I’ll bet yours is branching out…becoming an Aunt ? or, an Uncle?… A Beautiful, ‘young Gramie’ ? . How ’bout… Grampa?! ( waayy before…your time!) Heck, it’s fun ! Its what life is all about! GROWING, CHANGING, BENDING, BREAKING & RE-GRAFTING…Just Like the Branches of an AWESOME TREE! 
This tree sits on Colorado Ave. right here in Glendora, California! My stomping grounds. My older son Aaron was actually conceived literally 3 blocks east of “THE BIG TREE.” and … born in the hospital that sits adjacent to it ! Today, Wyatt and I were in the neighborhood after a nice lunch with, my Coloring Book illustrator Rachel Walker and her husband Dave! So we stopped and explored the big tree. Our… “Family tree! ” So fun! 
Such a specimen!! Like most trees …full of nooks and crannies. It has branches and twigs going in all kinds of crazy directions! Oh and who can forget …the assorted nuts? Sound like.your family?! Sounds like …everyone’s family!! Shooting out to your future. The next generations!! With numbers of 1 in 100 dx’ed with Autism (in some instances below) Odds are your family tree will ‘spectrum shift’ if it hasn’t already! Autistic Mom’s, Autistic Dad’s, Aunts, Uncles, Brother’s, Sisters and Cousins! More people will recognize the spectrum in their tree.
This demands that we address AUTISM directly… and make a point to learn about it as a complete population. Hopefully, soon we will have no more sweet, embarrassed uninformed patrons at the grocer’s! When their child sees my Wyatt or another Autistic Individual they will already know about Autism…(best case-scenario) or , when they ask their Mom & Dad …”Why does that boy do that?!”…Parents will have something practical to tell them and not anxiously avoid the subject (2nd best case scenario! ) This will empower people. Instead of getting that anxious feeling. You know ‘the feeling’… that feeling you get when someone asks you a question you don’t have the answer for. Especially your children. That anxiety you feel transfers to them. So get informed and be ready to answer.
My Making friends with Autism Coloring Books want to relieve a bit of that anxiety. Arm you with a few tools to teach simple and helpful concepts to pave the way for friendships. Don’t feel bad, feel curious. Take the time to understand the diversities in Autism. So don’t feel anxious about not understanding. People usually don’t understand someone else’s “tree.” So let’s celebrate t
he brilliance of this BIG evolving TREE. Realize the family tree is there to support each and every one of us. As individual family trees recognize Autism they will look back and remember branches quite similar to the “new” diverse branches shooting off into the future! Autism is nothing new despite what people may believe. It is rooted in humanity!
While under the canopy of amazing differences and resilient similarities. We need to look to our future generations…our future family trees. Educate them for greater understandings and interactions. Autistic people need their families and peers to understand them, embrace them and realize we are all under this amazing canopy!
