I mentioned Alex Bain and Tyler McNeil and Jonathan Brunot, who’ve all run marathons, while encouraging Charlie to try the treadmill on Tuesday: Today’s Ventura County Star reports on 15-year-old Joshua Otani, who’s a member of the Pacifica cross country team. He competed in the Pacific View League Championships and is thinking of joining the track team, too.
Guess we’ll have to keep at that treadmill to catch up!

The $1000 yearling named Autism Awareness who won the El Camino Derby at 62-1 odds is out with a knee injury, according to the Thoroughbred Times. They do say that horses—even wit a name like Autism Awareness—-can go bad overnight like strawberries….

Yes, and a horse who beat the odds Saturday at the El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows in northern California, as reported in Bloodhorse. With jockey Luis Contreras, Autism Awareness won by 1 1/2 lenghths while covering the 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.17. The horse won $90,000 for his El Camino victory and paid off at $126, beating 62-1 odds. Owner Johnny Toboada has an 8-year-old autistic son, Renzo, and Autism Awareness has a sister, Cure Autism, also owned by Toboada. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s already a deal in the works to add a puzzle piece to …read more

It’s the perennial problem: Is it better for autistic students to be educated at public or private schools, in the district or out? From Union City (CA) to Noblesville (IN) to Atlantic City (NJ), school districts are confronting issues like these: Should they hire their own in-house autism consultants? Or seek the services of highly regarded professional from outside agencies? Should a district create its own in-district program, where autistic students are educated in the same schools as their same-aged students, and where there are ready opportunities for inclusion, and where autistic students attend school in the community they …read more