7 Years

On Monday, Eli had DARE graduation.  This was an hour and a half of listening to his peers as well as adults read essays and give speeches on alcohol, smoking, and drugs.  All of the fifth graders sat on the floor of the gym facing the audience. Although, Eli made it through this, it was a struggle.  At one point, I took him my phone so that he could look up Disneyworld or anything else that might help him to sit still.

Then it happened.  The closing speaker was talking about expecting "good things" from this class which would be graduating in 7 years.  7 YEARS!!!  Since then, I have been thinking a lot about what Eli's adult life might look like and to be honest the thought terrifies me.   Today I ran across this article in the Huffington Post which is featuring lots of articles this month as April is Autism Awareness Month.  Although I won't say that it made me feel a whole lot better, I do have faith that there will be more in place for adults with autism then there is now. http:huffingtonpost.com/liane-kupferberg-carter/adult-child-autism_b_1390123.html