Kelley Colihan Robertson on Journalism, Unreliable Speaking & Text-Based Communication

Podcast: The David Kaufer Podcast: The Lighter Side of the Spectrum · David Kaufer

Opublikowano: 2026-05-22

David welcomes guest Kelley Colihan Robertson, a former CNN journalist and documentary producer turned autism mom and communication rights advocate. Kelly shares her son Vance’s early signs, later autism diagnosis at age five, therapies, and difficult public-school experiences amid family stress after divorce. She describes newsroom life at CNN, how journalism shifted toward doing more with less and more punditry, and how autism coverage often reinforced assumptions about non-speaking people. Kelley recounts discovering text-based communication through Spelling to Communicate in Atlanta and her slow realization of unreliable speaking, anxiety and regulation during early practice, and the non-linear progress of...