I'm Rick Walba, I have Aspergers, have learned to cope using a unique technique I developed and call Adaptive Imaging Technique (AIT), and now will be training others.

I did not mention my step daughter Lauren when first setting up this profile, but I suppose I should given that almost everybody here is also a parent. I no longer think of her as having Aspergers, but she was completely withdrawn and a real handful when I first met her at age 11. Her school councilors insisted that she would be excluded from entering middle school unless she made a "miraculous" turnaround within the next six months, otherwise she would be sent to a school for the emotionally retarded. She did make it to middle school, so I guess her mother and I worked a miracle.

She is almost 17 now, has friends, works 20hr+/week at a nursing home, and is an all A student and entering her junior year at an accelerated-learning school. I hope everyone here can eventually have a comparable success story.

I believe a normal life is possible for every child on the Spectrum who is of otherwise ordinary intelligence. And once the proper methodology is adopted, this will be so. Imagine well, and your imagination becomes reality.