life of the child

Not all people with autism are mentally retarded. I have a friend with a 26 year old son diagnosed with autism 23 years ago. He is living in a group home, and is highly functioning, and very intelligent. There are many new programs to help autistic children, and many new definitions of autism.

I think it depends of the severity of the disorder. When I first told my dad my oldest son has autism, he told me of an autistic lady he knew of years ago that ended up living a normal life later on in life. I don't know how severe it was though. I can't imagine my autistic son living a "normal" life when he is grown and I worry about what will happen to him once my husband and I pass on. :(

It depends on the severity of their disability. Some adults with autism are fine making it in the world, but they have all struggled a bit with social situations. This is something that will always be a problem for them. This is also why educationg the public about ASDs is so important. People with ASD do stand out a little and are very often the target of bullies and manipulators and are convinced to do things by others just to fit in especially in the teen years. In order to make it easier for our children with autism to lead a more normal life we have to become proactive about education the general public about what autism is and what it is like. We need to push for peer education in school to help our children's classmates become advocates on their part. Also, teaching children abput autism while they are young and have more open minds means planting a seed of understanding and compassion which will grow with them. I challenge every parent out there to advocate for your child and help change our world for a better tomorrow for our kids, so that it will be easier for them to reach their highest potential.

Whe I had my son I had dreams of white weddings, beatiful daughter in law grand kids all that now I cant do that I mean it might still be posible he is still to young to see how much his autism is going to afect him but for the moment I heve put all that aside. Kids are so crule and honest it hurts to see how he is geting pushed by "normal" kids because he cant comunicate so well and boy does he try to make friends.