At 13 months old, our son, Mikey, was constantly getting injured by running into walls, falling face first, hurling his body off furniture. He was extremely hyperactive. The nurses at the Emergency Room knew our name. We knew something was wrong, but every doctor said, "He's fine, stop worrying". I tried to get the county to send a PT to make a helmet for him, and instead they sent a team of professionals, OT, PT, Speech, Spec Ed. They couldn't officially diagnose him yet, but they knew that he had significant delays in all those areas. Services in our home started immediately. At eighteen months he started 'school' at Development Disabilities Institute and at two was diagnosed with Autism. Progress was slow but steady, and eventually he went to our home school with his typical peers, but of course he was not doing nearly the same work. At seven he started running track and cross country with a handicapped running club called Rolling Thunder. After two years we found that remarkably his academics and socialization improved more in that short time than in his entire school career combined. The running affected his ability to learn! He is now 14 years old, a freshman in high school, running Varsity track and cross country (for the second year, yes he ran Varsity for the high school when he was in Middle School). He is rated number one 5K HS runner in the county. He came in 6th in the US Junior Olympics this year, and 8th last year. He is a two time All American. And he is in completely typical, age appropriate classes, doing the same work as the other ninth graders. He will take the Regents next year, and of course get a running scholarship to any college he wants!

Edith Brannigan
East Northport, NY