Local couple need help to adopt young orphan from Russia
The Autism News | English
By Holly Richards | Zanesville TimesRecorder
ZANESVILLE — The moment Lisa Smith’s eyes locked on those of a blue-eyed girl, she fell in love.
It wasn’t face to face but via computer screen. The 2 1/2-year-old child from Russia has Down syndrome and a heart defect called open oval window. But none of that mattered, the Zanesville mother instantly felt this young girl named Yana should be part of her family.
While Lisa and her husband, Matthew Smith, have two healthy biological children, over the past several years they have adopted a few children from across the country with special needs.
Seven-year-old Anthony and 4-year-old Ethan both have Down syndrome and heart issues, and 9-year-old Jonathan is autistic.
Yana’s picture practically jumped off the screen when Smith glanced at the Reece’s Rainbow website. While not an adoption agency, Reece’s Rainbow is a nonprofit international Down syndrome orphan ministry focusing on assistance with adoption, advocacy, outreach and aid.
“She needs help. She needs saved,” Smith said of Yana. “Seeing her face, I can’t let her down. She is so beautiful, and we feel like she belongs in our family. We so want to save her and give her the family she deserves. We don’t want her to be alone any longer. It’s been tough to find an agency to do her adoption.”
It’s been a long road so far, and it’s not shortening any time soon. The Smiths were able to get assistance from About A Child, a nonprofit international adoption agency with offices in Iowa and California. But that was just the beginning.
The agency, along with the Smiths, is dealing with the fallout of the recent scandal of a Tennessee woman returning the 7-year-old Russian boy she adopted.
“That has made the process more difficult,” Smith said. “I feel sad for that boy. There are so many ways to be helped here in the U.S.”
Victoria Kats, executive director of About A Child, said the agency assists with independent adoption, and explained how complications may arise in light of the transgression.
“When the Smiths signed up, independent adoptions were still allowed, and technically they still are,” she said. “Because of the scandal, independent adoption could be banned. An obstacle is if a bilateral agreement is signed between the United States and Russia, it may change how adoptions work. But nobody knows yet what will be in the agreement or when it will be signed.
“We are a Hague-accredited agency, but Russia is not a Hague country,” she continued. “It helps to have a Hague-accredited agency because of the high ethical standards. We have a partner agency that works in Russia and is accredited in Russia, but is not Hague-accredited. We thought if something goes wrong, that agency could step in and process the Smiths’ adoption. But with the new bilateral treaty, it would require all Russian agencies to be Hague-accredited, eliminating many agencies including our partner agency.”
The Smiths have no time to waste in their mission to bring Yana home. Along with this prospective treaty, time also is of the essence because of Yana’s age and special needs.
“We’ve got to get her out before she is 4 years old,” Smith said.
“I know people often ask, ‘Why don’t you just adopt here?’” she continued. “I can understand their point, but there comes a time when it doesn’t matter where they are from. I know life is not perfect here, but they don’t have the opportunities as they do here.”
The Smiths already have begun filling out the necessary paperwork, but it’s not without a price. Kats said typical costs in these types of international adoptions range from $15,000 to $20,000.
In the Smiths’ case, Lisa said adopting Yana may cost from $25,000 to $30,000. This includes airfare for Lisa and Matthew for two trips to Russia, travel visas, passports, and many documents and their fees.
To assist with these costs to be able to give Yana the home she needs, the Smiths are reaching out to the community.
The Yard Sale for Yana will be today and Saturday at the St. Thomas Activity Center on Fifth Street.
The two-day event will feature typical yard-sale items like clothes and toys, but other donated items for sale include an organ, piano, jewelry by Tara Bella, baked goods, and a sampler quilt from the Dueck family with pieces from across the country specifically made for an adopted child.
Monetary donations can also be made. If given directly to the Smiths, it is non-tax deductible, but donations are tax deductible if written to Reece’s Rainbow Down Syndrome Adoption Ministry or given through the Smiths’ family sponsorship page with the Reece’s Rainbow site.
