Representation is always at stake in writing about autism, whether by an autistic person or by an individual--a parent, scientist, psychologist, or other autism professional.... Read more →
One of the ground rules I set for myself in writing here is to "tell it like it is" and to be totally honest: No... Read more →
(But yes, I really want to.) "Danielle's coming to babysit you tonight," I said to Charlie as we walked home from summer school. "No Danioh,"... Read more →
Charlie's swim in the town pool lasted for all of ten minutes. We got there at half-past five, at the end of a day when... Read more →
So said the t-shirt of the guy in charge of the swing at the rinky-dink carnival we went to tonight: "No job, no car, no... Read more →
All while I've been recording Life With Charlie here, I've been teaching a summer school course on "Great Books"--Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, Sophocles'... Read more →
We went down to "beach house ocean" today. Like the beach boy he is, Charlie carried his board down to the surf and proceeded straight... Read more →
A year after Charlie was diagnosed with autism, I took a leave of absence from my then-job as a Classics professor at the University of... Read more →
Tonight we went to the mall and, as expected, Charlie smiled in delight at the escalators. He stood at the very top and stopped, and... Read more →
I got a good look at this tree today because Charlie and I spent a lot of time on the playground, afternoon and evening. It... Read more →
The properly structured plot, says Aristotle in his Poetics, ch. VII, is an "imitation of an action that is complete, and whole, and of a... Read more →
Children with autism have trouble with change and transitions. They need to stick to the same routines and have their schedules highly structured. If you're... Read more →
"Turn on Barney! Turn on Alphabert!" Charlie grinned up at me from his pillow as he was settling down to sleep. A devilish-happy glint came... Read more →
"Breakfast, school tomorrow, mini waffles," Charlie said this morning. We pointed out that it was Sunday and he had one more day of his weekend.... Read more →
"He looks like Harry Potter!" Many a wide-eyed child has said that on seeing Charlie in his glasses. He's not near-sighted but has difficulties getting... Read more →
I was going to call this post "Everyday I Have the Blues" in part because I had that on in the black car and Charlie... Read more →
Another day of thunderegg weather (as described in What the thunder inside Charlie said (#17))--the sky wrent with faint sunshine cracks and misty, moisty air.... Read more →
That would be Charlie's epithet: In the water (our town pool here), he's as natural as Nadia Comaneci was on the balance beam. After a... Read more →
Here's Charlie telling me one of his favorite stories, and drawing quite unknowingly on the oral composition technique of no less a poet than the... Read more →
This is Charlie, his dad, and cousin Bobby, Charlie's newest pal, in Sinatra Park, Hoboken, at night. I kept yesterday's post (#20) short and sweet... Read more →