Autism moms join effort to bring awareness of the illness

http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/Autism-16Mar02.htm

Autism moms join effort to bring awareness of the illness
The state Senate has declared April as Autism Awareness Month for the second year in a row.

Two Orange County mothers are active in the Unlocking Autism effort. Lesa Walsh of Warwick and Jennifer Stewart of Greenville each have an autistic son.

Unlocking Autism is a national organization run by family members dedicated to raising awareness and educating the public about autism.

Ms. Walsh said at this time, there is no cure for autism. "There are a lot of interventions that are being trail blazed or have been developed in the last few years that many of the children are making significant progress in their recovery," she said. The problem with autism is that all children are different, Ms. Walsh said. "All of the children may have the same diagnosis but it manifests differently in every individual." She describes each child as a snowflake. "They're all beautiful and they're all different."

For Ms. Walsh, she takes derives hope that if something helped one child, it might help her son.

April 27 will be Autism Awareness Day and on April 21st in Washington, DC, there will be the Second Annual Power of One Rally.

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