Chapter Four:

"As you'll see this is where we are working on a new way of assisting those with Autism. We've built different devices to help keep their minds and hands stimulated so as to help decrease both the dangerous and the non-socially acceptable ways of self-stimulation. And those behaviors that we are hoping to redirect to playing with these devices are the ones that could possibly pose harm to either them as an individual or others. Such as hitting themselves, biting themselves, or even using heads to hit objects and or people. Yes, there are these severe behaviors that have to do with Autism and we want to help that community as much as possible because they hold a near and dear place to the Stark Industries company and family. Several of our engineers and other employees have children that are on the Spectrum and are at various levels of functionality. If you have any questions regarding Autism or what the rest of these people are doing in this lab I am more than happy to answer them." Andrea said with a tight smile that made clear that if anyone were to so much as breathe a word poorly against the Autism Community she would quickly end them and their bigotry.

One girl raised her hand, "What do you mean by 'various levels of functionality'?"

"Great question! Whats your name?"

"Jessica, ma'am."

"Right, great question, Jessica! So there are various levels of severity and functionality when it comes to Autism. For instance there is the level where someone just has some awkward social quirks and then there are those that have no ability to speak or control their impulses or maladaptive behaviors. Some people who have Autism will never be able to functionally live by themselves and support themselves with functional living skills—from tying a shoe or learning to correctly use utensils to doing laundry or dressing themselves to cooking. Any more questions?"

"Do their parents teach them those skills or how do they learn it? And learn the replacement behaviors you mentioned earlier? And what are considered maladaptive behaviors?" Jessica asked, seemingly truly intrigued by it all.

Andrea smiled and Peter knew that it was because her son has Autism and was very near and dear to her heart and thus so was this. It's one of the reasons that she always starts the tours she leads in this particular lab. "So, once again, great questions Jessica! To answer your questions yes, parents do teach them these skills as much as they can. However, there is also a scientifically data and evidence based therapy called Applied Behavioral Analysis that has been found to assist those with Autism to become quite successful in their lives. This therapy helps to replace and change the challenging behaviors and shape them into more appropriate behaviors and it is very useful when started as soon as possible with young kiddos from first diagnosis. There are some that ABA will not help and that typically happens where there are also other cognitive disconnects aside from Autism factoring into it as well. Some challenging behaviors can be anywhere from tantrums, refusal to comply to directions, to aggressive behaviors. There is a wide range of behaviors that could occur within each person. Not every person is the same."

"Why do they display these behaviors?" Martina asked this time with her hand raised.

"Well, they display these behaviors because of 4 formal functions and they are attention maintained—meaning that regardless of any kind of attention given the attention reinforces the behavior, denial of access—meaning that they were told no or they want access to something that they can't have, escape to access or escape demand—meaning that they want to get out of whatever they're doing because of either wanting to get access to something or because they don't want to do what they're doing, and then there is sensory or automatic—meaning that whatever they're doing is automatically reinforcing it's also called a self-stimulation. For example when someone bounces their leg often times people don't realize that they're doing it but they continue to do it because it feel soothingly and reinforcing to that individual. Another reason could be a medical based one—meaning that they could be displaying their behavior because of an illness or something hurts."

"What things have you made to replace the maladaptive behaviors?" this time it was Ned who asked.

"Well, Ned we've made fidget toys such as magnetic blocks that interlock and switch throughout the toy. We've made a type of putty that will not break no matter the amount of pressure that a person puts on it so as to help those who have the more aggressive side of the behaviors and they can get out their frustration appropriately whilst not harming themselves or others. We've also made a various amount of different fidget toys to help ease their automatic behaviors to instead being those that are more socially awkward to being able to down-play it in order to not draw unneeded and unwanted attention to themselves. We've also made noise cancelling ear buds to assist with those who man be more sensitive to loud noises in a more discreet way." Andrea said proudly as she was incredibly proud of Stark Industries and their work dedicated to helping those in the Autism community.

"Wow! That's amazing!" was murmured around the whole class. Even Flash was impressed, agreed with everyone, and didn't have anything mean to say about those with Autism because he wasn't a total tool.

"Right?! I think it's amazing!" Andrea gushed out with a little dance. "You know Peter here was actually the reason for making the earbuds! His ingenuity and his own genius was the whole reason behind it!"

Peter gulped as his entire class turned around and looked upon him with wide eyes and gaping mouths. He scratched the back of his neck and attempted to hide behind Ned and MJ. Who neither of which were having that, so they stepped to the side, forcing Peter to be the center of attention.

Peter glared at them and mouthed "Traitors!" back to them. MJ rolled her eyes and gestured as if to say "You're going to have to get used to this." Ned just shrugged and used his eyes to convey that MJ made him do it. MJ punched Ned on the arm jokingly glaring at him.

"Uhhh..yeah. That was my idea." Peter said quietly.

His class started a murmur of different things. "Wooowwww…" Peter was blushing. "That's really hot." MJ glowered at the group of girls who concurred with that statement and took a threatening step forwards toward them with a look that promised pain to them. "Daaannngggg." That last one was Ned who knew about that as he himself assisted with the technical coding aspects of it. Pete looked at him as if he had two heads and Ned blushed after that.

