“Mom, will I outgrow autism?”
“Son, I don’t know. Some doctors say autism lasts a lifetime; others say some kids do outgrow it. I hope both are correct. I hope you learn how to handle the things that are difficult for you, but I also hope you never lose the gifts that autism has given you — your incredible memory, your powers of observation and your ability to envision the world as it should be.”
My son’s triennial evaluation is coming due this fall, and my son is doing so well in school that he may indeed lose his educational diagnosis of autism. He is understandably proud of his accomplishments, but after living with autism for so long, it is strange to contemplate life without it.
I hope I answered his question well.
POSTSCRIPT: A friend reminded me that some states do not require an educational diagnosis by the school district (separate from a medical diagnosis) to receive services. Our son’s medical diagnosis will not change. His educational diagnosis, should we choose to pursue a new one, will likely change to ADHD, at which point we would seriously consider moving from the protection of an IEP to a 504 arrangement with classroom accommodations. We have found that our son has outgrown many of the services he used to receive.
