Stress-Reducing Vacation Tips for Families with Autism

Traveling with the whole family can be a challenge on any given day, but traveling with a special needs child can be daunting, especially since many behaviors, such as diverting the eyes and avoiding touch can be misinterpreted or misunderstood by airline crew or security agents. With summer break just around the corner, many families simply avoid air travel for fear that a situation could unravel fast. Traveling with a child with autism is possible, […]

Forgetting Milestones and Learning to Measure Progress…a New Way of Thinking! #InclusionRevolution

By Mary Ellen Bogucki Recently, my daughter Bree competed in the Special Olympics Illinois Summer State Games. Bree has been a Special Olympics athlete for 12 years. This year’s Summer Games were bittersweet for us, because Bree will be attending college in another state in the fall and will be unable to complete in Special Olympics Illinois Summer Games for a few years. The decision to have her go to Tennessee Wesleyan University was not […]

To that person who said my kid doesn’t look autistic

by  Amala Mani  To that person who said my kid doesn’t looks Autistic – The tantrum he throws and the odd and attractive way he behaves is not because of my poor parenting. It is because of his trouble in sensory processing. It is because he cannot accept changes in the environment so easily. When you spend a couple of hours with him, you see him like a non-autistic kid. That is because sometimes he looks […]

This New Autism Genetics Study Could Help Explain Why It’s Such a Huge Spectrum

One disorder or several?  BY MIKE MCRAE Genes responsible for a number of autism’s characteristics come in two varieties, which could help explain not only the condition’s diversity, but also how it’s inherited. A new study on the genetics behind the disorder has revealed the kinds of mutations associated with lower IQ are also linked with impeded motor skills. What’s more, the severity of these mutations might also explain why many aspects of autism spectrum […]

Autism in the 1990s

By Maxine Rosaler When the psychologist who was testing our son for developmental disabilities said that his problems were “neurological” and had not been caused by “bad parenting,” as my husband and I had been led to believe by the therapist we had been seeing, autism had not yet achieved its current penetration into the American mind. People were not yet excusing minor social errors by explaining, casually, “I’m a little autistic”; nor was everyone […]