I have a friend who had been through that. Good thing was she finally accepted what God had given her. She was in denial for a while dahil na din nasabay pa yung prob nila ng asawa nya. She got separated at the time when they found out that her eldest son has autism at the age of 7, imagine.

They went through some tests and sessions with a Psychologist, and she was told that it could have been avoided kung nagawan ng paraan. Minsan daw ang cause nyan ay yung “feel of abandonment” ng mga bata esp when parents are both working. Yung anak nya daw kasi laging nag-iisa dati, at katabi din matulog ay yaya. So when the yaya is busy with the chores, mag-isa ang bata, walang kumakausap. Then when people are around, he tends to become violent or papansin minsan.

But I heard that he excels in a special school now…

• Mitch, it is one of the myths of autism, having parents who are not always around. There is even a term for that: refrigerator mother or cold mother. But autism is a developmental disorder where there is a genetic predisposition. There are also research about these children having irregularities in several regions of their brain. So the theory about parental neglect has been disproved. Parents need not blame themselves for having these children. But of course, genetics play a role in this developmental disorder.