A poem written by a 10 year old for her younger brother

I am always so moved when I read what siblings say about their special brother or sisters. This one is so cute.

YOU'RE A STAR

This poem was written by 10-year-old Megan Stephens. She wrote this poem for her younger brother, Dawson, who has apraxia.




Through my sight,
I can see your fright,
But it’s alright.
It’s not your fault.
You’ve done nothing wrong.
I know that you are strong.

You may have trouble talking,
But that doesn’t make you any different.
No one is the same,
And there should be no shame.

Some people may be mean,
And it doesn’t make it right,
But on your face,
I can still see the light.

When I hear your voice,
It makes me smile.
I would love to hear you talk to me
For a while.

You may have trouble talking,
But that doesn’t mean a single thing,
Because you are everything
To me.

Now I can see your strength.
I can’t even measure its length.
You know that you are amazing,
And you truly are
My star.

Autism Spectrum Disorders and Navigating through Adolescence

ASD and Navigating through Adolescence
By Sandy Shaw, Ph.D.

Adolescence is a tumultuous time for everyone, including individuals with Developmental Disabilities (DD) and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). ASD includes Autistic Disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). Often time, individuals with DD and ASD may have intellectual disabilities and delays in development so we tend to forget that they also experience the significant physiological and social-emotional changes like everyone else. As individuals enter the middle and high school age for any child, it is important to incorporate related developmental factors, including puberty, sexuality, mood changes, and independent living ability in their daily lives. These are issues that impact all children, including children with developmental disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), coming into adolescences. These issues also drive how we approach treating adolescents with ASD in teaching skills and addressing their behaviors.

Overtime, as children become middle and high school age, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) should continue to be utilized by parents, teachers and other professionals to teach skills and to address behavioral issues. However, the presenting issues and behavioral problems would change as they approach adolescence. For instance, adolescents should learn about public safety, not talking to strangers, what to do when they get lost in the community, and how to ask for help when alone in the community. They should all receive concrete and detailed sexuality training to teach them what is appropriate touching, dating issues, being attracted to someone and what to do when they become sexually excited when in public and general issues relating to sexuality. These issues should be taught at each individual’s developmental and cognitive ability. ABA strategies break down these issues step by step and teach these steps through the use of visual cues, social stories, comic strip conversations, role playing, scripts to follow when encountering specific difficult situations, and thinking maps.

As individuals with ASD grow older, so are their parents and other caretakers. This fact alone makes it extremely important to teach them to be as independent as possible in their skills of independent living. Parents and professionals should strive to teach and guide individuals with ASD to become as independent in their daily functioning as possible. The focus should be on independent living and transition for life after school ends, specifically vocational skills. These skills should be based on their strengths and interests to help them become a contributing and functioning person within the society. ABA strategies, such as TEACCH strategies, are extremely helpful in providing specific guidelines and structure within daily living within the home and vocational performance within the work place.

Through ABA, these issues can be broken down into manageable steps so that target skills are much easier to teach and for individuals with ASD to comprehend and follow. Remember that prompt hierarchy and prompt fading need to be integrated into the training steps to help increase individuals with ASD to become as independently functioning as possible. Prompt hierarchy is steps to prompting for specific behavior or skill that is increasing in degree and intrusiveness; as the skills become mastered, the degree of prompting and prompt intrusiveness should decrease accordingly. Prompt fading is gradually fading out of prompting for specific behavior or skill; prompts are slowly faded out to increase independent practicing of the learned skills. As always, parents and service provides should continue to provide opportunities to practice and generalize learned skills within the natural environment. Additionally, it might be best to teach skills of independence with middle school and high school aged children within the natural context and environment to further assist with skills mastery and maintenance overtime.

Inappropriate behaviors, including self-stimulatory behaviors, self-injurious behaviors, physical aggression, obsessions (often with eating and foods), and perseveration can significantly increase as individuals enter puberty and even pre-pubescent age range. The information gathered from a Functional Analysis Assessment (FAA) or Functional Behavior Analysis (FBA) can help create effective behavior intervention plans. However, changes in mood (i.e., depression and anxiety) can occur during adolescence just as it does with typically development individuals. We need to be cognizant of that and consult health care professionals for assistance if we suspect presenting mood issues. Additionally, medications are often very helpful in complementing the behavior intervention plans by helping the individuals focus better, be calmer and less anxious or depressed.

