We're off to Olde Cape Cod for a week.

Cape Cod is the "arm" off of Massachusetts. Lobster rolls, fried clams and relaxation await! See you after July 4th. Have a safe holiday week, friends.

Check out a live shot from Provincetown here

In Which Miss G. Masters her OT Goals.

Ah, summer vacation. Day 2.5. Dear God, please make September come fast. Miss G is my 10 year old. Miss G likes to show off her newly mastered occupational therapy skill called, "Look at me, I'm Freddy Kruegger!"

Miss G. snuck quietly up to my room and opened a drawer. There she found scissors. And a couple of bras. The PECS (those are the little picture cards used by kids with autism for communication) were on my bureau, along with a case of lovely business cards my sister Shelly had sent me.

Miss G. also went into my bathroom, where she found a lip gloss. Miss G. cut my bra strap right off the bra. She did not cut the cups. The cups are laden with cushy padding designed to transform me from a Q-tip to a fully formed adult female. The illusion lasts until I am naked. At that point, my husband doesn't care. Thank God for leg men. She couldn't slog her way through the cup I guess. She cut a bra, several laminated PECS icons, a small foam paint brush I use for my custom painted hand bag business, business cards and a letter from my older daughter Mia's school. She then tried to glue a collage using lip gloss.

Miss G. I salute your talent. Your perseverance in pursuit of your art. You just can not get pissed off at Miss G. She is too damn funny. Making too much progress. So, can you guess which child is Miss G. in the photo?

Robison, Kennedy, Wood, Stagliano

If this were a law firm I'd say
"How do you look in an orange jumpsuit?"

Here's a snap from my day in New York on Friday.


I had breakfast with Pat Wood at The Algonquin Hotel featured a couple of blog posts down, whose book Lottery debuts in August. Holly Kennedy joined us toward the end of breakfast, after she and Pat experienced a wake-up call breakdown. Pat did not wake up..... (We need to tell her that hotels can handle that stuff for you!)


We strolled down Fifth Avenue to Central Park, where we met up with John Robison for lunch at Mickey Mantle's. Then John took this photo in Central Park.


Pat and Holly and I brainstormed on my book - and I'm about to wreak a little havoc on my main character. Look out!!!


I have adored getting to know writers - debut and established, agented, unagented, the entire gamut. As Pat's character Perry L. Crandall would say, "That is so cool."

News "REED'er" says "The Gig is Up!"

I'm rather picky about words. I'm a writer. I have a few years of Latin training under my belt (Semper ubi sub ubi) and have always loved vocab, word usage and style. Last night I caught a double doosey of a blooper. (By the way "Doosey" was a nickname for the elegant, expensive car the "Duesenberg" from whence the term "doosey" came, meaning "penultimate." God my prep school English teacher would be proud of me!

Last night I'm watching the breaking news on CNN that-- shocker of all shockers-- the boyfriend of the pregnant woman who disappeared in Canton, Ohio has been arrested for her murder. And that of her baby. I'm not getting into that story. Women are murdered by their lovers and husbands and boyfriends every day of the week. Even pregnant women. Pretty white gals seem to count more than other women who disappear in the media's eyes. They found her body not far from where I lived in Ohio.

This WOIO anchor, Sharon Reed is giving her exclusive news to CNN last night. I gather she broke the story of where the body was located. And not once but TWICE she says, "The GIG is up." Wha-hut? The gig? Was the poor dead woman supposed to play at Blossom music center down the street from where she was found? Is that why Kelly Clarkson had to cancel her tour? Or did the boyfriend have an appearance on American Idol this week?

The phrase is "The JIG is up." Juh. Not Guh. Jig.

Was she reading something prepared? Speaking extemporaneously on the phone? Just excited to be on the national cable network sharing her breaking news?

I don't know. But she sounded like Nancy Grace and Gracie Allen combined to me.

A station in Tyler, Texas just hired a WWF card girl to read their news for 30 days.

This has news readers who have trained to read the news all furious and indignant. Like the public might catch on that the days of TV anchors getting the story, writing the story and then sharing the story on air are pretty much over.

Hey, news anchors. Maybe the GIG is up after all?

I'll love the smell of writing history in the morning. More later. I'm off to New York for the day.

