Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!!!!
If any of you are in the NY area – this is one of my favorites…. they have a special needs program called REACH … one that I don’t think you can beat…. My personal opinion of the staff is rather high – and for anyone who knows me – they know that is no easy achievement!http://hofstra.edu/Academics/CCEPA/SC/spec/spec_reach.html
Camp fun!
Call them at 516-463-CAMP – honestly you will love them
Sharing with you a new link that was posted today…
It was very touching to me and made my day …. knowing that I had made a difference….
http://autisminautumn.com/home/watch-me-learn.html
Today is a day of glory for us – a day of celebrating success achieved over a course of 9 years. For the past 9 years, we have tirelessly worked at teaching my son language, motor skills, attention skills, social skills, life skills and much much more. Those 9 years of teaching were also coupled with researching and implementing medical treatments for the many medical conditions that are a part of autism.
There were many professionals from various fields who said it couldn’t be done. This post is being written for those of you out there who hopefully doubt the nay-sayers and for those of you who have a nagging feeling in your gut that is telling you that the professionals may not have all of the answers and that you may some of the answers yourself. This story of a child’s accomplishments serves the purpose of stirring those gut feelings and encouraging you to follow your gut!
By the age of 4 1/2, three different doctors affiliated with three very reputable institutions advised me that my son’s condition would not change and simply encouraged me to accept his condition and to be realistic about his not so optimistic future.
Yesterday at Indiana University, Brett tool 3rd place in the one meter and three meter events at AAU Diving Nationals for 11 year old boys. A far cry from the institutional life he was slotted for! While his dives were beautiful and 3rd place was a huge accomplishment, it paled in comparison to the real life social skills that Brett demonstrated. There was probably not one single person in the acquatic center that understood what huge accomplishments were taking place right before their very eyes….Brett introducing himself to a peer and shaking hands, waving to the crowd when he was introduced, attending to his coach’s instructions, accepting scores that were lower than what he deserved, and on goes the list.
Brett’s performance yesterday was more like a “coming out” ceremony…. or more appropriately phrased, a “coming together” of thousands of hours of social skill training.
The last nine years have led me down paths that were down right terrifying – but along the way, I met many supporters who encouraged me to follow my mother’s intuition which ultimately led us down a path of success. Today I can say to you that every single minute of our work has been worth it. There is truly nothing more priceless than seeing my son filled with self-esteem and excelling in a very demanding event.
Today I witnessed self esteem and true confidence in my son….. how lucky am I? It didn’t start out this way though…. it started by unrolling his tightly curled finger to teach him how to point… When he learned that, I taught him how to clap and just kept going. Each and every accomplishment was treated with praise…. and the words “You DID IT!” were heard over and over.
Every single accomplishment from the first finger point to a reverse flip dive is one more accomplishment under his belt. There will be many more…. after all, Rome was not built in a day.
Follow your gut….and praise every little accomplishment no matter how small. Small accomplishments and self esteem are the building blocks what lies ahead!
For diving videos – a great video modeling for Brett, click here to see Greg Louganis
http://www.divingtube.com/index.php/View-Video/184/Greg-Louganis-GREATEST-DIVER-EVER.html
For information on Video modeling and teaching social skills, click here
http://www.watchmelearn.com/video-based-teaching.shtml
I’ve had moments over the past few years when I’ve been VERY frustrated with school personnel over various issues to do with my daughter’s IEP. More recently, perhaps as a result of my own progress as a parent advocate, these moments are less frequent. It is still never easy to approach a PPT meeting without a me versus them attitude.
I have a friend who is known to be an outstanding educator in her district–one of the best. She is a 2nd grade, general education teacher. She also has 2 autistic children in her class this year. I know first hand how dedicated she is to her profession, but she is frustrated. And, I can’t blame her. She said these two students were placed in her classroom because of the administration’s belief that she would be the most capable of the 2nd grade team of teachers in her school to ‘handle’ autism. Hmmmmm….handle autism……? Obviously, the principal doesn’t know what she doesn’t know. Too late. Too late for the kids. Too late for my friend.
Through tears, she told me about how excited she was at the beginning of the year. She spent hours on the internet, searching behavior strategies for autism, teaching students with aspergers, teaching social skills in school ….and more. She came to school each day, armed with an all new strategy to teach these kids with autism. No aide. No curriculum. No help. Just…..handle.
Last week, the principal decided to send a special ed aide from another class (assigned to a child with Down’s syndrome) to ‘handle’ the situation. When I asked my friend what the aide might know about autism, she said, ‘nothing.’ So, it won’t surprise you to know that her ’strategy’ was to put one of the autistic students, a boy, into the teacher’s supply closet when he became agitated.
To my friend’s credit, she refused to allow this and has determined that she, and these two boys she so desperately wants to help, are better off in her classroom without the help of anyone else.
My question…..where are these boys parents? Where is the principal? Where is the legislation? What must this come to? How many more teachers will be left with no training, no budget, no solutions? How many more children will pay a life long price for senseless irresponsibility?
I know there are some success stories out there. Hat’s off to cutting-edged administrators whose vision, common sense, and denial of the status quo have won out. We need more of you!
