Hoping for a cure

Deirdre Newman

It’s a Monday afternoon and Cory Nolan is working with his therapist.

The 5-year-old has autism, and Laura Chang is trying to teach him how to

express his emotions.

“Show me surprise,� Chang says.

Cory puts his hands on his face and widens his eyes.

“Show me angry,� she says.

Cory puts his hands on his hips and frowns.

“Show me happy,� she says.

Suddenly, Cory falls to the ground and starts screaming at the top of

his lungs. Chang picks him up and puts him back in the chair.

A few minutes later, Cory is calm again and the routine continues.

The ups and downs of dealing with an autistic child are trying enough.

But multiply that by two and the challenge grows exponentially, as Kathy

and Dan Nolan can attest to. Cory’s twin brother, Tristen, was also

diagnosed with autism three years ago.

“The first year they were diagnosed, I think I cried every day,� Kathy

Nolan said. “I grieved for the loss of a normal child -- for them to

shove you and say, ‘Stop, you’re not going down the road you thought you

were. You’re going down this road instead.�’

The Nolans, who live in Costa Mesa, are not alone in dealing with

autistic children. One of 250 children in Orange County will be affected

by autism, said Kathy Nolan, who founded the Orange County Chapter of

Cure Autism Now. The organization is hosting a fund-raiser Thursday in

Newport Beach to raise money for the condition that she says doesn’t

garner the same attention as other childhood diseases.

“The public is not aware of the statistics,� she said. “They need to

wake up and realize that it’s a serious disorder. We need to find a

cure.�

The Nolans were made brutally aware of autism three years ago, when

their twins began displaying unusual behavior. They stopped responding to

their names, they chafed at doing things differently than their normal

routine, and they weren’t talking as much as their parents thought they

should.

Kathy Nolan took them to a pediatrician who said they were probably

just slow to develop. But she intuitively felt something was wrong and

arranged for the Orange County Regional Center to do an evaluation. Their

diagnosis -- that the twins were slightly autistic -- was later confirmed

by a neurologist.

“When they give you this diagnosis, you have to go and figure all this

out. Parents have to research themselves,� she said.

She quit her job to become a full-time expert and advocate for autism.

Her husband, Dan, meanwhile was in his first year of law school while

working full time.

She started the Orange County chapter of Cure Autism Now in January

2000 as she saw how many families in Orange County were affected. She

hired a lawyer to help them obtain services from the school district. She

hired eight therapists to work with her children and found a doctor in

Florida who specialized in autism.

The time and devotion are paying off, she says. Tristen is making

progress in his language skills and is becoming independent. Cory’s

progress is slower but is advancing.

Kathy Nolan says she turns to other parents with autistic children for

support, as well as her friends who have non-autistic children.

Dealing with autism has not only tested the Nolans, individually, it

has tested the couple’s marriage, they say. Dan Nolan points out

statistics showing parents of autistic children are more likely to get

divorced and depressed than parents of children who die.

But they take comfort in the fact that they are committed to

increasing awareness and funding for a condition that perpetuates

childhood indefinitely as some adults with autism function at a

7-year-old level.

“You have to go on and be strong, because otherwise it will just tear

you up,� Kathy Nolan said.

FYI

The Breakfast for Hope will take place at the Pacific Club in Newport

Beach at 8 a.m. Thursday. (323) 549-0500, Ext. 13.

* Deirdre Newman covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .