Autism and the Holidays… « Lisa Ackerman – Real Help Now

Autism and the Holidays… « Lisa Ackerman – Real Help Now

Autism is isolating by its very nature. Autism isolates children from their families, their siblings, their peers and their world. Autism isolates siblings from friends, communities. Autism isolates parents from their children, their work, their friends and their money. Autism isolates. Perhaps at no other time in the year is it felt as severely as during the holidays. Nostalgia is brutal.

Ramblings of a Stone Age Queen: Taboos, of autism and parenting

Ramblings of a Stone Age Queen: Taboos, of autism and parenting

I have had a particularly difficult weekend with my autistic daughter, and it occurred to me that there are some things that only other parents of children with autism understand properly. But even then, there are things which are left unsaid, because we are too scared that we will end up facing criticism, or worse, social services involvement. But if we aren't honest about what is going on, we carry on suffering in silence, convinced that we are the worst parents and that we will be hated and reviled if we dared to speak of our deepest fears.

On Saturday night, daughter had a major meltdown. She became so upset and confused that she attacked me, lunging forward and clawing at me, and she spent over and hour screaming blue murder. I have no idea what the neighbours must have thought, she sounded like she was being brutally tortured. The fact is, this hideous scenario occurred because she wouldn't go in the bath, then when I said it was time for bed, she wanted to go in the bath, but it was too late. Perhaps I should have given in and bathed her anyway, but it's all part of her needing to learn flexibility, that she can't always have her way, and besides, I was exhausted already and needed to go to bed myself.

More @ http://ramblingsofastoneagequeen.blogspot.com/2011/11/taboos-of-autism-and-parenting.html

Autistic versus Person with Autism, etc.

The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism: Person-First Language: Why It Matters (The Significance of Semantics)

Residential Opportunities Inc. to begin work on new autism center | MLive.com

Residential Opportunities Inc. to begin work on new autism center | MLive.com

KALAMAZOO — Parents in America today face a number of challenges in raising the nation’s next generation, having to balance increasingly demanding work schedules with children who, in the age of smartphones and iPads, are both perpetually connected and distracted.

However, these concerns pale in the face of families who have children affected with severe autism, said Scott Schrum, a longtime expert in special education and mental health.

“You take a child with a disability and you plop them in the middle of a family structure, those families literally get destroyed. That child with a disability is so time consuming for a mom and dad that their other kids get ignored, out of necessity,” he said. “Parents get divorced because the stress. Families break up because of the stress.”

Schrum and his colleagues are looking to provide a helping hand for both autistic children and their families. Help will soon arrive in Kalamazoo, in the form of the Great Lakes Center for Autism Treatment and Research. The center is due to be opened in July 2012 at the former Moose Lodge on Portage Road.

More @ http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/11/residential_opportunities_unli.html

Find an App for Autism (SNApps4Kids.com)

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