Summer has officially rolled in!

Today is the first day of summer vacation. It's nice not to have to scramble at 5:45 to make lunches and breakfasts and dress the girls for school. Instead, I got up at 5:49am and the kids are hungry and in their PJ's.

Some housekeeping today. I was tagged as a Thinking Blogger, with instructions to tag other blogs that make me think. Thank you for the tag! ALL blogs make me think. I don't swing into as many autism blogs as you'd imagine. Eating, breathing, living autism rather exhausts me - oh and I WRITE autism too. I'm in and out of writer's, agents and publishing blogs often. A few just for laughs.

Then I got tagged to tell you some things about myself. While I appreciate the tag, I'm not that interesting. Trust me. And I dragged out a few quasi-embarrasing tidbit about myself a few posts ago. How's this, you figure out the summertime questions:

1) The high dive at Bearcroft Swimclub in Attleboro, MA

2) Paragon Park at Nantasket Beach, the Paratrooper

3) Beach boys songs and the smell of Coppertone

4) Strawberry shortcake

I will tell you that I had a killer Schwinn bike as a kid - sort of like the one in the photo. Mine was purple, a girls bike, had a sparkly banana seat, monkey bars, and a low back rest. And those clicky sticks on the spokes. No bell. Bells were for geeks and little kids. That bike reminds me of summer. Jerry Simmer had one with a stick shift - a stick shift! That was the coolest Schwinn in the neighborhood.

7:03am. Time to feed the kids. Make the lunches (it's easier to make and pack lunch every day then we can go out to eat on the deck, go for a picnic, or eat it inside. It helps keep the girls' routine in check.) Oh, and COFFEE. Now!

COMPARE AND CONTRAST*.

If one of my girls got lost, would she become a Benjy or a Hannah? Did Benjy's autism play a role in his death? Did he know to look for berries? For shelter? How did Hannah know to pull herself out of the water using a branch. Did she just know? Would my Bella know? Mia? Gianna?

God bless both children. One in heaven. One on earth.

Missing Autistic Boy's Body Found in Creek


The body of a missing seven-year-old was found late this morning in a creek not far from his home in Wood County. Benjy Heil had been missing since Thursday when he disappeared from his home in Saratoga. Sheriff's officials say the boy's body was found about 11 A.M. by a team of dogs and handlers along Ten Mile Creek. It's less than a mile south of his home. Volunteer searchers were urged to leave the scene and return home. Authorities plan a news briefing at 4 P.M. in Saratoga.

Missing girl, 5, walks out of woods Searchers were looking for body

By Carla K. JohnsonASSOCIATED PRESS
June 16, 2007

MOMENCE, Ill. – A 5-year-old girl who was feared drowned with her grandfather on a boating trip startled searchers yesterday when she emerged from the woods – naked, scratched and holding raspberries. Crews had pulled her grandfather's body from the Kankakee River in eastern Illinois just hours earlier.

“People were like, 'Who's that little girl? That can't be her, can it?' ” Kankakee Sheriff's Chief Deputy Ken McCabe said. “I went up to her (and) asked, 'How you doing? What's your name?' ”
When authorities told Hannah Klamecki's family – already grieving the loss of her grandfather – that she was alive, the home erupted in screaming.

Hannah was taken to a hospital as a precaution. She slept with her parents and a teddy bear at her side before being released. Cradling the bear, she spoke freely of her ordeal last night.

“I was scared last night when everybody was gone,” she said. “I went searching all over the world to look for the cottage (where her grandparents live).”

Hannah had scratches on her face and body and thick dirt under her nails. She had poison ivy rashes on her legs and couldn't walk because splinters and thorns had cut her feet.
Hannah and her grandfather, David Klamecki, 62, were last seen Wednesday evening on the river near Momence, about 45 miles south of Chicago.

Authorities believe the river current swept the girl away from a small island where she and her grandfather had stopped to swim and to the shore where she eventually was found.
She told searchers she was wearing floats on her arms and pulled herself from the water with a branch.

“That's a tough little girl, I tell you,” McCabe said.

