Cerebral Palsy

At times his mother tucks his hand inside her elbow and they amble together around the manure-scented farms, bright yellow boots keeping Ben's feet dry on the muddy dirt roads.

A couple of times on a recent visit, Ben kissed his mother's arm.

Ben remembers the many facts he's learned about the farm operations, just as he can recount his favorite TV shows, including The Lawrence Welk Show and PBS' Reading Rainbow, and he recalls the names of everyone he meets.

Some farmers know a bit about autism because of Temple Grandin, an accomplished author, speaker and professor of animal science at Colorado State University who has autism.

She is sought after for her designs of humane livestock handling equipment and has designed the facilities that house half of the cattle in the United States.

At Spring Hope Farm, feed manager Lisa Landschoot says she doesn't know much about autism, but that it doesn't matter.

"You look beyond it and see what's deep down inside." Of Ben, she says, "He's great when he's here." While some parents become soccer moms, Gail Nofziger is happy to be a milk-truck roadie, visiting the peaceful farms where the cows gaze at you with their big brown eyes.

Her husband takes the Sunday runs, driving Ben to the Mulligan and Coyne farms in Avon, Livingston County, where they see different farmers and milk-truck...

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