By Amanda Ronan In my first years of teaching in the early 2000s, very few students had been identified as having Autism. Throughout my ten years of teaching, though, that number began to grow rapidly, as Autism diagnoses and awareness began to increase. I felt like I knew so little about how to hel…

By Ron Sandison On March 9, 2018, I met Malcolm Wang and his mom Karen at the Autism Alliance of Michigan’s 4th annual Navigating Autism conference. Malcolm is a sixteen year old junior at Northville High School who has autism and epilepsy. He is a photographer and self-advocate.    In six…

“Roman J. Israel, Esq.” takes a unique approach as a film about autism since its portrayal is made from the vantage point of an African-American lawyer with Asperger’s Syndrome,” Nils Skudra By Nils Skudra On a recent occasion I had the opportunity to watch the film “Roman J. Israel, Esq.,” s…

Founder of Otsimo credits his autistic brother Alper for company’s success. By Hasan Zafer Elcik My younger brother Alper was diagnosed with autism when he was 2 years old. When I bought my first smartphone in 2009, I noticed Alper had a special interest in smart devices. At that time, my br…

The doctors informed Holly and Rodney that R.J would never say, “I love you” or participate in sports. By Ron Sandison On March 2nd I met Holly Robinson Peete at the 78th Annual Michigan Council of Exceptional Children Conference (MCEC) in Grand Rapids. I presented a breakout secession on Practical …

“Haider draws about a hundred drawings a day without pre-thought or plan,” Khalid Zalloum, Haider’s father By Khalid Zalloum from emails to Keri Bowers At age 3, I decided Haider must talk. I realized through observation that he would make full eye contact of a video of me talking…

An interview with Joe Biel, founder of Microcosm Publishing, and author of “Good Trouble: Building a Successful Life & Business with Asperger’s” What age were you when you were diagnosed with Aspergers? I was 32 when I was ​first ​diagnosed​ with 99% certainty and I was 37 whe…

By Nils Skudra The ABC miniseries “The Good Doctor,” which has become an extremely popular television show of late, features the English actor Freddie Highmore as Shaun Murphy, a young medical genius with “high-functioning autism” and Savant Syndrome. In the TV Series, Shawn is hired at …

…here is the secret; I learned not all change is bad. And I started understanding how wonderful a thing change can be in your life. By Austin John Jones I’m just gonna be honest. Change sucks. A lot. It’s actually really scary; especially for people on the Autism Spectrum. I’m no…

By Ron Sandison An interview with life coach and student mentor Caitlin Smith 1. How old were your when you were diagnosed with Asperger’s? I was officially diagnosed with Asperger’s when I was fifteen when my parents finally decided to take me to get evaluated after years of struggle, anxiety, and…

Great decorating idea for nonprofits and schools who have dances and parties. By Debra Muzikar I received an email last week asking if I would like to review the AtmosFX Digital Design projector (Retail $199) for the Art of Autism. The email stated that the AtmosFX was created in 2008 by an MTV prod…

Documentary producers at Optomen USA are looking for people with neuro-divergent conditions such as Aspergers or Autism who would like their assistance finding employment on the documentary TV series EMPLOYABLE ME. EMPLOYABLE ME seeks to prove that having a neurological condition can be viewed as an…

By Angela Weddle When the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil came on the scene, I immediately knew I had to have it. This was the digital art platform I had been dreaming of. I had done digital art off and on since high school. Using Photoshop version 4 and Mac G4s, and later crude digital painting apps on v…

Update 2/6/2018 I’m collecting favorite quotes about autism from some of my favorite people. Please share your own in the comments and if I like it, I may add it to the list. 1. “If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism,” Dr. Stephen Shore…