I'm Carolyn.  My daughter Hannah is 17 and has autism.  She was diagnosed when she was 3 1/2 by the JFK Center for Developmental Disabilities in Denver.  She is verbal and comes up with some very creative ways to get her point across.   She's a happy person and is very capable in many ways.  She plays violin quite well and is a member of the Boulder Youth Symphony.  She also rides a two-wheeler bicycle and loves camping and hiking.  She listens to her iPOD A LOT, also!  She's a junior in high school, and because she has a severe auditory processing delay, she can't be in the regular classrooms, but is in a program called Life Skills with some really great teachers.  We are looking ahead to her senior year and then she'll be in a transitioning program until she's 21.  After that, who knows!?   I am  trying to maintain a positive attitude about her future.  Some days I am able to, and other days I have a lot of trouble.