KimStagliano.com Coming Soon!

Autism One Generation Rescue Conference Here I Come!
Click the link to watch live streaming from the Grand Ballroom.

Book Expo America and Skyhorse Publishing

Yesterday the team at Skyhorse welcomed me into their booth at Book Expo America. At the advice of the fabulous Bella Stander, of Book Promotion 101, I had excerpts that I handed out for a short period of time, eyes scanning badges for librarians, press and bookstore buyers. "Hi, this is a humorous memoir with an autism theme that belongs on your 'and you won't need a Prozac to read it,' shelf!" I chatted with sales and publicity and, I hope, gave them a feel for who I am, the tone of the book and confidence that they can send me out to promote the title. I restrained the excited 12 year old who wanted to jump up and down when I saw my book on the signage. I was cool(ish.)

Esther Bochner, Publicist, me, Tony Lyons, Publisher (and author and fellow autism parent.)

Skyhorse had a good week - their catalog is loaded with terrific titles and the debut book Callous Disregard from Dr. Andrew Wakefield (the British doc of the MMR/Autism controversy) hit #11 on Amazon on its launch day. #11!!! It was a fun day to watch the number tumble.

Mark came into the show with me, and it was divine to share the moment with him. He has more photos. I'll get them.

8th Grade Memories

I just dropped off Mia at her Middle School for "Spring Fling." The school has been wonderful, and both her teacher and her para are there to escort her through the events which include: salon, tie dye station, games, music, swimming and more. Mia will stay until after my bedtime - 9pm. The night goes into a dance after the ice cream social, but I figure Mia can stand in a line against the wall anytime she wants, why do it at school?

I got to think of my graduation from 8th grade in 1977. We had a fancy dance and I swayed at arm's length from Steven Spadoni to the ubiquitous 70s prom song below. I didn't even "like" Steven Spadoni. I don't think I had a crush on anyone in 8th grade. Maybe Mike Kerrigan a bit. Now they're 47 year old men. Man, oh man...

Our Special Day

Sweet Bella made her First Communion last Saturday. Jill at Sweet Gluten-Free made this beautiful cake. Those of you who are regular readers know that I love to bake. But I know my limitations! This is a gluten and casein free cake, it was chocolate with a coconut oil based frosting and so delicious. Not overly sweet, moister than any cake I could ever bake. Jill did a beautiful job for us. She delivers in Fairfield County and into the city and Westchester as well.
Autism Moms, can you spot the "I am a raptor and will protect my child" stance I assumed? I thought I'd have to help Bella, but she walked right up to Fr. D. and took her Communion on her own. Mark and I looked at each other with surprise and joy. Bella was beaming when she sat down, clearly pleased with herself.




Bella wore her first pair of patent leather sandals. We usually stick with sneakers, and have had Land's End sandals, but never something with a small heel and cut out fancy-dan hearts! My good friend Amy lent me her daughter's dress. It was elegant and simple and perfect for Bella. Kimmy don't need no Jon Benet Ramsay "Look, Ma I'm 24!" dresses on her kids.

This photo matches the one we have from Mia and Gianna's First Communion. Not sure how I remembered we needed to snap it - but we did. My Mom handled the digital camera with ease. And look, we even have heads! (Family joke, my Mom reads my blog. Hi Mom!)
That's the cake after our party. It was gone by Sunday. I made GFCF cross cookies and bought a small Wilton cake topper as a decoration. I did not sully the perfectly professional cake with the cake topper, she simply sat on the cookie dish.

I am grateful to our Parish and Miss J. and Frs. D and G for supporting my girls. I'm usually pretty tough on "The Church." But at the grassroots, I'm pleased with how my girls have been welcomed.

Party Game! "Lower That Amazon Ranking for David Kirby's Animal Factory."

Today we're celebrating our good friend David Kirby's birthday. Since you won't have time to bake him a cake and schlep it to New York, we have an idea for you.

Purchase a copy of his book Animal Factory at Amazon and we'll give him a great ranking today. And then we'll do something nice for you. Email me your Amazon receipt with your address and size (M-XL) (HERE) and we'll send you a free AofA t-shirt. Presents for you too! Already own a copy? Send one to your Senator or Congressman.

Congratulations, Bella! Sweet Bella is making her First Holy Communion today. Mark and I are proud of her. I'll add photos later. This is Bella as a tot in Ohio.

Congratulations, Kim! It's a Website! The fabulous Jo from Glass Slipper Web Design is designing my website. As of today, the "coming soon" page is complete and just beautiful. My blog will be connected to the site, of course.

KimStagliano.com

Happy Mother's Day!

Surrounded By Men!

Sometimes my Google alerts make me roll my eyes, as there are folks who do not care for me or my brand of autism advocacy or my snarky-self in general. Meh. As long as they spell my name right. But today I got a treat. Amazon bundles books - and so I snapped a screen shot of a Google alert for Autism that included my book bundled with a group I happen to think is the cat's pajamas:

Callous Disregard by Dr. Andrew Wakefield,

Age of Autism: Mercury, Medicine and a Manmade Epidemic by my colleagues Mark Blaxill and Dan Olmsted

Cutting Edge Therapies for Autism by Ken Siri and Tony Lyons (my Publisher at Skyhorse)

The Autism Book by Dr. Bob Sears

Kim Stagliano: Autism Should Not Be a Death Sentence

Please read the full post and comment over at Huffington Post. Thanks.

...I wish I could tell you that autism brings only love and joy and candy canes and OMG! Ponies! Sometimes it feels like that's all the media (and even some within the autism world) want to hear from those of us living day to day caring for a loved one(s) or even those with the diagnosis themselves. If only that were the full reality for families. It's not.

However, that doesn't mean autism is nothing but stress and challenges and tears. Not by a long shot. And it doesn't mean people with autism are doomed. Not even as adults.

Last weekend, the carnival came to my town. And I knew "he" would be there.

Bob.

Bob who has autism, looks to be in his 40s, and rides the Scrambler from the moment the gates open until they close...