AUTISM

Books about autism tell me there is no cure.

They tell me seventy-five percent of autistic people have low IQs.

They tell me autistic kids have language and communication problems.

They say autistic kids have cold and detached personalities.

What I have seen in Cecilia - and observed in other autistic people - both confirms and contradicts what the books say.

What the books don't talk about is the strange and wonderful sense of humor shared by many autistic people.

Cats have this same sense of humor.

If you know cats well, you'll have no trouble understanding the personalities of autistic people.

The books say autistic people are incapable of love.

As a cat person, you know this is not true.

Cats keep their distance . . . aloof . . . and yet they love profoundly.

If you're a dog person, good luck to you.

If you can only love pets who wag their tails at the sight of you, and who eagerly lick your face, an autistic person might be frighteningly enigmatic to you.

Cecilia makes me laugh a lot.

Her observations are funny.

She "sees" things differently than I do.

She finds humor in unexpected places.

But Cecilia is not objective.

She can't stand back from a situation and tell you what's bothering her.

Cecilia has a difficult time telling you what she wants.

Sometimes, she asks you what she wants.

"Do I have ice tea?"

The books say autism is an organic brain disorder.

The brain doesn't process information correctly, they say.

I don't know what causes autism.

Maybe it doesn't matter.

All you can do is love your child.

The books say autism is fully expressed in 5 out of every 10,000 people.

They say approximately 15 out of every 10,000 people have multiple autistic traits, but these folks do not suffer from full-blown autism.

The books say these people suffer from what is known as "Pervasive Developmental Delay, Not Otherwise Specified."

PDD-NOS.

It's a vague but self-explanatory term that simply means "Doctors are as mystified as you are by this disorder."

The books tell me that the best thing you can do for an autistic child is to structure her life.

Structure is everything.

Autistic people hate disorder.

They prefer to live a life as structured as the listings in TV Guide.

Minute by minute structure.

Scheduled like network news.

With structure, anxiety can be reduced.

Calm settles over the household.

And that's heaven.