Leo in the Apple: iPad - Year One Video

So Leo, Iz, and I were in Apple's iPad: Year One video, which a very thin Steve Jobs introduced at the Apple iPad2 launch event in San Francisco. (I winced when the word "Thinner" appeared above Jobs's head in reference to the iPad2, did you? Even though he sounded hale and appeared to be enjoying himself thoroughly.) I was as thrilled as any other Leo-fan watcher to see our boy appear onscreen, as we were never told (though Seymour had his suspicions) what the iPad shoot we'd done in early February was for. 

Check out the video if you've not seen it yet: Iz appears for just a flash at 1:20, playing her piano, Leo starts bouncing on his trampoline at 4:40, then I start talking about what autism means for Leo, and how his iPad has given him a large dose of the independence he so deserves. I've been told that the autism section of the video is rather affecting, so have a hanky or dry shirt sleeve at the ready:



I wrote about the top-secretness that was the photo shoot at BlogHer. Details I didn't mention include:

Jennyalice spent her birthday onsite at the shoot, being Leo's best friend. She sat with him and played with him for the entire morning, while I had my makeup done, helped the crew with logistics, and talked to the camera. Jen's role got really interesting once we realized the crew had, in transforming my kitchen into a set, accidentally locked down all Leo's food. Jen somehow kept an unsettled Leo happy and engaged through what is usually his lunch hour, then turned around and picked up both the girls from their respective schools and got them back to the house in time for their own shooting sessions. Again, on her birthday. *Mwah* to you, Lady.

I was so tired and the shoot happened so fast that I didn't have the time or energy to get the house tidied like I wanted -- and certainly never worried about the garage, which has suffered dramatically from six months of Leo's bus being on time every morning, thereby eliminating my traditional garage-tidying window. So guess where some of the film crew set up shop? In our crapheap of a garage. YEAH! One benefit of being very very tired all the recent while is that, after a time, you just go with whatever needs to be done. But I still can't believe that people from whom I was in no position to demand a blood oath of silence spent time in that awful awful overstuffed space.

Also, I was sporting my infamous $5 haircut, which is exactly the cocker spaniel bob I specifically asked the stylist not to deliver. Alas. And I'm not really dwelling, because the way my house and I looked wasn't even remotely the point.

A few folks had an issue with a "cure" phrase that was used in the autism section preceding Leo's, by Boston's Dr. Howard Shane, who said, 

"Assisting children with autism to communicate is a rather complicated process. The iPad is absolutely part of our clinical practice here ... We're not curing autism but we're offering a tool that improves the potential of a person with autism: gives them more opportunities to be better communicators, to be better understanders, to be better learners. The iPad is clearly the next step, it's a game changer."

I am leery of pairing the terms autism and cure. As I wrote in the forum that Jen Myers so thoughtfully posted on The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism Facebook page:

My family and I were featured in the iPad2 video, and I spoke with the crew at length about respectful language. I haven't seen the video itself yet, but my husband ... says that it was Mr. Jobs who made the cure-theme comment; ... says it was meant in a "we're surprised by how this is helping" fashion. However, it is my personal opinion that, as long as the term "autism" refers to the entire spectrum, and includes people who adamantly reject the term "cure," it is disrespectful to pair those terms.

The discussion is lively; I recommend you give the thread a read, and add your own comment.

I really believe the video rams home the message parents like me have been trying to tell to the public (and hopefully insurance companies and school districts) for almost a year -- the iPad brings revolutionary learning opportunities to kids like Leo. That autism and iPad message will now -- I hope -- enter the public consciousness. And perhaps more iPad placements will result.

Dr. Seuss's ABC - This Is How All Apps Should Be

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! Though we're celebrating in a rather Pippi Longstocking birthday fashion, because the gift is really from everyone's favorite quirky former La Jolla resident author to my Leo: Dr. Seuss's ABC app is the very best app I've yet found for reinforcing Leo's sight reading skills. If you think I'm exaggerating, watch this video as Leo reads the interactive book to himself by tapping on each word (or picture representing a word) in sequence:



Dr. Seuss's ABC is one of Leo's three perennial favorite Dr. Seuss books. You can imagine his delight in discovering this app on his iPad, and I can verify that he has played with it almost non-stop ever since.

