I have special needs children of my own. My biological children have autism and both my adopted children have special needs associated from their introduction to various drugs in utero. I have studied psychology in college and when my children are older plan to finish a psychology degree. I had a non verbal little boy who was considered low functioning autism live with me for over 4 years before he was adopted by another family. After a couple weeks he was drinking water, plain milk, and juice through a straw, witching a few days he learned the boundary of we don't run out the door without a grown up. By the time he left he was toilet trained, could fold his own laundry and put it away, he had taken dance for a year, and could put together any puzzle you put in front of him. He also started speaking and had a vocabulary of around 50-70 words.