Cafe Autism

Since the tragic death of John Travolta and Kelly Preston’s 16-year-old son Jett at their home in the Bahamas on January 2nd, rumors have swirled about what was actually wrong with Jett. These rumors include repeated reports that Jett was autistic. Is it any of our business? Does it matter?
The Travoltas have spoken publicly about [...]

In the past few days, like a lot of parents, I've started my holiday shopping for my daughter. Or at least tried to. This is one of those times that the differences between Bridget and "normal" children becomes extremely apparent.
While most parents (especially of children similar in age to her – five) are [...]

Bridget goes through what seems like "fits and starts" in her development. She will seem stuck in the same place for awhile, making no progress despite all the attempts we make and her school staff makes to move her forward.
Then, just when we are exhausted from beating our head against the brick wall, and [...]

I just finished approving a bunch more photos for the Café Autism Flickr group! If you haven't visited this group before, give it a look or even go submit your own photos. (I only moderate the group to keep it family-friendly – please feel free to submit your photos!)
We have some members who are [...]

And I have the qualifications to make that diagnosis – a brain – unlike Leary, who has no qualifications to make the statements that he makes about autism in his upcoming book that I’m sure you’ve all heard way too much about by now.
Back in one of the pieces I originally wrote about this issue [...]

Friday is Halloween (in case you didn't already know from the proliferation of scary commercials on tv and the candy in stores). The holiday that most kids love presents special challenges for a lot of kids with autism. For everyone to have a happy halloween, families have to accommodate the needs of the child with [...]

This was me yesterday at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival:
Surrounded by several dozen booths serving exotic food samples and what did I go straight for? The Refreshment Port that serves McDonald's food. Most of the festival stuff is just too spicy or savory for my taste. Or has too many vegetables. I prefer [...]

Last night's special Thursday episode of Saturday Night Live took a less-than-subtle poke (pun intended) at parents who are against vaccinating their children because of concerns that vaccinations cause disorders like autism.
The episode's "Weekend Update" segment featured a piece about a new trend emerging that parents who are opposed to vaccinating their children are turning [...]

John McCain would like you to think she does. He said about her in last week’s presidential debate:
…she also understands special-needs families. She understands that autism
is on the rise, that we’ve got to find out what’s causing it, and we’ve
got to reach out to these families, and help them, and give them the
help they need [...]

Newsweek has a piece up right now that is an interview with Kristina Chew, the blogger of Autism Vox, about her thoughts on John McCain’s comments in response to a question about autism during last week’s presidential debate.
Chew’s comments are well put in the interview and I believe they get to the heart of [...]