My ds has asd together with very severe learning difficulties. He's at special school and his functional age is probably less than twelve months. Well meaning friends and relatives keep telling me about various cures sonrise etc and how children with the same diagnosis as my son are now at grammar school and doing exceptionally well. I'm sure you've all heard similar stories. I usually just nod politely as without being negative I know my ds will never improve enough to leave specialist education. I'm just being realistic! He's getting lots of one to one in school from his therapists and we hope to start ABA at some point. I'm not sure whether I'm being sensitive as it's been a difficult year but sometimes I feel that others are suggesting we should re-mortgage our house, pack up our bags and move to America! I sometimes think that perhaps these children who have been "cured" from their asd and severe learning difficulties may have been in a better place to start off than my son is. He's only three but even at his school I've yet to meet another child like him.