Two recent stories in the New York Daily News highlight the struggles of families to provide for their autistic children.
In Staten Island, a police detective got caught up in the subprime mortgage crisis when she bought a fixer-upper with the intention of renovating and quickly reselling it, to pay for therapy for her 3-year-old autistic son. The fixer-upper was to be auctioned off today and the detective, Regine DeBellis, is in danger of losing her own house, too. She says:
“I didn’t get into this because I wanted to shop at Saks – we wanted to get Matthew in a program …read more

Hope you got the perfect gift for Mother’s Day—-Margaret Lenahan has. Her 16-year-old son, James, was diagnosed with autism around the time that he turned two; today, he is a junior in the Ryken program for special needs students at Xaverian High School in Brooklyn, and a member of the varsity B basketball team for the Xaverian Clippers. From today’s Staten Island Advance:
Get this clear: He’s no sympathy case. He’s a teammate.
“He’s a tough player. He’s really strong. He pushes kids around,” says Tim O’Toole, Joe’s son [Joe O'Toole is another coach] and a Fastbreakers forward. “And when he boxes …read more