Autism -- a world into oneself
Numbers continue to rise
December 16, 2007
By Mary Jimenez
[email protected]
Jake Hayes was born seemingly brilliant and with a passion for prehistoric and mystical animals. By the time he was 3½ years old, he could tell you the names of every dinosaur and wing span of every pterosaur. But his genius in some areas are a trade off to his struggle in others.
Gabe Reynolds, 15, lost speech at 18 months for three years and still has a difficult time stringing words together for a complete sentence. But he reads and surfs the Internet for games and pictures he likes. His mother knows there's much more going on than people give him credit for.
Jake's on one end of the umbrella of pervasive developmental disorders called autism spectrum disorders. Gabe is on the other.
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"The cordial quality of pear or plum
Rises as gladly in the single tree
As in the whole orchards resonant with bees."
- Emerson
16 Dec 2007, 12:10 pm
