SPRING GREEN, Wis. -- Gov. Jim Doyle is reviewing a stack of recommendations for the state budget, developed by his autism task force, and some parents of children with autism fear services are in jeopardy of being reduced or eliminated.

Video

Autism And The WI Budget

The services are expensive. Officials said that in-home therapy for just one child is around $35,000 a year.

Adam Larson, 7, a second-grader at St. John's Catholic Elementary School in Spring Green, is autistic. In many ways, Larson is an ordinary boy. But his life, at times, is an extraordinary struggle.

Born healthy, Larson was diagnosed with autism at 22 months. Medical experts said he would probably have to be institutionalized and taught sign language because he wasn't able to speak.

"I knew that he was still there," said Jennifer Larson, Adam's mother. "I wasn't going to give up."

Adam's parents expected him to do better than the doctors predicted, but they never thought he'd be able to function in a second-grade classroom.

This fall, he went to the state Capitol and told lawmakers why it's important for them to continue funding the expensive in-home therapy, the kind that helped him recover from autism.

"Oh, it was my proudest moment," Jennifer Larson said. "Because he was so brave and calm."

Adam still has to take a long list of medications every day, but now he can be among the happy faces on the second-grade Christmas tree at St. John's.

Resources:

Where To Start

Autism Hope

Early Autism Project