“Doing this is hard, and we’re taking a blind leap of faith,” Smith said. “We may not be the richest family in the world, but we’re a loving family who can provide her with the acceptance and love she needs.”
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No autism support so Billy falls further behind
The Autism News | English
Billy Hayward, 9, with separated parents Michelle Crowe and Jason Hayward.By Brenton Cherry
By Brenton Cherry | The Manly Daily
MICHELLE Crowe says she is watching her son Billy “disintegrate” before her eyes as he falls through the cracks of an education system that has failed him.
The nine-year-old, from Collaroy Plateau, suffers from autism, a disorder characterised by impaired social interaction and communication.
Having finished with the special needs support class at the Arranounbai School at Frenchs Forest last December, Billy has been sent back to his regular primary school with disastrous results.
Requiring specialist help, Billy, who lives with his mother and stepfather Simon Crowe, has fallen further and further behind and has begun acting out, leaving his school with little choice but to repeatedly send him home.
The desperate situation has highlighted the lack of a full-time autism support class with specialist trained staff on the northern beaches.
Mrs Crowe said this lack of proper support was having a negative effect on her son. “We have seen him disintegrate socially, emotionally and intellectually before our eyes. We have just wasted six months and the gap is getting wider and wider,” she said.
Mrs Crowe said she had begun to fear for her son’s future.
“The school has been very supportive and done what they can but he is just not getting an education. If he doesn’t get the right support, he will become a misfit in society. He won’t be able to work and will be completely dependent on us and the government for the rest of his life.”
A spokesman for the Department of Education said it is looking at the need for specialist support classes in the northern Sydney region.
Can the education system cope with autism? Have your say below this story.
Wakehurst State Liberal MP Brad Hazzard said this specialist class must be established immediately.
“The current situation is a case of gross negligence by the State Government and an abuse of the families who need autism support,” he said.
Source: http://manly-daily.whereilive.com.au/news/story/billy-is-suffering-through-lack-of-autism-support
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Program Helps Children With Autism Ride Bikes
The Autism News | English
Some novice bike riders are on the roll. It’s all part of a special camp in Howard County for some very special kids.
By Jessica Kartalija | WJZ
COOKSVILLE, Md. ― Some novice bike riders are on the roll.
Jessica Kartalija reports it’s all part of a special camp in Howard County for some very special kids.
It’s so-long training wheels for Tommy Kuntz, 12. He’s flying solo.
WJZ asked him if he’d be the next Lance Armstrong.
“Oh yeah,” he said before showing his best dance moves.
Tommy joined 40 other kids for a week-long day camp called “Lose the Training Wheels.”
It’s a national program teaching kids and adults with developmental disabilities to ride a bike.
“He would not get off. He said, ‘I want to keep doing it; I don’t want to give up.’ And it just shows how much this means to children like him,” said Simone Kuntz.
Riders spend the first two days of camp on roller bikes. They have a specialized wheel to let them learn how to balance.
Once they’ve mastered the art of starting and stopping, they come outside where they ride a two-wheel conventional bike on their own.
Michael Tom, 9, hopped on a two-wheeler for the first time. Now, he calls himself an expert.
“I was cruising around, and now I call myself the lose the training wheels pro. I am really great,” said Tom.
“Riding a bike opens up so many opportunities,” said Aimee Buckland, Lose the Training Wheels.
Buckland supervises the program.
“The parents’ reaction to see their child ride for the first time is awesome,” said Buckland.
The Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks and the Howard County Autism Society brought the program to the community center in Cooksville.
“It’s exactly what recreation and parks is about, allowing people the opportunity to enjoy themselves, in a safe environment,” said John Byrd, Director, Howard County Dept. of Recreation and Parks.
And that’s exactly what they did.
“Best part about my day is that I rode my bike so many times,” said Tom.
The camp has proven to be so successful, they are coming back to Howard County next year.
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Kids have fun learning film making at camp for children with autism
The Autism News | English
HEAL campers film a movie scene Wednesday at the University of North Florida.
