Helping Children with Autism Attend College

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Dr. Roel and Katrina Laygos’ fourth child, Nate, was diagnosed with autism shortly before Nate turned 3.

Katrina Laygo, a Savannah mother of five, suspected Nate had the increasingly common neurological disorder because she noticed changes in him around 18 months of age.

He didn’t have a lot of language. But what he did have, he lost. He acted vacant and non-responsive “like someone flipped off the lights in his eyes,” Katrina said.

Katrina had enrolled Nate in Babies Can’t Wait — an early intervention program for children who have delays — even before the official diagnosis.

So by the time the autism diagnosis came, Katrina was already in survival mode. She recalls telling herself, as she and her husband left the pediatric neurologist’s practice, there had to be more she could do for her son than just speech and occupational therapy.

Turns out, there is much more that parents can do for children with autism.