Some news sources are reporting that the Virginia Tech killer, Cho Seung-Hu, was diagnosed with autism. The source of this information appears to be a great-aunt who lives in Korea and hasn’t seen Cho for several years. The thought of all this makes my head spin.

First off, autism doesn’t account for the sociopathic, paranoid behaviors. One thing we as parents of special kids need to make crystal clear…children with autism are NOT killers just by virtue of being autistic. Children with autism have major communication and social impairments as a result... more

In my current cynical state, few things can bring me to tears. While I’m watching with amazement and horror at the Virginia Tech tragedy, I have to admit those reports in this morning’s paper did not bring a tear to my eyes the way this one did: Friends Make Teen Feel Like Royalty. Out of South Georgia, a place I had long thought of as stereotypically backward when it came to special needs students (Sorry Cindy on Older... more

Saturday, during record cold temperatures here in the South, we thought it better to find indoor activities instead of the yardwork and gardening we had planned. So the kids wanted to go to the movies. And the one everyone wanted to see was “Meet the Robinsons”. Yikes! After reading the various reviews both here on adoptionblogs and on listserves and other adoption sites everywhere, I was a bit nervous about whether this movie was for us, or not.

But the children pleaded and even Super Dad declared that it was “a Disney movie, so how bad could... more

Don’t you just love how the research to show how harmful a product can be is done years after a product has been in use? Polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs have been in use since the 1970s. This chemical is a flame retardant and it is present in your home in your TV, your computer, your toaster and your couch. It was a great idea, in theory, to reduce the flammability of common household equipment and thus reduce house fires and ultimately human fatalities that can result from house fires.

The big problem is PBDEs don't... more

Sometimes we don’t think to show respect to children or value their ideas. I thought this article was a good reminder to us to never underestimate the power of a child’s mind. It seems that two fourteen year old school girls with a science project to complete decided to compare the vitamin C levels in ready to drink products. Their hypothesis: the cheaper brands were less healthy. So their original goal was to prove that the more expensive Ribena brand was healthier and to support the company’s claim that their product contained more vitamin... more

The trailer for the Indie movie “Snow Cake” caught my attention for more than the intense performance by Alan Rickman.

Movie Blurb: “Alex Hughes, recently freed from prison, begrudgingly picks up a vivacious 19-year-old hitchhiker, Vivienne, while driving through Ontario. When the car is hit by a truck on the outskirts of her home town, Vivienne dies instantly. Shocked and stranded in snowbound Wawa, Alex is drawn to seek out Vivienne’s mother, to talk to her in person about the fate of her daughter”

What... more

(No, I don’t mean the doll!) Today I "met" amazing Amanda Baggs, a 26-year-old woman with severe autism (considered low functioning) who has filmed and edited the You Tube video you see here.

I suspect that if you spend a little time with Amanda, as I did this morning, watching her video and the CNN newscast about her, as well as reading her writing, you will not only be amazed by Amanda, but amazed by how Amanda gives you hope and raises doubt in your mind at the same time.

For... more

I personally know foster and adoptive parents who have worked long and hard to get some type of legal action against mothers who regularly consume drugs and alcohol during pregnancy. With all the publicity around I don’t believe there could be a woman of child bearing age alive today that doesn’t know how harmful drugs and alcohol are to an unborn child. I do think that it’s real progress for it to make it to have made it to the House of Representatives and I’m sure the issue will not die forever.

The article states that these... more

A horrendous news story out of Albany, NY yesterday: A 13-year-old severely autistic boy died while being transported from his state-run developmental center. The same boy was the subject of an abuse investigation at another state-run school facility in 2004. Jonathan Carey died after being improperly restrained by two workers in a van Thursday night.

Here’s the tragic part:

The two men drove around for 1 1/2 hours after the boy stopped breathing said Colonie Police Chief Steven Heider in an afternoon press conference. They went to a Hess... more

U.S. Autism Rate about 1 in 150

Three different people sent me links to this story, so obviously, it’s blog material. The CDC announced yesterday that there are more people with autism than they originally believed. In fact, one out of every 150 American children have autism, making it a urgent public health concern.

These numbers are based on five-year-old data (2002), and frankly, are no surprise to most families raising autistic children.

"This data today shows we're going to need more early intervention services and more therapists, and we're going to... more