Thank you all for your support. Your donations make a big difference to so many families like ours.

Be sure to listen to 92, 93 and 105 FM for our star of the day, Danny Quinn in his radio ad for the Walk.

We'll report back on how successful the Walk is Sunday.

I can't believe we are preparing for our 6th Walk! Last year we hosted more than 5,000 people and we are expecting even more this year. So many of you have been with us since the beginning and it means so much to see so many friends and family in Patrick's shirts each year!

So much has happened in the last six years. Most important is that Patrick has made great gains and continues to move ahead. He is a 7th grade student at Cole Middle School and enjoys art, seeing his friends, tubing with Ms. Nancy in NH, competing with the Special Olympics and going to many, many libraries. He continues to learn and become more and more independent.

Much has also happened in the last few years in the area of treatments. Biomedical interventions are getting a lot of science and studies behind them and now autism is being looked at as more than just a developmental disorder. If underlying medical conditions are identified and treated, many chidlren are making huge gains. We have started to investigate these interventions with Patrick and are seeing very promising results. Couple these with new speech treatments and we are hopeful Pat has a lot more room to grow toward independence.

Unfortunately, the number of children with autism has grown from 1:7500 six years ago to 1:150 today. It is an epidemic. There is so much to do and we need to ask for your support again. Cuts in state funding and Medicaid funding will impact our programs.

As you know the Autism Project is an organization near and dear to our hearts. They work to bring the most current treatments and support to local RI families. Last year we helped more than 4,000 people. We are a small organization with a big heart and really big ideas! Children, adults, teens, teachers, related professionals and family members are all in need of help. Please help us to help them.

Hope to see you all on April 27! If you'd like to walk with our team, let me know. Thank you all so very much! Love, Joanne, John, Mike, Dan and Pat.