Juggling Autism: The Chronicles of Ben Royko

When it comes to eating out (almost always at allegedly “fast” food places), Ben loves it. But that’s all he loves about it. What he cannot stand (and everybody in the joint usually knows it) is the prelude: Ordering, especially

You know Ben is in a good mood when he’s singing. It is ALWAYS at full-blast-fortissimo. He really loves to belt it out in big, resonant spaces – like the gallery rooms and massive atrium at the Cleveland Art Museum,

A springtime check-in with our favorite Autistic young man, beginning with his favorite holiday, based solely on the candy-factor… and the removal of all the Easter basket grass is essential to finding each and every bit of the good stuff.

“Maybe Next Year” is a phrase seared into my Chicago Cubs-fan brain. It’s also what goes through my head on Autism Awareness Day year after year, as bits and pieces of hard data and promising factoids sprinkle down like pixie

Apologies for foisting my face upon you so many times here, but I just found that my phone seems to randomly snap stills of Ben’s videocalls to us, and what a pleasant surprise! Ben calls at all times of day,

A pleasant/unpleasant surprise… I just got word from This American Life that they’ll be re-running our episode from 2007, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” (it comes in the second half-hour of the show, “Unconditional Love”), centered around Ben’s move

It’s been a little while since we checked with Ben of the Blog. He’s been busy. One of our frequent activities is shopping for books, and Ben enthusiastically leads the way. ~~~ Ben very seriously considers which one to pick

It took too long, but recently I had an epiphany. It came when I was on the website for autism’s new-kid-on-the-block, the National Council on Severe Autism. Its title is self-explanatory. It’s also depressing, because it shows how the autism