I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the teen and adult autistic patients that I have. While there are programs available for autistic children, there is not much available for the older kids and adults. There is a fabulous program in Portland run by Marie Johnson, www.empowermentservicesonline.com that addresses many issues of daily living such as grocery shopping, cooking, and such. I would love to see this area greatly expanded to accommodate the large numbers of up and coming autistic adults. I recently found out about an amazing program that I urge everyone to check out. Bitter sweet farm is a residential working farm for autistic teens and adults. It gives these adults purpose, a job and a community. It is in Ohio, but I am actively seeking people who would like to start a conversation about making something like this happen in Oregon. Go to www.bittersweetfarms.org and watch the video on the home page. We greatly need to think about the future of these amazing people. Anyone interested in being a part of an initial meeting on this, please email me.