‘Social ABCs’ program aims to give autistic children their voice: researchers
TORONTO — Alex Munro and his mom Jenn Potenza swoosh down a slide side-by-side, the six-year-old grinning at her with delight and chattering non-stop as the pair dash from one part of the brightly coloured playground to the next.
This parent-child interaction may not seem like anything out of the ordinary — but for Potenza, every smile and every word from her son is a treasured gift.
Alex has autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and at age three, he didn’t speak and rarely made direct eye contact with his parents, common symptoms of the neurological condition that affects an estimated one in every 68 children.
“They told me in the beginning that he may never learn to talk, he may never be able to go to a regular classroom,” Potenza recalls doctors saying after Alex was diagnosed with a relatively severe form of ASD at age two.