Adults Outliving Aging Parents: 'A Demographic Time Bomb'

BOULDER, Colo -- Slick stood patiently in a Medicine Horse stall, letting the brush glide over his haunches, the motion at once calming the animal and producing a smile of pure boyish bliss on the 50-year-old face of the man wordlessly stroking him.
More than 40 years ago, that man, Richard Chestor, was one of the first children diagnosed in Colorado with autism.
As an infant, he stiffened when held. He was so repulsed by human contact that even being fed drove him to fits, said his mother, Geri.
He never spoke more than a few dozen words, each painstakingly taught by his mother.
It took years, thousands of dollars and dozens of doctors before someone put a name to what was wrong with Geri Chestor's little boy.
That diagnosis — autism — was seldom heard back then.

Colorado School District Turns to Private School to Teach Children with Autism

Interesting story from The Denver Post. Perhaps this is a glimpse of things to come?

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- "Are you ready?" Joshua School teacher Katharine Barnes asked the 11-year-old boy hiding behind shopping carts at the entrance to a SuperTarget store.
The boy has autism, and public settings make him freeze in fear. This shopping trip is part of his therapy at the Joshua School in Englewood, the only private school for children with autism in Colorado that is cleared by the Colorado Department of Education to receive state and district education funds.
"He has so much anxiety," Barnes said. "He's never come to a place this big. You can just see that inner battle."
As shoppers passed unaware, the boy crawled to a rack and then to another aisle and waited. Eventually, he stood and gingerly took a few steps. Before long, he was walking deep into the store with a smile on his face.
"That just makes you feel so good," Barnes said.
This year, 18 school-age kids and two preschoolers are enrolled in the 4-year-old Joshua School.