About Me

This is my biography. It needs work.
I am the webmaster of downsyn.com.
I am married to Michel, the most wonderful woman in the world, who puts up with me through thick and thin.
I have a wonderful teenage daughter who makes me proud.
I have a 12 year old son who has Down syndrome and autism.
I love both my children with all my heart.
I am old, probably older than you. I have been a professional computer programmer since 1979.
I worked in the World Trade Center from 1986 until 1996. I loved working there. I worked on the 70th floor of Tower 2. I was there in 1993 when the first attack on the WTC occurred.
I started my Down syndrome web site about a month after Mikey was born. It served two purposes: 1) to help me cope with all the new information I was learning by giving me a place to record and categorize it and 2) to share that information with other new parents who were in the same boat as me. At the time there was very little information available on the web so I wanted to create a resource. The original site was on GeoCities which had very strict monthly bandwidth usage and the site was soon reaching that limit by the end of each month. This happened when I added the first board to the site. I moved the site to another free provider and then ultimately registered the domain downsyn.com and put the site up on a regular, paid provider.
The main site has not been updated in several years and could use some enhancements. The current forums were installed in the summer of 2006. I have spent most of my effort on improving the quality of the forums and very little time on the rest of the site.


Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com
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jennifergg wrote,
Hi Tom! I don’t know how to get ahold of you about this: I was interested in learning about advertising on Downsyn.com, but when I used the advertising link it bounced back to me. Could you send me an email, when you have a chance? Thank you!
Link | April 1st, 2008 at 11:08 am
Jerry Hill wrote,
Hello Tom,
I am new to http://www.downsyn.com and have enjoyed it very much. I just found your blog and wanted to introduce myself to you. Thanks for the site. It serves many purposes for a lot of people.
Link | August 23rd, 2008 at 11:48 am
Leah wrote,
Ok, this looks a lot like a mug shot, or something out of a suspect line-up. LOL
Link | November 19th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Tom wrote,
Leah: If I was a celebrity it could be my DWI photo! But it’s actually the result of being bored in my mother-in-law’s kitchen.
Link | November 21st, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Beth wrote,
LOL.
China is waaaaay fatter than that. D<
Link | November 25th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Diana wrote,
I just wanted to say I really enjoy your site, I stumbled across it while looking for myths about castles in the sky. I love your quote about the windshield being broken. stay beautiful.
Link | May 9th, 2009 at 2:53 am
Mike wrote,
Just read your Amazon review on Eggers’ AHWOSG book. It made me laugh. I was just as exasperated when I started it and I gave up after 100 pages or so. I’m wondering if you elaborate in other pieces on how books like this become popular and garner such great (and misleading) press. Is it like peer pressure in High School? Are people lying about not finishing? Anyway, I plan to read all your reviews. Thanks for writing them.
Link | July 16th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Tracey wrote,
Just wanted to add my thanks for creating the Downsyn Forums. A true Godsend. I was also interested in the fact that your son has been diagnosed with PPD/NOS as well; so has my son. No one can say for sure whether or not he truly has Autism and I would love to know.
Does your son chatter away to himself a lot and stim with toys? Or is he past that since he is 12? My Conor is only 6 and still does that sort of thing. His communication skills are improving slowly but a lot of the time his speech is unrecognizable. He also wakes a lot around 4:00 am and just bounces on his bed or talks very loudly. Any of this ring a bell? I can’t find many other parents of children with this combination of diagnoses (plus he now has Celiac as well; what a disaster this will be for a child who hates textures and change of any sort).
Anyway, thanks again for your postings and your hard work!
Tracey
mom to Conor (6) and Liam (4)
Link | September 8th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
GRI BUONGIORNE wrote,
HI TOM,
AM SURE YOU ARE NOT MUCH OLDER THAN I AM…HAHA…I AM WHAT IS CALLED A “VERY LATE BLOOMER”….MY DS KIDDO WAS BORN IN MY LAE 40′S.
JUST WANTED TO SAY HI FROM SNOWY ALASKA AND HOW GLAD I AM FOR YOUR FORUM…AN AWESOME PLACE TO FIND INFORMATION, FRIENDS AND UNDERSTANDING…
THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! BLESS U AND YOURS.
GRI
Link | January 27th, 2010 at 12:38 am