The Autism News | English


Taking care of autistic children is hard enough, but caring for them when they grow up can test a parent’s resolve like nothing else.

When a Sunnyvale woman fatally shot her 22-year-old autistic son and then herself this week, empathetic parents of autistic children, young or old, spilled out their frustration, anguish and opinions on the Internet and in interviews with reporters.

Trudy Grable, a director at Parents Helping Parents in San Jose, knows the agony firsthand — her 27-year-old daughter, Lauren, is autistic. When she “aged out” of the educational system for autistic children, Grable said she felt a pit in her stomach each time she checked out an adult day programs.
“There would be old people there, or their disabilities were different,” Grable said. “I just kept thinking, ‘My child doesn’t belong here.’ And then you’d go through this grief process all over again.”

Autism is a developmental disorder that has a wide range of symptoms, from mild to severe problems with behavior, communication and socialization.
School districts are required to provide education and other services to autistic children until they reach age 22. Parents and experts say after that it becomes much more challenging to find them adequate care, which can be expensive and increasingly scarce due to budget cuts.

Elizabeth Hodgins was somewhere in that process when she picked up a handgun Tuesday and fatally shot her 22-year-old son, George, in his bedroom. Neighbors told this newspaper she was overwhelmed and discouraged by the difficulty of finding a program for him. How hard she tried and why she couldn’t find another program remain unclear.

One of the Hodgins’ neighbors said George Hodgins was low functioning and high maintenance, unable to speak and easily agitated.

On Thursday, police disclosed that Elizabeth Hodgins used her own gun in the murder-suicide. Lester Hodgins, Elizabeth’s husband and George’s father, has not spoken publicly about the tragedy.

While they don’t condone or excuse what Elizabeth Hodgins did, parents interviewed by this newspaper said they understood what would drive a parent of an autistic child to commit such a senseless act.

Parents and teachers of autistic children also said Hodgins’ plight may have been worsened by the deep funding cuts to autism care in California.
Joanna Jaeger, of Milpitas, has an autistic 19-year-old son. She served as a “stakeholder” on a state committee asked to cut $200 million from the state Department of Developmental Services, which runs autism programs.

“There are cuts, cuts and more cuts,” said Jaeger, who also serves on the board of Parents Helping Parents, a nonprofit support group. She said many parents don’t have long-term plans for their autistic children beyond trying to outlive them. Only a few families have enough help and money to afford adult services.

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The Autism News | English


WASHINGTON—The next court date for the former Glenholme School staff member accused of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old male student has been postponed from Jan. 27 to Feb. 7 in Litchfield Superior Court.

New Milford resident Brittany Larson, 27, was a receptionist at the therapeutic boarding school for students with learning differences, school officials have said.

She turned herself in to state police last October.

Ms. Larson, who was married and pregnant in her third trimester at the time of her arrest, was released on a $25,000 bond. She pleaded not guilty in Litchfield Superior Court to one count of second-degree sexual assault.

Her next court date has been delayed because the murder trial of Kevin Campbell, accused of killing Roland Lagasse during a 2008 dispute outside a Torrington motorcycle club, is consuming the court’s schedule. (See coverage of that trial on www.registercitizen.com)

Ms. Larson’s attorney, Robert Dwyer of Winsted, indicated that there is no overwhelming need to rush. He said the case is still “in its early stages,” and that “both parties are exchanging discoveries.”

Mr. Dwyer could not be reached Monday afternoon in a followup call seeking information about the birth of the baby. Ms. Larson, whose maiden name was Popilowski, is a graduate of New Milford High School.

Housatonic Times

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