PennStateLive
SHARING THEIR STORY The Warners – Ana, Curt and Jonathan – speak to attendees at the National Autism Conference at Penn State.
Mission statement
Curt Warner and his family reach out to others affected by autism
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W
hen the doctor said "autism,
"
Curt Warner didn't know what
to think.
He and his wife, Ana, knew
that their twin boys weren't developing
the same way their older brother had. The
boys didn't engage with their parents.
They didn't really talk, and Ana had been
told to stop speaking her native Portuguese
because the pediatrician thought maybe
the twins were confused. They didn't want
to play with other kids.
Not until the twins were 5 years old and
the family had moved to another city did
they get the answer. The new pediatrician
diagnosed the problem not five minutes
after the family walked into the office:
Austin and Christian were autistic.
Curt didn't believe it, not at first. All he
and Ana knew of autism was Raymond
from the movie "Rain Man," and their
sons weren't like that, not at all.
But that was the beginning of a fast
education about the disorder and an in-
