by Karen Ardy

Created on: July 20, 2009   Last Updated: July 26, 2009

What happens when the child on the autism spectrum becomes an adult? Our hopes are that the education this child has received both academic and social, will have prepared her for a life outside the structured school system. Some will go onto sheltered workshops, some will remain in their parents' home and some will - against all odds - struggle to give themselves a life as close to 'normal' as possible.

Autism is not new but the ability to diagnose autism is fairly new and more and more children are receiving the diagnoses. One might question whether each and every child does in fact have autism or is it a simple way of labeling a child? But that is a different story.

Fifty years ago, a child that could not function in the outside world and be expected to sit at a school desk for hours on end was simply shut away in the home or sent to schools that kept these youngsters apart of the mainstream. Some of these unlucky children were institutionalized for life. But what of the child that recognizes their differences? There is no understanding of the differences but they know they are not like their brothers and sisters or the kids in the neighbourhood. They, of course, are not aware that everyone does not think in vivid pictures instead of words and they do not know at first that the inability to look someone in the eye or remember a face, is not normal. They are unaware at first that rocking and spinning and a compulsion to see patterns in almost every aspect of everyday life is not considered "normal". But gradually, they start to notice that others are not rocking and spinning. So, in order to fit in, they shove the need to rock and spin down deep and only engage in these activities when there is no chance of being seen. They learn to look at the bridge of someone's nose when they are being spoken to so that they can not be accused of being rude and indifferent but they can save themselves from the terror of eye-to-eye contact. They listen for clues when someone approaches hoping to hear the person's name mentioned so that they can hide their inability to remember a face.

And they watch behaviours. Oh! How confusing behaviours can be! What would make that child cry? Why is that adult so angry? Why is everyone laughing? Autistics do not - and can not - pick up social cues that every child learns from a very early age. Some studies have shown that toddlers as young as 18 months of age can read the body language of those closest to them.

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