Nina Fiore

My son is not at all “in his own world”. He is in this world, where schools and classes reject him, and people constantly underestimate and insult him. He is in a world that doesn’t yet accept or accommodate him, and then blames him for the lack of acceptance and accommodation.

If even a quarter of the money collected for Autism Research and/or paid by parents into Autism “Therapies” were instead put into educating the public that Autistics are just humans with some differences, or into creating inclusion programs in schools, workplaces, and society as a whole, Autistics and their families would benefit a great deal more.

 People need to become aware that “not talking” is NOT the same as "not thinking".

It is the severe treatment of the child that you should be warned about, when in fact, we were warned about our own child. Discrimination is NOT the fault of the autistic. It is the fault of society.

Believe in your child no matter what is said about them. Keep in mind that many nonspeaking Autistic adults currently have great careers as advocates, scientists, and writers. Most Autistics who succeed as adults have parents who believed in them when no one else did.

Movement benefits students’ work and behavior in school, their understanding of difficult concepts, their retention of learned information, and their lifelong health and well-being.

It would be far more beneficial if, as a society, we aim for Autistic Acceptance - respect, understanding, and inclusion - over "Autism Awareness".

The pressures of pubertal changes and the search for identity are compacted by moving into unfamiliar and often stressful middle school settings where relationships with teachers are less embedded in the structure than they were in grade school.

Screen time helps our child speak, it helps him participate in his education, and it helps him calm down when he is agitated. So, screen time, in our family, is used as liberally as needed.

If schools want to support the success of all children, then the education industry needs to drastically change how they view children.