GOOD MORNING AMERICA: STAGLIANO FAMILY ON AUTISM EXPENSES

By Kim Stagliano

Last Thursday, Mark, the girls and I taped a segment for Good Morning America NOW (which airs on the cable channel ABC News Now.) The piece is about the expense of autism as it relates to tax time. Cameron Mathison interviewed us. (You "All My Children" fans will recognize him as Ryan.) He has two young children and was most kind to the girls.  (The links follow.)

We drove 60 miles/2 hours and 45 minutes into Times Square (love that NY traffic!) and were met by a delightful producer named Matt Drake. By "met" I mean he was standing on the street corner waiting for us outside the studio door. How's that for service? I've NO idea how he recognized us lurching up the street with me shrieking, "HOLD MY HAND!" to three pretty girls.

The segment is broken up into Part 1 (all five of us) and Part 2 (Mark had to take Bella off the set as she was starting to fuss.) The two videos total about 15 minutes.

Several people have asked me "How did you get the girls to sit so quietly and well behaved?" I credit our biomedical interventions including Dr. Yasko's protocol, DAN! and perhaps above all, their clean, GFCF diet. If the girls had eaten Fruit Loops with milk and a pink Pop Tart you'd have seen a far different set. In fact, you might have thought you'd tuned into Animal Planet instead of ABC News Now.

PS: I just noticed that the on air the preview to this piece (not shown in the video) showed CHILDREN GETTING VACCINATED while mentioning autism.  Isn't that interesting?

Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor of Age of Autism.

Comments

[Daniel Faiella]

We just got back from Costa Rica and did Adult Stem Cell there for my 7 year old who has Autism, and he is getting better. we been on fox news,MSNBC, WFTV ch9, WESH ch2 and more. We are going back to Costa Rica in June, maybe you can follow us and film it or do story on it
Daniel Faiella
407-257-1387
www.recoveringMatthew.blogspot.com

[Angela S]

You were fantastic. I can only see part one though. Is part one not working??
Your girls are beautiful and they did so well. Did they get to see themselves on tv afterward?

Thanks for all that you do.

Your a blessing to your own children as well as the rest of ours.

[Stagmom]

That was an abbreviated part of the BODY X from Brain Gym. Bella craves the sensory input into her spine. I use my fist to pat up each vertebra - she even does it to herself. It's a sensory integration technique.

Thanks for asking.

KIM

[Mark D]

What was that move you were using on Bella's back? That really seemed to calm her down.

[Cathy Jameson]

Kim,

I am in awe of your energy and your fight for your girls (and all our kids in fact). You have helped so many parents--kudos to you and your beautiful family.

Cathy

[Lisa]

Love the comment about the girls being fine and the husband had a breakdown in the second segment! (When Glen leaves with Jeff I use that one all the time.)
Kim in all seriousness your ability to use intelligence with humor makes all the information being thrown at us a little more palatable. Thanks for the effort and using the most powerful medium out there to explain about autism, the costs and some ways for families to get some help.

[Mary]

Kim,

Thank you so much for speaking to the world about what we go through. Even our own family always questions us about why we cannot save money or that we need to cut down on our expenses. Only if they knew that most of our money goes to therapies that are not covered under our insurance. Kim, I went ahead and posted the links from your taped segment on our website. Our website is www.EnigmAutism.com. You have three beautiful girls and wonderful husband. Hopefully I can meet you someday.

[Angela Warner]

Kim,
I am so proud of you, Mark, Mia, Gianna, and Bella! We all are! And that is absolutely adorable what Gianna said when she saw her Manatee on TV. What a fun moment for her! Your family is beautiful and the girls did sooo well!

Dan is right. Thank you for everything you do Kim. You are full of strength, courage, and of course tons of creativity :) The interview was great, and please tell Mark that the comments about the night out hit the nail on the head. People always ask us - why can't you just find a sitter? They have no idea...

Ang

[Teresa Conrick]

Kim,

As I said yesterday, you and your girls are beautiful and an inspiration for us all!

Thanks so much for all that you do and I'm buying you a double at Autism One!

[Dan Olmsted]

Kim -- you were great and made the rest of us at AOA so proud. How DO you make the time to put your creative stamp on this site -- from the great photos to the flow of the articles to your own wonderful contributions? I hope everyone realizes Kim is the day-to-day and minute-by-minute engine that keeps us running.

[Gatogorra]

What a great show. I was scratching down notes on tax tips. God knows we need them. It's pretty mind blowing to see AOA and your Huffington Post column advertised for all to see. The times they are a changin'.

Kim- you do funny AND serious and poignant equally well. Also, just a frivolous observation (because life is short and frivolous is fun), you all looked beautiful and producers will be hard put to find movie stars who are at least as good looking whenever the movie comes out on this era of the enviro fight.

[Stagmom]

Thank you, Nancy. Bella is our youngest, age 7, she left with Mark. Gianna is 11 and was in the yellow sweater holding her beloved Manatee. Last night when she watched the program on TV she said, "Look! Manatee is on television!" How cute is that? Mia is our beautiful 13 year old young lady. She only drapes herself at Church - or so we thought! She took one look at the long, L shaped sofa and said, "Time to sleep!"

[nhokkanen]

Kim, you and your family were marvelous! Yes, you are so wonderfully articulate, stylish and energetic. The perfect TV spokes-family for autism issues.

The girls are beautiful, and sat so well for so long. Was it Bella who left with Mark, Gianna who needed to put her face in Mommy's lap, and Mia who sat so serenely?

[Gayatri]

Kim thank you for being lucid and articulate. You all make a great family - amazing that all the girls held it together after a 3 hour trip into THE city - and its so very obvious that you are the anchor that holds it all together (along with your husband of course ;)). And do thank your husband for explaining "night-out" to the interviewer. It was a nice reality check!

[Holly]

Neat! You guys did awesome. Nice to put a face to those beautiful girls. I liked how they had Age of Autism Tag under your name and showed your blog on Huffington Post. You nailed it - your example of just one therapy-speech costing $800+ and not being covered by insurance was picture perfect.

[Cindy]

Kim, you were fantastic! Your family is so beautiful. Thanks for your advocacy. You're a special gift to our community.

[Jeanne]

OMG!! Kim!! You're awesome! The girls are beautiful and so perfect! I was choked up several times. Thanks for being such a great advocate for our kids, and for us!

:-)