Yes, they can!  How do I know? My son, Kyle, is living proof of it. After years of intense therapy, Kyle emerged from autism.  (Check out Kyle’s video story at www.Autism151.com)

Last Friday on the Today Show, a very similar story was told. The segment – called “Can Kids ‘Recover’ from Autism?” - was part of their series, “Autism: Breaking Barriers.” If you didn’t get the chance to see it, you should definitely watch it! It highlights a boy named Jake, who was diagnosed with autism at a young age and, after undergoing years of Applied Behavior Analysis and other therapies, Jake recovered from autism. Yes, recovered!

I know that there are a lot of people out there that say recovery is impossible. They would argue that maybe Kyle, Jake and other children that have emerged from autism weren’t diagnosed properly and never really had autism.  But the Today Show segment also talks about a study being done that has shown there was a group of children that were properly diagnosed with autism and they had, in fact, recovered.

I think this is a huge step in the right direction – the study backs up parents, like me, who have children that have emerged from autism to step out of the shadows and talk about recovery being a possibility…a reality. I applaud the Today Show for sharing Jake’s story because it’s such an important one to tell.

Now let me also say that I do know that the autism spectrum is very wide and recovery could be impacted by where you fall on the spectrum. And even if recovery is possible, it is by no way the fault of the parents if it doesn’t happen. But my message has always been – and will continue to be – you must have hope. Try to find the treatments and therapies that work best for your child. Every day can bring something new and wonderful.

In fact, we’ve started an initiative called Autism151 that is built around the message of hope – and on www.Autism151.com, people are sharing their inspirational and moving video stories. If you have a story, we’d certainly love to hear it.

So, what do you think? Can we all finally embrace the possibility of recovering from autism?

Best,
Jenifer