Autism
Growing Up With Autism: Leland Vittert's Unique Journey
An interview with journalist and "Born Lucky" author Leland Vittert.
Updated September 29, 2025 Reviewed by Kaja Perina
Leland Vittert is best known as a journalist. He's been an international correspondent covering intense stories from the Middle East and hosts NewsNation's On Balance with Leland Vittert. What most don't know about Leland is that he lives with autism.
In his recent book, Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, A Grateful Son and My Journey with Autism, Leland dove deep into his journey from a young person struggling socially to the thriving life he has today. I met with Leland to explore what he wants others to know about his story, and to encourage neurodivergent youth.
A Unique Childhood
From childhood, Leland had a unique style of relating to others. He was bullied mercilessly, but also flew a plane from Alaska to Michigan before the age of 12. With hopes to better understand their child and what he needed, his parents sought an evaluation. The results were bewildering; an IQ test revealed a nearly 70-point gap between his performance and verbal IQ scores. Remarks on 'social blindness' and 'pervasive developmental disorder,' a condition on the autism spectrum, were made. His parents didn't tell anyone.
Leland says, "I think they really felt hopeless and helpless when they heard of my diagnosis. I think there are so many parents of autistic kids, kids with ADHD, social anxiety, or bullying at school. They feel really alone, and they are not."
Leland's father asked what the professionals said he could do to help, and the answer he received was lackluster: nothing. The family did not take “nothing” for an answer; they did everything they could to foster Leland's growth.
Leland remarks, "When I was diagnosed, my parents asked, 'Is there anything we can do? ANYTHING? And this is to give them hope that there is a lot they can do."
"Let Me Teach You How To Do It"
School years were especially rough for Leland. Each evening, he would come home dispirited. He wanted to make friends, yet there seemed to be a barrier between him and others.
In response, Leland's father took steps to help him learn the social norms that didn't come naturally to him: "He said to me, 'Look, I understand why this is happening to you. I understand why you can't relate to people socially. Let me teach you how to do it. Let me show you how to interact with people."
Among the ways Leland’s father supported him were compassionate discussions about how his tendencies could be interpreted by others. For example, his father created a covert cue of tapping his watch to signal to Leland that he may be rambling or that it may be best to give others a chance to speak.
He expresses, "We'd go out to lunch and I'd be interrupting somebody...The watch idea was a way to tell me to be quiet, that wouldn't embarrass me, and we would post-game afterwards...It was a way to teach me the social skills that come so easily to so many."
Interests and Hard Work
Engaging young people's interests is a commonly referenced strategy for encouraging any child. When a youth lives with autism or other neurodivergences, this can be a lifeline.
For Leland, this involved flight lessons beginning at the age of eight. He shares, "It goes way beyond aviation. What my dad was trying to do was to give me things outside of school, friends, and athletics, which I could not succeed at any one of them."
Learning to fly a plane is no easy task. The work provided a character training space for Leland. He says, "It was an enormous amount of self-discipline about reading and doing to ground school work. But then I could fly. I couldn't be good at the things that were the usual currency of being a little kid, but I could be good at flying."
Positive Mentoring Relationships
Leland recounts positive mentoring relationships with adults throughout his childhood and young adulthood. He states, "I was like a mini-adult. My dad was my only friend, and the only people I spent time with were him, his friends, and older people." These relationships were "phenomenally helpful" in Leland's trajectory.
Peer relationships can be incredibly challenging for neurodivergent youth. For parents, this can be heartbreaking. While family support does not replace friendship from other youth, research does suggest that positive parent-child relationships can be a protective factor against depressive symptoms in neurodivergent adolescents (Powell et al., 2021).
Today, Leland exudes joy and gratitude. He has ignited a meaningful career and found a wife he loves. He says, “I’ve been blessed. I’ve found a woman who accepts and loves me. She has an EQ slightly above the temperature of the sun.” His message is one of possibility, that creative pathways can lift false limitations.
Leland makes clear that he is not a clinician and that his writing is meant to relate his own experience, not to serve as a prescription for others. He acknowledges that he will always be autistic, yet each of these steps has helped him on his way to flourishing. I appreciated my time with him. His story is a model for how one youth was effectively nurtured into the best version of himself. More can be found about his book at www.bornluckybook.com
References
Powell, V., Riglin, L., Ng-Knight, T., Frederickson, N., Woolf, K., McManus, C., ... & Rice, F. (2021). Investigating friendship difficulties in the pathway from ADHD to depressive symptoms. Can parent–child relationships compensate?. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 49(8), 1031-1041.