I'd like to thank Dr. Seuss of course, for inspiring Leo to love his ABCs, but in this case the props  need to go to Oceanhouse Media, for creating a truly interactive book that encourages my son to learn by helping to burn those sight words into his brain via multiple visual contexts.

Now, if only Oceanhouse Media would make an app for Mr. Brown Can Moo, Leo would be the happiest iPad- and Dr. Seuss-loving boy who ever giggled his way through a book!

Many of the Dr. Seuss apps (complete listing on Oceanhouse Media's site) are on sale this week in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday, so have a field day. Get your Dr. Seuss lovers what they need, and feel no guilt about supporting their education. Blame me if you get in trouble, I'm used to it.

How are you celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday? (Um, I'll be glued to the screen watching the iPad2 event liveblogging from engadget at 10 AM PST.)

The Cure: Snow, Sea, Crabs, & Chanterelles

Last week was hard -- for Leo, for me, for the kids. No school for Leo (winter break), plus his beloved Therapist V was out introducing his offspring to snow. I'll list the mood-deflating stressors at the bottom of this post, only because it's disingenuous to dismiss them. But I will tell you what cured both Leo's and my blackened blues: A California snow-to-sea day!

Yes, we had snow in the Bay Area. This is at the top of Skyline road and Tunitas Creek, for local location spotters. We were the only folks there, which I found astounding.

It wasn't much of a snow (I used to live in Syracuse), but Leo and Mali had never seen the stuff first-hand, plus it was enough to throw snowballs at each other and coat hands with cold fluffy powder.



Playing in the snow was enough of a thrill, but we then realized it was only thirty minutes from there to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Moss Beach, which was at low tide and just waiting for us to come tidepooling.

Mali was especially excited -- we told her that tidepooling would let us see lots of sea creatures not usually exposed, so she shrieked "Mermaids!" and bounced away to find them.



We didn't find the mermaids, but we did find a beach where Leo was happy to clamber around on the rocks, pick his way through the tide pools, and run on the beach. Seymour found huge whole abalone shells, an abalone kitteh, starfish, a huge piece of bullwhip kelp that generated many Raiders jokes, and we all scrambled along and joined in the fun. Until we started realizing that it was damn cold (Leo and Iz were first, Mali never clued in as she has no internal thermostat) and set off for home.

Except you know what's on the way home? The Princeton docks where the fishing boats sell their wares. Three enormous Dungeness crabs ended up riding home with us.



I didn't realize the crabs would need to hang out in our sink until we cooked them. So I almost peed my pants when I reached over the sink to get a glass of water and a big crab reared up at me. GAAAH!

Mali felt for the crabs, mostly. She didn't want to eat them, and she tried her best to help them understand their fate by writing a warning in Crab Talk, describing the "brain-cutters" that were coming for them:



Crab-rearing and Crab Talk video demonstration video. Note that once the crabs were cooked, Mali had no problem smashing them open. But she still wouldn't eat them.

By the time we finished our crab dinner and put the kids to bed, I was recovered from most of the previous week's depression & disorientation. Then Seymour came back from a beer date with a local mushroom foraging buddy bearing these beauties:

That would be two pounds of enormous fresh chanterelles. Enough to feed our entire family and six hungry Canadians for dinner the next day.

I love Northern California. Sometimes just living here is all the cure I need.

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Now, as for the black week leading up to the curative weekend -- I had just come from a wonderful weekend with three of my favorite people and my wonderful mom. So what the hell is wrong with me?

I have to tell you, I'm not sure. I had The Best Time Ever during our writers' retreat -- but it was not restful. Quite the opposite. I came home trashed from all the face time, even though I wouldn't have changed anything, not one thing, about our weekend.