Hannah said she had taken off her bathing suit because it was muddy and itchy, friends of the family said. She was also a bit dehydrated and “very, very tired,” said a spokesman at the Riverside Medical Center in Kankakee. Yesterday morning, searchers found her grandfather's body near the island, which is close to a part of the river locals call “Whirlpool Bend” because of strong currents from the union of the river and two tributaries.

The surrounding area is wilderness with no homes and is populated only by coyotes and deer, Momence Fire Chief Dave Horn said.

Richard Wehrle, a friend and neighbor of David Klamecki's, said the area is notoriously treacherous.

“Anybody who knows that river knows that that's the deadliest part of the river,” Wehrle said.
The girl's footprints were still visible on the island beach. Searchers believed she had drowned and were scouring the area with a team of divers, sonar equipment and a helicopter.

Hannah appeared just before 10:30 a.m. on the mainland shore, McCabe said.
Hannah was reunited with her parents, who were waiting with family and friends at the grandparents' home. She calmly sat in a rescue vehicle when her parents saw her, her father said.

“She didn't say much,” Mike Klamecki said. “She was eating her banana looking at us. We were jumping around like maniacs.”

* If you hear of a child with autism who is missing, please tell the authorities to find any nearby water and search immediately. I don't know if it's a spiritual thing, an astrological thing, or Satan's warped sense of humor, but so many of our kids gravitate to water. You've heard me talk about the "crapisode", right? To learn more about emergency management for children with autism go HERE

Note to Consumers: If the tube says Kolgate and costs $.05?

A Somerville, Mass., man said he got sick after using a bad batch of toothpaste. The Boston Herald reported that Tom Kielty bought what he believed to be a tube of counterfeit Colgate toothpaste at the QF Mart on Highland Avenue in Somerville last week. He said he suffered upset stomach and diarrhea.

Right now, investigators are scrambling to find out how many tubes of counterfeit toothpaste were sold in the U.S. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration recalled counterfeit Colgate tubes that contained a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze. They said the phony toothpaste comes in 5-ounce tubes, which the company does not sell, and it has misspellings on the packaging.

Other cases have been reported in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

If you're an Autism Mom or Dad you probably need to laugh. Today? You desperately need to laugh if you've followed any of the side show that is the Wright's gone Wrong.

I am reading an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of Augusten Burroughs latest called Possible Side Effects. His brother John Robison snagged me a copy at BEA. I've had to put a box of tissues on my nightstand to stem my tears of laughter.

Really, run to Amazon and order it here.

Happy Father's Day!

This is Mark's favorite cake. It's a pistachio chocolate Bundt with a walnut, chocolate chip crunchy top and chocolate ganache drizzle. Remember? Cooking = love. Baking = true love. Being a Dad in this house is NOT a piece of cake. Mark has gotten us through thick and thin. I can't imagine a better Dad for our girls. Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there. Including my own, up in Massachusetts.

Hey, Thomas! Get the Lead Out!


Our kids’ world is toxic. Thomas the Tank Engine, that hero of little kids everywhere, and people with autism of ALL ages has a recall on some of its wood trains. Here’s the latest recall.

Take a good look at the list. How many of the recalls are for lead? That’s a lot of plumbum going into babies’ mouths and onto children’s hands, which end up in their mouths. Do you wonder what that lead does to their systems? How it might impair a child’s ability to excrete other toxins? Massachusetts requires a lead test for all preschool children. Does your state? And do you know what doctors do for children who test high in lead. They chelate them with chemical chelators like EDTA. Lead is a metal. A heavy metal. Got to get it out of the system.

By the way, think any of these toys are made in the USA? I fear that soon we Americans are going to be flown to China to copulate so that our children too can wear a tag that says "Made in China."

The Jabberwocky Life of an Autism Mom

Here is my latest post on Huffington. No linky thing. Can't make it work.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kim-stagliano/the-jabberwocky-world-of-_b_52037.html

DRUG COSTS SOLVED! That is a linky thing, please click it to read about the drugs found in Lake Michigan, giving way to the song "Oh how I wish again, I was drinking Lake Michigan" or something like that.

Can't afford your monthly drugs? Drink up, Gramps! Hey! Suzy 12 year old! Mom won't let you go on the pill? Chugalug, kiddo! Got no health insurance and a seizure disorder? Belly up to the bar poor people! Work for WalMart and have a headache? Straws are in aisle 12. Start sucking!

