It Is Never Too Late To Expand

I Was Nonverbal Until I Was Four Years Old. Back In The 50s, I Was The Kind Of Kid They Used To Just Put Away In An Institution. But Then You Get The Milder Autism Where There's No Speech Delay, But They're Socially Awkward. Those Kids Were Around When I Was A Child. They Were Just Called Geeks And Nerds.

I Strongly Recommend That Students With Autism Get Involved In Special Interest Clubs In Some Of The Areas They Naturally Excel At. Being With People Who Share Your Interests Makes Socializing Easier.

I Think It's A Real Shame So Many Schools Have Taken Out The Hands-on Classes. Art, Music, Auto Mechanics, Cooking, Sewing, These Are All Things That Can Turn Into Jobs. You Know, Wood Shop, Steel Shop, Welding. These Are All Things That Can Turn Into Great Careers, Get Kids Interested. Things They Can Do With Other Students. Other Things For Our Word Thinkers: Journalism Clubs, Drama Clubs.

In The 50s And 60s, Kids Were Taught How To Shake Hands. They Were Taught How To Have Manners. There Needs To Be A Lot More Of That Kind Of Stuff Because The Autistic Mind Doesn't Pick Up Social Things And Subtle Cues.

I Can Explain How A Person With Autism Thinks. I Am Very, Very Interested In How People Think. It's Been A Gradual Process Of Learning More And More About How My Thinking Process Is Different. You Know It's Bottom Up - You Take Specific Examples To Make Concepts And Then I Put Them In Categories.