When I met my husband, everything appeared "normal". We shared so many interests we could speak for hours. After we married, and he was no longer courting me, something changed ... his attention. I analogize it to a lighthouse, the light just turned and left me in the dark for long periods of time. This was back in 1999, and in the US AS had just been added to the Autism Spectrum (1996). We struggled for 18 months until I stood at the edge: either this jerk get therapy, or I was leaving.

After an additional 18 months of evaluation his specialist told him it is Asperger's Syndrome. When he came home with the evaluation, he hung his head and said, "You didn't sign on for this, if you want a divorce, I'll give it to you." These are not the words of a jerk; and this was(is) the man I love. His therapist started working with him to understand how his A-typical brain worked and perceived the world differently from a typical brain (and, a woman's typical brain). I saw a separate AS specialist to learn how his brain worked, how to listen, interrupt and to get my needs understood. This spanned an additional 8 years; but they were good years because we were working for our marriage, our love.

Okay, this wasn't easy, and there was no help from family who just didn't get it: "All marriages are tough." Right. We started to build what we affectionately call the file draw so he could start to read my moods and relate them to his own sentiments. We built our own communication skills. He also applied his new understandings to the outside world and has become a well liked, respected member of the community and one cannot measure the positive difference in his professional life.

It's been thirteen years and we are very happy together: we do not have a typical marriage, we have a great marriage.

As they say, you've met an Aspie, you've met ONE Aspie.

Love you Honey.

It all started around Jacob's first birthday. He still had not said mama or dada. Little did I know because Jacob was our first baby he never really babbled either. I mean he made sounds but not babbling. His doctor was not a wait and see kind of doctor, even though our family kept telling us to wait and see. I can hear my mom still, "you were a late talker". I knew in the deepest pit of my stomach this was different. We started early invention, 4 day a week classroom setting for Jacob and all the therapies. Jacob was diagnosed right after his second birthday. He is the brightest little boy ever, at 3 years old he can read and count to 1000. He thing is letters and numbers, we obsess over them :) He is the light of our life. Jacob we love to watch you grow and learn new things. You amaze us and everyone who meets you, you truly are such a special, kind, and loving little boy. We take this road day by day but I know big thing are in your future. Mommy and Daddy will always be right with you cheering you on!

Her name is Annabelle, she is my beautiful daughter, and she happens to have Autism.

I recall her third birthday - a day when she broke a dining room chair because of singing "Happy Birthday" as well as the removal of all her clothing as the children were arriving for the party.

I recall the panic and fear I felt when I took her in public. We'd go to a city park, the beach, a mall parking lot - she ran and didn't know where to stop.

Autism was dismissed by our pediatrician. It didn't "look" like the Autism the doctor had seen previously so she comforted me with assurances that Annabelle was simply strong-willed.

I didn't accept that. I kept searching. I got her Speech, Occupational Therapy and an Autism Consultant. A year later Annabelle is in a typical pre-school, receives birthday invitations and is loved by not only me, but her teachers and classmates as well. She gets birthday invites. She rides horses. She holds my hand in a parking lot without running away.

She has come so far. And we still have so far to go. But we will get there, all of us - together.

I would like to introduce you to a very special girl named Carlee Astrid Barker. She is six years old. She is bright, funny, sweet, beautiful, and full of dreams. One of the things that makes Carlee special is that she is autistic and has photosensitive epilepsy. She experiences several myoclonic seizures everyday. She has a service dog named Sunshine. Carlee loves computers, math patterns, princesses, collecting rocks, adores animals and above all when she grows up she want.s to be a Princess at Disneyland. One day we received a letter from the National American Miss Pageant inviting her to attend an interview to qualify her as a finalist in the NAM Utah Pageant. Carlee took the letter to the computer and typed in the website. She watched every video and looked at every picture then turned to me and said, "I in princess show, mom, I a princess." I was a little nervous but decided to let her interview thinking it would be over before it started because Carlee does not talk to strangers. I wasn't sure she would even talk to anyone because of her delayed language and social anxiety but the young woman interviewing the girls told them that she was Mulan at Disneyland. Carlee was star struck. She got in line and talked to Mulan She taught me a very important lesson about underestimating her because of her disabilities. She did the interview, she rocked it and made it to the finals at the state pageant. Since the interview she has been working very hard to learn to say all of the words in her introduction. She has already picked out her dresses for the interview and formal part of the program. She is working very hard to live her dream to become a princess. I don't know what the outcome of this experience is going to be for her but I do know that she has a chance to shine and be very special for one night because a Pageant looked past her Autism and saw this amazing little girl with a dream.

