Read an excerpt from Ellen's latest column in Autism Asperger's Digest
Download a PDF of Ellen's cover story, "Too Soon" from Ancestry Magazine. [1.9 mb]
Welcome to Ellen’s anthology. Pull up a comfortable chair (but keep that coffee away from the keyboard!).
Editors: most articles listed herein are available for reprint. Please contact me for manuscripts not available on the site, or for original articles to fit your needs.
Readers, all: Browse and enjoy – but please respect that all material is copyrighted and cannot be reproduced, in print or on the Web, without author permission.
And do let me hear from you: cheering, booing or just wondering.
Autism Articles
Geneology and Family History
General Interest
Selected Parenting Articles
TEN THINGS EVERY CHILD WITH AUTISM WISHES YOU KNEW
The article that inspired the award winning book by the same title
TEN THINGS YOUR STUDENT WITH AUTISM WISHES YOU KNEW
The article that inspired the book by the same title
Asperger’s Explained
Asperger's is sometimes referred to as "high-functioning" autism. As with any "invisible" disability, too many children with Asperger's slip through these cracks. Watch for these possible indicators.
Postcards from the Road Less Traveled
Accepting and celebrating your child with autism; tools for the long journey ahead.
Idioms and Metaphors and Things that Go Bump in Their Heads
Helping language challenged children decipher the nutty English language.
The Difference Between Heaven and Earth
Embracing the true meaning of unconditional love amid the challenges of raising your special needs child.
The Rules of Believing
More than raw ability or knowledge, whether or not your child "can do it" has more to do with what you truly believe of him -- and how you communicate it.
When Pooh Won’t Do: Twelve Tricks to Choosing Books for Concrete Thinkers and Visual
Dr Seuss may be wubbulous, but fantastical creatures and nonsense words are lost on the concrete thinker.
Real Animals Don’t Talk: Nurturing a Book Lover When Fantasy Isn’t Part of His Reality
Expanded version of article above, with author’s personal “detective” methods and suggested reading list. An Autism Asperger’s Digest cover story.
The Little High School that Does
Ellen’s son, the inimitable Bryce, embarks on the adventure of high school at Thomas A. Edison High School, a remarkable school focused on different learners.
My Can-do Kid
“I can ace a multiple-choice test, but I can’t change the oil in my car or cook myself dinner.” A lament from a real-life high school senior has Ellen reflecting on how Bryce’s “rigid” behavior was the key to developing independent living skills.
All’s Fair?
Instilling the amorphous, intangible concept of “fair” to our concrete-thinking children with ASD goes far beyond who got two more French fries.
Three Little Words
We all long to hear “I love you” from our children, but it was a number of other three-word phrases and the actions that accompanied them that really imprinted the message on the hearts of Ellen’s boys.
More than 20 of Ellen’s autism essays not listed here are collected in her 2007 book The Autism Trail Guide: Postcards from the Road Less Traveled
IN SPELCHEK WE DON'T TRUST
Love it or hate it, Spelchek is here to stay. But woe unto those whose faith is blind! Spelchek will not save you when your flying fingers add ‘double garbage’ to the new home description instead of ‘double garage,’ or when you tell the boss you ‘hate to talk to him’ rather than ’have to talk to him.’ And Spelchek, far far being a genealogist’s friend, can seen downright hostile.
EMMA’S UNMARKED REST
How the death of a beloved firstborn baby reveal’s a family’s struggles and the story behind the “potter’s field.” Download PDF from Ancestry Magazine
LITTLE BOY FOUND
The fantastic voyage of a 111-year-old tombstone ends where it began. A child's tombstone is fished out of a river 60 years after his death and remains unclaimed for another half-century. A true-life history detective story about Ellen's search to find the rightful home of a stone memorializing one whose life was over too soon.
MY NAVY BLUE HAWAII
A free trip to Hawaii has deeper meaning. A follow-up to Too Soon. Download PDF
TOO SOON
A family's loss of a 20-year-old WWII Navy aviator resonates across six decades. The common thread to all such stories is their ability to overwhelm us with sadness. When relatives leave us too soon, a special responsibility passes to us as family historians -- to tell the story and bear witness to a life that mattered perhaps all the more because of its brevity. Download PDF from Ancestry Magazine [1.9 mb]
BOOK MORE GOODER THEN TV (**Readers' favorite). What books don't have, and really deserve, is someone out there relentlessly selling the sizzle for 'em, like TV. What a bumper sticker campaign that could inspire!
