Both my boys are on the spectrum & were very much into turtles when they were young. When Isaiah was in 3rd grade he said he liked turtles because they can go in their shell and no one can bother them. When Isaiah would have a tough day at school he would call me & I would tell him to "turtle". He would literally pull his arms into his shirt while sitting at his desk, become a turtle, take some deep breaths until he could relax and get back to his day.

My twins Kieren and David are 5 and are on the spectrum but we haven’t yet received a diagnosis, they are very alike in ways but completely different in others. Kieren is a solitary child (unless he's with his brothers) he too likes order and anything routine I have to go in every one of his favorite shops every time we go out regardless of whether we buy anything or not we still have to go in, he loves straight lines and can draw extremely straight lines on blank paper, curiously enough his favorite letter is w and will spend hours drawing symmetrical w's.

When my son was about seven we were at my Mother’s beach house in South Carolina. We usually spent the summer and sometimes large parts of the winter there as well before both kids were in school, so the surroundings were quite familiar to us. On this summer’s visit my son with autism who is also nonverbal, would get up quite early. So he and I would go and sit on the beach until the rest of the household was awake. John could sit for hours running his hands and feet through the sand and I would read a book and enjoy the smells and sounds the ocean had to offer.

Try not to ever limit your child because of what you think might be best for them. My son is 11 years old and has autism. He has played basketball on a team at The Boys and Girls Club for the past three years. The first two years he did pretty well and the league was not strongly competitive or demanding. This year he moved up a division. He was no longer the tallest on his team. In fact, he was the shortest and the lightest not only on his team, but in comparison to most in his division.