Biography
Patty 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), Honors Program with minor in Political Science, 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 coedited 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. The 2019 hit Broadway play Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations, is based on the autobiography of Temptations founder Otis Williams, with whom Patty wrote the book The Temptations. Other celebrity autobiographies for which she was coauthor include Mary Wilson's Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme, Annette Funicello's A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes, Donny Osmond's Life Is What You Make It, Nichelle Nichols's Beyond Uhura, and Teddy Pendergrass's Truly Blessed.
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 third edition. A "companion title," The Parents' Guide to Teaching Kids with Asperger Syndrome and Similar ASDs Real-Life Skills for Independence, was published in October 2011. In September 2014, Asperger Syndrome: The OASIS Guide, the fully updated, revised, and expanded edition, arrived.
She has worked with and taught individuals across the autism spectrum, from toddlers to college students. She has taught at Long Island University/C. W. Post College and Stony Brook University as an adjunct professor in special education and applied behavior analysis. Her most recent position was behavior analyst for the renowned St. Mary's Hospital for Children's Cindy and Tod Johnson Center for Pediatric Feeding Disorders.
She lives on Long Island with her husband, the author Philip Bashe, their son, Justin, and a cat who regularly challenges her belief in behaviorism.
She is represented by Aevitas Creative Management, 19 West 21st Street, suite 501, New York, NY 11010, aevitascreative.com.