North Stonington - Nick Litke just finished the first "Hunger Games" book, listens to rock music and likes the Patriots and going to the movies. Most of all, he likes watching "Jeopardy!" every night.

Nick, who wants to be a history teacher when he's older, is a lot like any other Wheeler High School senior except for one thing: He has autism.

Not that the 18-year-old has let the diagnosis hold him back. An honor roll student, he will a walk at noon Sunday at the Wheeler athletic fields to raise awareness about autism and funds for the Autism Society of Connecticut (ASCONN).

The walk is the culmination of eight months of hard work.

"It's his senior project, but he said to me, 'It's more than that' because it's so personal," Nick's mother, Kim Harris, said this week. "He's a kid with challenges himself wanting to make a difference with other kids with the same challenges."

The T-shirts and rubber wrist bands are printed, and this week Nick was putting the finishing touches on his "Wall of Hope," a large poster board that has rows and rows of puzzle pieces with the names and businesses of those who have helped him with his project.

Puzzle pieces symbolize autism, Harris said, because the idea is to piece "the puzzle together because there's no cure for autism."

A recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that one in every 88 children in the U.S. has an autism spectrum disorder.

Harris said that anyone who has donated - whether it be a dollar, food for the event or their time - will have their names included on the wall, which she hopes to display in the school after the walk.

"Me and mom came up with the idea as a way to thank people," Nick said.

"We put the names of people who donated anything at all. (The wall) symbolizes hope for many people and to come together for people with autism."

Harris oversaw the project as her son put the puzzle pieces on the wall Tuesday.

At seven months, his mother said, Nick had open-heart surgery following a stroke that affected his motor skills. So she wrote the names on the pieces and Nick taped them on.

"Things don't have to be perfect. The point is, you're doing it, right?" she asked Nick as he worked steadily, interlinking the pieces on the big white board.

Nick was diagnosed at age 11 with "pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified" with a strong link to Asberger's syndrome, Harris said, but even before that she knew "there was something, but we didn't know what."

"When we were told, people were telling us they were sorry, but for us it was a relief," she said. "Now there's a path we can follow with our kid. We have a diagnosis and something we can work with."

Both she and her husband, Jim Harris, have full-time jobs, but they work hard to care for and support Nick. Kim Harris said she spends two or three hours a night with Nick helping him with school work, telling him, "You can do it. There's no reason you can't."

Through that time, the two have formed a special bond. "I look up to my mom for inspiration because she gives me love and always believes in me," Nick said.

The support extends to school as well, his mother said, adding that the staff has "been wonderful to work with."

"Wheeler is an amazing, amazing school with amazing teachers," she said.

Each week since September, Nick has met for an hour with Roberta Curry, who was his fifth-grade teacher and is now a preschool teacher. Curry has been Nick's mentor from the beginning of the idea for the fundraiser and will walk the 3.2 miles on Sunday.

"The best part is it's almost like he's busting a lot of stereotypes of the selfish teenager and the withdrawn kid with autism," Curry said of working with Nick. "If you give him the time and really listen, you'll get what he's thinking."

Nick called the project "a very big accomplishment in my life."

Last year he decided he wanted to do a fundraiser of some sort for autism, and chose a walk after participating in one for breast cancer in October.

"They didn't give out a T-shirt or anything, so Nick said, 'At my walk, people are going to get something,' " his mother said, smiling.

The walk has a $25 entry fee and includes a T-shirt, rubber wrist band and muffins and water. There will be door prizes and a raffle for themed baskets, such as "A Day in Mystic," "Pamper Me" or Nick's very own idea - a "Mystery Basket" with more than $400 worth of donated items.

Last month Nick and his family held a fundraiser at Mystic Pizza II in North Stonington and raised almost $600.

Everything has been donated, Harris said, and all the proceeds from the project will go to ASCONN, which is based in Guilford.

Curry said the organization's president, Kim Newgass, spoke to Wheeler seniors last week about what it's like to be friends with someone with autism. Newgass plans to walk Sunday, Curry said.

"(Newgass) came and talked with Nick's classmates who'd known him since elementary school, who had known he was different. But I think she gave them real insight into what those differences are and how they affect his daily life," Curry said.

Nick, too, has worked with his classmates to teach them about his condition. In seventh grade he was the subject of an interview about autism for the school paper.

Last year Nick wrote an article for "The Ink Spot," the Wheeler student newspaper.

"Autism is not as scary as some people may think. It is just misunderstood," he wrote. "It does not mean crazy, weird or freaky. Autism is a part of me and I'm fine with it. If there was a cure, I would not want it because I like me just the way I am."

s.goldstein@theday.com

If you go

When: Sunday. Registration at 11 a.m., walk begins at noon

Where: Athletic fields at 297 Norwich-Westerly Road (Route 2), North Stonington

Cost: $25 (includes T-shirt, wrist band and food and water)

For information, visit: litkeharris@comcast.net