Public Ponder

What Makes a Person Unique?

If you’re a parent, a teacher has probably reported at some point: “Henry wasn’t himself today,” or “Something wasn’t right with Julie. She just wasn’t herself.” What does that even mean? You may feel...Read More →

Confronting the Death and Misery of War

“I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed… It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets,...Read More →

Beware of the Fear Tactic

“The tragedy of our day is the climate of fear in which we live, and fear breeds repression. Too often sinister threats to the Bill of Rights, to freedom of the mind, are concealed under the patriotic...Read More →

I’m Thankful My Depression Responds to Medication

It all started in my late teenage years, around 1988. I’d had my adolescent ups and downs, exacerbated by the fact that I had scoliosis and wore a hideous back brace all through high school. But I truly...Read More →

To Medicate or Not to Medicate?

The decision to medicate our children with special needs carries an immense responsibility: we get to decide where the sweet spot in behavior is given a long and uncertain process. Moreover, we do this...Read More →

My Son’s Privileged Encounters With the Police

Like other parents, I’ve had common nightmares and fears, such as my children being kidnapped or getting in trouble with the law. Given my son Diego’s autism and intellectual disability, I have feared...Read More →

Would You “Cure” Your Child’s Disability?

“We do not realize that our views will change because we are normally unaware of the processes that change them.” - Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness. In 2002, when my son Diego was around 8 years...Read More →

What Gets Counted Counts

“What gets counted counts,” was, for me, the most memorable sentence uttered by any of my school administration professors. I wrote it in big letters, WHAT GETS COUNTED COUNTS, because these four words...Read More →

The Benefits and Pitfalls of Denial

People who spend any amount of time with parents of school-age children have known mothers and fathers whose children can do no wrong. They explain away any reported fault in their children by blaming...Read More →

The Real Meaning of Pity

“The question is not what you look at, but what you see.” Henry David Thoreau In my teens, I used to see a boy at the beach twirling a straw in front of his eyes while mumbling to himself, always in ...Read More →