Recent news reports declare that Howard Stern is in talks with Simon Cowell of America's Got Talent to join Sharon Osborne and Howie Mandel as a judge. Comments on news sites and blogs have been scathing, with viewers loudly declaring they will abandon America's Got Talent in droves...

A new study in Pediatrics says the recurrence risk of autism in younger siblings is higher than previously thought. Hardly comforting to autism families who want a second or third child and not surprising to me, mom of three daughters with autism.

In 1999, my husband and...

"Is this your condom? We found it in your car."

Imagine your high school boyfriend's mother asking the two of you that question at the kitchen table as she waves a foil Trojan packet in front of you. Did you just lose your neck into your shoulders and cringe with...

A new study from CS Mott Children's Hospital finds that 89 percent of parents think vaccine safety is the most important topic in medical research today. That makes sense, since the American pediatric vaccine schedule now includes 48 vaccinations before the age of six. Parents are facing...

Three summers ago, I wrote a post for HuffPo called, "I Will Shake Your Foundation" on the fears my husband Mark and I have about bullying, abuse, neglect, rape and murder of our three defenseless daughters with autism.

Danny Bonaduce, the child star from the seventies...

I've watched the political debate over the worthiness (the Republicans call it worthlessness) of the unemployed American workers whose benefits are ending.

My husband lost his job in the fall of 2008, and we went onto unemployment. I remember his face, ashen white, his lips pinched, as he gave...

This had been a particularly rough April, aka "Autism Awareness Month." I'm trying to find the bright spots where I can. As always, I begin in my own home, with my three daughters, who have autism, and who can make me smile and laugh (and shake my head and holler,...

Last Christmas while visiting my parents, I attended Catholic Mass in the simple, sparsely decorated hometown church where I'd made my First Holy Communion and Confirmation, in Plainville, Massachusetts. The priest, Fr. Gary Thomson, made such an impression on me that I sent him an email when we returned home,...

Last Thursday afternoon, The General Medical Council in London, England announced its decisions in the disciplinary hearing of Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Professor Simon Murch and Professor John Walker-Smith. The ruling was not in their favor. (You can read the official ruling HERE.)

There will likely be other posts...

Remember the old saying about how different the world would be if the Defense Department had to hold bake sales to buy bombs? Well, in the autism world, we have to hold bake sales to raise money for just about everything. Autism now strikes one in 110 American children, yet...

I assume you've read the headline and think I'm going to tell you about my bedwetting problem, right? Nope. My bed stays dry through the night, and will remain so for a few more years until I hit menopause and start hot flashing all over the sheets.

When I...

I grew up in Boston, and am old enough to recall when the Catholic Church adamantly denied the sex scandal. Priests harming children? Sex abuse? No one wanted it to be true, and so it was easier to swallow the denials than to believe the children and adults whose lives...

America, how does it feel to wake up and learn that you can't have healthcare tests that you think you or your loved one needs? Welcome to the autism treatment world. Kinda sucks, doesn't it?

This week we learned that neither mammograms nor pap tests are as necessary as previously...

Does Spanx make an asbestos undergarment for HuffPo bloggers about to set themselves on fire?

I'm wondering if some Democrats are going to use abortion against the healthcare plan the way Republicans have used it (and gay marriage) to scuttle elections for years. This concerns me.

I am a pro-choice...

This Fall, Congressman Alan Grayson (D) of Florida said, "If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly. That's right. The Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick."

He's right. Although I'm not sure it's the Republican plan, they don't seem...

Dear Senator Dodd:

I am a resident of Connecticut. I just heard you have prostate cancer. I am very sorry to hear this news. I'm sure it's a frightening revelation that has sent your entire family into a tailspin.

As far as I know, however, you are now surrounded...

Good God in heaven - it's been a rough week for anyone who loves a person with autism. I'm rather fond of three girls with autism, my daughters Mia, Gianna and Bella.

Earlier this week, Nancy Pelosi excluded autism from H.R. 3200 the healthcare bill. You can read about that...

Last week, Time Magazine ran an article, "Growing Old With Autism," featuring Karl Taro Greenfeld's new book Boy Alone, a memoir about growing up with his brother, Noah, who is severely autistic .

I met Karl last year. He wanted to ask me a few questions...

In 1994, the National Alliance for Autism Research was born. They were dedicated to genetics research for autism. Three years ago, they were absorbed into Autism Speaks. Now, fifteen years after their inception, millions of dollars spent and tens of thousands of children diagnosed with autism later, they appear to...

You think wrinkles and gray hair are the scourges of aging? Try imagining your child with autism as an adult and at the mercy of a state run home, an institution or even prison while you're slumbering away in a pine box.

I'd be happy to look like a...