More Holiday Headlines, and Holiday Light

Houston Texas players Jason Simmons and Ahman Green helped make it possible for single mother Regina Foster, whose son Reggie is autistic, to make a $50,000 down payment on a house in a Houston suburb, today’s Sports Illustrated reports. A mother in the Chicago area, Kristin M. Scott, writes a letter reflecting on all those who have loved her teenage son Daniel, who recently moved to a residential school in Wisconsin for developmentally disabled children and teens. The Great Falls Tribune notes that 5-year-old Elijah is excelling “beautifully”; his father Eric Johnson called him “autastic.” Students at the ACES Village School in North Haven, CT, sing in a chorus, as the Hartford Courant describes. Also in Connecticut, getting a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome has made all the difference in 17-year-old Taylor Rosado’s life. In Montclair, New Jersey, students with Asperger Syndrome participate in a 12-week theater program.

As the Daily Advertiser in Shreveport, LA, notes, 2007 was a year in which autism “[grabbed] headlines like never before with the revelation of the diagnosis in actress Jenny McCarthy’s son,” and for a few other reasons (like those just cited). The Daily Advertiser also notes the extent to which a parent can go to teach a child:

As a mother of an autistic child, Tina Jolley knows all too well that autistic children certainly can learn, but most need to be taught in a different way.

“The old fashion way is just not going to work,” said Jolley, who once stood on her head to get her son to listen to a story. “He aced that test.”

If I could stand on my head and tell Charlie a story, that would be headlines around here.