Patty Romanowski Bashe

Patricia Ann Romanowski Bashe was born in Wichita, Kansas. From age seven until sixteen, she moved often, attending fourteen different schools in Oregon, California, and Florida before settling in the North Bronx. A graduate of Christopher Columbus High School, with a BA in English Literature from Herbert H. Lehman College (CUNY), she embarked on a career in publishing, first at a local newspaper, The Parkway News, then a legal publisher, and the trade house E. P. Dutton before becoming the first editor of Rolling Stone Magazine's book division, Rolling Stone Press. There she edited and contributed to several books, including The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, which she co-edited through three editions and for which she received an ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award. Her work on pop culture and music has appeared in The New York Times Book Review and Rolling Stone, among other publications. She has cowritten twenty-three books spanning several genres, among them four national bestsellers.
After her son was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, she earned a master's degree in special education and became a certified special education teacher, Board Certified Behavior Analyst, early intervention provider, and consultant to parents and school districts on students with autism. Her first book on autism spectrum disorders, cowritten with Barbara Kirby, is The OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome, now in its second edition. Her latest book is The Parents' Guide to Teaching Kids with Asperger Syndrome and Similar ASDs Real-Life Skills for Independence, is due out in late October 2011.
She lives on Long Island with her husband, the author Philip Bashe, their son, Justin, and three cats who regularly challenge her belief in behaviorism. (Coco, Lola, and Jimmie: you know who you are.) For more about her book projects (including the chance to participate in research for them) or to contact her, please visit www.pattyrbashe.com.