Preston is now in MN with grandparents and seems better. He told me he rode in the plane with his worn out ratty "blankie" over his head (his way of coping with a stressfull situation). I have decided to try to see what I can do on the legal end of getting visitation and travel arrangements modified so that he will not have to travel alone in the future. The visitation arrangements were made in 2002 and before Preston was diagnosed with autism so there is a good reason to reexamine the judgment and modify if that is within Preston's best interests which i am quite sure the court will see that. Surely there is something out there where this has happened before. I try to google similar situations but it has turned up nothing so far. Also, about the American Airlines allowing my son to fly even though I had a signed letter from Preston's pediatrician advising him not to fly alone, I feel that was irresponsible and grounds to look into some policy changes concerning special needs children. I know Preston's dad failed to tell them he was autistic, but I did tell them Prior to his flying of his special needs and the Dr's note. I am bothered that an airline would allow that to happen. For now, Preston is well and calls me about 8 to 10 times a day with the first words being "How many more days Mom?". Preston can talk but not well enough to express everything he is feeling. He has made big strides in progress, but he is still and perhaps will always be challenged in that area. It' s okay, I love him anyway. 

Hello my name is Stephanie and I have a beautiful 8 year-old son named Preston. He was diagnosed at age 5 with PDD. I suspected it earlier due to his speech delay among other little "quirky" behaviors. Preston is high functioning and is social and loving. He loves to be hugged and will join groups. He does need "alone time" from time to time. His father and I divorced when he was age 2 1/2 years and Preston spends most of his time with me. I feel his dad has a hard time accepting the fact that Preston ASD. The custodial arrangements were made before Preston's diagnosis and therefore I feel is not the best for Preston. His dad is supposed to be able to get him for 2 months in the summertime and 1 week around Christmas time. The 2 months in the summer time are hard on Preston and his father hardly spends any time with him. The last three summers, his dad only spent 1 week or less with Preston then he spent the rest of his visit with his dad's parents. Preston is happier with his grandparents for some reason. I am livid about what happened this summer. Preston was supposed to fly with his father to his grandparents and spend the whole summer as usual with the grandparents. Dad decided to fly Preston to his home in TX instead without telling me. I only found out by speaking to Preston who was upset about the change and stated he wanted to come home. His dad, then told me he was going to have Preston fly by HIMSELF to MN to his grandparents and refused to give me flight info and refused to answer my phone calls or let me talk to Preston but only a couple of times in 5 days. I was upset and afraid for Preston to fly by himself for obvious reasons the mom of an ASD child would be upset. I determined that there were only 2 airlines that allow unaccompanied minors to fly and one of them went bankrupt (ATA) and that left American Airlines.  read more »