Social skills training through individual psychotherapy and social skills groups are highly effective in addressing the social deficits that persist for individuals with ASD. With this age group, it is best to pair them with same age peers to help them adjust to soon becoming adults. They can also be integrated into community based groups and activities such as activities provided through the Parks and Recreation Department, Special Olympics and organized sports.

Bio:There should always be close collaboration across all disciplines of treatment for children with ASD. With individuals within this age range, it is extremely important to communicate with health care professionals to address medical issues that can mask as issues relating to puberty, such as weight gain, lethargy and hypothyroidism. Individuals with DD and ASD can navigate through adolescence with great success with the assistance of professionals within the community and the parents’ efforts in implementing ABA strategies.

Sandy Shaw, Ph.D. (PSY 18351)

Dr. Shaw is a licensed, clinical psychologist with over 18 years of experience working with individuals with developmental disabilities, specializing in Autistic Disorder, Asperger’s syndrome (Autism Spectrum Disorders – ASD) and related Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Shaw is the founder and director of Applied Interventions & Methodologies, Inc. (AIM). AIM is a psychological agency providing behavioral, educational, and psychological services to children, adolescents, and adults with ASD and related developmental disabilities across the home, school, and community settings. The services AIM offers include Infant Development Program, Intensive ABA Program, Behavior Consultation/Assessment, Social Skills Training Program, Play Therapy, Individual Psychotherapy and Family Therapy, and Diagnostic Assessments.

What Does It Feel Like Being A Parent With A Special Needs Child - Interesting Perspective

I first read this excerpt in our days with Early Intervention, A therapist of ours shared this with me and I was reminded of this from a friend. So...now I share this with all of you. An interesting perspective AND for the record...I wouldn't mind visiting Holland.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by

Emily Perl Kingsley

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this……

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”

“Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”

But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…. and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills….and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy… and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away… because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But… if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things … about Holland.

Another inspirational person - Hal Honeyman

I love this story. All of our kids want to be kids and know what it feels like to move and be mobile on a bike. That feeling of movement and independence. Hal Honeyman has given special kids a chance to see what this feels like. Be inspired!

Very Real Video About Autism Filmed By a Father With a Message

This video was lovingly made by a father who clearly wants to send a true message about Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorder. I was moved to tears as he hit home with what my family has to manage. The stats are shocking and true and the reality is chilling. Please take a look!

Interesting Post: High magnetic field strength MRI What Can This Reveal?

A friend shared this post, very interesting and worth sharing.

‎"High magnetic field strength MRI to reveal tiny white matter injuries in the developing brain previously undetectable using standard MRI." One has to wonder, once these new scans become available broadly, what will be seen in the brains of children with Apraxia of Speech?

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/ohs-fuo110711.php

Interesting Post: Flying With Children From PBS Parents

Just in time for the holiday travel season. Some interesting ideas from PBS Parents regarding traveling via the airlines with your children.

Visit http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/travel/flying-with-children-the-bad-and-the-worse.html?hp

Highlight: 15 Signs Your Child May Have Dyslexia

15 Signs Your Child May Have Dyslexia from Circle of Moms

The following information is for educational purposes only. For specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment, consult your doctor.

One out of every five children in the United States has dyslexia, a language-based learning disorder which can cause difficulties with spelling, writing, reading fluency and word recognition. Early diagnosis can be extremely helpful, so here we're sharing a rundown of the early signs of dyslexia in children.

Generally, symptoms of dyslexia include slow speech development, difficulty gauging directions, problems understanding sequences, poor reading ability, bad handwriting, poor organization abilities, and poor memory about non-relevant facts. More specifically, the following are common signs of dyslexia at various ages.

Signs of Dyslexia in Preschoolers

If you're wondering whether your preschooler may have dyslexia, the following behaviors in children aged 4-5 are noted as possible signs of dyslexia by the Power of Dyslexia.
Constant switching from left to right hand when drawing, coloring or writing
Inability to tie shoe laces
Difficulty in pronouncing words that have three or more syllables
Difficulty in uttering words that rhyme
Difficulty in learning to write
Problem in pronouncing ‘M’, ‘N’, ‘R’ and ‘L’
Stuttering

Notably, at this age, writing letters or even words backwards isn't a sign of dyslexia. As Circle of Moms member Jennifer explains: "Letter reversals and writing words backwards is very common since children at this age are still learning the direction of print (left to right). Most children self correct the problem during kindergarten and first grade."