And I came home to the instant stress of trying to work with all three kids out of school plus Leo disoriented from routine disruption, topped off by five forecasted days of rain, which blew out any chance my preferred mood booster: getting outside, as described above. (The one time I did haul the kids out into the redwoods, Leo refused to hike for more than 50 yards. I'm still not sure why.) Seymour was very supportive, even took time off work to sit on the monkeys while I gave iPad presentations via iChat to educators in Tennessee.

But mostly, I can't stand it when Leo is sad, and there's little we can do. He spent the week on a crying jag, sometimes even crying himself to sleep. We think it may have been a bit of a stim, but it was rooted in real distress -- and he can't tell us how he feels, or why he was crying. We could only try to comfort him, which sometimes he liked and sometimes he really didn't.

Leo's difficult mood meant curbside pickups only for Mali after school, as I didn't want to bring her brother's unpredictability onto her crowded playground. It's hard enough for both of them when he's grumpy -- he tends to fixate on her as the source of his discontent whether true or not, and we have to keep them separated.

So, it was a hard week. By the time I took Leo to his ophthalmologist for his annual full workup (I tend to schedule all his recurring medical appointments during breaks, which in hindsight probably doesn't help much with his stress level), I was nearing the breaking point. Leo was too unsettled to stay in the waiting room while we waited for his eyes to dilate, so we asked the front desk to give us a call when Leo's turn came, and waited in our car. I helped Leo play with new apps like Swapsies, he played with perennial favorites Silly Numbers and FirstWordsDeluxe on his own, and I spent the entire time trying to imagine my sadness as a wave being sucked back down off the beach and away.

That worked until we came back into the office and the doctor casually asked how I was doing. Then I lost it. Which made me mad because for all I knew, my crying was reinforcing negative stereotypes about autism parents. I just wanted to share Leo's information with her, and tell her that, actually, he was doing really really well, and ask her some questions. But all I could do was sob. She was very kind and hugged me and took care of us well. I adore her. (If you're a Peninsula resident and don't already know who the best pediatric ophthalmologist in the area is, I'd be happy to tell you.)

Also mood-spoiling: I caused a misunderstanding at work, with one of my favorite people in the whole world. Which probably put her in a shitty position, even though she'd never tell me. Which just sucks. Even though she says it's worked out.

And people we love keep getting divorced. Which Leo can't understand; one of his favorite verbal stims is to list pairs of his favorite local people circa 2005. Only problem is all of them, with the exception of one couple, have split. So I listen as he lists each emotional trainwreck in sequence, and I praise him for his great memory. Then I cry again.

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The absurd thing about being so low last week is that there was so much to celebrate and enjoy.

• Miss Mali was the subject of my guest post for PBS Parents: Science Kids on the Loose: Helping One Little Girl Love Engineering
• Leo and his iPad arrived in Barcelona (on the Internet, anyhow)
• Leo had to get two shots during his annual checkup: Meningococcal and TDaP. He was a total champ; we didn't even need the second nurse that his doctor had thoughtfully enlisted. 
• I applied for an ASF Grant to go to IMFAR, the 2011 International Meeting for Autism Research. Oh, I so want to go! Don't  you? 
• I got to witness The Internet at Its Finest as folks came together and made an iPad happen for Pierre, a little boy who desperately needed one but whose family needed to focus on his essential medical bills. Wrote about it for BlogHer. 

If you made it this far, leave some advice, pat yourself on the back, or knock back a shot.

I'm processing, mostly, and am just so glad to have forests and the coast to cure what ails me.

Rainy Day Apps Leo Loves (and One Mali Loves, too)

Leo is out of school this week, which is why you haven't heard much from these quarters. We intended to spend the week hiking, but instead we spent our time stuck inside, watching rainstorms, rainbows, seeing the soaking-wet trampoline steam when the sun makes a brief appearance, and wondering whether we're going to have our first-ever snow.

