The answer is - it's very bad indeed. According to an article in the Boston Herald:

A shocking new online survey has found that nearly 90 percent of autistic children in the Bay State have been targeted by bullying so violent and ruthless that a state lawmaker says teachers and school systems must be held accountable.

The survey conducted by the Massachusetts Advocates for Children includes painful testimony from parents of autistic children who felt so tortured they stayed home from school for extended periods and even considered suicide.

This information isn't brand new. Most families are well aware that their kids with autism (especially those with high functioning autism or Asperger syndrome) are easy targets. What's more, the article doesn't mention what percentage of typically developing kids are bullied - probably a fairly high number.

Kids with autism, though, are far more likely to be victimized than almost any other group. While they don't have physical differences that are obvious at first glance, many move, speak or act so differently that they stand out like sore thumbs in any inclusive environment. Because they have poor social/communications skills, they easily fall prey to young con artists who convince them to do or say things they shouldn't.

Bullying is no small deal. And as school inclusion becomes more prevalent (for both legal and financial reasons), it's probably going to rise.

Has your child with autism encountered bullying at school? Has the school let you know about it? Has the school helped to handle it? What are your experiences or tips for parents of kids with autism concerned about bullying?

• Helping Children with Autism Cope with Bullying
• Bullying: A Teaching Tool for Kids with Autism
• A Letter to Sam: A Grandfather's Advice on Bullying to an Autistic Grandson

A new, small study came out the other day linking autism with bad handwriting. To be honest, I intended to ignore the study, since it seemed on the one hand to be rediscovering the wheel (bad handwriting and autism go together? surely you jest!) and on the other hand it didn't seem terribly important even if true. But I see that a number of major media outlets including the Washington Post have picked up the story... so I thought it might be a good idea to at least nod in its general direction. Yes, kids with autism typically have bad handwriting. There are a number of reasons for this, most notably the fact that autism means "pervasive developmental delay," which means "delays in all areas, including fine motor coordination." In other words, kids with autism have fine motor delays which makes pencil-handling tougher. Kids with autism may also have a hard time grasping the concept and purpose of letter-making. Generally speaking, handwriting issues are addressed in the youngest years through occupational therapy. After a few years, though, if the issues haven't been overcome (and in autism they rarely are), schools give up altogether and teach kids to use the keyboard. And that's usually much more successful! Bottom line, of all the issues for kids with autism to worry about, I'd place handwriting near the end of the list. If you think about it, in today's world we very, very rarely use handwriting to communicate with anyone except ourselves. We may jot down to-do lists or lecture notes (though we're as likely to use a handheld or laptop even then). We sign checks and address envelopes. And that's... about it! Follow me on Twitter

Last week, I asked whether readers felt the diagnoses Asperger syndrome and PDD-NOS (pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified) should be removed from the diagnostic manual. If they were removed, people with those diagnoses would presumably be reclassified as simply "on the autism spectrum."

A signficant majority of you (65%) felt that those diagnoses were useful and meaningful enough to continue to be listed in the DSM-V (the new version of the manual used by mental health diagnosticians).

Now for the big question: Is Asperger syndrome appropriately included under the autism spectrum umbrella? Or should it, perhaps, be a separate diagnosis of its own, unconnected to autism?

People with autism often have special gifts and talents.

Some are autistic savants - uniquely gifted prodigies in areas like math, music and language. Others surprise their parents, therapists and teachers with abilities that no one ever asked about - perfect pitch, an impressive talent for drafting and rendering, an amazing eye for morphological detail in plants and animals, or a terrific ability to learn and speak foreign languages.

In recent days, I've read about autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire, and received a gorgeous, full-color coffee table book called Drawing Autism, which is stuffed with outstanding artistic expressions by autistic artists of all ages. And just this morning, I received an email from my cousin with a link to a series of videos about a blind, autistic musician with impressive talents.

Two days ago, for the first time, I heard my son singing in the shower. And - who knew? - he has a lovely soprano voice, and can imitate the voices of professional vocalists he's heard on TV and radio!

If you're an adult with autism, what are your gifts? If you're a parent, what are your child's?

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