"Moving on, class. We'll be going to the labs that Ned typically works in now." Andrea said as she ushered the kids out of the lab and back into the area where they got their appropriate PPE. "Don't bother taking off the PPE, you'll need it on for most of the rest of the day."

They then found themselves in an elevator as they went up to floor 57 and then got ready to tour Ned's lab. Ned looked absolutely pale (which was something that was rather difficult for him to accomplish) and was starting to fidget with the hem of his shirt.

"Ned, dude, it's gonna be okay. Relax bro." Peter said patting his best friend on the back.

"Deep breaths, dude." MJ said as she too supported her friend. "If anyone says anything I whoop their butts." They exited the elevator and started to walk down the hallway with their class towards their destination. The three of them barely were paying attention to what Andrea was saying to the group as they walked since they themselves already knew about everything that she'd be talking about given that they all worked in the Tower.

"It's not me I'm worried about. It's Bruce. We all know how protective he is of us all. What if Flash says something and it just pisses Bruce waaayyy off? What if he, y'know, Hulks out or something?!"

"It's gonna be fine. I'm sure Auntie Nattie is near him because she knows about the trip so I'm assuming she's tailing us right now anyways." Peter said knowing his Aunt all to well.

His wrist vibrated and it was a text coming in on his Stark Watch that was connected to his phone. He laughed and rolled his eyes. "Called it! Look, Ned." Peter said and showed Ned his watch with the text from his Aunt on it that said 'Now why would you ever think I was following you, my sweet nephew?'. Ned breathed a sigh of relief and visibly relaxed.

"And here we are! This is the lab that your friend Ned here spends most of his time in. He works closely with Doctor Banner here. Please remember not to touch anything as we go in. Same rules as last lab everyone! File in quietly please, we don't want to disrupt them as they work diligently."

Miss Zwick was the first one to enter the lab and nodded towards the others to follow suit.

"Okay, see, everything is working out just fine, Ned." Peter encouraged his friend as them entered.

"I guess you guys were right, nothing to be worrying about."

"So, I'll let Doctor Banner take over the crash course for this lab as this is his personal research and lab we are standing in. Pleas be kind and courteous to him as he is a well known and world renowned scientist that deserves our up most respect." Andrea glared directly at Flash as she said this. "Alright, without further ado, Doctor Bruce Banner!"

"Hey there kiddos! What I'm doing here is studying gamma rays and radiation and the effects they have. Does anyone have any specific questions regarding my research?"

Flash raised his hand first and Peter started to pray to God and then of course to Thor and Loki that what Flash had to say wouldn't cost him his life. Bruce gauged the reaction on Ned's face as he took in who was raising their hand and proceeded carefully. "Yes, young man?"

"Does Ned really do anything in here or does he just stand around?" Flash asked with a glare towards the Three Musketeers.

"Ned is my personal intern and assists in anyway that I need him to." Bruce answered with a confused look on his face. "Why do you ask?"

"Well I just couldn't believe that Puny Parker had an internship here let alone Ned Leeds of all people. I mean have you seen him?!"

Oh boy. This was it. This is what Ned feared the most. He started to panic internally as he awaited with baited breath what Bruce was going to do and say.

Bruce looked at Flash with unhidden disgust in his eyes. "Kid, you're lucky you're a minor still because you've got a lot of growing up left to do." He forced out between gritted teeth.

Natasha walked up from behind Bruce and took his hand in hers to provide some form of comfort and a way of helping Bruce ground himself. Thank God for Auntie Nattie.

"Hey babe." Nat whispered to him.

Bruce visibly relaxed and allowed Nat to ground him and help him stay in control. "What's up Mid Town?" Nat asked as she took in everyone.

Peter answered for them casually saying, "Nothing much, Auntie Nattie. We're just on a tour of the Tower for school."

"Good to see you again, MJ and Ned. Staying safe and out of trouble I hope?" Nat said pointedly to them.

"Oh for sure Miss Romanov!" MJ said catching on to the "do I need to whoop some teenager's butt?" meaning behind what Natasha had said, "We're just fine. The tour has been incredible so far."

"You've been on this tour at least three times now. The lot of you actually." Natasha deadpanned.

"So? The tour is always very informative!" Peter argued.

"Uhhh..guys?" Ned's shaking whispered voice brought their attention from the conversation to Ned. "Look." He mouthed and using his head gestured towards the other students in the room who were all effectively staring with not only their eyes wide open but their mouths as well.

"Oh, right…" Peter said starting to have a small panic attack at all the attention he was receiving.

"Well, it was wonderful to see all of you. The tour of these labs is over. You guys must be puckish so I suggest going down to the cafeteria to get some lunch might be a fantastic idea." Natasha said to Andrea.

"Of course Miss Romanov. We'll head there now!" Andrea said and then delivered instructions to the group of kids that it was time to file out and go down to floor 40 in order to have lunch.