“In 1980, one in 10,000 children were diagnosed as autistic. Today, it is one in 150.”
“Autistic kids by nature are isolative...” (0:00)
Neal (0:02)
Neal’s mother Elaine: “There was a doctor in Maryland, Dr. Stanley Greenspan... success with autism...”
“In the beginning I had traditional therapists working with him. They thought I was a crazy lady... If Neal needed to do crazy things, they would be crazy, with big affect... So I decided to create a theater program for autistic kids...” (0:05)
Lexi (0:08)
Lexi’s mother Hillary: “I would flat out say, ‘Does she have autism? Is she autistic?’ and the response I got from the developmental pediatrician at UCLA... Does she have autism?... ‘... it is organic.’... I thought organic is good...”
“You show this to some social worker, and they’ll have her committed. It’s an autistic children’s group... We got in with a psychologist... Does Lexi have autism? ”(0:10)
Lexi’s father Joe: “First there’s some denial... depression... this kid’s got autism...” (0:12)
Henry (0:14)
Henry’s mother Kristen: “Henry has Asperger’s syndrome which is what some people call high functioning autism. Kids with Asperger’s tend to be very gifted...” (0:14)
Elaine: “The world is a lonely scary place for kids who have autism. Autism is a neurological disorder. Kids with autism, their brains function differently than kids who do not have autism. There are some kids who have autism...” (0:16)
Adam (0:21)
Adam: “I had autism.” (0:21)
Adam’s mother Rosanne: “The school district said kids with Adam’s amount of autism could not be in... and he proved them all wrong.”
Adam’s teacher Veatrice: “If he wasn’t autistic you could just imagine the possibilities.”(0:21)
Wyatt (0:25)
Wyatt tells his mother Diane, “A hundred percent of kids are retarded...” (0:25)
Rosanne: “The month that Adam got diagnosed...”
Adam’s father Richard: “From diagnosis at age 3 I was very gloomy... The crazed mom of a disabled kid... You see an awful lot of single moms of autistic kids... so monomaniacal... ”
Rosanne: “There are a lot of symptoms of autism...” (0:34)
Joe: “Awhile back Hillary suffered a bout of depression.”
Hillary: “I suffered a really bad depression...”
Joe: “When you introduce a stressor, which is a kid with a disability...”
Hillary: “We just went yesterday to see a counselor...” (0:38)
Kristen, referring to Henry: “It’s so hard to say what caused his autism...”
”There’s a lot of kids his age with autism.” (0:44)
A lawyer tells Wyatt’s mother Diane and father Greg: “Based on these tests it would be difficult for someone to say he’s a high functioning autistic child. He has a very low cognitive function.”
Greg: “It’s actually really depressing.” (0:48)
Hillary, referring to Lexi: “This is echolalia. She can repeat back what’s said to her...”
“Do you know what autism is?”
Lexi: “Autism? Yes.”
”Autism means...”
”Autism means that...” (0:51)
Elaine, referring to Neal, “When he feels stressed he may sometimes act out physically.” (1:02)
Rosanne tells the others, “... people are going to look at our autistic kid and say oh that’s what autism is like.”
Hillary: “I can kill myself... I can take an antidepressant...” (1:04)
Rosanne: “It’s too crazy for me even to figure out.”
”He’s autistic.” (1:11)
Elaine: “A lot of kids with autism, when they get to be older, are put away, if they haven’t dealt with their impulsivity control...” (1:15)
Neal keys words into a device that converts them to speech. (1:16)
Lexi echoes Hillary’s words. (1:18)