Run -- don't walk -- RUN from anyone who claims to have THE answer or THE cure for auitsm.

      I am Mom to 5 children, three of my kids are on the autism spectrum.

      My youngest two, twins, were thought to never be able to be independent or talk.  That was when they were about 3 years old.  I was told by a behaviorist when they were about age 4 that my dreams for them to read and to live independently someday was "pie in the sky" and that I needed to "get real" about my expectations for them.

      Hog wash.

      I am not wealthy.  My husband is a pastor.  I have home schooled my kids for 16 years, and then 4 years ago, I started a school because I knew there was a need for kids with special needs to go to a school that focused on the kids' fascinations and reached them WHERE THEY WERE.  I have a strong homeschool philosophy that includes teaching to kids' strengths and fascinations.  I have learned that Dr. Temple Grandin, who also has autism, had that philosphy, too.  But I learned that long after I had been home schooling for years and years.

      At our school we employ lots and lots of DIFFERENT techniques -- unique for each child.  The main thing we do is keep the children -- my twins included --  meanginfully engaged all the time.  

      And guess what -- even without all that expensive ABA -- but by using a combination of interventions such as PECS and TEACCH and floor time and lots and lots and lots of launguage rich activities in a language-rich environment and tons of field trips to places in the community -- my twins with autism are now talking and interacting.

       The boys can now go into a restaurant without a meltdown.  They can go to church and sit through an entire service without outburts.  They can talk -- sure, it's hard to undertand sometimes -- but they talk in SENTENCES.  They know how to order a hamburger at McDonald's.  They sack groceries at the store.  They are 10 years old.  They know how to pump gas, and know how to get themselves dressed.  They can make a sandwich and pour themselves a glass of milk.  They can tell time.  They can do so many things we were told they would never do.  Pie in the sky inedeed.  I have news for these "experts."  Heaven is on the side of these children.  

      Public schools failed my twins.  That's why I pulled them after 1st grade.  (I put them in public school for preschool, 2 years of kindergarten and 1st grade while I homeschooled my other three children as they took up ALL of our time when they were at home).  In public school they were NOT kept MEANINGFULLY engaged at ALL times.  Sure, they were engaged all right -- but not in things that had MEANING to THEM.

      I am not the answer to all kids with autism or other cognitive disabilities.  But these kids have the answers within them somewhere.  I believe you start with what they are fascinated with and you go from there.  I believe that with a LOT of exposure to a LOT of things ALL THE TIME, you will make progress.  It's messy, it's hard, it's embarrassing sometimes, and it's ugly a lot of the time -- but with persistence and tenacity -- these kids can LEARN!

      I have one little 8-year old student with Cohen Syndrome right now at our cottage school who refuses to say his sounds to me when we study phonics -- he likes to sing them, his arm up in the sky.  So I let him.  I know eventually he will SAY them!  Who cares if he sings them?  He sings them and then he takes a bow.  Wow.  What a super fun way to learn how to read, don't you think?

      Oh, I could go on and on.  I could write a book.

      Maybe I will.

      And guess what -- my twins with autism?  They'll be able to read it because they are reading now.

      How is that for pie in the sky?