Marina Smoske, an eighth-grader at Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School, looks and sounds no different than any other 14-year-old.
She is energetic, beautiful and loves theater. She can't wait to join other kids who know all the lyrics to musicals at Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick where she has been accepted. She is just crossing her fingers, praying that she'll get the scholarships she needs to attend her dream school.
And she definitely knows what she believes - she's got strong opinions and enjoys expressing them.
But Smoske is different than most of her peers: She was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism, , at age 4.
Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, repetitive behaviors or narrow, obsessive interests, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Web site.
Read the full article about Marina's effort in the Milford Daily News here
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