by Amy Gravino I first met Suzanne Wright in New York at the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh, just before I spoke at the United Nations for World Autism Awareness Day in 2011. The panel on which I sat was sponsored by Autism Speaks, a fact that filled me with both gratitude and trepidation. I knew w…

Satoshi has gone on record saying that he wanted the games to give children the same joy as he had during his bug collecting.  People with autism tend to take up collecting as a hobby, so Satoshi gave them and everyone else a gift that only he could create: a whole new thing to collect.  By Colin El…

What a great summer! New faces, cool excursions, and lots of great news. But before we look back, let’s look forward to this coming weekend. Steve Gatlin of Special Affects Films has organized a film festival “dedicated to showcasing the finest films being produced for, by and about the …

On January 9, 2016 at Autistry Studios, we met Michael, a friendly young man, who was working on a project, building a Lego MindStorm R3ptor, with an Autistry mentor. Michael’s hands were shaky and he was easily frustrated when pieces did not immediately fit together. “I can’t do this. Help me…

By Debra Muzikar Tonight I was impressed that PBS News Hour is focusing on adults on the autism spectrum. John Donvan, co-author with Caren Zucker of In A Different Key: The Story of Autism, visits a program in Phoenix, First Place Transition Academy, that is creating independence, meaningful work a…

New Jersey program serves autistic teens and adults by Colleen Hordichuk, Art Therapist Nine years ago, I joined the staff of my local high school as a paraprofessional in a brand new Autism program. I was chosen to be part of this new team because of my background in art therapy. It didn’t ta…

Maybe Eleanor would have loved to join the book club? I think about the many, many times that Eleanor has had similar things happen to her. It must shut down her self-esteem and hope, and crash her dreams of what she might want to do later in life—crashing her hope of maybe succeeding to be a doctor…

By Henny Kupferstein, M.A. Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) for autistics is based on Pavlov’s operant conditioning for dogs. In this video, you can see the lone dog waiting for permission to have fun. Watching this clip, I can almost hear the ABA kid saying, “Miss Ashley–what am I working for? Aft…

Ian always planned on moving out when he was 20. To Sausalito. To a houseboat. Or maybe a mobile home. Ian is always thinking about plans for the next step. The summer of 2014, after Ian left high school he started reminding us it was time for him to move out. Janet and I were both “yeah, yeah, yeah…

Earlier posts: Ian goes to college – The plan for his education (November 17, 2014) Ian goes to college part 2 – His first day (August 26, 2014) Ian goes to college part 3 – Drama Class Results (February 6, 2015) We went in to this whole “Ian will take classes at the local junior college” with no id…

By Debra Muzikar How does it feel when all of your senses are heightened? And how does it feel when your heightened senses collide? Imagine walking down the hallway of your school having to close your eyes because the flourescent lights are too bright, the school bell rings piercing your ears, you w…

“You cannot fix what is not broken. Autism is not a disease. We are not incomplete puzzles—we are whole human beings. We are not tragedies—we are products of neurodiversity. Eliminating autism means eliminating us,” Chelsea Dub The Art of Autism celebrates Autistic Pride Day today. Autism prid…

“Vibrant waves of sequenced patterns emerged in my head whenever I looked at musical notes and scores. Like pieces of a mysterious puzzle solved, it was natural for me to see music and its many facets as pictures in my head. It never occurred to me that others couldn’t see what I saw.” By Stephen S…

By Katherine Lockhead That day was overwhelming for me. I woke up that morning, feeling excited and ready for the event that every student looks forward to from Grade 1. I called salons to get my hair and makeup done. It came as a shock to me that most of these places did not have any slots availabl…