Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Autism

And one more...

http://chaoticidealism.livejournal.com/82464.html?view=455968#t455968

Brains and Autism

This is an interesting article that will help those working with autism better understand the way our brains work differently.  Enjoy!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129379866&ft=1&f=100

DIR Floortime Short Introduction

Temple Grandin: The World Needs All Kinds of Minds

So, for those of you who work with kids with Autism or other Special Needs, this is a fantastic insight to the way they may be viewing the world. This is a clip from a woman who has Autism named Temple Grandin and she does a fantastic job explaining the way unique thinking and perspective in the world can result in some amazing products. It's a great reminder to me that even when the world is different than I see it to someone else, it can all result in wonderful things if I'm patient, perceptive and willing to merge my ideas with those of another. Enjoy!

Multi Sensory Integration

Thought this was a fun and interesting little article about how kids with autism may process sensory information.  Enjoy!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100819173840.htm

Anxiety

Check out this awesome site on childhood anxiety!  Very informative...

http://www.childanxiety.net/Fears_Phobias_Anxiety.htm

Climbing the Symbolic Ladder

This, my friends, is one of the most wonderful things I have EVER read.  It applies to all kiddos anywhere.  I LOVE the way it helps me know, concretely, things that I can do in thinking about helping symbolic development as well as why it is so important.  It's a pdf, so even if you don't have time to read it now, go and save it, print it out and put it in your car to read pieces when you can...

ENJOY!


http://hss.state.ak.us/ocs/ECCS/pdf/ClimbingtheSymbolicLadder.pdf

7 Easy Ways to Help a Family Diagnosed With Autism

I thought this article was phenomenal.  So many things we can do to support and love each other in ways that are effective and wonderful.  Spread the word!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elaine-hall/living-with-autism-7-easy_b_681033.html

The Race

"Quit, give up, you're beaten"
They shout at you and plead
"There's just too much against you
This time you can't succeed".

And as I start to hang my head
In front of failures face
My downward fall is broken by
The memory of a race

And hope refills my weakened will
As I recall that scene
Or just the thought of that short race
Rejuvenates my being

Childrens race, young boys
Young men, how I remember well
Excitement sure, but also fear
It wasn't hard to tell

They all lined up so full of hope
Each thought to win that race
Or tie for first, or if not that
At least take second place

The fathers watched from off the side
Each cheering for his son
And each boy hoped to show his dad
That he could be the one

The whistle blew and off they went
Young hearts and hopes afire
To win and be the hero there
Was each young boys desire

And one boy in particular
Whose dad was in the crowd
Was running near the lead and thought
"My dad will be so proud"

But as they speeded down the field
Across a shallow dip
The little boy who thought to win
Lost his step and slipped

Trying hard to catch himself
With hands flew out to brace
And amid the laughter of the crowd
He fell flat on his face

But as he fell his dad stood up
And showed his anxious face
Which to the boy so clearly said
"Get up and win the race"

He quickly rose, no damage done
Behind a bit that's all
And ran with all his night and mind
To make up for the fall

So anxious to restore himself
To catch up and to win
His mind went faster than his legs
He slipped and fell again

He wised then that he had quit before
With only one disgrace
"I'm hopeless as a runner now
I shouldn't try to race"

But in the laughing crowd he searched
And found his fathers face
That steady look which said again
"Get up and win the race"

So up he jumped to try again
Ten yards behind the last
If I'm going to gain those yards he though
I've got to move real fast

Exerting everything he had
He regained eight or ten
But trying hard to catch the lead
He slipped and fell again

Defeat, he lay there silently
A tear dropped from his eye
There's no sense running anymore
Three strikes, I'm out, why try?

