We will remember the day that our son was diagnosed with autism for the rest of our lives.   The psychologist shut the door to her office and informed us that our son was autistic and mentally retarded, and that some form of institutionalization was a “virtual certainty” by the time he was a teenager.  We were left with the impression that there was no hope that our two-year-old son would ever have a meaningful life. 

Not believing our son’s fate was sealed at the age of two, we decided to implement an intensive in-home program called Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).  We selected it because it seemed to be the only type of program with scientific validity.  However, this type of intervention required a total emotional and financial commitment from our family. 

We assembled a group of dedicated individuals who worked with James one-on-one to teach him language and social skills. We witnessed our son struggle to acquire skills that came naturally to typically developing children, and celebrated each accomplishment.

After several years of program implementation, hard work and countless tears we are extremely proud to state that our son is not only attending public school without any assistance but that he is at grade level in math and reading skills and is indistinguishable from his typically developing peers.  While we remain dedicated and committed to the activities necessary to see that our son’s success continues, our dreams and hopes of a happy and successful future for him had been restored. 

While we acknowledge that not all children diagnosed with autism will reach the level of success that James has, we felt it important to share our story of hope. We also feel it is extremely important not to limit the potential of and expectations for any child simply because they have been diagnosed with autism especially when there is such an effective and proven therapy approach.  The psychology of despair and hopelessness will otherwise become a self-fulfilling prophecy.