My son Bryton was diagnosed with autism shortly before his third birthday. He had developed normally until about 18 months, when his vocabulary declined and he picked up a few abnormal behaviors. At 2 1/2, he started regressing. A friend referred me to a program at a local special needs school where the diagnosis of autism was confirmed. With that one word, "autistic," your dreams for your child leading a normal life crashes down before you. Bryton is now 5 1/2 and he still has not regained any of his vocabulary save for a few sporadic words, but he's an inquisitive child, very friendly, and to look at him you would not know that he was anything other then a sweet little five-year-old boy.
 -- Tamara Sunlin, Kalamazoo, MI

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