Schools…
February 28, 2009
It’s clear to me - and most every other parent of a child with autism - that school seems to be the most difficult to navigate. There are so many things to navigate - parenting, friends, treatments, etc, etc. But school seems to be the one area that elludes most parents. I’m dedicating my next several months to explore this issue in great depth. What is the solution and who has it?
Autism insurance parity killed in Committee
February 27, 2009
I am disappointed. I realize this is the worst time to be trying for new legislation. But what is most disappointing is that they did pass through a bill that is more detrimental to families with autism. We had so much support of Shayan’s Law in both House and Senate. To see the competing bill go through, disappointment. I have been disappointed in our public officials for a long time. This just makes it so much more personal. However, I feel more committed now than ever to fight the good fight. And, now that so many autism parents have been organized, we have a strong force to make some things happen for our children. Let’s not lose our momentum. Let’s let our policy makers know how disappointed we are in them and how much we expect them to do the right thing for children with autism!
Seattle Children’s to Acquire AStar
February 26, 2009
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/401455_autism26.html
Seattle Children’s to acquire autism clinic
Last updated February 25, 2009 11:19 p.m. PT
By PAUL NYHAN
P-I REPORTER
Seattle Children’s decided this week to acquire one of the city’s leading autism clinics as part of a broader plan to create a state-of-the-art program dedicated to the mysterious disorder.
The hospital will absorb ASTAR, a 14-person operation that worked with nearly 900 families last year on a $520,000 budget. Despite ASTAR’s clinical success, it was struggling to raise enough money to continue.
Now, the clinic will become part of 4,000-employee Seattle Children’s. The move promises greater financial stability and more services to families who often wait eight months or longer for treatment once their child is diagnosed with autism.
After a diagnosis, families often must navigate a confusing network of therapists, doctors and services spread across the city.
To address that, the hospital plans to create a one-stop program, where families can receive a diagnosis, get treatment and tap into support for parents, siblings and children with autism.
“It demonstrates Seattle Children’s commitment to autism via a program that we hope will be one of the most progressive and comprehensive in the country, combining clinical services and research,” Dr. Bryan King, the hospital’s head of psychiatry and behavioral medicine, said via e-mail.
On a far smaller scale, ASTAR offered extensive treatment for autism for the=2
0last six years. At the slightly run-down clinic, a parent can talk to experts about medical options, what treatments are covered by insurance, school choices and alternative therapies.
“It really helped put all the puzzle pieces together,” said Dr. Sheena Aurora, who took her 4-year-old son Jaideep to the clinic after he was diagnosed with autism last summer. “It was like a one-stop shop for me.”
But it was a small shop run out of an old Taco Del Mar headquarters in South Lake Union. Its workers will now move to the region’s largest children’s hospital in Seattle’s Sandpoint neighborhood, expanding their treatment and fundraising reach.
The decision reflects growing demand for treatment of a puzzling neurological disorder that has no known cause or established cure. Even with the most extensive treatment-and-research autism network in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle can’t keep pace with demand.
That’s because the number of children diagnosed with autism has exploded to 1 in 150 children, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It is going to create something that certainly the Northwest has (never) seen before,” said ASTAR’s head, Dr. Gary Stobbe.
“I think we are going to see some great things come as a result of this move today.”
The details of the new program remain unclear.
Officially, the Seattle Children’s strategic planning group voted to absorb ASTAR’s clinical services on Tuesday.
But the group also voted to move forward with a comprehensive autism program, which coul
d be housed in its own building as early as this summer, Stobbe said.
The new program also plans to offer services through teenage years and into adulthood.
“Above all, it will expand services to a community in great need — long wait times for diagnosis and ongoing treatments, and limited space and funding,” King said.
P-I reporter Paul Nyhan can be reached at 206-448-8145 or paulnyhan@seattlepi.com. Read the Seattle P-I’s parenting blog, Working Dad, at blog.seattlepi.com/family.
© 1998-2009 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Studies on standing
February 25, 2009
Here’s the other article. I know a lot of people with ADHD, Asperger’s, etc. who prefer to stand, walk, pace when they are thinking and learning. These are some of the brightest people I know. And yet, kids in school who stand instead of sitting, get in trouble. Again, we need to re-think the educational environment.
