9. Who inspires you and what motivates you? What are your plans for your future?

Well Uncle Dash (Mihok) inspires me because I never met an adult with tics and he has them too – even some of the same exact ones which is really rare. And I always said I was going to be a dentist if I could keep my hands still, but I might go ahead and be an actor because Dash said I’d be good at it with my excellent memory. I have a photographic memory so I can memorize anything as long as I read it or see it one time.

10. Do you have anything you would like us to know about you that haven’t been covered?

“BULLYING NO WAY!”

Source: examiner.com

Jaylen Arnold knows how it feels to be different. He’s had Tourette’s Syndrome for most of his nine years. As CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella reports, it makes his body twitch even though his brain is telling it to be still.

Most times Jaylen can handle it. Last February Jaylen’s twitches got worse, much worse.

It started when the kids at a new school began to bully him.

“What did they say,” Cobiella asked Jaylen.

“You’re a weird kid,” he said. “You should just go back to where you came from.”

“How did that make you feel?”

“Really sad, like real sad.”

But Jaylen did not run and hide.

“I made a Web site called Jaylen’s Challenge.org. It’s about stopping bullying and so far it’s working,” he said.

Jaylen’s father, Harold Arnold said, “The emails started coming in by the hundreds, and probably thousands and I said ‘this thing is taking off.’”

In fact, so many people were inspired by Jaylen’s story, that schools across the country wanted him to talk to their students and teachers too.

Jaylen’s advice for bullies? “Sit down and stop bullying,” he said.

And before long, he caught the eye of Hollywood and actor Dash Mihok.

“I saw this kid with Tourette’s and this beautiful, sweet, loving soul who was being absolutely incredibly brave and it really touched me,” Mihok said.

He was so touched that he flew out to meet Jaylen and lent his own star power to Jaylen’s cause.

Dash knows how hard life can be for Jaylen – because he’s been through it. Dash grew up with Tourette’s too.

“To have someone inspire you to be who you are and be unapologetic about it,” Mihok said. “It’s beautiful.”

In the seven months since Jaylen launched his Web site he’s given out more than 4,000 wristbands that say “bullying no way,” to students and even a few stars – including Leonardo DiCaprio.

Jaylen said his big dream is to “stop bullying forever.”

“He has Tourette’s to help other people,” his mom Robin said

His dad Arnold is, “super proud. He’s the best kid.”

Jaylen can’t change the way his body acts, but he’s ok with that.

He said he doesn’t get picked on anymore, because “all my friends defended me.”

Source: cbsnews.com

Jaylen Arnold was the most popular kid in the cafeteria Friday at Victory Christian Academy.

“They were all trying to sit by me,” Jaylen, 9, said of his fellow students. “I had to arrange the table. They all said, ‘Can I sit by you? Can I sit by the movie star?’”

The requests came because Jaylen had a guest for lunch, a 6-foot-3, square-jawed actor named Dash Mihok. The actor, familiar from such movies as “Romeo + Juliet” and “I Am Legend,” had come to visit Jaylen and support his crusade against bullying.

Mihok, like Jaylen, has Tourette syndrome, a mysterious neurological disorder that causes involuntary and repetitive movements or speech or both. Mihok, 35, arrived Thursday night to spend a few days with the Arnold family.

Mihok (pronounced MY-hawk) plans to record a public-service announcement with Jaylen on Sunday, and the two are scheduled to speak to students at Bartow Elementary Academy on Tuesday. Jaylen’s parents hope to get the public-service announcement on to major networks, including the Disney Channel.

Mihok learned about Jaylen through a Bay News 9 segment posted on CNN.com in June, following a feature in The Ledger. The segment included a video snippet of Jaylen from March, when he was in the midst of a violent flare up, complete with uncontrolled arm thrusts that left him exhausted.

From that clip, Mihok found the Web site (www.jaylenschallenge.org) Jaylen created to combat bullying, of which he has sometimes been a target.

“I saw Jay and I was so excited and proud,” Mihok said. “I thought this was such a brave individual, and he really reminded me of myself when I was younger, but I certainly wasn’t that brave. I was more into hiding it. So he really inspired me.”

Mihok contacted Jaylen through the Web site, and after several phone calls, Jaylen’s parents, Howard and Robin Arnold, invited Mihok to visit Lakeland.

“It’s fun to have him here,” Jaylen said. “I like that he came over here because he’s fun.”

The reddish-brown-haired actor, fresh from the set of the small-budget film “Lifted” in Alabama, wore one of Jaylen’s blue-and-yellow wristbands inscribed “Bullying No Way” Friday afternoon as he sat on the Arnolds’ couch. Jaylen flipped through a school yearbook, showing Mihok a girl he has a crush on.

“These two are peas in a pod,” said Robin Arnold. “Dash is Jaylen all grown up, down to the same tics. … They do probably nine of the same tics.”

Tics are the manifestations of Tourette’s. As he sat with Jaylen, Mihok engaged in a series of involuntary movements, swiping at the right side of his face with a clawed hand, swiveling his head to the right and making sniffing sounds. The New York native was diagnosed at age 6, yet he has managed to work steadily as an actor for 15 years.

Mihok said as a child he compensated for his Tourette’s by becoming overly extroverted. He said vanishing into a movie role allows him to control his tics long enough to complete a scene.

Jaylen was diagnosed with Tourette’s at age 3. These days, his dominant tics are rapid blinks, mouth motions and head rolls, though when he’s excited his whole body can be involved.

Jaylen also has severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Mihok said he, too, developed many OCD rituals as a child.

The public-service announcement to be recorded near Lake Morton won’t be Jaylen’s first time in front of the camera. He has recorded some unscripted video segments for his blog, in which he uses the persona of a TV pitchman to rail against bullying.

“He is just a ham in front of the camera,” Robin Arnold said.

“You’re a ham,” Mihok repeated to Jaylen.

“Don’t eat me,” Jaylen replied.

A crew from CBS News also is scheduled to be in Lakeland on Monday and Tuesday to meet Jaylen.

Jaylen said he has always wanted to be an actor, apparently forgetting his long-held plan to become a dentist.

“My whole family says, ‘You should be in movies; you should be an actor,’” the third-grader said.

Mihok, also a hip-hop musician, said he recently recorded a song about Jaylen’s anti-bullying campaign.

“It’s good,” Jaylen said of the song, adding, “Deep voice.”

Jaylen plans to audition for a school musical soon, and Mihok offered his tutoring services.

He also suggested writing a play to spread Jaylen’s message, “Bullying No Way.”

Though Jaylen’s parents mainly restrict his viewing to the Disney Channel and G-rated movies, they did rent “I Am Legend” and allow Jaylen to watch the parts in which Mihok appears as Alpha Male, the leader of a band of aggressive mutants in a post-apocalypse New York.

The family planned to watch “Firehouse Dog,” another of Mihok’s movies, Friday night. The Arnolds and Mihok were set to visit Universal Studios today.

Mihok, who is married with no children, said he hopes his presence reassures Jaylen that it’s possible to be successful despite the challenges of living with Tourette syndrome.

“(I wanted) to let Jaylen know there’s someone just like him who’s an adult and doing his thing, and you can be anything you want to be,” Mihok said.

“I have no doubt this young man is going to accomplish anything he wants to. He’s smart as a whip and a beautiful soul.”

[ Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or at 863-802-7518. ]

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