Juggling Autism: The Chronicles of Ben Royko

As the pandemic and lock-downs grind on, we wonder what Ben is making of the whole, weird situation. But the positive reports from his staff and our happy split-second Facetimes give us some comfort and assurance that he is still

Our favorite emails in the world come from Benny boy. He types them himself in his own words, with help from his staff to send them. This one came this morning: ~~~Email mom Happy easter basket Good morning ben How

It’s really, really rough to have had no in-person contact with Ben for the past month, with no end in sight. We don’t know if it’s as hard on him as it is on us. We sure hope not. That

I received an email this morning from the parent of an adult with autism, significantly older than Ben, asking for clarification of something in yesterday’s post, Severe Autism in the Time of Covid. “You wrote, ‘many thousands of people trapped

NOTE: See the next day’s post, Ben is Not a Monster, for clarification of my using “hellish, vicious, heartless, unrelenting monster” to describe autism, NOT people with autism. ~~~ Another Autism Awareness Day, another plea for true awareness of severe

Just a quick note that the blog is not dead. We’re still around, dealing with covid like everyone else; Ben’s been separated from us on lockdown (besides walks and van rides) for a while now, like everyone else; plus another

One of the very (very very very) few positives about severe autism is meeting some of the best people in the world. It takes exceptional people, special people, to work in the world of special needs. I am not a

Parents whose child’s life begins tragically with a devastating disorder spend the rest of our lives trying to keep it from ending that way.

Oh God — Ben is being attacked. It’s dinner time this past Saturday, and the blows to his head are coming fast and hard. SmashSmashSmashSmashSmash!!!!! He is screaming. More blows strike his face, and the sides of his head. Over

Ben loves Golden Books. No, really, he loves Golden Books. Make that he LOVES LOVES LOVES Golden Books. I don’t know if the clerk at Barnes & Noble loves Ben, but hey, the customer’s always right, right? Oh, and he