Moms start group to help raise autistic children

By Kimberly B. Caisse

PEPPERELL -- Having at least six different forms of autism identified by experts is a step in the right direction, but friends Rebecca Szum and Connie Menice felt they and other area parents with autistic children needed additional support. So they started a support group four months ago.

The group, Parents of Autism Spectrum Kids, meets every fourth Thursday in the Lawrence Library starting at 9:15 a.m. The meetings usually last two hours.

The purpose of the group is to discuss strategies for dealing with an autistic child and issues that come up because of a child's autism, Szum said. The group members also swap "horror stories" and give each other basic support.

There are six different kinds of autism: classic, low-functioning autism; Rett Syndrome, which only affects girls; Fragile-X autism, which only affects boys; Asperger's Syndrome; Hyperlexia; and the catch-all diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD).

Szum believes her son Ryan, 3, has a high-functioning form of autism, and it is very hard to tell that he has the disorder.

"He started at two with not talking," she said. "He knew the letters [of the alphabet], but he wasn't saying 'mom' or 'dad.'"

Ryan was placed in an early-intervention program provided by the public school system. "He made great strides" with that special attention, Szum said. He also underwent intensive applied behavior analysis during which he was rewarded for doing things like saying a word.

"He, in particular, has a very hard time with expressive language," she said. "He gets overwhelmed very easily."

On the other hand, Ryan is "very happy and very chatty," Szum added. And he has an over-active imagination.

Co-founding and attending the support group has been very helpful for Szum. For instance, she said she has come to realize that autism tends to run in families. She traced back signs of Ryan's autism to his birth, and now sees similar behavior in her youngest child.

"I have a 20-month-old who's not talking," Szum added. "We're starting the whole [diagnosis] process again."