hi onthegomom
its a hard question to ask, as i have met many many children who are on the autism spectrum and no two are alike. My son was in an Early Intervention Program 5 years ago and at that time (age 2) he and his classmates seemed similar. Now they are so different, its hard to believe they have the same diagnosis. Some of the children never developed verbally and are not fully potty trained at age 7.. while others are 2e/gifted like my DS.. and a whole lot of variation in between. But i'd have to agree that you should try not to "notice" anything , as the parents are usually very keenly aware of it and sensitive to the differences. However my pet peeve is that when i do divulge to a friend that my son is on the spectrum, sometimes they just act like i told them its going to rain tomorrow...with very little interest in what i told them (maybe out of fear of appearing nosy or saying the wrong thing??) .so i guess its a hard balance sometimes.
