Rows of cribs fill the sparse room in the video of a Romanian orphanage that Barb and Stefan Kavan play as part of their presentation on autism.
Stefan, just under 2 at the time, stands up in his crib. Surrounded by crying boys, he stares curiously at the woman speaking English to him.
On last Friday, Barb and her husband, Jerry Kavan, watched Stefan graduate from New Prague High School, almost 18 years after they welcomed him into their home in Le Center and took on the job of raising a son who wasn't like the others.
Stefan is autistic. For the Kavans, graduation provides the chance to not only look into the future and wonder how he'll do when he moves out this summer, but also prompts a look into the past. He first came into their house in 1991, a disabled child from Romania, otherwise destined for a home for "irrecuperables."
"I'm feeling very proud and excited," Barb, special education coordinator at a New Prague elementary school, said last week.
"But I'm also feeling a bit of sadness, knowing that this part is over," she said. "[It] was the last time I drove [Stefan and his brother, Eugen, also a senior] to school. That was really emotional."
Autism, once a rare disability, affects one of every 150 children in the United States. It's a developmental disability that makes social and communication skills a challenge.
Stefan has a matter-of-fact manner. At 19, he spent his high school years singing in the choir (he has perfect pitch), competing with the Knowledge Bowl team and working a part-time job at a New Prague drug store.
