Sunday, June 26, 2011

33 Years Later, Living and Accepting Autism


Amazing what you can come across on the Internet. Here's an article about a New York resident whose son actually received services from YAI years ago and now has relocated with her family to the Philippines. We'll definitely have to reconnect with her. Lirio SobreviƱas Covey is a graduate of St. Theres’'as College, Quezon City and Manila, a New York resident for over 40 years, and currently Professor of Clinical Psychology and Senior Research Scientist at Columbia University in New York. She and several parents of and advocates for persons with autism have started the Association for Adults with Autism, Philippines (AAAP). The association, a non-profit corporation registered with the SEC, will develop and operate "A Special Place," a residential program for adults with autism.

When my firstborn was not quite four months old, his first nanny had delighted me with the comment, "You have a precocious son." And so it was that Billy became a source of family pride with his growing social, physical and mental prowess.
So imagine what a shocking blow it was when several years later, Dr. Isabelle Rapin, a noted neurologist in New York, gently told me that our second son Mikey, then 3, had what she termed "a brain disorder" and would likely need supervision throughout his life.
This very general diagnosis followed an earlier labeling of my child that should have been unnerving, but was not at the time. Looking back, I was probably refusing to acknowledge the observation of family and friends, and the doctors' eventual findings.

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