From a One-Off Blog Post to a Decade-Long Platform

WALL TOWNSHIP, NEW JERSEY – Eileen Shaklee did not set out to become one of the most recognized autism parent bloggers in the country. In 2012, a friend at a local radio station encouraged her to write a single essay about a day in the life of an autism parent. That one-off post became the catalyst for Autism with a Side of Fries, a blog and social media platform that has grown into a community hub for tens of thousands of families navigating autism.

Shaklee’s son, referred to on the platform as “Kiddo,” was the inspiration from the start. His love of french fries—ordered through the drive-through window as “window fries”—became the brand’s signature motif. What distinguished Shaklee’s voice from the beginning was her refusal to treat autism as tragedy. Her tagline captures the ethos: “Autism is a trip I didn’t plan on, but I sure do love my tour guide.”

The platform’s primary engine has always been Facebook. As of early 2026, the Autism with a Side of Fries Facebook page has accumulated over 93,000 likes, making it one of the most followed independent autism parent pages on the platform. Shaklee also maintains an Instagram presence at @autismwithasideoffries with approximately 11,000 followers and more than 1,200 posts. She identifies on the platform as a neurodiverse mother raising a neurodiverse child.

The platform that started as a single blog post has become a decade-long exercise in turning the daily logistics of autism parenting into shared community knowledge.

Content That Centers Daily Life Over Clinical Abstraction

Shaklee’s content model is deliberately non-clinical. She writes about food selectivity, sensory processing, school transitions, IEP battles, and the emotional labor of caregiving—all from the vantage point of a parent doing the work in real time. Her writing about her son’s feeding challenges, for example, resonates with the large cohort of autism families dealing with restrictive eating behaviors. She has discussed the role of feeding therapy and food chaining as interventions that expanded her son’s range, while cautioning parents against outdated approaches.

The blog’s tone is consistently irreverent and warm. Shaklee has written about the absurdity of well-meaning but uninformed advice, the challenge of aging out of pediatric services, and the social isolation that many autism families experience. Her willingness to address difficult topics—including regression, anxiety spikes, and the reality that her son attends a specialized school for students with autism—keeps the content grounded in specificity rather than generality.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Shaklee shifted much of her content to shorter-form social media updates as she managed the disruption to her son’s routines and services. She documented the regression, the anxiety, and the loss of social connection that defined the pandemic for many autism families. Her candor about screen time, modified expectations, and the absence of normal during that period earned widespread recognition from her community.

Media Presence and Industry Recognition

Shaklee has been a contributor to The Mighty, where she has been a member since July 2014. Her writing has been featured across multiple autism-focused podcasts, including Autism Mastermind, Adventures in Autism, Living the Sky Life, My Autism Tribe, and MomCave TV. She has also been interviewed by Intercare Therapy for their client-facing newsletter, an indication of the crossover between her parent-advocacy voice and the clinical ABA provider space.

Shaklee regularly appears on curated lists of top autism influencers and recommended social media accounts. Beaming Health, an autism services platform, has named her among their recommended autism social media influencers, citing her humor and relatability as distinctive assets for parents seeking community after a diagnosis.

One of the more memorable episodes in the platform’s history involved the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. After Shaklee wrote about her son’s continued enthusiasm for Halloween trick-or-treating as a teenager, the company dispatched the Wienermobile to their New Jersey home for a ride—an event Shaklee described as a moment that got the entire cul-de-sac talking.

In a digital landscape saturated with clinical tip sheets and diagnostic checklists, Shaklee’s audience returns for something harder to manufacture: the voice of a parent who has been doing this for more than a decade and is still showing up with humor intact.

Relevance to the ABA Ecosystem

Shaklee does not position herself as an ABA clinician or therapist. Her relevance to the ABA industry lies in the downstream influence she exerts on the parent population that ABA providers serve. When newly diagnosed families search for community and context, platforms like Autism with a Side of Fries are among the first touchpoints they encounter. The content shapes expectations, normalizes service-seeking behavior, and creates the peer network that often sustains families through the intensity of early intervention.

For ABA practice owners and clinical directors, Shaklee’s platform represents a category of parent influencer whose reach exceeds that of many provider marketing budgets. Her audience is precisely the demographic that ABA companies compete to reach: engaged, information-seeking parents actively managing their child’s services and advocating within school systems and insurance frameworks.

As the autism influencer space has expanded dramatically in recent years, Shaklee’s longevity distinguishes her. Many parent blogs launched in the early 2010s have gone dormant. Shaklee herself has noted this attrition, observing that new blogs appear constantly while few survive the transition from early childhood into adolescence and adulthood. Her continued presence through her son’s teenage years and into young adulthood positions her as a rare voice covering the lifecycle stages that newer parent influencers have not yet reached.

AT A GLANCE

Platform: Autism with a Side of Fries
Founder: Eileen Shaklee (Mama Fry)
Location: Wall Township, New Jersey
Blog launched: August 2012 (Blogspot)
Facebook: 93,000+ likes as of early 2026
Instagram: 11,000+ followers, 1,200+ posts (@autismwithasideoffries)
Twitter: @FrenchFryInc
Published on: The Mighty (contributor since July 2014)
Podcast appearances: Autism Mastermind, Adventures in Autism, My Autism Tribe, MomCave TV, Living the Sky Life
Content focus: Daily autism parenting, food selectivity, sensory processing, IEP advocacy, school transitions
Audience relevance: Primary touchpoint for newly diagnosed families seeking peer community

SOURCES & REFERENCES

1. – Autism with a Side of Fries. Blogspot. autismwithasideoffries.blogspot.com. Accessed March 2026.

2. – Autism with a Side of Fries by Eileen “Mama Fry” Shaklee. Facebook page. facebook.com/AutismWithASideOfFries. Accessed March 2026. (93,557 likes)

3. – @autismwithasideoffries. Instagram profile. Accessed March 2026. (11K followers, 1,267 posts)

4. – Intercare Therapy. “Interview: Eileen Shaklee of Autism With a Side of Fries.” intercaretherapy.com. 2020.

5. – Blogger profile: Eileen Shaklee. “On Blogger since August 2012.” blogger.com. Accessed March 2026.

6. – 94.3 The Point. “Wall Township Mom’s Autism Blog.” November 2016. 943thepoint.com.

7. – Adventures in Autism Podcast. “Episode 137: Catching up with Mama Fry (Eileen Shaklee).” April 2021.

8. – My Autism Tribe Podcast. “Episode 43: Autism Parenting…and a Side of Fries.” November 2019.

9. – Beaming Health. “11 Autism social media influencers to follow.” beaminghealth.com. Accessed March 2026.

10. – MomCave TV. “Autism with a Side of Fries | Ask a Mom VIDEO.” May 2021. momcavetv.com.

11. – The Mighty. Eileen Shaklee contributor profile. “Mighty Member since July 2014.” themighty.com. Accessed March 2026.