C IS FOR CURMUDGEON
Celebrate the Oscar in all of us! Deep inside every loving, patient, soul lurks an inner grouch longing to be free.
THE DEATH OF TREATS
Candy used to be a "treat;" now it's everywhere. Candy isn't dandy at our current rates of consumption -- it's the newest form of substance abuse.
The Death of Treats, Part 2: MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE:
How did soda become the #1 beverage in this country, something so many "can't live without," and what are the consequences?
END OF LIFE DECISIONS: WHAT I DID FOR LOVE. Difficult though they may be, making end of life decisions and prearrangements is one of the most meaningful gifts you can give your family.
FOOD MOODS
We really are what we eat. How food choices affect your child's behavior.
GIVE ME A HEAD WITH HAIR:
Surviving chemotherapy,surviving breast cancer
“Of all the turbulent aspects of the cancer experience, one for which I was not prepared was how traumatic it would be to lose my hair.” A breast cancer survivor's honest and painful story of a little-discussed side of a devastating illness.
HOLY COW!: Fun with Animal Idioms
Ever wonder where some of those funny little expressions come from? The cat is out of the bag in this fun run-down on idioms about our furred and feathered friends.
I'M A ROCK 'N' ROLL FOSSIL
"Are you from the olden days?" asks your child. "Like when the Beatles were still alive?" True story! How old are you in rock 'n' roll years? Readers from across the country confess.
IT'S NOT TOO LATE FOR 2008
"No party holds the privilege of dictating to me how I shall vote," Mark Twain declared. A life-long non-affiliated voter lays out what a candidate must do to win her vote: run on your own merits, get out of our bedrooms and off our phones, lay off the spin and the lies. And that's for starters...
A MANNER OF SPEAKING
In the hush of a medical waiting room, a father with a cell phone as his weapon violates his daughter's privacy in appalling manner. When the ill-mannered behavior of their elders envelops them, how are today's children to learn anything better?
MY DIRTY LITTLE SECRET (**Editors' favorite)
Confessions of a reluctant gardener, bucking the tide of societal green thumbs.
LOOK OUT COLLEGE, HERE I COME – OR NOT
Not all students are ready for a four-year college right out of high school. Here’s what to look for in gauging your teen’s readiness.
YOU OTTER HAVE A TOTEM. Animal spirit guides have much to teach us about living in today's frenetic world. What is a totem, why you need one, how to choose one.
ENCOURAGING HOME READING. School year assignment or summer recreation: how to motivate a reluctant reader.
INDEPENDENCE DAY: Guiding your special needs child to adulthood. An enlightening list of action items whose do's far outweigh the don'ts.
THE KINDEST CUT: Ten tips for happier haircuts, from a kid-loving stylist with 20 years "behind the chair." Sidebar with tricks for easier home shampoos.
THE OFF-SITE VOLUNTEER: Making a difference -- on your own schedule
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Stay connected to your child when you have to be away.
PLAY BALL! WHAT EVERY TEENAGE UMPIRE WANTS YOU TO KNOW by Connor Notbohm and Ellen Notbohm
POTTY ON! Finally out of diapers? Tips for acclimating to public restrooms.
THE RELUCTANT ATHLETE: Easy PE adaptations for home and school How to encourage the lesser-skilled child in a manner that promotes success and self-esteem.
SAFE WITHIN THE THUNDERSTORM: Contract for a new teen driver. Call me a safety freak, but our son was required to sign a contract with us in exchange for driving privileges.
SPECIAL CHILD, SPECIAL OCCASION: Tips for happier weddings, parties, reunions and other celebrations with kids.
STAYING IN THE GAME
This is the story of a young boy's odyssey through and beyond youth baseball, the abrupt end of a great playing career, and how his gentle grandpa and a long-dead pitcher guided his path to the other side of the plate. An umpire is born.
WINNING THE BREAKFAST WARS
Make peace with your breakfast-hating youngster.
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©2008 Ellen Notbohm | Third Variation Strategies, L.L.C.