"Outgrowing" autism

Every mother with a child who is autistic hopes that one day, he will eventually outgrow some of the traits that make him "different." Doctors and teachers will, of course, laugh that off as just another mother's wish, but hey, don't mothers know their own children the best? Truth to tell, I don't really think that my son, Isaac, will ever "outgrow" his autism, except that his eldest brother, Ragu, thinks he will.
At eleven, we can dismiss Ragu as just another kid wishing the best for his brother. Except that Ragu himself has "outgrown" some of his autistic traits -- at least, to him. "Don't worry, mom, Isaac will stop being crazy, just like me," he assured me last night. Then he went on a monologue that surprised me with the astonishing richness of its detail. He went on to relate the things he used to do that drove me to near tears. "I liked to hit the TV because I thought I could stop it from moving," he said. "I liked to jump in a circle because it was good!" And the clincher: "I didn't know how to talk when I was a toddler and you didn't understand me," said with a hearty laugh that seemed to say "poor, lost mommy."
Of course, I had to ask. "So how did you stop being crazy?" to which he replied "I learned." How, I prodded him. "School, i went to school and I had computer games!" "So what helped more, "I asked, to which he emphatically declared: "computer games!" What else helped? Daddy. Mommy. Yaya Virgie.
So will Isaac ever stop "being crazy," I asked Ragu. To which he said "yes."
Only a mom will ever pin her hopes on an eleven year old's prediction, but as far as I am concerned, Ragu's words, coupled with the healing that can only come from Jesus and Mary, will see Isaac through.