Parents want someone to blame. Bruce Fett said a parent begins to look for causes in things such as overhead power lines. Anger gives way to bargaining. If Brock, now 10, has to be autistic, maybe in compensation he will be a world-class pianist, Shirley Fett said she remembers thinking. The Fetts and others said there is no shortcut from diagnosis to acceptance.
Time passes in slow weeks of tests, frustrations and the search for antidotes.
Eventually time might deliver acceptance of the imperfect. The power of parents Thousands of families have been on the journey. Each child has a course of education charted individually by a committee that includes the child' s parents, teacher and other educators. The meetings establish individualized education plans, the nuts and bolts of a child' s education. Not because you' re outnumbered, but because you can' t hear it all.