Click that linky thing up top. I'm quite proud to have figured it out thanks to many of you.

Summertime Treats

Summer's almost here in New England. Soon the temps will hit 75 degrees! (It's another rainy, cool day here.)

Razzles remind me of summertime. What candy or food brings you back to your childhood? Pixie sticks make me think of splinters on the boardwalk heading up to

The Casino on Falmouth Heights Beach.

Bonus Question: Can you remember slogan for this soup?

Thank you to Michelle for the linky uppy info Full Soul Ahead
So how did I change my blog to red ink?????

I've been tagged by . Drama Mama
9 things about me:

1) I am right handed, but I turn a cartwheel and hold a hockey stick lefty. I hold a baseball bat righty. I could not play field hockey because the stick was turned the wrong way for me, so I rowed crew instead.

2) I did not embrace my curly hair until my twenties after a breakup with a curly haired boyfriend. Not sure if there's any iron-y there.

3) I was suspended from boarding school for a drinking incident.

4) I taught aerobics for fifteen years and have a photo of myself teaching step 9 months pregnant with Mia. It is just as odd looking as you'd imagine. Class attendees worked hard out of sheer shame of being surpassed by a woman who had swallowed a basketball and yet was still able to bark out commands at them. I did not wear my thongs while pregnant. Hey, it was the 90's - we instructors wore shiny black tights and thongs. No leg warmers. No skinny belts.

5) My husband I were married in Hilton Head SC. I have no connection to Hilton Head or S. Carolina. We just wanted a small, family and close friends only wedding, so we went outside of New England. Mark and I each have large, Italian/Irish families. We had 60 people at our wedding. People still talk about how perfect it was.

6) I gave birth three times with no drugs at all and no episiotomies. The third time was the hardest. Ignorance is indeed bliss. Better to not see the train coming at you. I wanted my girls to be 100% clean and drug free. Then the docs gave two of them a Hep B vaccine at 8 hours old......

7) I have never felt that my girls were a burden. I want to help them. I want to bring them as far into recovery as I can. They are my girls. Period.

8) I call my friend Gen every single time I hear "Like a Prayer" because it reminds me of when she and I drove to Newport RI in my little red Jetta with the kickass Blaupunkt stereo. She calls me too when she hears the song. I often call my voicemail and hear Madonna singing. I know it's Gen.

9) I will pray for your soul daily if you can PLEASE tell me how to make the linky things in plain english by showing me an exact example. I am visual. I need to see it. You might find yourself in hell after I pray for you. I offer no guarantees.

I tag This Is What I Do, an autism mom who is a blast. This Is What I Do

Writers on Autism Follow Up
Thank you to photographer Christopher Zach for donating his time and talent and for not zooming in on a close up.....

This is my handsome husband Mark, who served as driver, hand holder, and biggest fan.

This is John Robison (in the orange shirt) with Barbara Fischkin's strapping son, Dan heading out for a break. Barbara's husband, Jim Mulvaney is seated and wearing the red shirt.

John wowed the group and parents were dying to hear more from him since he's like a "translator" for those us whose kids do not speak. It's got to be a heavy responsibility for him. I hope we don't overwhelm him with our badgering.

For you writers: If you look waaaay in the back you can barely see a head of black hair, sort of just under Dan's chin. That's Janet Reid, who blew me away by attending the event to hear me speak. Do NOT ask the inevitable question. The answer is no. NO. NO. NO. (Nitwits, you understand me, yes?) My agent, Eric Myers, also attended to support me. Joy!

Michelle Pierce Burns read about her intense love for her son, Danson. Michelle is a dear friend of a certain legendary comedian and educator, Dr. Bill Cosby (hey hey hey!) She has a jubiliant radiance when she speaks about her son.

Several authors had books available there but were not present. Including the book shown, Ralph Savarese's story of how he and his wife adopted a child with autism out of the foster care system. How's this for a small world? He just signed with The Spieler Agency, which is also my literary agency. I hope to meet Ralph and his son DJ one day soon. His site is http://ralphsavarese.com/.

