Autistic teen wins national achievement award

The award is named for a leading animal scientist who has autism.
OAKWOOD, Ohio (AP) -- A 14-year-old with a knack for playing the piano, raising butterflies and growing strawberries has won a national award that recognizes achievement for those with a form of autism.
Aaron Broadstreet recently won the Temple Grandin Award for achievement with a disorder known as Asperger syndrome, or high-functioning autism. The $200 award came from Future Horizons Inc. of Arlington, Texas, which publishes books about autism.
It is named for a Colorado woman with autism who is a leading animal scientist.
Aaron plays the piano at nursing homes and raises butterflies, chickens, peacocks, strawberries and more on his family's 12-acre farm in Oakwood in suburban Cleveland. He gives tours of the farm, which includes deer, foxes, coyotes and a red-tailed hawk nest.
Aaron can recite hotel room numbers from years ago but has trouble saying why he does good deeds.
"I just like playing the piano," he said about his recitals.
"How does it make the older people feel?" his mother prompted.
"Much comfortable," Aaron said.
How he's affected
Autism is a perceptual disorder typically affecting speech, coordination, learning, social skills and more. Aaron also has surgically corrected club feet.
Between the two conditions, he walks slowly, with a slightly rolling gait.
As is common with autism, Aaron has many keen interests: He builds and runs huge model train layouts, makes sculptures out of old typewriters, computers and other gadgets, plays chess, uses sign language and studies French and Spanish.
Aaron, an only child, was frightened to tears by the commotion of public school.
Since his diagnosis at age 9, he has been schooled on the farm by his parents, Taff and Rand, who both work at home.