So, the CDC finally weighed in with their numbers last week. 1 in 110 children in this county with autism. That’s actually lower than previously announced (1 in 91), but considering that it’s the CDC (sorry, had to take a gratuitous swipe).
Now comes the fighting within the autism community. And quite frankly, it makes me ILL!
The bio-med community vs. the genetics community. Everyone sparring on Twitter and Facebook over the weekend. I caught a bit of it myself on Twitter, Facebook and e-mail with the release of my book. Oh, well. I have thick skin. 
Everyone has an opinion as to where autism came from. Truth is: no one truly knows.
Then, there’s the adult Asperger’s community. And I feel for them. They do not feel acceptance. It is difficult for them in the work force. They have had to endure a life of not fitting in anywhere. They finally have a diagnosis. But where DO they fit in? We can learn so much from their experiences, but will we listen?
Honestly, will we listen to each other? Until we do, we shouldn’t expect anyone outside of our community to listen to US. Until we can have respectful dialog and appreciate each other’s differences, we will never advance the one thing that unites us all: Autism Awareness.
I’m sure that you have an opinion on this and I would LOVE to hear it! In the spirit of Christmas and the holiday season, let’s open the dialog. Ideas on detente? Olive branch? Let’s make this one of our goals for 2010. Peace in the Autism Community.
Blessings,
Deb
I was born in Central Florida. Every time the show “Flipper” came on, I was glued to my TV set. I envied Sandy and Bud as they swam with the dolphin Flipper every day (I caught it every weekday afternoon in syndication). 
Little did I know back then that I would be blogging about Flipper? Well, not so much Flipper, but dolphins as a part of aquatics autism therapy.
When our family lived in South Florida, I heard of a “dolphin camp” called Dolphin Cove. Dolphin Cove is located in Key Largo, FL. Dolphin Cove’s autism therapy is headed by Dr. David Nathanson. Nathanson refers to his special brand of therapy as Dolphin/human therapy. His team of therapists offers Special Needs Children & adults therapy with dolphins at Dolphins Cove nine months of the year.
Dr. Nathanson states on the Dolphin Cove website, “Dolphin Human Therapy helps improve skills in speech/language, motor areas, behavior, etc. The DHT program is also family interactive. The staff encourages input and participation from parents, teachers, therapists, and physicians. DHT believes that family involvement, support, and follow-up are essential to the future success of special needs children and adults.”
Dr. Nathanson doe
s say that his brand of autism therapy (Dolphin Human Therapy) does not “cure” autism or related disorders. However, it does help participants improve rapidly. He has seen improvement in people with autism, cerebral palsy, and Downs Syndrome as well.
If you would like more information on Dolphin Cove, this is the link to their website: http://www.dolphinscove.com/dolphin-human-therapy.htm. How I wish for our son’s sake that we weren’t so land locked. This is another out of the box example of aquatics autism therapy helping our children with autism spectrum disorder.
As always, if you have an idea for me to research or a comment, please feel free to leave it here. We are one family, linked by autism.
Many blessings to you and your family,
Deb
Technorati Tags: Dolphin Therapy
Tags: Dolphin Therapy
So many therapies, so little time. There are new types of therapies for autism popping up all over the country. Some seem quite promising. Some…I will politely say, it makes me think of the days of leeches and “magic” tonics.
These people want our money in exchange for “curing” our kids. They especially prey upon the young, newly diagnosed parents and it absolutely sickens me!
There are some great, tried and true therapies out there that WORK! DAN! When in the hands of a qualified DAN! doctor, DAN! can work with some of our kids. HBOT can work. And there are many other therapies that work. But the universal that works is the one I am writing about today. Applied Behavior Analysis.
ABA uses repetition and rewards (something that even we adults can relate to). Usually treats if a child gets something right (see the candy off to the side?) And it works! 
