My son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS at age 34 months. He had echolalia, spoke in the third person, was not potty trained until age 4, and was 18 months behind on a cognitive level. He was diagnosed at age 9 with Asperger's.
After his diagnosis, he received early intervention services through his school system. When he was 3 and already reading, a speech therapist told me that everything kids that age pick up intuitively, we had to teach him. What a daunting task! But, I set out to do just that. At that young age, we used his ability to read to teach him how to talk and act socially.
With the help of his school case managers, my constant pushing, our "village" and family support, he has done extremely well and is excelling in college. Having no preconceived inhibitions allowed him to have the courage to try anything. His inability to read hidden cues or emotions allowed him to not recognize if kids made fun of him. I learned to accept that "if remarks from other kids didn't bother him, I would not let it bother me". I let him try anything he wanted and worked with whomever to ensure his experience was a good one and a teachable one. For that reason, he played soccer, little league baseball, excelled in chorus and band, and academics, earning both chorus and academic scholarships to college.
This spring, he campaigned and won Mr. Junior, an SGA class council position at his university. He had to choose a campaign platform. He chose Autism Awareness. His campaign motto - Intelligence, Integrity, and Enthusiasm.
I wanted to share with you, because as an African American, he is not the typical face of Autism that people see regularly I wanted to let parents know we were successful because we weren't afraid to share his condition and seek or accept help. You can have a positive outcome. The world can be accepting. You just need to give them the opportunity to do so, and have the courage to show them the way.
Smyrna, GA