My son Philip is my hero. He works so hard and has come so far to embrace his differences and use them to his advantage. Even with having to deal with bullying from 5th to 12th grade he never tried to avoid school. He just kept working hard on developing social skills and self advocacy skills. By 10th grade he had a small core of friends, and became a bit more flexible. At one time, he would have a fit if anyone called him anything but Philip. When we met with his science teachers at an award ceremony for science (Phil won this award every year in high school) he called him by one of his many nicknames for him and Phil just laughed. My husband and I looked at each other in amazement. By the time he finished HS he had earned a Regents Diploma, was on the high honor roll for his last 3 years, and was student of the month. He plays Challengers Baseball, Special Olympics softball (he has won 4 medals), and had a part-time job. It just showed me that if you pushed and worked with the school districts and made sure you took advantage of every program you could, life gets better. We always look at the positives. We have a son who never lies, is never afraid to show his love, and is one of the most caring, loyal, loving, kindhearted person you would ever want to meet. I look forward to see how much further he goes as he continues to work on becoming more independent and aware of the world around him.

Karen Delaney
Liverpool, NY