We continue our week of spectrum artwork today!
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A Book for Our Times: Understanding Jason (AuthorHouse) is a new book written by Marsha Rae Osborn and illustrated by DeOnna Mills, and it tells the story of a group of typical students who learn from their teacher how to accept and help an autistic student, Jason, fit in with their class. (Osborn is an RN and the mother of twin boys, one
of whom has autism.) Told in rhymes, Jason seems typical of the kinds of titles we need to see more of. (”We don’t understand,” kids say, “Why does Jason act …read more

It was a couple of months ago that my son Charlie started—for the first time in his life—to show sensitivity to sound by putting both hands over his ears. We’ve known autistic children and adults who’ve found the sound of merry-go-round music, clapping, sirens, and much more unbearable, but never (we thought) Charlie. And then the ear-covering thing started and it’s as if a whole new world of sounds and frequencies and pitches has become evident to us.
I took Charlie to hear a production of Cabaret at the college where I teach; Charlie lasted for almost the entire first act, …read more