Thank heavens for Leo's iPad. Our house is well-stocked with books, videos, and activities, but the iPad gives Leo so much leisure- and learning-time independence and encourages so much self-direction -- it has made our rainy week several degrees more doable. Here are some of the apps Leo's been using the most lately:

As you can see, Leo gets giddy over Speech With Milo: Verbs ($2.99) and the new Speech With Milo: Prepositions ($1.99). The interface is somewhat text-based, but it is also consistent & predictable, and Leo has learned to navigate from screen to screen. Leo can use all the quality language-building (as opposed to communication/AAC) apps you can create, developers, so please let me know when you're ready to open those floodgates. Leo & his peers are waiting.

My Underwear ($2.99)* is the cutest damn app. It was designed by Todd Parr so the graphics are whimsically excellent. The games and activities are simple and fun, and Leo enjoys them -- games like "catch the falling underwear" are  just unpredictable enough to keep him on his toes, while remaining straightforward and not-overwhelming.

 

Another lovely bonus of My Underwear: sibling interaction facilitation. That's a fancy way of writing that OMG Leo & his little sister play My Underwear together! Not something we see a lot of -- Mali is wary of her sometimes volatile older brother. But with My Underwear, Mali is not just willing to play it with Leelo, she's patient and kind (two words we don't use a lot with her, awesome as she is) in showing him what to do if he gets stuck. Thank you, Todd Parr!

Silly Numbers $3.99 was recommended to us by Danielle Samson, an SLP and an iPad/AAC/apps expert. Leo is a sucker for apps with good music. I am a sucker for any app that encourages Leo to independently and repeatedly review subjects in which he needs support, like 1:1 correspondence and counting. This is not a terribly complicated app -- each screen shows a number from 1 to 12, then that number of objects appear onscreen. But it is interactive -- you can tap the objects to count them over and over again, the animations are cute, the voiceover and text includes adjectives, e.g., "One Tasty Pie," for some stealth extra learning, and the design is top-notch.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider ($.99) by Duck Duck Moose is not a new app but it is new to us, and was another Danielle recommendation. If you know Leo you know he loves music and singing his favorite songs, like the eponymous tune. Getting to play that tune over and over again while fiddling with pages full of animated extras means even more loving. And that loving is ever helpful in situations where Leo needs distracting from what he doesn't love, for instance visiting his pediatrician (thank you, Duck Duck Moose!).

Andrew Answers ($2.99)* is an interactive book supporting language building through word play, repetition, and cheekiness. It also has interstitial activities during transitions, which Leo appreciates. His sisters think Andrew Answers is hilarious, so do I. Though if your kids are clever enough to model Andrew's sassy way with words, you may be in for some exasperation.

Little Bella - I Close My Eyes ($.99) is a charming interactive book, and a favorite of Mali's (and a final Danielle choice). Little Bella is an imaginative girl whose animated adventures play out every time she closes her eyes -- as she dreams about being a butterfly, flying, diving like a dolphin: I'm honestly surprised by how inexpensive this app is, given the quality of its art and animation.

I am backlogged with apps to review and will be talking about more of them (and adding them to the iPad Apps for Autism spreadsheet), soon. Once Leo's routine is reinstated, most likely.

2/26 update: Is this snow on my backyard picnic table? Not sure, but that's what we're telling the kids! We Californians have to get our wintry thrills however we can.


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*These apps were gifted to Leo by the developer. Which has no bearing on my review; I am featuring these apps because my kids genuinely like them.

Cool iPad News & a La Jolla Writers Retreat

First, cool iPad news:

• Have you seen Leo's handsome face on the new HollyRod.org iPads for Communication site? So proud of HollyRod's success in raising money to get iPads to kids who need them, and grateful to the apps developers who donated copies of their software. It's an ongoing campaign, so please donate if you can! 
• Educators: Check out 42 Interesting Ways (and tips) to use an iPad in the Classroom by Josh Fassbind (via Liz Ditz).
• Last week I participated in a fun TweetChat hosted (but not sponsored, Ashley) by Ruckus Media: A Chat About Apps and Autism.
• And I have two upcoming iPad events: one online and free (please listen!), the other in San Francisco as part of a great conference that I highly recommend:
• Monday, February 21 8 AM PST: Autism Women's Network: BlogTalk Radio: iPads for Autism With Shannon Des Roches Rosa and Melody Latimer
• Thursday, March 10: UCSF Developmental Disabilities Conference: An Explosion of Electronic Marvels-iPads, Apps and More for People with Autism Spectrum Disorders

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I am spending a iPad-free (mostly) weekend in La Jolla, at a writing retreat with three women most splendid. We have had breakthroughs, workshopping, wine, and walks.