By Maggie Fitzroy | The Florida Times – Union – Jacksonville
It’s a challenge for 18-year-old Jessica Luksic to talk to people whom she doesn’t know well, or to make eye contact with them even if she does.
She has autism, a disorder that can cause social awkwardness and communication problems.
But thanks to the Healing Every Autistic Life Film Camp at the University of North Florida, she had opportunities to interact with many people of all ages during the past two weeks.
She also learned a lot about producing, directing, editing and acting in films. She starred in one too, under the direction of actor/director/producerJoey Travolta, brother of actor John Travolta.
“This is her third year in the camp,” Lynette McCann, Jessica’s mom, said Wednesday as she dropped her daughter off.
“Joey’s really good. It took Jessica a long time to get comfortable and get to know everybody,” McCann said. “Now they’re a team.”
Luksic, who lives in Mandarin, had a choice of three camps sponsored by HEAL this week. The others featured opportunities to surf or golf. But she’s not physical, so those weren’t for her, McCann said.
“She likes film camp. It’s a profession she’s getting exposed to, and she needs that social piece. This is a big deal to the kids and their parents.”
This year, 35 children with autism and 20 of their siblings and peers participated in the program, which was started three years ago by Karen Sadler of Ponte Vedra Beach.
Sadler, who produced television and commercials in New York City before moving to the Beaches, was inspired to start the camp after a conversation with a friend, whose daughter has autism.
After discussing how important the arts are for children with the disorder, and how few opportunities were available, Sadler learned that Joey Travolta, a former special education teacher, led film camps for children with autism in California.
“For me, it was a great match-up,” said Sadler, who owns a local film company. She arranged with UNF to hold the camp there, and kids come from all around the city.
Every day, 55 campers split into three classes taught by acting teachers Sabra Shelly, Dale Oprandy and Hester Wagner, who are part of Travolta’s Los Angeles-based company.
On Wednesday, Wagner demonstrated makeup techniques to some of the campers. Oprandy discussed the career of escape artist Harry Houdini and showed a film about him. And Shelly took her students to a game room to film a scene for a movie about a video game.
Every class made a film that will be incorporated into a final film, which will be edited and ready for viewing this year.
Travolta, who runs similar children’s camps around the country, said filmmaking is good for kids with autism because successful films require collaboration and communication, “and that builds confidence.”
Justin Fellin, 18, of Ponte Vedra Beach, radiated confidence from his wheelchair as he discussed that day’s activities with Travola. This is his third year in the program, and “I love it,” Fellin said. “It’s a great experience working with an actual camera crew, and learning the different aspects of film.”
Oprandy, a show business veteran, said he enjoys sharing his expertise during the camp because the kids inspire him.
“I’ve learned so much from these kids,” he said.
Acting teacher Hester Wagner applies makeup that looks like a bruise to the arm of HEAL camper David Eatough, 10, as Bryant Joseph films the session Wednesday.
HEAL campers dance around to loosen up and begin their day Wednesday at UNF.
Justin Fellin, 18, of Ponte Vedra Beach gives high-fives to acting teacher Dale Oprandy (left) and Hollywood director Joey Travolta during Healing Every Autisitc Life Film Camp Wednesday at the University of North Florida.
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‘How to Be a Sister’: Autism and hard-won love
The Autism News | English
By Jeff Baker | OregonLive
When Margaret Garvin was 3 years old, she was diagnosed with severe autism. Her sister Eileen was about to be born.
“Throughout the course of my life, I’ve only been certain of two things: I am the youngest of five children, and I am my sister Margaret’s older sister,” Eileen Garvin writes in “How to Be a Sister: A Love Story With a Twist of Autism.” “Even though she was born three years earlier than I, I was the caretaker, the dependable one, and, as far as I can see, always will be. Instead of growing up in the protective shadow of my big sister, I often found myself dodging things she was throwing at me or chasing that shadow through a crowd of people as my big sister took off on some crazy escapade.”
