I'm a psychologist with an autistic child. A new diagnostic aid leaves me conflicted.

[Jilly_in_VA]

6. A friend of ours

took her kid out of public school when he was 9 because she could see he was just the obvious "square peg" and the standard fourth grade curriculum wasn't fitting him at all. She homeschooled him from then on through high school in whatever ways worked for him. He's very bright and got his GED at 16, which was about the time I met him. I was struck by some similarities between him and my son and right away pegged him as someone high up on the spectrum. The year after he got his GED he didn't go straight to college. His mom very wisely worked with him on a few more subjects plus spent the year on what she called "adulting"--teaching him all the skills he would need to survive on his own. Smart mom! He's now in college and doing very well. Yay mom, yay Justin!