We also got lost in watching seals nurse their newborn babies in the rookery at La Jolla Cove. Some of the wee pups still had their umbilicus attached. There was serious mama seal irritation with other seals, witness the seal fight we, um, witnessed:

Leo spend the weekend at camp, Iz spent part of her weekend at the SF Chronicle Spelling Bee semi-finals, Mali spent her weekend hanging with her daddy drawing pictures of Angler fish. Fun weekend for all. And I am apparently all out of words. Hope your weekend was loverly.

Joshua Tree National Park: An Autism Vacation Destination

I almost forgot to post this -- we spent New Year's Eve at California's Joshua Tree National Park, near Palm Springs. It was one of our best family days ever. Ever ever ever. 

If your child with autism likes to hike and boulder, I couldn't imagine a better place to go -- as long as you're prepared. Joshua Tree is high desert, and in December that means ow-my-nose cold temperatures. If you go, check the weather report beforehand, take it seriously, and dress appropriately!

For hiking, I'd recommend the Barker Dam trail. It is a relatively flat 1.5 mile loop -- flat in terms of elevation gain, not footing. There were many bouldery moments, which as a family of billy goats we all loved.

Barker Dam trail - outbound

We found snow! And ice! Mali is holding up a small slab of frozen H20.

Iz testing the lake to verify that yes, indeed, it is frozen.

The reservoir created by Barker Dam is small but lovely. It attracts the area's fauna, but to Seymour's disappointment we did not see any Desert Big Horn sheep.

Iz pushing her personal bouldering limits.

There's always time for a game of "my cheeks make excellent bellows"

See? Joshua trees! Return leg from Barker Dam.

There were even petroglyphs. Though these ones have been messed with.

We hit several other sites in the park, but the kids' favorite was Skull Rock and the bouldering behind it. The rough-textured granite rocks make climbing easy -- almost too easy. Your kids may get over-confident about their new super human climbing abilities, so mind them closely. There are many sharp drop offs on boulder backsides, and kids may not notice how high up they are climbing, and could get stranded.

Leo billy-goating -- with close supervision.

Bouldering wonderland!

Wear jeans or other tough trousers. After a couple of hours of gamboling over the rough-textured rocks, Mali ripped the bottom right out of her pants! Which led us to sing her an impromptu personalized version of the SpongeBob Square Pants "Ripped Pants" song. She was mortified and made us all swear never to share it.

We stayed nearby in TwentyNine Palms, at the Fairfield Marriott Inn. The hotel seemed set up for families, with complimentary breakfast, huge clean new rooms, and free wireless. Score! Recommended, especially with a spanking AAA discount rate.

I think we'll be going back. A single day, no matter how full, was insufficient to appreciate this beautiful park. We're hoping to come back, possibly even camp (!). 

Have you ever been to Joshua Tree National Park? What did you think?

A Date With Our Boys

Leo, Jake, & Jennyalice

This is before the french fries & milk shakes arrived and the table looked ... very different.

Good friends make all the difference for me & Leo and our family.

Talking Autism & iPads on The Coffee Klatch's BlogTalkRadio

You'll note that it doesn't actually say "Shannon Rosa" in the show listing; it says "Temple Grandin: Autism & Fear." Because her interview was the first half of the show. Not a bad act to follow!

The interviewers Marianne, Chuck, & Mae asked fair & insightful questions about iPads for our kids with autism, and I hope I managed to answer them sufficiently. And I'm hoping the recording cuts off before my quip about listeners playing a drinking game based on the number of times I said "definitely." My interview starts at 35 minutes in.