There are lots of books about autism, many of them excellent and many of those focused on autistic children. Garvin points out that autistic children become autistic adults, with different needs that can become more complicated over time. Her perspective, of an adult with an autistic sibling, is underrepresented and is one reason she wrote her book.
“I always wanted to write about Margaret,” Garvin said. They grew up in a large Irish Catholic family in Spokane and dealt with Margaret’s autism at a time when public education and social services for the developmentally disabled weren’t legally mandated to the extent they are today. Margaret’s issues — inability to communicate or talking too loudly, outbursts of screaming and crying, and unpredictable, sometimes violent behavior — stressed everyone in the family, parents and children alike.
“People often don’t realize that the kids are going through the same things the parents are, and it affects siblings in the same ways,” Garvin said.
Eileen Garvin moved away, first to Seattle for college and then elsewhere in the West. She now lives in Hood River with her husband, a physician, and works at Waucoma Bookstore. It’s about five hours to Spokane, where Margaret lives in a group home their parents set up and where the state pays for 24-hour care. Margaret is 43 and “seems happier now, less stressed,” said her sister, who is trying to get her a job.
Perhaps the most heartbreaking feeling for relatives of severely autistic people is when they can’t connect emotionally to their loved one. People with severe autism often live in their own world and don’t recognize or communicate with those closest to them. When they do communicate, it can be frustratingly inconsistent — one day eye contact and something approaching a conversation, the next day nothing.
“That certainly is a struggle,” Garvin said. “Margaret is a lot better at recognizing people. If you met her, you’d know if she liked you. She remembers who I am, but it’s hard for me because we can’t really talk.”
Writing “How to Be a Sister” “inspired some wonderfully cathartic conversations” within the family, Eileen Garvin said. She’s also been heartened by reaction from readers, not just siblings or parents of someone with disabilities but others who have a difficult relationship with a family member.
“The way I look at it is it’s important to try to love them, even if it’s hard,” she said. “It’s definitely made me more understanding of people as they are.”
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Roses, And Jobs, For Autism
The Autism News | English
By Melissa Pionzio | Hartford Courant
GUILFORD — Jim Lyman has spent may sleepless nights worrying about the future of his son, Eli. Diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, the 19-year-old attends a school in Massachusetts that serves the needs of people with autism.
But when Eli graduates, what then? Will he be able to find employment?
Lyman, whose family owns Lyman Orchards in Middlefield, knows the hurdles the agricultural industry regularly faces, including the challenge of finding skilled workers. So when he learned in 2008 that Pinchbeck Farm in Guilford, owned by the family of a college friend, was closing after 80 years, Lyman reached out.
In 2009, the farm reopened through an initiative called Roses for Autism, which hires and trains adults on the autism spectrum. Lyman believes the Roses for Autism model can be reproduced in other types of businesses to create employment opportunities for people like his son.
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“It’s exciting to have the pieces come together, and what’s more exciting is reaching out to the agricultural community,” said Lyman, who sells insurance to farm families.
“The unemployment rate among people with autism is 88 percent,” he said. “The whole idea is that if we can employ two or three on every farm in every community, then you begin to put a dent in that 88 percent.”
Through Roses for Autism, the farm employs five adults on the autism spectrum and will bring in two more in the coming months. One is Christopher Roos, 23, of Branford, who has a mild variant of autistic spectrum disorder and can find social interaction a challenge.
But on the farm, social interaction occurs regularly — in the greenhouse and production areas, when he works alongside the farm’s other employees and in the retail shop, when he answers the phone, waits on customers and interacts with his bosses. Little by little, Roos says, his comfort level is rising.
After a recent morning of pruning, picking and sorting roses, Roos strolled the path between two large greenhouses. Brushing dirt from his hands, he shook hands with a visitor and assured his boss that he was drinking plenty of water in the hot sun. He made eye contact, smiled and easily answered questions about his job.
“I’d say it’s helped me in dealing with different people and to follow instructions,” said Roos, who plans to return in the fall to his community college computer studies.
