When Charlie was starting to randomly imitate sounds on his own, the soundtrack of our lives started to get taken over by assorted rhythmic patterns of grinding grunts, beeps, and hums of all sorts and tones. After some careful listening to everything in the house, we realized that the sources for two of his main sound-verbalizations were the garage door (with the automatic opener) of his grandparents’ house, and the microwave oven.
Because of course—-unlike Jim and me rambling on about whatever and in whatever tone of voice and with whatever choice of words we pleased, mechanical devices always sound the …read more

There’s been more and more stories about therapy dogs for autistic children (indeed. here’s an organization called Autism Service Dogs of America. But what about a seal?—–a therapeutic robot seal named Paro, that is?
Paro is $5000: Personally, I think I’ll stick to providing Charlie with fleece blankets and jackets, and hats and gloves for their soft feel. And to the cello for good vibrations. He’s been learning to play the different strings—plucking A and D, and bowing G and C, and something about pulling the bow over those deep and low strings always makes Charlie smile.
(And me too, but you …read more