The will to rise had disappeared
All hope had fled away
So far behind so error prone
A loser all the way

"I've lost, so what", he thought
I'll live with my disgrace
But then he thought about his dad
Whom soon he'd have to face

"Get up" the echo sounded low
"Get up" and take your place
You were not meant for failure here
"Get up", and win the race

With borrowed will "Get up" it said
"You haven't lost at all"
For winning is no more than this
To rise each time you fall

So up he rose to run once more
And with a new commit
He resolved, that win or lose
At least he shouldn't quit

So far behind the others now
The most he'd ever been
Still he'd give it all he had
And run as though to win

Three times he'd fallen, stumbling
Three times he'd rose again
Too far behind to hope to win
He still ran to the end

They cheered the winning runner
As he crossed the line first place
Head high and proud and happy
No falling, no disgrace

But when the fallen youngster
Crossed the line, last place
The crowd gave him the greater cheer
For finishing the race

And even though he came in last
With head bent low, unproud
You would have thought he'd won the race
To listen to the crowd

And to his dad he sadly said
"I didn't do too well"
"To me you won", his father said
"You rose each time you fell" 

by D. H. Groberg

A Stinging Realization

This little true story was written by a parent at Clear Horizons Academy and to me illustrates many wonderful points in working with our kiddos. Thank you for sharing with us!

It was late in the afternoon on Mother's Day and I had happily accepted my husband and son's offer to take some time to relax and read. I was deep into my book when I heard a mumbled conversation grow louder and clearer.

"What should we do?" " I know, I have an idea." I could hear some noises in the kitchen and then I heard my husband describe to my son how he intended to capture the yellow jacket, that had somehow gotten into our living room, with a cooking pot and cover it with a book so that he could proceed to let it go outside. A few silent seconds went by and then I heard screaming.

"No." "Why did you kill him?" "I love all animals even the ones with stingers and I will never ever ever forgive you."  My husband had accidentally put the book down over the yellow jacket and its broken body lay squirming in the pot. "I will never forgive you - I love all animals..."

Because my son processes the goings-on around him verbally, he continued to scream out these words over and over.

At this point I had already been present for a few minutes and my son started to regulate enough to go on. In a sweet sobbing voice he said: "But you didn't even listen to my idea." In unison, my husband and I asked him what his idea was and what he shared was one of the most beautiful ideas I've ever heard.

"My idea was to pick a flower so that the bee would land on it because bees like nectar."

So often - in situations that aren't nearly as intense - we as adults problem-solve in such an efficient manner that we don't even take time to listen to our children's ideas.

Later, my son started to talk about an ant that he too had killed just the day before. "My finger was too heavy and it died." He said that later he had said a little prayer for the ant. As he processed his own guilt for having squished the tiny ant, he was able to apply these feelings to the guilt my husband felt. And then it hit me, my son was beginning to demonstrate "Theory of Mind," or the ability to begin to apply his own feelings to another person, to empathize.

And so, I too, will say a little prayer for the yellow jacket that lost its life on Mother's Day - and, in honor of that life, I will try to keep in mind that sometimes the simple beauty of a flower can not only preserve, but change a life.

Stanley Greenspan and CNN

LOVED this clip! Some GOOD training that has concrete ideas on how to work with some of our kiddos. Enjoy!

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/05/10/stanley.greenspan.autism/

What is Sensory Processing Disorder?

The Peripheral Side-Ways Stare

Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. The "I'm only gonna look at you out of the side of my eye and it's gonna have to count today, 'cause straight on makes me run away" look. It's that cock my head, close one eye and see from the sideways peripheral view what I'm looking at today. I just learned why that is. Ready?

"They may also help us understand why many children with ASD use peripheral vision (they don't look directly at caregivers but seem to look from the side) rather than central vision to scan their environments.The neuroanatomy of the visual tracks is such that peripheral vision requires only one hemisphere [of the brain], the left or right one, to function. Central vision, however, requires that both hemispheres function together (because some of the pathways cross over and others do not)" (The First Idea, by Stanley Greenspan, page 308).

I just that was so cool! Enjoy!