Ryan is six-years old (birthday on World Autism Day!) and is the son of Donna Shank (one of the triathalon attemptees) and Greg Rowe and little bro' to Daniel.  Ryan developed like any typical kid, reaching all his developmental milestones just like his big brother until about 18 months, when his parents noticed that he wasn't responding to the environment and others as he should.  After a long and frustrating process of testing and being sent out into the "unwritten roadmap" of treating autism, Ryan's family has found a blending of therapies that have worked for him and are always striving to find more ways to challenge him.  He went from a completely non-verbal child who couldn't sustain any kind of eye contact to a loving kid who now attempts to request his needs ("give me brownie!"- that's very important stuff!).  It's been possible with a great team of student therapists and others along the way (teachers and therapist, family & friends). No one really knows how hard these kids work everyday with intensive therapies. No one really understands the strain it takes on the families.   Ryan's family has tried to advocate as much as possible for autism research and therapies.  FINALLY, the world is coming to realize that autism is truly an epidemic, touching more people than cancers or any other illness out there.  These kids need everyone's help.  Most people don't realize insurance companies won't cover the cost of treatments and finding the cause(s) will take huge efforts because the spectrum (autism spectrum disorder) is enormous with kids having different areas of need.  Ryan's family thanks "Ryan's Team" for supporting OAR and all those who support our training efforts.  We'll be posting more pictures and maybe even a UTUBE video...Thanks to everyone for your support!!!