Prologue by Autism Daddy: Howdy folks!  Long time no blog!  I hope y’all are well!  I wanted to come out of blogging retirement to share a guest blog post written by my good friend Allan Schneider.  Allan and his wife Robyn have been an inspiration to me and the entire autism community and running community.  They have two twin severely autistic sons, Jamie & Alex, who they have guided thru many full 26.2 mile marathons! In 2013 Allan was about halfway thru the Boston Marathon with his son Jamie when the bomb went off. This is his story… The Finish LineBy Allan Sch ..read more

Howdy folks!  As many of you know I work at Sesame Street, and was proud to play a small part in the launch of Sesame’s autism initiative back in 2015. So I just wanted to write a quick blog post to point you towards Sesame Street’s new autism content launching this week! In celebration of Autism Acceptance Month this April, we have released new resources focused on bullying, which disproportionately affects children with autism. These resources are available on sesamestreet.org/autism in both English and Spanish. There’s also an all-new episode with Julia airing Monday, April 8 ..read more

  Intro: Jim lives in Pittsburgh where he works as a Project Manager by day and moonlights as a special needs parent blogger by night. He is the father of two girls, one with autism, and a widower. He writes about his family at www.justalilblog.com, and about autism in general at Healthline.com. His Facebook Blog Page is www.facebook.com/JustALilBlog/ and he’s available on twitter @blogginglily.   I Want You To Find Someone “I want you to be happy,” she said. “I want you to find someone.” My wife of fifteen years, fifteen brief years, told me this through tears on the hospital bed we ..read more

GUEST POST   Almost 10 years ago, my then 2 -year old son, Devin, was diagnosed with classic autism. He has made great progress. He is capable and able to do things we were told he would not do such as speak, be toilet trained and show love. He is able to do all those things and so much more, but he will still require life time care. Awareness does not provide opportunities once Dev and others like him age out of their school district.   “Awareness is the greatest agent for change.”― Eckhart Tolle   Autism Awareness month is here. Yay! Ugh! This month always brings up con ..read more

GUEST POST -Ellie Whetzel is a Wife, Mom, and blogger who writes about the ups, the downs, and everything in between of life with her extraordinary son, Leo, who is on the Autism Spectrum. Website: lifewithleoweb.wordpress.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/mylifewithleo/ My 7 year old son, Leo was diagnosed as being on the moderate to severe end of the Autism Spectrum when he was 3. His speech is currently limited to one or two word phrases used to request a variety of reinforcing items, and activities as well as scripting from his favorite Disney/Pixar films, and television program of choic ..read more

I’ve taken my son to Sesame Place many times!  He’s 14 years old, but he’ll never be too old for Sesame Place!  And the park has always been very receptive to kids with special needs. However, Sesame Place,  the “Sesame Street”-themed amusement park  in Langhorne, PA has now become the world’s first amusement park designated as a certified autism center. They announced the news last week writing: “It’s our goal to provide every family with an enjoyable and memorable visit, and we are proud to offer specialized services to guests with autism and other special needs.” Sesam ..read more

Howdy folks!  As many of you know I work at Sesame Street, and was proud to play a small part in the launch of Sesame’s autism initiative back in 2015. So I just wanted to write a quick blog post to point you towards Sesame Street’s new autism content! This April Sesame Street is thrilled to expand our See Amazing in All Children initiative  with a new storybook about Julia’s family and the ways they support her every day. https://autism.sesamestreet.org/storybook/family-forever/   We are also launching new routine cards / social stories  for everyday activities ..read more

GUEST POST My younger brother, Preston, was diagnosed with autism on December 29th, 2002.  My mother would often retell the story in great detail, saying, “I’ll never forget the neurologist slamming us in the face with the diagnosis while you and Austin were standing there. I ran out of the doctor’s office, crying and screaming as though my child had been kidnapped.” It was only 14 years ago, yet so much less was understood when faced with the word “autism.” We hadn’t a clue what this diagnosis meant for our family, but my parents took action; they wanted to make sure to thwart this thief ..read more

(originally written & published on 3/28/18 when my son was 14 years old) PROGRESS It used to be a loaded word to me sometimes. How’s he doing?  Has he made any progress over the past year? People would ask me these questions over the years and I wouldn’t know what to say. I would review his IEP goals at the end of the year with the teachers notes and feel bad / guilty / helpless at his lack of progress.  At some point along the way  I stopped worrying about progress or hoping for progress…. Then I started doing the speaking engagements and talking about my life with my son a ..read more

  Howdy all!  I’m baaaack!  Ready to relaunch my site and ready to start blogging and Facebooking again! As you can imagine it’s been a strange year.  Wifey and I separated last spring, I wrote about it last August and since then I’ve been at a loss as to what to write about and how to continue the blog. Why, you ask? Well for a bunch of different reasons… First, because so much about my writing has been our little family dynamic.  Husband, wife, and special needs son.  And I wrote posts about how great our marriage was, and gave marriage advice, and even wro ..read more