Signs a Grade-Schooler Has Dyslexia

Many children are diagnosed with dyslexia in elementary or middle school, when they begin to struggle in school in comparison with their peers. "I noticed my nephew was dyslexic in second grade," shares Circle of Moms member Rosalie G. "I was helping him with math homework and figured out why his answers were wrong. (Example: 62-12=50 right? His answer was 5. He was inverting the numbers so he saw the equation as 26-21.)"

The Power of Dyslexia notes the following signs of dyslexia in children aged 6-12.
Weak in spelling and handwriting abilities
Slow, disrupted reading (and committing similar mistakes every time)
Difficulty in telling the time
Struggles with math problems or concepts
Difficulty find the right words when expressing themselves
Mispronunciation of common words
Untidy lockers, bedrooms and bags
Difficulty in remembering telephone numbers or a series of numbers

Whether signs become apparent at age 5 or age 8, many moms advise you take action as soon as you notice. As Tina J. notes: "The longer a disability is left without appropriate interventions the more time the child has to lose ego strength and self confidence."

The preceding information is for educational purposes only. For specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment, consult your doctor.
Related Reading

Inspirational People: LOVE this be inspired!

Great Post - Putting an Appropriate IEP Team Together

Putting an Appropriate IEP Team Together

From Special Education Advisor

By Doug Goldberg

Pete Wright, the Godfather of Special Education law, has often been quoted saying, “Unless you are prepared to remove your child from public school forever, you need to view your relationship with the school as a marriage without the possibility of divorce.” While this may be true regarding the School relationship, this isn’t the case fxample One

When my son was in the first grade his IEP eligibility was Speech and Language Impairment due to his Apraxia of Speech. At his annual review the Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) from the School recommended exiting him from his IEP saying his deficits no longer qualified him for services. My wife and I respectfully disagreed and requested an Independent Education Evaluation (IEE) at public expense. The IEE results showed he qualified for speech and needed 2 hours a week of one on one therapy. We used the results of the IEE to negotiate a settlement agreement at mediation. In the settlement agreement, we included a clause which removed the current School SLP from working with him. Why did we do this? Two reasons, 1) she often didn’t show up and complained of having too many students to service and, 2) we didn’t want an SLP to work with our child if she didn’t think he had a need. Forcing a therapist or teacher to service a child they don’t think has a need is useless. The IEP is only as good as the people that implement it.

Example Two

In June, I attended an IEP for a child with a learning disability in a general education classroom. Her Mom felt she needed an Aide to access the curriculum because she wasn’t finishing her class work and was often off-task. The Teacher at the IEP meeting disagreed even though she had sent home a stack of unfinished class work. Due to the disagreement, we requested a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) to be performed by a District Behavior Intervention Case Manager (BICM). While the IEP team members argued against the FBA they ultimately agreed. Since it was the end of the School year the FBA was performed at the beginning of the subsequent school year. When the IEP was held to review the FBA we now had two new IEP Team members, 1) The BICM, and 2) a new General Education Teacher. The FBA validated all of Mom’s concerns regarding off-task behavior and recommended a one-on-one Aide to implement a Behavior Support Plan (BSP). Not only did adding the BICM change the whole dynamic of the IEP Team, the new General Education Teacher also confirmed the off task behavior as well. This IEP was a wonderful collaborative effort.

Example Three

In June, I also attended a transition IEP for a child turning three and moving into a public pre-school program. The child had high functioning autism but the school district only had one pre-school class that incorporated all levels of disabilities. This was not the appropriate placement for this child. Since it was a small school district we were able to invite the Special Education Director into the IEP and he agreed to split the pre-school class into a high functioning class and a separate moderate to severe class. This could not have happened without adding the Special Education Director to the team.