One of my favorite sayings in the world of Autism is "If you've seen one child with autism, you've seen one child with autism". There are so many thing Autism effects , developmental, neurological,communication and social skills. When my daughter was younger we struggled with her having meltdowns over minor or major changes in daily routine. But ach person who has Autism is so unique. I can only speak for myself on this matter. My daughter Mia at the time of her diagnoses only had some symptoms. When she was 12 months old she had about 5 words. By the time she was 18 months she had no words, she had very poor eye contact and she had stop responding to her own name. I read a article in Parents Magazine about Autism. I remembering thinking to myself this sounds like Mia "What if she has Autism?" "What will I do?" I scheduled an appointment with her pediatrician to voice my concerns only to be dismissed and told I was comparing my child to other children. By age two she still was not talking ,pointing,responding to her name ,toe walking , I knew I had to seek a second option. She was officially diagnosed shortly before her third birthday. However before her diagnoses we immediately began speech therapy ,occupational therapy, listening therapy, and aba. Soon after her third birthday she was accepted into a School that specializes in teaching children with Autism. She remained there for 6 years. Mia is now in a mainstream classroom . She has become quite the artist and she loves singing, dancing,Girl Scouts and theme parks. We had a tough journey,but I wouldn't change a thing. Ultimately, every child has their own success. Some may be more dramatic than others, but every milestone is important. Autism has taught me that ,every little thing is a big deal in our lives. My fantastic little girl is everything that I ever dreamed she would be. She amazes me everyday.

Parker is 12. I like it when he gets frustrated to the point of cursing, and he just says something like "ORANGE!" It becomes so funny, we all laugh so hard, we forget what started the frustration to begin with. He loves and laughs so much that it makes you happy by default. He wakes up laughing. Oh sure, he hates hair cuts, and hair washes, drinking water, sweet tea. He hates not tying shoe laces all the way up, jumpy dogs, vegetables, did I say hair cuts? He loves so much, swimming, swinging, and drawing, play-doh and youtube, baking and putting away the silver wear from the dishwasher. He loves toy story and the toy section at TJ Max and running through the rug display at Lowe's. We're the luckiest family ever. Parker is so stinkin' cute we get away with too much. He can't talk to you yet he's full of charm. He's brave and friendly. He's a roller coaster fanatic, and they do not make him wait in line at theme parks (but he will with no problem!) He's in 6th grade and this week his teacher (the best one ever) sent a pic of him sitting at her desk. He just took over... and she was not upset. She was proud, and shared. I love his world. I love who he gets to be. I love the new sense of community that has evolved with autism awareness, in a "suburb" in South Carolina of all places. It didn't take therapy, it took empathy. And he turned out just fine. We understand the future holds challenges, but we will just give it a good "ORANGE!" and laugh our way back to ok again. :)

My name is Anthony and I am five years old and I have a 4 year old sister named Amanda. She has autism. See when my mom had me and then eight months later found out she was having another baby she had a plan set up for the two of us. She found out she was having a girl so she immediately looked for baby names that started with an A to match my name and she found Amanda and she also was planning on how the two of us would be playmates and would take alot of christmas photoshoots with matching outfits. But when my sister turned one she would always want to play by herself and she would isolate from others. So I kind of liked bothering her and screaming at her just to get her attention. My mom started going to the doctors all the time and now we go to therapy during the week. I think as time goes by I will get used to all this and I love my little sister and ask my mommy why we go to the doctor and therapy and i tell her so they will help Amanda talk? and my mom says yes. My big sister Melanie is mom's helper she babysits us when mommy goes to support meetings and trainings. Our life has changed alot but I would not want to be with another family. Amanda is amazing just the way she is!

Meet Guadalupe. He likes to be called Lupe or Lupito. He's about to turn 11 years old in May. He's Autistic. A few years ago he didn't like taking pictures and now he does, so I now have alot of pictures of him. He loves the movies Cars and Toy Story. He's my brother and I take care of him like if he was my son. He loves participating in the Olympic Games his school organizes against other schools and always gets excited when he wins first place and gets medals for it. Hope you enjoy my brother's little story.

my bother Paul and I found out diffent ages he found out 2 year old I found 21 year old is really in life know u diffent then other u found u have be hard to hear it did know what it was now do !!!

Mady just turned 8 on Feb 1st, you will hardly ever see her without her monster high doll. She was diagnosed when she was 4, the doctor said she would never say I love you or be affectionate in any way. Boy was he wrong!! I got mady into school and immediately when i met ms Pam i knew some changes would happen. She helped potty train mady, teach her to brush her teeth, blow her nose, simple things for most kids. The saddest part is that every doctor i took her to wanted to push medicine off on her and either it made her a zombie or made her harm herself worse than she already was. We have been medicine free for a little over 2 years now, her fits are minimal, she follows simple tasks, tells us her needs and wants, and interacts in most things we do. She does have her mady days and is in bad moods, but if we let her draw out her emotions then she quickly calms down. We can all agree life with these kids can be hectic, frustrating and chaotic sometimes, but they sure brighten up your life :) i absolutely cannot imagine and dont want to imagine my life without my mady nor would i want her to be any different because to me she is perfect. autism isn't about making a child fit into your world but trying to fit into theirs.