Like all parents my husband and I just do the best we can hold our breath and hope we've set aside enough money for our kid's therapy.

Do parents sit down and tell their kids everything? I don't know. I don't know. I've convinced myself - I hope I'm right - that children despair of you if you don't tell them the truth.

The media tried to destroy my parents and has taken things completely out of context but there's not a whole lot you can do in terms of fighting back. You have to hope that it passes which it always does. But they have to be careful. They didn't necessarily sign up for this.

My mother was one of seven girls whose parents went to bed hungry so their children wouldn't. My father lost his mother when he was nine. He left school and went to work for the next 70 years. They emigrated to America with little more than the hope of a better life.

Hope is the greatest thing for moms of autism. Hope is what gets us out of bed in the morning. I'm on a mission to tell parents that there is a way.

I love my parents. But I'm almost 28 and it's not fun to be asked 'What are you doing today? What do you want for dinner? When are you going to be home?' It just makes you feel like a kid. It's this juxtaposition of feeling annoyed and really lucky to have people who love you so much.

This whole head of the home thing has been blown way out of proportion. Some guys just take it way too far. Some parents take it way too far. Yet children need guidance. They need a parent to help and guide them. They also need a friend. They need a confidant.

I'm still really close with everyone at home and their parents - and their brothers and sisters. I was so so so lucky to grow up as part of a community and I don't take that for granted. I try very hard to stay part of it.

I was a loner as a child and happiest at home launching toy rockets and aeroplanes. When I started causing trouble in my third year at grammar school Mum was really surprised. My parents sent me to a child psychologist who suggested I might have Asperger's syndrome.

My mom enlisted in the U.S. Navy in World War II and my parents actually bought our home thanks to the loan she got through the GI Bill.