Some of the parental rights under IDEA include inviting members to join the IEP team, to request assessments, to disagree with a School offer and to file for Due Process. As you can see from the above examples, exercising these rights can have a profound effect on the dynamics of an IEP Team and ultimately the success of that underlying IEP. The key is understanding how and when to exercise your rights. If done properly, the relationship with the School can remain intact while simultaneously writing an appropriate IEP

Sensory Friendly Movie Showings at Chicago Area AMC Movie Theaters

AMC THEATERS SENSORY FRIENDLY FILM-PUSS IN BOOTS - SATURDAY NOVEMBER 5TH 10A.M.

AMC Theatres® and The Autism Society have teamed up to bring families affected by autism a special opportunity to enjoy their favorite films in a safe and accepting environment on a monthly
basis. With Sensory Friendly Films, the movie auditoriums will have their
lights brought up and the sound turned down.

AMC Galewood 16
5530 W Homer St
Chicago, IL 60639 773-413-1970

AMC Niles 12 AMC
301 Golf Mill Ctr.
Niles, IL 60714 847-544-7380

South Barrington 30
175 Studio Drive
South Barrington, IL 60010 847-765-7324

AMC Lake in the Hills 12
311 N. Randall Rd.
Lake in the Hills ,IL 60156 847-458-5040

AMC Northbrook 14
1525 Lake Cook Rd
Northbrook, IL 60062 847-562-1620

AMC Village Crossing 18
7000 Carpenter Rd.
Skokie, IL 60077
847-673-8581

Teaching Teachers About Autism

Teaching Teachers About Autism
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/autism-in-real-life/201109/teaching-teachers-about-autism

There is an interesting article in Education Week about called, "Where are the Autism Teaching Competencies?".

Did you Know:

That there is an Autism Support Group for specifically for Grandparents?

FEARLESS GRANDPARENTS AGAINST AUTISM
Contact Shirley Craven, Ph.d, Shircraven@aol.com
That there is a support group specifically for individuals with Asperger Syndrome?

GRASP Chicago is a peer-run support group for adults with Asperger Syndrome, Autism, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder that meets on the Third Sunday of each month. Meetings are from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. GRASP Chicago will discuss topics relating to the challenges we face in work, relationships, and family life, and resources available to people on the Asperger-Autism Spectrum.

Meeting Times: Third Sunday each month, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Meeting Location: Evanston Northwestern Hospital, Room 1711, 2650 Ridge Avenue, Evanston, IL 60201. From the main lobby, go up escalators to the First Floor. Follow the signs to Frank Auditorium. Room 1711 is adjacent to Frank Auditorium.

For more information go to: http://www.grasp.org/res_sg_Chi.htm
Or send an e-mail to info@grasp.org.

Other Resources:

· Autism Society of Illinois is a great resource! www.autismillinois.org (888) 691-1270. Plenty of workshops on their website!
· Great link! http://www.nssed-aps.org/index.htm
· Referrals and Other resources are provided by Autism Society of America thru Autism Sources: Copy the link below and it will take you directly to the Autism Sources section of the ASA website from there you can search by city and state fro services in your area.http://209.200.89.252/search_site/search.cfm

Our Board needs your help! We are looking for people who can help our chapter grow. We need a new Treasurer, Secretary and fundraising chairperson. The time commitment is usually no more than a couple hours a month. We also need individuals who can help with fundraising, community outreach, and website administration. Please contact me at 847-583-5080 or e-mail. FinkRick@Hotmail.com.


If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem, but a fact, not to be solved, but to be coped with over time.
Shimon Perez
NSTA Reports;
February 2009 Vol 20:6

Highlight: What is Prosody?

Many speech challenged children and adults struggle with Prosody. Check out this recent post to learn more about what Prosody is. BTW, my daughter is severely Apraxic and a little Dysarthric so it's hard to tell if she's has Prosody issues as of yet.

Visit: http://leslie4kids.wordpress.com/

Great Blog for Speech Challenged Folks

Check out this blog written from a speech therapist perspective.

Everything you wanted to know about your child's speech and language...from the perspective of a pediatric speech-language therapist.

Visit: http://www.talkingkids.org/

Did you know....

There are over 40 different types of seizure. What seizures look like can vary. For example someone may go ‘blank’ for a couple of seconds, they may wander around and be quite confused, or they may fall to the ground and shake (convulse). So not all seizures involve convulsions.