Background

One winter evening, I was sitting in my recliner, watching my 8 month old grandson play with a
puzzle. He sat on the floor, took the puzzle pieces out of the wooden frame and methodically line
each piece up, end to end. My daughter remarked how smart he was and I thought so too,
considering how young he was. But something else entered my mind too: could Eric be autistic? I had read an article that said one of the signs of autism was lining items up in an orderly, precise manner. I raised 5 children with my husband. We have three girls and two boys. My experience was when they were Eric's age, if you gave them a toy, such as a puzzle, they would immediately put it in their mouths. Or throw it, or wave it about. None of them would have sat quietly, for an hour or more, placing the pieces end to end.

I had little experience with autistic individuals, but "Time" magazine had recently featured
autism in a special issue. I had only come in contact with two individuals who were autistic. One
when my oldest daughter was about 3 or 4 years old. An old woman in our church had offered to
give me some hand-me-down dresses that her granddaughter had outgrown. She explained to
me that her granddaughter was autistic and when I went to her house, I found out what she
meant. The little girl was about 6 years old and she thrashed around, kicking and screaming.
The grandmother explained that her daughter was unable or unwilling to care for the child, so
the grandmother stepped in. She told me how hard it was to manage the little girl and that the
dresses she gave me was specially made for her granddaughter, but she hardly ever wore them
because the grandmother couldn't take her anywhere.

The next person I met with autism was a young man about 20 years old. He came into the
Department of Health and Human services to apply for food stamps. His mother explained that
he lost his job due to his condition. He told me he had "ass-burgers" and I thought he might
have Tourette's Syndrome and just blurted out whatever. That would get him fired, right?
Anyway, I later read the "Time" issue and discovered what the young man said was Asperger's,
not ass burgers. He was quite different from the little girl I met years ago.

As I sat there watching my grandson ever so carefully line up those puzzle pieces, I couldn't shake the feeling that he might be autistic, too. I delicately mentioned it to my daughter who told me someone else had broached the subject with her. My daughter seemed a little unsure and I suggested she read the issue of "Time" that I read.

Several years later, my hunch turned to reality as Eric was diagnosed with "pervasive developmental disorder" which is on the autism spectrum and later autism. He was diagnosed at the age of 3. Eric is 9 years old now and is a very sweet, loving boy. But as he gets older, I know he will face difficulties with peers who may not understand his differences. My daughter told me of one instance where a friend of Eric's came over to play and brought one of his friends with him. The boy played in Eric's house, but told Eric's friend that he didn't want to play with Eric because Eric was "weird".

So that is why I have decided to look into autism and what barriers face these children as the become adults. What sort of jobs await them? How will they interact with society and how will society react to them? How do our school systems prepare them for adult life?