Teaching Social Skills
Competition from Latin American farms was the main reason the Pinchbeck Farm closed, after supplying roses to garden centers and retail businesses across the country for eight decades. But more than 32,000 rose bushes are blooming again because of the Roses for Autism program. It’s an initiative of Growing Possibilities, a division of the nonprofit Ability Beyond Disability organization.
“Roses is our first endeavor and it’s really cool. We are a transitional program. Our whole concept is for people to come and learn,” said Wallingford resident Julie Hipp, manager and director of Growing Possibilities and the mother of an adult child with autism. “We are teaching them social skills, how to deal with change, flexibility without it causing stress.”
And, of course, how to grow roses — row upon row of them inside the farm’s 50,000-square-foot greenhouse, which on a hot summer day has the atmosphere of a sauna. The roses are sold on site, at corporate events and sponsored flower booths, at farmers markets and distributed for sale at local businesses. The employees with autism participate in all aspects of the business.
“Some work in the greenhouses, others do e-marketing, are drivers, work in the retail and at farmers markets and do the packaging,” Hipp said. “That’s the key with autism, generalizing what you learn to other environments. The roses are the environment in which they learn how to be in a typical work environment.”
Employees come to the farm through referrals from social-service agencies and the encouragement of their families. They participate in a two-week assessment and, if hired, begin to learn about the agricultural field through peer mentoring with the farm’s full time employees — all of whom have been trained to work with people who have autism.
“The goal is for them is to work here and then move on to other jobs,” said Hipp, who has contacted other Connecticut farm owners to inform them of the program. “We don’t want to be thought of as only a shoreline operation, because we are going to branch out to other businesses, too.”
Hardworking Employees
Even though they can be hardworking employees, individuals with autism have difficulty finding jobs, said Kathryn Reddington, director of the division of autism services at the state Department of Developmental Services. And yet being employed and finding a job that suits your needs and abilities is important, she said, not just for people with autism, but for everyone.
“There are issues with unemployment and underemployment for people with [autism spectrum disorder],” Reddington said. “Their employment is sometimes not commensurate with their education experiences.”
Roses for Autism will hold an open house and battle of the bands event called Autism Rocks at the farm July 24, from 3 to 7 p.m. The farm is at 929 Boston Post Road. For information, go to http://www.rosesforautism.com or call 203-453-2186.
“We are doing it to sell roses,” Hipp said of the family-friendly event. “But more importantly, we want to get the word out that there is a good pool of talented people that are employable.”
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Why music is important for preschoolers
The Autism News | English
By Jamie Turner | Helium
Music teaches, leads, inspires, and unites. Singing songs together as a family strengthens bonds and creates unity between parents and children. A childhood filled with the sounds of soothing educational music creates lasting memories, promotes emotional well being, and increases the mental faculties which facilitate life-long learning.
Have you heard the adage “ Motzart makes you smarter”? Numerous studies have shown that musically trained children have a better memory, higher general intelligence skills, enhanced visio-spatial processing, do better in mathematics, and have a higher IQ. Although music at any age can be beneficial, children under the age of ten are especially facilitated through musical activities. Music engages all portions of the brain and encourages multiple aspects of brain performance. Young children are developing and strengthening neural connections which can stay with them for the rest of their life. Repeated exposure to educational challenges nourishes the brain and enhances its growth. Voice and instrument lessons, and to a lesser degree listening to music, improves spatial reasoning performance. This is a vital higher-brain function essential for carrying out multipart tasks such as mathematics. Children should therefore be frequently exposed to numerous kinds of music, especially songs which use rhythm, rhyme, and repetition.
Music increases linguistic skills in children. Nursery songs are a particularly paramount teaching tool for infants who are learning to identify tones used in spoken language. Pitch perception starts with the moving hair cells on the basilar membrane and culminates within the temporal lobes, or the auditory region in the brain. The ability of the nervous system to process the frequency information of sound is formed at a young age. Children with insufficient exposure to music and ear training often grow up to be tone deaf. Those rare individuals who have perfect pitch gained this ability at a very early age. MSLC, an ear-training and testing organization states “…research seems to suggest that if you don’t have it (perfect pitch) at a very early age, you cannot develop it.” http://www.mslc.tv/why.html It is therefore crucial to develop pitch perception at a young age.
