Recharging the Autism Batteries

I had lunch yesterday with my autism moms -- 5 of us who met when our kids were in a therapeutic nursery and we were all in a state of "diagnosis shock".  We have been together and helped each other  through good times and bad, thick and thin, highs and lows -- you name it.  When I need to talk to somebody who really "gets it" I pick up the phone and punch in their numbers.

Our kids are all in various states of post-education programs.  Two attend a day habilitative program which they love;  another has a variety of programs cobbled together by her fabulously inventive mother; and my guy, who's doing a piecemeal program of community college classes, work, and an employment training program (which we're in the process of trying to upgrade).  For right now, we're all in a state of semi-satisfaction.

But we all want more.  We want to them to be more independent.  We want them to have more opportunities for learning and growth.  We want them to have as much of a normal life as they can.  When we were in the nursery with our little ones, the one burning question we all had was "Where are all the grown up autistic kids?"  We saw all the little ones, were reading the articles about the benefits of early intervention (and they are invaluable),  were looking into school programs designed for our kids.  We were doing what we thought (and hoped) where the right things.  But --- we wanted to see the future.  What was in the cards for our babies when they reached adulthood?

So, 20 years later, here we are.  Sitting across the table from each other, talking about what's going on in each other's lives.  As always, we've had good days and bad.  Our kids (they'll always be our kids) are in their   various stages of adulthood.  They're taking their first tentative steps into the world, such as it is,  and we're still looking for ways to gently slip them into the mainstream of life.  We've had failures, and we've had successes.  We're still looking for that magical day when we can sit back and heave a sigh of relief.

Will it ever come?