Not every kid with ASD is rainman

I started this whole thing to help put get my feelings out on what life is like with a child with autism. I am extremely lucky that he is on the high functioning side of autism, but I think each child faces adversity in their own way. Yes, he is somewhat verbal, but only enough to get some of his points across. Not enough to hold an actual conversation especially with a child his age who will take the time to try to figure out what he is saying. He is very tall for his age, so he looks like he is 4 almost 5 when in reality he is 3 1/2 and on top of that he is way below in speech and relationship so people don't know how to take him. Some people, mostly older women will say things about him having a paci or give me strange looks when he is having a meltdown in public and he looks "normal" so a lot of people don't understand what is wrong with him. But with all the things he can't do, there are so many things he can do that are way beyond his years. HE IS BRILLIANT! The more language he gets, the more I have learned that he has been paying attention all these years. He loves trains and can put together such an intricate track that his teachers say is way beyond his years. He seems to get how things work and how to fix them, things I would not think a 3 year old should already understand and "get". So even though I find myself dwelling on the things he should be doing at his age, I am overwhelmed when I look at the things he can do and do really well. One of the therapist that came to our home for an evaluation noted that we should start preparing for college. He will most likely do something like engineering. Which would be a great job career considering you don't necessarily have to be a people person. Again, he is so friendly but has a hard time expressing himself and I don't know how that is going to play out in his years to come. Here is a track he built one time, again, he is brilliant!