Music is a powerful tool for creating and discovering emotions. Music is a crucial part of movies, advertisements, and represents one of America’s largest exports and revenue generators due to its ability to convey information. Children who do not have a fully developed vocabulary and are therefore unable to fully articulate themselves with words can use music to communicate with others. Music behavioral therapy is used for children with Autism, children with ADHD, and other numerous behavioral imbalances. Parents have been singing lullabies for thousands of years because of music’s ability to comfort and bring peace. The next time you have a house full of cranky emotional kids, try putting on a good CD, sing along to the songs, dance on the kitchen floor, and watch first-hand the transformative miracles music can work on everyone.
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Roseville movie theater rolls out the red carpet for kids with special sensory needs
The Autism News | English
This is his first time seeing a movie in a theater, said Carrie Albers of New Brighton, mother of Eric Molde, 6, right, as they wait for the sensory-friendly screening of Toy Story 3. Eric is sensitive to loud sounds, so Albers thought the lower volume would suit him, she said.
By Jessica Fleming | Twin Cities – Pioneer Press
Children spin in circles on the floor in front of the movie screen.
A preschooler clutching a blanket launches himself over seat after seat, sometimes landing in a stranger’s lap. Another viewer makes low, gutteral noises throughout the film.
Once a month at two theaters in the Twin Cities, all of that is OK.
Sensory Friendly Films, the result of a partnership between the Autism Society and AMC Entertainment, offers a way for children with autism and other disabilities to see a movie without having to be quiet.
The lights are left on, the sound is lowered, no previews are shown, and families can bring their own snacks.
“This is his first time seeing a movie in a theater,” said Carrie Albers, mother of 6-year-old Eric Molde, who clutched a stuffed bunny and beamed as he waited for the film to begin.
“We just knew (a regular screening) wouldn’t work,” she said. “He’s always had sensitivities to louder sounds, so we were just really excited to find out this was an option.”
For many families at a 10 a.m. screening of “Toy Story 3″ on Saturday in Roseville, it was their first time visiting a movie theater together, something typical families often take for granted.
Children with autism, fetal alcohol syndrome and other neurological disorders can have difficulties with loud sounds — vacuum cleaners and even blow dryers can cause distress. In addition, a dark theater can be terrifying for children with sensory challenges. Many autistic children
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are on special diets and can’t eat movie-theater popcorn.
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are on special diets and can’t eat movie-theater popcorn.
“Autism can be very isolating,” Carin Yavorcik, an Autism Society spokeswoman said. “You wind up not being able to go a lot of places. It’s been a program that has opened up a world of possibilities for a lot of folks.”
The program started in November of 2007, when a Maryland mother tried to take her daughter, who has autism, to a movie. Her daughter expressed her joy, like a lot of autistic children, by flapping her arms and jumping up and down. Patrons complained, and they were asked to leave.
“She said, ‘There has to be something we can do,’ ” Yavorcik said.
The mother called the manager of her AMC theater, who agreed to schedule a screening with adaptations.
“Three hundred people came to the first show,” Yavorcik said. “It was such a success that they started to do it more often.”
In August of 2008, AMC expanded the program to 11 theaters nationwide. The program is now offered at 110 theaters, including AMC Eden Prairie 24 and Rosedale 14, which started offering the screenings in December of 2008.
“We continue to look into expanding the program,” said Cindy Huffstickler, a spokeswoman for AMC Entertainment. “I get requests every day from people who want to bring it into their area.”
Huffstickler said some showings have sold out.
The latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics show 1 in 110 children in the United States are born with autism. That number has increased substantially, but experts argue about whether more children have autism or if it’s simply being diagnosed more frequently.
Nearly every person with autism also has sensory processing disorder, which means they have difficulty processing and interpreting signals from one or several of the five senses.
