Take The Autism Challenge

Like many people with autism, my son Danny enjoys Pixar movies and he likes seeing them over and over. Recently, one exchange from the original Toy Story movie started going through my mind. Buzz: Sheriff, this is no time to panic. Woody: This is the perfect time to panic! For me, it’s the perfect time to panic, because Danny turns 21 next week and this is his last year of school. Since he was diagnosed with autism at the age of three, I hoped that he would be able to live and work independently when he grew up. I fought for him to be in mainstream classrooms with a shadow teacher when he was younger. And Danny is doing very well, but he hasn’t “lost his diagnosis.” He is friendly and loves to talk. But he’s more likely to chat about our cat that died during George W. Bush’s first term than tell you about what he did today. He loves going to all kinds of places, but can’t travel on his own because, although he navigates like a GPS, he is so impulsive that he doesn’t look both ways when he crosses the street. He has been working on these issues for years, but it would be absurd to think that he will master them by the end of August, when his school year ends. Nothing in my life has ever been as scary as trying to figure out what will be with Danny when his father and I can no longer care for him. It’s like knowing you will have to jump off a cliff and not knowing whether your child will be left wandering alone near t...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news