Blogs

I just joined this community yesterday and read Jon's post this morning. I'm compelled to share it with you. As a mother of a non-verbal child with autism, Jon's story deeply touched my soul. He tells the story of his love for his mother and how he's overcome obstacles throughout his life with honesty, clarity and love. His story inspires me to always, ALWAYS believe.

To view his post, go to: http://www.copyblogger.com/fight-for-your-ideas/

I love the article below! I think it points out nicely that we, as parents, need to respect and sympathize with our sensory-sensitive children. The fact is, that regardless of how hard it is on us, it's a million times harder on them. It's our responsibility to protect them, respect them, and help them help themselves. It's our responsibility to teach the world about what they are going through, and to understand and honor them. They deserve that! And I think it's selfish to try to make them fit into our "box" of what constitutes "normal" behavior.

Delayed Grieving
by Leslie McCann

I spent five years defending my daughter’s needs to
professionals, to family members, to perfect strangers
and to my own husband. It was five years of pure
hell. See, for some reason, in our society if you don’t
have some sort of professionally labeled & drug-treatable
disorder, then there is nothing wrong with you.

Parents these days have children with all kinds
of problems: hyperactivity, food sensitivities that
lead to undesirable behaviors, sensory issues that lead
to undesirable behaviors, undiagnosed autism spectrum

Today I had the pleasure of meeting a very opinionated father at the playground. He watched as my daughter avoided other children, hid behind me, and yelled if someone tried to play with her. He politely but assertively told me that I should just "throw her to the wolves.” "She’d be okay," he insisted. He suggested that "throwing her to the wolves" might just force her to be more accepting of other kids and make her become more social.

I politely listened, and then I responded:

The Christmas Luminary was tonight. Hayley, Sam, Sabrina and Griffin and I went to see the lights. Sam kept saying as we drove thru that she wanted to go home. Then we got to see Santa. She talked to him. Last year she would not look at him or talk. Way to go Sam. Sabrina is just the chatterbx now. I consider her fully recovered.

Teaching your child to “wait a minute”, “not now, but later”, or “after you get done…” can be a difficult skill to teach. Many times the ability to wait for delayed gratification must be directly taught. Parents can begin teaching this skill by using a timer to directly teach the meaning of these words as well as the concept of time. Parents should begin by teaching this skill “out of the heat of the moment” and very systematically.

To begin teaching this skill use a preferred item or activity and a timer with an auditory signal.

To view some strategies that help you cope with Christmas and your Aspergerchild, click the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vu9CudIRq8

The members of our family are BIG fans of the benefits of Neurofeedback.By the time we found out about neuro our family was at breaking point – our son with Asperger's Syndrome had been angry, violent and out of control for 3 years (from halfway through Year 6 to Year 9 – aged 10 -13).

My blog can be found here:

http://www.outrunning-autism.blogspot.com/

http://www.ikando.org/aact.html

The Autism Centre is a local support and education centre for children with autism that was founded in 1998 by a mother of a child with autism in Ghana. AACT's mission is to support the families of children with autism. In order to achieve this mission, AACT focuses on two primary areas: 1) promoting awareness and understanding of autism in Ghana ; and 2) providing training and educational services to children with autism in order for them to function more effectively in society.