Life 101: That’s how the University of Arizona’s Chapel Haven West program is referred to in a story on yesterday’s ABC News. The program helps young adults with autism learn “to live independent and productive lives.”
“Just friendships, job interviews, actually filling out resumes and bringing them to a job, having a roommate,” said Betsey Parlato, president of Chapel Haven. “These are all things that you and I take for granted, but for someone with autism it’s a monumental challenge.”
In a social skills class, University of Arizona teaching assistants show the students the “hidden rules” that help them navigate their surroundings …read more

All three of us were born in the USA: Jim on the East coast, me out West, and Charlie inbetween in a city on the Mississippi. Happy 4th of July (if you’re American)—-though this particular holiday isn’t alwyas the easiest for autistic individuals. Fireworks are loud and it seems that every town here in New Jersey has their own special fireworks display, booming and whistling over one’s house. Add the time off from already shorter days of summer school and standing on a hot sidewalk under the hot sun to see floats or marching bands (more loud noises): It’s enough …read more

I never got around to making a list of last week’s top posts last week so here’s two weeks of “top posts” about autism. Rather than arrange them in chronological order, I’ve arranged them by topic:
My son Charlie turned 11 last Thursday, on May 15th. Life on the road with Charlie is my constant theme here and these posts are about his sensory sensitivities, his beloved bike rides with his beloved dad, and other things I’ve been learning on our journey. (In the photo, he’s enjoying a birthday dinner of sushi and cake on Jim’s desk.)

Too High-Pitched to Hear
It was …read more

The British government has announced that it is planning to calculate the number of autistic adults in England. The £500,000 project is the first to specifically study the number of adults who have autism, the BBC reports.
It will be interesting to see how the study is conducted: The tools for diagnosing autism in adults are neither as valid nor as reliable as those used for children. And:
The group has been hard to measure partly because so many people have grown up before improvements in recognition and diagnosis; and some may have been labelled inappropriately as having mental health problems or …read more

Herb Heflich, executive of 10 NJ properties for senior citizens, has a plan to create a supported living facility for autistic adults—”a group home without the stuffiness of an institution“—in central NJ:
Designed to give adults with autism around-the-clock care — ranging from physical and occupational therapy to “vocational rehabilitation” — the two-story building proposed by CMG Chelsea would house 42 apartments within its 51,796 square feet.
The units each would include a kitchen, living room, bathroom and one or two bedrooms, according to renderings of the building. Plans also call for a shared dining area, a large kitchen, television and computer …read more