Halloween is Hard for my Son with Autism, but We Still Celebrate It
Our son loves the idea of Halloween. He loves the decorations and all the gross Halloween bugs on the store shelves. He likes the idea of trick-or-treating and the idea of dressing up. But it's hard for him. Due to his autism and sensory issues, we realized early on that costumes made him unhappy and uncomfortable. From a lion to the Hulk, nothing ever seemed to work for him. I started choosing costumes that only needed a hat and lightweight outfits that felt just like clothe
How a Special Ed Teacher's Simple Idea is Making a Big Difference
Here's proof that an idea doesn't have to be complicated to go a long way. Just ask special education teacher Sadie Guthrie. A video from SoulPancake puts the spotlight on Guthrie, a special education teacher at Lawton Alternative School in San Francisco, for its Class Act series, which highlights inspiring teachers. Using a cart to sell coffee and pastries, Guthrie helps her students learn real world skills. The video shows footage of the students asking teachers for orders
Meet Julia, The First 'Sesame Street' Character with Autism
An exciting new character is set to join the world of "Sesame Street." StartFragment In an exclusive announcement on People.com on Wednesday morning, Sesame Workshop introduced Julia, a muppet with autism, as part of a new initiative called "Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children." According to its website, the "nationwide initiative" is geared toward families and communities with children between 2 and 5. "Developed with input from parents, people who serve th
Stop the Madness - Schizophrenia in America
There's a miraculous new treatment for schizophrenia that could transform the way we treat mental illness. And then there are the terrible reasons why most medical professionals have never heard of it. In is quiet, modest way, Glenn was proud of his robot. It was 1974, at a local high school science fair in Boca Raton, Florida, and Glenn, a 15-year-old sophomore, had spent months painstakingly constructing a jumble of wires and circuits on wheels with three arms, each contain
The 5 Pieces of Advice I'd Give About Screens If Parents Ever Asked
The explosion of tech and screens into the lives of children is outrageously obvious to me as a pediatrician. Besides the fact that most kids and parents seem to be attached to a phone or tablet when I enter the exam room, when I ask questions about how kids spend their days (and nights), screens seem to be part of everything. You'd think that I'd get questions from parents about screen time and about how best to use devices with their kids. But I don't. Like, never. This is
The 2 Places You Go When Your Child Receives an Autism Diagnosis
Autism Speaks recently shared one of my blog posts, “What My Kid With Autism Wants You to Know About Him.” Well, actually, it was more like my son Ryan’s blog post since it was his voice and his words. There were a lot of lovely comments from parents who “got it.” They understood autism doesn’t define their children and so much more lies beneath that label. There was one comment, though, that pierced my heart: “My son was diagnosed today. I needed to read this.” As I read thi
Intel Releases the Technology that Gives Stephen Hawking a Voice
Stephen Hawking's computer-synthesized voice has narrated a Monty Python song, given hope to One Direction fans and asked the biggest questions in the universe. Now, people with disabilities across the world will have access to Hawking's custom technology. Hawking has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, one of the symptoms of which can be an impaired voice. He worked with Intel for three years to develop the Assistive Context-Aware Toolkit that gives him an artificial voic