Jerry and Rebekah McNair’s son, Jacob, was 3 when he was diagnosed with autism. Like many parents, the McNairs knew little about the disease.
“At first, the diagnosis was very scary and we did not understand what that meant for our son and family,” says Rebekah McNair, who lives with her family in Ringgold, Ga. “We have learned to take things day by day.”
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, autism spectrum disorder is a developmental condition that impairs communication, behavior and social interaction with varying degrees of severity. The centers say that, for every 68 American children, one will have autism spectrum disorder.
Jacob is now 17, but when he was 12, his parents were faced with an issue that had not entered their minds – puberty.
Typically, puberty begins around age 12 for girls and 14 for boys. The physical changes in boys include deepening of the voice, growth spurts, the start of facial hair and a broadening of the chest and shoulders; in girls, there also is a growth spurt plus the development of breasts and widening of the hips. Development of secondary sex characteristics include the onset of menstruation in girls and ejaculation in boys, according to the CDC.