MERRIMACK, N.H. (AP) – When Debra and Ken Coleman’s son leaves school, he’ll be coming home to his own farm.

The local couple is building a house and small farm for their autistic son who will no longer qualify for services at the Spaulding Youth Center in Northfield when he turns 21 later this year.

The Colemans looked at the services available for disabled adults in the state and decided they needed to do something different for Kenny.

While Kenny cannot speak and dresses himself with great difficulty, he loves to hike and swim. At 6 feet, 5 inches, he’s strong, his parents say.

“He loves the outdoors,” his father said. “He’s an outdoors kid.”

So they’re building him a farm behind their Peaslee Road home complete with a vegetable garden, chickens, apple trees, a pumpkin patch and a small grove of evergreens to harvest for Christmas trees.

The goal is to provide him with year-round activities that he will enjoy.

“He needs something to do as an adult,” Coleman said.

Once he moves in, Kenny will get professional supervision through a local agency that provides support services for the developmentally disabled.

But Coleman said many of the jobs offered to disabled adults require repetitive work that would not suit Kenny.

“He’d hate that. It would be a terrible quality of life for him,” he said.

Coleman said the farm will sell eggs and the vegetables that Kenny grows, though it’s not expected to turn a profit.

The other goal in starting the mini-farm is to get school and community groups involved so that Kenny doesn’t feel isolated, his parents said.

“Our ultimate goal is to try to have Kenny involved in the community as much as possible,” Coleman said.

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Information from: The Telegraph, http://www.nashuatelegraph.com

AP-ES-01-01-06 1116EST