We've had several cats. I had a cat when I was a kid. My Aunt had lots of cats and I got lots of calls about cats.

I am also a believer in an integrated treatment approach to autism.

Some children may need a behavioral approach, whereas other children may need a sensory approach.

I've got a lot of other people who do a lot of things for me, so I've gotten to a part in my career where I'm doing a lot of talks because I want to get kids turned on. I want to see these kids, these geeky nerdy kids, go out there and do something.

I had people in my life who didn't give up on me: my mother, my aunt, my science teacher. I had one-on-one speech therapy. I had a nanny who spent all day playing turn-taking games with me.

There needs to be a lot more emphasis on what a child CAN do, instead of what he cannot do.

I was nonverbal until I was four years old. Back in the 50s, I was the kind of kid they used to just put away in an institution. But then you get the milder autism where there's no speech delay, but they're socially awkward. Those kids were around when I was a child. They were just called geeks and nerds.