Yesterday saw two autism related articles in the local paper.  The first concerned Temple Grandin's visit to the Portland Campus of the University of Southern Maine this past Sunday while the other is from the Associated Press and addresses difficulties for those on the spectrum in finding gainful employment and continuing with education beyond high school. The two articles are closely intertwined as they each deal with life quality for individuals on the spectrum.

I didn't get a chance to see Temple at USM though I wish I had. I She is a suitable hero in the autistic community for a variety of reasons but especially for her professional achievements. In addition to revolutionizing cattle chutes to make them more humane and efficient, she is also an animal science professor at Colorado State University. As a parent of an autistic child it's nice to envision possible career paths for Curtis and professor makes a lot of sense, whereas say construction or working in a restaurant does not because of the amount of loud noises. There are some great Temple Grandin quotes in the article but my favorite is "Just do things with them, engage them, because doing nothing is the worst thing you can do," she said. Couldn't agree with that point any more.

The second article out of Chicago delves into the difficulties for those on the autism spectrum to get paying jobs or college degrees. According to the article, one in three individuals on the spectrum have no paid job experience or secondary training seven years after graduating high school and that number is about half for people on the spectrum just two years out of school. One mother of a young adult on the spectrum points out the difficulties her son has understanding social cues and body language, inhibiting her sons ability to function in the workplace. These are similar issues to what Laura and I have discussed when looking down the road at what employment could look like when Curtis reaches that point.

"Government data suggests that 1 in 88 U.S. kids have autism and there's evidence that the rate is rising.

Within the next 10 years, more than 500,000 kids with autism will reach adulthood, said Peter Bell, vice president for programs and services at Autism Speaks, an advocacy group that helped pay for the study."

While it's impossible to know how much Curtis will develop over the next ten years, it's important to remain mindful of potential employment hangups. For instance, social cues and body language may always discourage him from certain roles, but they aren't likely to deter him from learning computers, engineering, or being an artist (the Curt dream). I don't see why he couldn't repair cars, become a statistician, or fix bikes. It seems the idea is to be cognizant of strengths and weaknesses just like any of us. Even in the face of sobering statistics, it's still seems likely to me that Curtis will work and probably enjoy what he does quite a bit. We'll surely work towards that goal.

The funny thing to me is that Curtis, though still just 8 yrs old, has no real interest in money other than to observe its importance to everyone else. Sure he collects coins and has amassed several hundred dollars worth, but he has no interest in spending it. He has almost no concept of what anything costs unless he has bought it before. He knows a bag of Lay's Sour Cream and Onion chips is $1.09 but the car that I drove there might cost $100 or $1 million depending on when you ask him. However even if money is never important to him, he's already shown us that he's got a lot of drive and pride. I feel confident he'll ride those qualities all the way to a degree as well as employment or anything else he puts his visual mind too.

Greg, Dad