“Kids who have autism or sensory processing disorder have a poor sense of body awareness,” said Kelli Kaetterhenry, an occupational therapist with Fraser, a Twin Cities nonprofit center for people with disabilities.
“They don’t have a good sense of where their body is, and they rely heavily on their vision. When you turn the lights off, it becomes heavily disorienting.”
The loud volume at a typical movie also irritates a sensitive child.
“Their hearing is normal,” Kaetterhenry said. “The problem is in the processing of it. When it’s processed, their brains tell them it is way too loud. It becomes painful and scary.”
And then there are the things that can get a child kicked out of a theater.
“They don’t have a good sense of social awareness, of being quiet because other people want them to be,” Kaetterhenry said. “They also have a hard time grading or modulating their voice.
“Also, one of the things that helps children regulate their sensory systems is movement. They use movement to help keep their system calm and organized. To be still keeps them from being able to keep their bodies safe and calm.”
Indeed, at the theater on Saturday, several children rocked in their seats as others twirled in the aisles.
Many children with autism also have food allergies — particularly to wheat and casein, the protein found in dairy products.
Charissa Kriz of Robbinsdale brought a bag full of snacks for her son, 3-year-old Drew.
“He can have his soy milk here,” Kriz said. “It’s great that we can bring our own and not have to fight with him about what he can and can’t have. It takes a lot of the stress off.”
But more importantly, she could attend a movie with her family — her entire family.
“I’m excited,” Kriz said before the film started. “It’s the first time he’ll be able to participate in society. Right now, I can barely bring him to the grocery store.”
Five-year-old Alec Miller covers his ears while waiting for a Sensory Friendly Films screening of Toy Story 3 to begin Saturday morning. Alec, of St. Paul, was at the theater with his mother, aunt and grandmother for his fourth or fifth visit to the special screening.
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Police in towns using Autism Awareness 911
The Autism News | English
By Andrew Sylvia | The Huntington At Nashua
Families of autistic children in Wilton now have another option of added safety, joining several communities across the state.
The Wilton Police Department launched a program during the first week in June called Autism Awareness 9-1-1, in which families of autistic children can let local emergency personnel know about the child’s condition.
The program, coordinated in the Nashua area by Gateways Community Services, is designed to help avoid any potential undue conflict from social misunderstandings between the child and the officer, particularly in instances with lost children where misunderstandings could create conflict.
Wilton Police Chief Brent Hautanen thinks the program will be useful.
“From a law enforcement perspective, the more information we have, the better our response is going to be,” Hautanen said. “If we have a child that’s missing that’s autistic, the faster we can get that information, the better we’ll be able to handle that call.”
Begun in the state in the Manchester area by Easter Seals several years ago, autism registration with emergency respondents now encompasses 30 towns and cities, according to Elizabeth Webster, spokeswoman for Easter Seals New Hampshire .
In Greater Nashua, some of the other towns that use the program are Milford, Nashua, Litchfield, Hudson and Merrimack.
Lori Fischer, of Merrimack, who is a parent of an autistic child, thinks the voluntary program is a good idea.
“A lot of children with autism wander, and if they wander off and the police find them, then they’ll know how to handle it,” Fischer said. “I don’t think it should be mandatory, though. There are some kids that are autistic who you wouldn’t even know are autistic and could handle it if the police were to approach them.”
Others, such as New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union Director Claire Ebel, are concerned with aspects of the practice.
While Ebel doesn’t believe it’s a civil liberties issue when autistic children are placed on a list by their parents, she fears unforeseen consequences when they grow up if their parents no longer have guardianship.
“I think that the concern for me from a civil liberties perspective would be the placement of any individual on a list; that’s something I don’t find very comforting,” Ebel said. “I am always very concerned when authorities of any kind start to make lists, because there’s always the potential that once you’re on a list, you can never get off that list, and it can be used for purposes for which you do not wish to participate.”
