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It was Andrew's first job, and though he didn't like it at first, D'Eri said he started noticing positive changes three weeks later. Andrew, 24, had issues with empathy and trying new things in the past, but when his father offered him a bite of a new food -- his father's chicken and portobello mushroom sandwich -- he tried it and then courteously asked to split it when his dad offered him the whole sandwich.

\"Typically, that wouldn't happen,\" Tom D'Eri said, adding that Andrew also helped people with bags on a plane for the first time after starting work. \"There were noticeable differences in his behavior. He was willing to try new things, wanting to empathize more. These are things any family with an autistic child will say, those are really rare things.\"

\"PHOTO:
Rising Tide Car Wash
PHOTO: Employees of Rising Tide Car Wash pose for a photo.
>

And since many autistic people are bullied in high school, he said working at the car wash helped them build confidence.

\"They come to us with very little purpose and very little hope for their future,\" D'Eri said in the video. \"But once they start working with us they start getting positive reinforcement of doing a good job, a customer being happy, getting a tip, that really starts to open them up.\"

\"PHOTO:
Rising Tide Car Wash
PHOTO: A car gets washed at Rising Tide Car Wash.
>
\"PHOTO:
Rising Tide Car Wash
PHOTO: The D'Eri family poses for a photo at Rising Tide Car Wash.
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