UCP People: Matthew

Lisa was counting down the days until her son, Matthew, could join UCP's Autism Center for Excellence at Sacramento State.

"The only programs I found before A.C.E. were maybe 90 minutes in a sterile room with no pictures, just a chalkboard, a toy or game and discussions about what behaviors were appropriate," Lisa said.

At age 2, Matthew was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified, which lies along the autism spectrum, but was not diagnosed with autism and hyperlexia (another common component of autism) until age 6.

He was diagnosed as high functioning in skill like math and reading, but socially, he was behind.

Clicking around online one night, she found A.C.E. As soon as Matthew turned 8 years old, she enrolled him, and now he attends three days a week for three hours a day.

"He loves it," Lisa said. "There's a lot going on. The interns and kids get messy and crawl around on the floor and play. There's noise and distractions, and the interns are young adults, so it's more fun. It's so different from the other programs i saw when i first started my research."

He continues to excel in math and reading and is interacting more with his classmates. Lisa has also noticed improvements outside the classroom. When Matthew was younger, he would memorize quotes from shows and movies and say them randomly. Now he uses them more appropriately and in the right context. Recently, he was at the grocery store and told a woman he liked her jacket.

"He never would have done that before A.C.E.," Lisa said.