Listen to internet radio with The Coffee Klatch on Blog Talk Radio

Leo's Overstuffed iPad and More Apps We Like

Leo playing Count TV

Now that Leo's had his iPad for nine months, I have unsolicited advice for potential iPad owners:

GET AS MUCH STORAGE AS POSSIBLE. 

Poor Leo -- he thinks of his buddy the 16 GB iPad as the ultimate repository of every last app, TV show, movie, and songs he loves loves loves -- but, sadly, his friends can no longer play together because his iPad had run out of space. And as his cherished apps and shows disappear to make room for new and different ones, our change-rejecting boy who has gotten so used to having all his favorite media and apps in one place is going to become very sad.

This apps/video iPad shuffle will only get more complicate as  apps become increasingly robust, content-wise. I would love nothing more than to get our chemistry-lover Iz The Elements iPad app so she can explore the periodic table in depth, with 3D animation. She still has an iTunes gift card in her holiday stash; The Elements's $13.99 price tag isn't the issue -- the problem is the app's 1.71 GB size. We can't blow out an eighth of Leo's iPad's existing content for a single app. It's not going to happen.

So, sigh, and if you're about to jump into the iPad market, please listen to me and buy as much storage as you can!

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Meanwhile, we're backlogged on telling you about the apps Leo and his sisters like. Here are four favorites both new and revisited:

Count TV ($2.99)*: An entertaining app that encourages understanding of 1:1 correspondence, i.e., that the amount two means the number "2." We've had this app since June, but Leo always goes back to it. The interface is simple: The Count does a short intro upon launch, then a nine-number grid appears (see above). Click on each number to watch a classic number-themed Sesame Street video. Leo gets yet another context for the numbers he's still struggling to understand, and I get to share videos from my childhood with my own kids. Win-win.

Another very simple app Leo likes is Leaf Jam ($.99)**. This is an app I suggest to Leo when he is agitated and needs something to soothe and engage him without making too many demands on his overtaxed senses. (He also chooses Leaf Jam independently.) Tap the screen to make leaves appear, tilt the screen to move them around, click the rake icon to clear the screen. Leo really enjoys tapping/adding leaves in time to the pleasant banjo background music, as you can see in the video:

I'm excited about Moozart ($1.99)** for Leo, on so many levels. This app lets Leo play his favorite songs, then explore and experiment with them -- and with the basics of music  and music reading. While being completely silly!

When Leo presses Moozart's Play button (which he recognized instantly, thanks to the app's good clean design), each song's notes appear as icons (pigs, bells, farmers) on a real music staff. Leo can delete or add other note icons from the bar above the staff, while playing an existing song or using a blank staff. Fun! (Though I couldn't find a way to save his creations -- he doesn't mind but other kids might).


Moozart doesn't require users to know note names or time values -- if you place them in the right spots (and each time you move the icon to a new position on the staff, it sounds out a preview tone), you'll get the right note. Time is determined by horizontal spacing -- no worries about knowing eighth or half notes. Moozart allows non-readers to dabble and compose with abandon -- within the staff's range, at least.

Reading is not necessary to play with the music, but it is necessary to choose a song from the app's song list, and this is where Leo surprised me. Moozarts' song list, unsurprisingly, overlaps with Leo's beloved Tappy Tunes's song list. Leo has memorized which Tappy Tunes song titles stand for which songs, but it wasn't clear to me if he'd memorized their positions or their appearance. With Moozart,  Leo instantly selected favorite songs like Pop Goes the Weasel independently, the very first time he used the list. My son has memorized entire phrases! So, Moozart helps reinforce Leo's sight-reading (and generates much whooping and praise for our boy).

One iPad benefit will never get old: I love interactive books that let pre-readers like Leo experience books independently.

Leo's little sister Mali happens to already be a reader. She is also a big fan of the interactive book app Frida's World ($2.99), as am I. Frida's World is simple, well-designed, and the story and illustrations are adorable and age-appropriate without reducing Frida Kahlo's biography to twee. So now my six-year-old is knowledgeable about the life of Frida Kahlo and wants to know more! There's even a coloring book mode.

