More media

Teenager Carly Fleishman has written a book with her dad Arthur coming out in March called Carly's voice. It's about her breakthrough communicating with a computer after years growing up as a child with autism who couldn't speak. Carly uses WordQ, a word-prediction software developed at Holland Bloorview.

In case you missed this 20-20 piece on Carly, here it is above on Youtube. While I think there's much to be learned from Carly's experience, I think it's important to remember that many children who are non-verbal won't have similar breakthroughs. Sometimes I worry that stories like this will set a new expectation among the public and create even more pressure on parents.

New definition of autism will exclude many, study finds is a NY Times piece looking at proposed changes to narrow the criteria for autism by the American Psychiatric Association.

For those who missed CBC's Ontario Today interview with No Ordinary Boy author Jennifer Johannesen yesterday, you can listen to the podcast here and download it here .

And I LOVED this story about a 25-year-old man with Down syndrome who owns and operates a successful restaurant with the help of his family. Tim's Place: A dream followed

Happy weekend!