New York Times
February 25, 2009
Students Stand When Called Upon, and When Not
By SUSAN SAULNY
MARINE ON ST. CROIX, Minn. — From the hallway, Abby Brown’s sixth-grade classroom in a little school
here about an hour northeast of Minneapolis has the look of the usual one, with an American flag up front
and children’s colorful artwork decorating the walls.
But inside, an experiment is going on that makes it among the more unorthodox public school classrooms
in the country, and pupils are being studied as much as they are studying. Unlike children almost
everywhere, those in Ms. Brown’s class do not have to sit and be still. Quite the contrary, they may stand
and fidget all class long if they want.
New studies about recess
February 24, 2009
There were a couple of articles in the NYT that I can’t find a link to but can give you the information on the article. I am pleased to see more of this type of research. One day we will hopefully see an education system that allows kids to learn in a more natural and comfortable environment vs. the typically classroom setting we see today.
New York Times
February 24, 2009
WELL
The 3 R’s? A Fourth Is Crucial, Too: Recess
By TARA PARKER-POPE
The best way to improve children’s performance in the classroom may be to take them out of it.
New research suggests that play and down time may be as important to a child’s academic experience as
reading, science and math, and that regular recess, fitness or nature time can influence behavior,
concentration and even grades.
Pride in our school
February 23, 2009
I am so proud of our school. And I can tell they are proud of themselves too for taking a chance on my son and seeing how well he is doing. It really is rewarding to see this. And I’m so glad this school can share in this journey. We are all learning from it and other kids will benefit in the future.
Good description of Aspergers
February 22, 2009
I liked reading this.
http://www.bukisa.com/articles/35536_aspergers-syndrome-the-child-inside-the-syndrome
Quote
February 21, 2009
“For success in science and art, a dash of autism is essential” Hans Asperger
getting the diagnosis 2
February 20, 2009
I read another message from another mom whose son was just diagnosed with aspergers. It was full of the same feelings, experiences:
the evaluation being full of contradictions.. and not-so-thinly veiled criticisms of the parents
allowing herself to mourn.. for the shattered dreams of what his school years would be like
always knowing he was “different” and trying hard to find a progressive environment where that would be accepted, where his strengths would be nurtured, and where he would have safe space for working out his challenges
the no longer believing such a place exists, outside of her own home
the not knowing what to do, stay at the same school and fight, go to a different school and fight
the irony of it all… the mother read everything she could get her hands on about autism, delayed/staggered vaccines out of concerns about the possibility they were a trigger, all organic baby foods, breastfed so he would have all the immune system benefits
the not knowing where to go for help or knowing what help her son even needed
the unknown
getting the diagnosis
February 19, 2009
I was reading a message from a woman today. She was crying as she was writing. She had just received the aspergers diagnosis for her 6 year old son. I remember how that felt. In one sense, you are relieved to have some kind of answer. For us, it was 5 years of telling friends that we have a difficult child, that we can’t go to restaurants, that we can’t go on vacations, etc. like “normal” families can. No one understood us. They thought we were just rigid parents afraid to take our kids anywhere, or parents who were just unprepared for crying babies, get over it. But finally, there is some rationale to it all. However, at the same time, you are dealing with the overwhelming emotions from knowing that your child is not “normal”. Often when your child is just diagnosed, you have no idea what aspergers is. You are told it is on the autism spectrum. You are told he is high functioning. But what does any of that mean? Especially when you are told that he will need special services. Why does he need special services if he’s so high functioning and he’s so smart? It’s all very confusing and overwhelming.
All I can say is my experience with my son has been the most enriching experience of my life. And, I honestly admire my son. I admire my daughter too. But, my daughter is a lot like me. I get her. My son’s brain is so completely opposite mine. He’s fascinating. I wouldn’t change him for anything in the world! The diagnosis of aspergers just helped us to understand, to know he was actually o.k., to help us understand why our job as parents was going to be more difficult than other parents, and to know that was o.k. too.
