A Radically Different Approach to Raising Kids with Autism | Leland Vittert
The Rubin Report
Emma Dog Productions
4.4 • 486 Ratings
🗓️ 27 December 2025
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dave Rubin of "The Rubin Report" talks to NewsNation anchor Leland Vittert about his career in journalism and lessons from reporting in the Middle East; how a defining encounter with a failed Palestinian suicide bomber reshaped his views on the Israel-Palestine conflict; his book "Born Lucky", detailing growing up with autism and how his father's radically different approach to his diagnosis helped him to adjust to the world and not be a victim; and much more.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | When I was about eight years old, my parents were told they needed to have me evaluated. |
| 0:03.3 | They took me to one of those medical office buildings, right? Linolium floors, stale coffee, old magazines. They waited for a couple of hours as nervous parents would. This is before cell phones or anything else. So they just sat there and like, what's going on with our kid? The woman brings me back and she says, boy, your kid's got a lot of problems. Big behavioral issues, if somebody touches him in class or in a line or in playground, |
| 0:25.2 | he's going to turn around and slug him. |
| 0:26.4 | So no birthday parties, no play dates, nothing like that. |
| 0:29.3 | Big sensory issues, if there's socks or a jacket, he doesn't like, he melts down the day's over. |
| 0:34.5 | And then big learning disabilities, right? |
| 0:36.4 | So an IQ test is the average of |
| 0:39.7 | two halves of a test, so two halves average them together. 20-point spread is a learning |
| 0:46.6 | disability. I had a 70-point spread. One of one said this was the largest spread they'd ever seen. |
| 0:52.1 | And my dad goes, okay, what do we do? And she says, well, |
| 0:55.5 | you know, not much. You sort of meet him where he's at and, you know, kind of he gets along. |
| 0:59.2 | And my day goes, no, no, no, what do we do? And she goes, there's not much you can do. And that |
| 1:07.1 | became a challenge for my dad. So, you know, they never told anyone, no friends, no family, |
| 1:13.1 | no teachers, no counselors, no therapist, nothing. And it was my dad's mission to really adapt me to the |
| 1:18.6 | world. |
| 1:26.4 | All right, I'm Dave Rubin, and joining me today is News Nation's Chief Washington Anchor, |
| 1:31.4 | and author of the book Born Lucky, Leland Vitter. |
| 1:34.1 | Leland, good to finally talk to you. |
| 1:37.0 | Longtime listener, first-time caller, Dave. |
| 1:39.9 | I feel like our worlds have been slowly, slowly colliding, and it is finally happening now. |
| 1:45.6 | The asteroids have met in outer. There we go. And we will see what happens. First off, you have, you have perfect news anchor hair. Is that 90% of being on television news from the swamp in D.C. as you are? |
| 1:58.6 | Well, I'm, I'm talking to a guy who has, I think, probably even better, perfect Miami Beach hair. |
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