AUsome Social Group gives a community to those living with autism.

Autism is a disorder defined by social delays -- symptoms that appear before a child turns 3. Autism awareness has been growing since the first cases appeared three decades ago. Back then, two to four children in 10,000 would be diagnosed with autism. Today the number is much higher -- one in every 150.

The Wisconsin Early Autism Project, research being conducted at the Waisman Center and state funding for services have put Wisconsin on the map for helping parents and their autistic children. As a result, families are more hopeful for their children's futures. Still, they are facing new challenges as their children transition into adulthood.

AUsome Social Group seeks to help autistic youth and their families with that transition.

"I'm the mother of an autistic adult -- Matthew Ward -- who's 30 now," said Nancy Alar.

Alar started the AUsome Social Group in 1997. At the outset, the support group for teens and young adults had just four teens with autism, including Matt. It has grown to nearly a 150 members with ages ranging from 12 to 30.

Alar has been with her son for every milestone in his life, and remembers learning of Matt's struggle through his day care.

"They started making a list about his unusual behaviors," said Nancy. "Things like he didn't know his own name, he didn't like to be read to."

Nancy said autism was just a concept in the early '80s, something most parents didn't know about.

"It was like we were launching ourselves on a new journey," said Alar. "For me, it was like a breaking point because I knew he was not the person I thought he was, but he was still Matthew."

As she prepared to deal with the unknowns of autism, Nancy noticed Matt was excelling in math.

"He would do trigonometry and calculus for fun," she said. "That was the kind of stuff that he would do."

Matt's interest in numbers is what led his family to consider what they thought was virtually impossible.

"No one knew how to approach getting an autistic person into a four-year college," said Nancy, "They had some hints, but no one knew how to get Matt Ward into a four year college."

With the help of his high school teachers, Matt was accepted into UW Madison and majored in mathematics.

"He did the calculus. He did the physics. He did the other stuff that he was good at," said Nancy, "And we did the communication with the teaching staff who needed to be prepped so that they could understand what it was like to have a person like Matt in the classroom."

Matt graduated from the UW in the spring of 2005. Now, Nancy is trying to figure out where she fits in the puzzle of her son's life.

"I'm sure that you have a mother who is probably doing things for you that you probably wish she wasn't," said Alar. "I'm sure that Matthew wishes many times that I was not quite so involved in his life, but it's hard to let go when you're a parent of someone with a disability."

Alar now turns to the AUsome Social Group to help work through these feelings. The group meets on the first Saturday of every month, and parents say it's one of the few places they feel at home.

"We come to this group because we are free here," said Hassan Sreenath, whose 25-year-old son, Hassan Manu, has autism. "My son moves around very freely. We don't have to control him, as we go to other groups, where the people are not aware of the situation."