Another benefit: Frida's World has both English and Spanish modes, which Mali appreciates as she goes to a Spanish immersion school and is always looking for fun ways to practice her Spanish.

My only quibble: When in autoplay or "listen to book" mode, I would prefer to have the words highlighted as they are read. But this is a teeny quibble. Frida's World is a very cute and worthwhile app that lets sneaky parents like me inject a bit of culture into our kids' lives.

*Gifted to my kids by the developer.
**Free through Moms With Apps and their wonderful (Free) App Fridays.

Frozen Yogurt: Not Something We Take for Granted

It's interesting, talking to people who aren't familiar with kids like Leelo and Jake about our boys' day-to-day lives.

These talks make me aware of how fortunate we are, to have boys who think it's great to go on spontaneous frozen yogurt outings with all of their siblings and a couple of spare cousins. To know that our boys can usually if not always deal with a few dollops of chaos if we guarantee a payout at the end. To see boys who, after years of hard work, maturation, and the proper pharmaceutical support get to be part of the joyful family-and-friends flow I always imagined parenting would contain.

It isn't always easy for our boys to go excursioning, but it used to be impossible. I took this picture because I want to remember moments like these, cherish them, and never take them for granted.

Vrrrrrooooom!

Here's Leo riding his first-ever go kart racer with his dad, while we were in Phoenix over the holidays. He had a great time!

This is also a good representation of the clip at which are days are going lately. Don't blink, is all I can say.

There are two massive top secret projects on the front burner, I'm hoping I can share the news about them eventually.  But even just living the lives we've arranged for ourselves is not an endeavor for the faint-hearted or the easily winded, not lately.

So I'll likely be re-evaluating participation in a number of those day-to-day things, mostly with an eye towards improving quality of life with my family by being less tired and therefore less grumpy and twitchy, and snagging more hours of sleep than I can count on one hand per night. Reasonable goals.

I have to say, I am really proud of The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism, even though crafting the associated book in a manner than does its content justice has taken longer than we editors anticipated. But as for quality of content: In the last two weeks on TPGA I interviewed vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit about the most commonly held public myths about immunizations,  I interviewed investigative reporter and The Panic Virus author Seth Mnookin about why we need to hold the media resonsible for allowing vaccine fears and misinformation to proliferate, we featured Mark Osteen's powerful insights on his son's never-ending attempts to talk despite largely uncooperative wiring, and Jennyalice wrote a barnstormer, When Medication Is the Right Choice -- a post I think should be posted on every parenting forum in the country (or dropped on the head of every parent who has ever gone around proclaiming "I could never medicate MY child" because they've been fortunate enough to have a child who doesn't require medication just to get through five minutes of a day, let alone an entire day).

I'm also considering going to the IMFAR conference this year. Have any of you ever been? What did you think? From the INSAR website:

The International Meeting for Austism Research (IMFAR) is an annual scientific meeting, convened each spring, to exchange and disseminate new scientific progress among ASD scientists and their trainees from around the world. The first and primary aim of the meeting is to promote exchange and dissemination of the latest scientific findings and to stimulate research progress in understanding the nature, causes, and treatments for ASD.

Also, I'll be speaking on iPads for people with special needs at the UCSF Developmental Disabilities Conference on March 10th. Our key note speaker will be Surgeon General Regina Benjamin:

Dr. Regina Benjamin, [...] our major keynote speaker [will] address issues related to diversity among health care providers serving an increasingly diverse population of children and adults with autism and other disabilities.

Here's info about the conference itself:

This conference provides a practical and useful update for primary care and subspecialty health care professionals caring for children, youth and adults with complex health care needs and developmental disabilities. This year’s topics offer new perspectives, research findings and clinical guidelines, including an overview of relevant information for pediatricians, family physicians, internists, and nurse practitioners who are involved in the care of individuals with autism spectrum disorders, cerebral palsy, and other disabilities.

Even though the conference is geared towards health professionals, much of the information will be useful for families, too. I'd be so grateful to see familiar names and faces.

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By the way, it's Jennyalice's birthday today. Please go wish her joyeux anniversaire (she has a thing for French).