I Don’t Hate What Autism Has Done to My Life
You heard me right; I don’t hate what autism has done to my life. If you would have told me six years ago that I would ever utter those words, I would have called you crazy, insane, or worse. In 1998, almost eight months pregnant with my second child, our pediatrician whispered to himself out loud: "Oh my God, I think we have another case of autism here."  More ...

The Ten Best Things I Have Learned From My Child About Autism
My first reaction after my son Nicky was diagnosed was to jump in and read everything humanly possible on the subject of autism. I read a dozen books and visited personal web sites, taking in as much information as I could in a very short period of time only to feel completely depressed and overwhelmed. In retrospect, most of what I read those first few weeks was not helpful.  More ...

The Many Faces of Autism
On March 21, 1995, Will was diagnosed with PDD-NOS by an entire team of very important specialists. They sat me down in a room as Will played happily on the floor and said, "Your son has a pervasive developmental disorder." And I replied calmly, "Oh I’m so glad you found such a precise and self-explanatory label for my child. I’ll go home and tell the neighbors what he has and I’m sure they’ll understand."  More ...

A Devastating Diagnosis
For Lori Ireland, the realization came suddenly, bringing with it an icy chill. For some baffling reason, Vinnie, the youngest of her four children, had stopped saying his brother's and sisters' names. It was 1991, and he was not yet two years old.  More ...

A Long and Winding Road
Tony Flores still remembers that winter day seven years ago vividly. It was a day that would forever change his life and the life of his family. Tony remembers taking his son, Joey, then two and a half years old, to a group of specialists. While Tony and Sandy waited, the team assessed Joey. Then they came out to talk with the Flores family. "Joey has autism," they said.  More ...