Landon Napoleon read from his book ZigZag, which became a movie featuring one of my favorite actors, Wesley Snipes (hunkasaurus rex.)

Landon knew nothing about autism or Asperger's, yet wrote a character who was immediately identified as having HFA or Asp - he nailed it.

http://www.landonjnapoleon.com/

Susan Senator, writer and Autism Mom and honorary Iron Workers of America union member thanks to her "bridge building" abilities wasn't able to attend but her book was on sale too. http://www.susansenator.com/. You can bet she'll headline at our Boston event.

That's a quick recap of some of the night. Oh, my husband was also official book buyer - I came home with four new books to read.

We're planning future events. Maybe we'll come to your town!

I'll let you know.

10:03pm. SOPRANOTASTIC!

Goodbye Tony. Carm. AJ (you jerk of a kid.) Meadow. Uncle Jun. Paulie. Syl (hope you recover.) Dr. Melfi (shmuck.) Janice (stick up for your family - you're the strongest one.) Phil (you scare me.) The Bada Bing. Satriale's. Jersey. Thanks for the mammaries (I learned every Sunday night what Mark is missing.) The fights (so that's a curbing?) The constant reminder of my own family. The fun. The fuck you's. The murders. The parties. The wakes. The goomahs. The good. The bad. The hideous. The whole delicious story.

UPDATE. The reading was terrific - I especially enjoyed Rachel Kaplan, a young woman with autism, whose Mom read her words on her behalf. More later. I'm on Cape Cod for some R&R - which, with the three girls, means Running and Ranting....



Speaking In New York Tonight

I have my first speaking engagement as a writer tonight at an event being held at the world's most famous building, the Empire State Building.

I'm just not sure if I feel like Fay Wray or King Kong! I'll let you know how it goes....

Here's a link to the announcement on Huffington Post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-fischkin/writers-reading-on-autism_b_50744.html

In Case Your Son Isn't Being Beaten Up Often Enough in School.....

I love catalog shopping. As the mother of three girls with autism, I prefer catalog shopping. No. I need catalog shopping. The Mall is not my friend. You understand?

There are some very strange and dreadful items in catalogs. I should know. But this item just made me sad: The Yoda back pack. All I can say is that little Billy had better pack his light saber on the days he wears this elderly scholar (as Yoda is called in the catalog) on his back.

Nanoo. Nanoo.

Oops, wrong alien.....

Roscoe Orman Sesame Street Dad and Autism Mom

I forgot to blog the biggest thrill of BEA! Jenny Gardiner and I were walking down an aisle when I noticed an African American woman wearing a beautiful head... (thinking, thinking, please help me) head piece (is that the right word?) You know, an African-style head wrap. There, that's the word. Head wrap. It was red with gold and just gorgeous. And it matched her long dress. I turned. I looked at her face. I froze. IT WAS SUSAN FROM SESAME STREET! Dr. Loretta Long herself.

Reeling, I glance at the gentleman standing with her. Tall. Very handsome. Fit as a fiddle. Mustache. And often seen standing with a small furry red monster who giggles. IT WAS GORDON! SUSAN'S HUSBAND! The actor Roscoe Orman.

We are a Sesame Street family. My Mia's first word was GROVER which came out "Ober." Grover nursed her through seizures. Traveled everywhere with us. Got lost at WalMart once in PA and morphed into "G2" unbeknownst to Mia (I made a mad dash to Zany Brainy and bought a replacement. Thank God G1 wasn't too worn out at the time so the muppet in the iron mask trick fooled her.)

I can't describe how much that show means to me. Heck, I watched the first episode in 1969 at Dominican Academy in Plainville, Mass in first grade. I tried to describe it to Roscoe and Loretta. I'm certain spittle and flailing arms were involved. I told them about the girls and that I'd met "Gordon" in Cleveland at a Sesame Street event in 2000. He said "Your face looks familiar." Must have been my shit eating grin and bulging eyes - GORDON! SUSAN!

I managed to stop myself before I begged for a photo (stupid me!) Before I left I told Roscoe I had loved his cameo on Sex and the City. Today I am buying his book. If you enjoyed Sesame Street pick up a copy - SUNNY DAY!!!

http://www.inkwaterpress.com/sesamestreetdad/