CNN dot com has a WONDERFUL story about a child who was helped tremendously by ABA. I have included a link here:
http://us.cnn.com/video/?/video/health/2009/12/08/chetry.autism.prevention.cnn
There are many states that are mandated to provide ABA therapy either by the schools or through Medicaid/private insurance. The earlier your child receives ABA, the better his chances of “moving” along the spectrum (example: from severe/profound to moderate/mild ASD)
As always, I am always interesting in your feedback. If your child has had intense ABA, I would love to hear about it! Please leave your comments so that others may benefit from your experiences.
As always, thank you for reading!
Many blessings to you and your family-
Deb
Technorati Tags: ABA, Autism Education, Autism Information, Autism Therapy
Tags: ABA, Autism Education, Autism Information, Autism Therapy
Posted by Deb on Nov 23, 2009 in
Autism Therapy It’s Thanksgiving week. For most families, it means wonderful things! Traveling to be with the ones they love the most. Great food. Great company. Lots of people. Maybe multiple gatherings. Lots of wonderful memories. Kids out of school. Then, there’s our family. And those families who are affected by autism spectrum disorders. No matter how much autism therapy, autism education or autism information you provide your friends and relatives with, it doesn’t seem to help the child with autism. What to do?
With all of the different foods, changes in routines for our kids, it can be a set-up for disaster. With our family, it has been. We thought we were doing the right things by taking our son to family gatherings (away from home). Having him experiment with different foods. Even inviting the “gang” to our house. Thinking that it would be easier on him if he was in more familiar surroundings. Not so much.
Our son has always been a picky eater. He never met a hot dog, pizza, piece of fruit (one advantage!) , dessert, or bowl of macaroni and cheese that he didn’t like! LOL! But during the holidays, we always felt that he needed to “try a bite”….just one bite. Which was followed by “no” and a melt-down. IF…and only IF we got to dinner. Usually he didn’t make it to dinner. The noise and the crowd had bothered him so much. He would have to retreat into a quiet room to watch TV for quiet time.
Maybe your child with ASD is like that as well. It pained us to do this “dance” for years. Until it finally occurred to us: why? Why are we putting him (and everyone else) through this? There has to be a better way. For everyone.
Dinner. Well, we have evolved over the years. We still have our traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey with all of the trimmings. Our son with ASD. He has decided that he likes mashed potatoes. Homemade. And he is now in charge of them. I cook them. He takes great pride in mashing them, adding the butter and cheese and putting them on the table for me. Macaroni and cheese has now become a staple on our table as well. Our youngest son loves it. And we have added hot dogs to our table. Two years ago, our son with ASD actually tried turkey. It was “o.k.”, he said. He didn’t want any more, but he tried it. Without coercion.
Family understands. We don’t go “over the river and through the woods” anymore for holidays. Our son needs the routine of being home. When friends do come, we make sure it is a “kid friendly” event and our son with ASD has a place to escape from the noise and activity. He can only handle so much. We set him up for success. Everyone is much happier that way.
Here’s hoping you find your middle ground for your ideal Thanksgiving with Autism. It may take a while. I know it did with us. But there are times that you have to pick your battles. In our case, Thanksgiving was a time to give thanks for the blessings that we have. And not to fight with Autism. To embrace it. To cook hot dogs, macaroni and to love our son, just the way he is. As we do every day.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Every day there’s a new story in the paper, in the news about a child with special needs being bullied on the playground, in the halls of school, etc. Unfortunately, I’ve seen it first hand with my own children. The lack of 
social skills makes children with autism a particularly easy target of bullies. Kids with autism are usually loners. They don’t want to tattle on the bully for fear of ridicule, embarrassment or retaliation. With proper social skills autism therapy, autism education, and autism information, a child with autism can become less of a target for bullying.
There’s a great overview article on bullying online:
http://www.awesomelibrary.org/bullying.html
It gives an overview of what bullying is, what causes someone to bully another person and how to avoid a bully. So many children (and adults) with autism simply don’t understand HOW to avoid awkward social situations or awkward people. Again, they are easy prey for bullies.
Read more…
Technorati Tags: Autism Education, Autism Information, Autism Therapy
Tags: Autism Education, Autism Information, Autism Therapy
