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Autism Chronicles: Single With An Autistic Child

Kollin Thompson, 6, attends special education classes at Howard Elementary in Niles, Michigan.
Dan Collison for NPR
Kollin Thompson, 6, attends special education classes at Howard Elementary in Niles, Michigan.

This is the first in a three-part series from producer Dan Collison.

We meet Amy Thompson, the single parent of four-year-old Kollin, who was recently diagnosed with autism. Amy, who had worked with special needs kids since she was 15, says she wasn't that surprised by the diagnosis. Now a mother, however, she says she feels somewhat overwhelmed.

As an assistant teacher, "I was able to shut it off at three o'clock, three-thirty, and go home and not have to deal with that," she says. "Well, now I have to figure out how to deal with that on a 24-hour basis."

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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