Despite those concerns, the program seems to be a hit. In Wilton, the first registrant signed up within a week. In Merrimack, 33 people have signed up.
A police officer’s “presence can be a calming influence if the child has already met the officer; it’s not something that would be really scary,” said David Hackett, parent-to-parent director and legislative liaison for Gateways. “And this program gives the police the information that they would need to put out (the information) to as many cruisers as the department had.
“So, in 15 or 20 minutes after the child disappeared, they’d know about it, and they’d be able to search a much smaller area.”
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, one in every 100 Americans has been diagnosed with some form of autism, and although the psychological disorder was first diagnosed early in the 20th century, the practice of disclosing autism for the sake of community to law enforcement relations has been introduced in New Hampshire only recently.
To sign up or for more information:
• Contact Michelle Abbott at mabbott@gatewayscs.org or 459-1798.
• Call Webster at 1-877- 6AUTISM.
• Visit www.gatewayscs.org/ autism_911.htm or http://nh.easterseals.com/Autism911.
Please share this news with friends, family and also with your contact list on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.
Cooking club helps autistic children build life skills
The Autism News | English
Kevin Flocco (left) and Annie Boyle work together as they stir their brownie mix. They are partof a cooking class run by KidsAhead, a program that helps autistic children build life skills.
By Jen Wulf | The Philadelphia Inquirer
Brownie pizza was the featured entree at a recent cooking club meeting in Burlington County.
Four tiny chefs scrambled around the kitchen in the Medford community center, grating their white chocolate “cheese” and taking a quick break for “pin the pepperoni on the pizza.”
Brownie pizza may not be the most essential recipe for a 9-year-old to master, but Rosy Gruber says the cooking is secondary for her son, Jason.
“I tell people he’s going to a cooking class and they think, ‘Oh, he’s learning to cook.’ No, he’s learning to be a competent human being,” she said.
The class is part of a program organized by KidsAhead Consulting & Center for Development, which works with autistic children and their families to foster emotional development and basic life skills. KidsAhead offers consultations and parent education, with supplemental summer programs such as the cooking club, a crafts club, and a summer camp.
KidsAhead approaches autism using Relationship Development Intervention. Instead of an approach that focuses on reinforcing or discouraging specific behaviors, RDI takes a more general approach to education in the hope that children will learn to apply patterns of behavior to different situations.
KidsAhead’s RDI programming focuses on strengthening the “core deficits” that most autistic children struggle with, such as problem solving and emotional development. Though the cooking club is not officially an RDI program, Gruber said cooking is a good way to start because it can improve an autistic child’s “flexible thinking.”
“Some kids, for example, if they bake cookies the first time, then every time they bake they think it has to be cookies, it always has to be the same bowl,” she said.
She also said the social aspect has helped Jason, who has always struggled with making friends. She said Jason had gotten especially attached to a 10-year-old with Down syndrome who was sporting a bright green polka-dot apron as she meticulously arranged her pizza.
“I was like, ‘So, do you like Annie?’ He said, ‘I love Annie.’ . . . He said, ‘I like all the kids in cooking club,’ ” said Gruber.
Because Jason struggles with anxiety and panic attacks, he has not been able to attend school. So Gruber and Jason have been together all day, every day, for almost 10 years. She said his autism was so severe that he was nonverbal for the first four or five years of his life, and they had to communicate with sign language.
“Before, he used to be very withdrawn, introverted. He’s more part of the family, he’s more social. Definitively much more talkative,” she said.
Founder and director Libby Majewski says KidsAhead, which has about 30 clients, tries “to give parenting back to the parents.”
“What has been really great to see is that we have many parents who now say that they have a relationship with their child,” she said.
Gruber says KidsAhead has been especially helpful for Jason because its programming takes into account his struggles with anxiety and panic. Still, she said, Jason will always have to deal with his autism.
“We’re not looking for a cure,” she said. “There is no cure. We’re looking for remediation.”
Jason Gruber plays “pin the pepperoni on the pizza” with his class. Instructor Tina Grahl points to his place on the pizza.
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