Raising a Child With Asperger’s Syndrome I began noticing something was different about my son, Matthew, when he was about two years old. He didn’t make good eye contact. Noise bothered him. He had trouble with some of his motor skills, such as using a spoon.

He was also having a tough time at day care. He’d cry when I dropped him off. He couldn’t relate to other kids. He would get bothered if toys got out of order. And he clapped a lot, more than normal. When I look back at pictures of him at that age, he looked really sad, really serious. My husband and I thought that was just the way he was, that he would grow out of these behaviors. But he didn’t. The behaviors got worse.

Slideshow: Sensory Integration for Autism, and Other Ways Pets Improve Health