A second chance at resolutions — tell us yours!

by Beth Finke

If you’re all bummed out that you’ve broken your New Year’s resolutions already, I’ve got good news: You have another chance!

February 14 was not only Valentine’s Day this year, it was also the beginning of Chinese New Year. The Year of the Tiger gives us all a chance to make resolutions all over again. And if you’re looking for ideas for new resolutions, I have some suggestions. Or, I should say, our Easter Seals email newsletter readers have some suggestions.

Back in January we asked our email readers to “resolve to act” and tell us how they planned to help children and adults with autism and other disabilities this year. Would they choose to volunteer in their communities? Speak out for better state and federal policies? Help in another way? Here are some of their responses:

“My time will be focused on improving awareness of the needs of people with autism in the central Texas/greater Austin area especially in the areas of employment, housing and community integration.” – Supporter in Texas

“Using peers (other people with disabilities), we will implement a program to provide guided assistance for people with multiple/severe disabilities as they use transit buses to their employment sites. The goal is to provide reliable transportation for these individuals, opening options for customized community employment, and giving them some freedom and independence in their lives.”
– Supporter in Nevada

“I want to get the word out that children with Autism aren’t ‘weird’ or ‘slow,’ and they can do what ‘normal’ kids do if you believe in them!”
– Supporter in New Hampshire

“Starting a Social thinking/skills group with a sensory piece for children with Autism. Continuing to advocate for all children/young adults with special needs.”
– Supporter in Connecticut

“I resolve to continue to dedicate myself to integrating my autistic child into the mainstream world, establishing a solid healthy foundation for him and his sisters.”
– Supporter in New Jersey

How about you out there? Are you making progress on the resolutions you set in January? Or if you’re thinking about taking advantage of this second chance at a resolution, what might it be? Feel free to leave comments — we’re all ears!

Show your support and get Valentine’s cards

by Beth Finke

Finished shoveling? Your street got plowed? Quick! Head over to Friendly’s before it starts snowing again!

This Saturday is your last chance to support Easter Seals Camp Friendly’s programs for kids at any Friendly’s Restaurant and be rewarded with a sheet of Valentine Cards. The Valentine Cards can be redeemed at Friendly’s for 5 free Kids Cones and $5 off any $25 purchase.

Funds raised in Friendly’s Cones for Kids program support Easter Seals Camp Friendly’s programs in 26 different locations up and down the East Coast. So put down the shovels, turn off the snow blower and go ahead and enjoy some ice cream at a Friendly’s restaurant near you. If you and your family manage a visit to Friendly’s before Sunday you can help support essential disability Camp programs in your community while you shake that cabin fever.

Shop at Food Lion, save money, and help Easter Seals

by Beth Finke

You Food Lion customers sure are a generous bunch! For four weeks last year, cashiers at Food Lion and its associate stores asked customers to join them in supporting Easter Seals with a $1.00 donation at checkout time. in those short four weeks, Food Lion’s Shop&Care campaign raised, get this, more than three million dollars to help children receiving Easter Seals services.

This year’s Shop&Care campaign starts this Wednesday, February 10, and Food Lion hopes to raise the bar even higher to help children with autism and other disabilities get a healthy start. From February 10 until March 9, cashiers at Food lion, Bloom, Bottom Dollar Food and Reid’s will be asking customers to join them in supporting Easter Seals by giving a donation at checkout — donate $1.00 and then you can write your name on an Easter Seals Shop&Care Hang Tag.

Some other ways you can support the program while you’re shopping:

• Food Lion will donate $0.25 for every 24-pack of Food Lion water purchased during the campaign.
• Procter & Gamble will donate $0.05 for every specially-marked Pringles potato chips purchased.

And how cool is this? If you redeem money-saving coupons from Kraft, Kraft will donate $0.25 to Easter Seals for every coupon redeemed. You’ll be helping people with autism and other disabilities, and saving money at the same time!

In 19 consecutive years of supporting Easter Seals, Food Lion has raised more than $21 million to help individuals with autism, developmental disabilities and other special needs. Easter Seals is proud to partner with Food Lion to support services that offer help, hope and answers to these individuals and their families.

Sending heartfelt help to Haiti

by Maurice Snell

Over the past few weeks, there have been many entertainers from television, music industry and political figures urging those to donate to the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. As of right now, millions of Americans have answered Haiti’s call, contributing to service agencies and families.

Meanwhile at the Therapeutic School and Center for Autism Research, staff and students are helping to personally contribute to Haitian Relief. Students from different classrooms have been collecting various non-perishable items such as food, clothing and money. Some of the students’ parents also plan to personally contribute to Haitian Relief. All of the proceeds will be given to the American Red Cross, which is accepting donations through its International Response Fund.

With Valentine’s Day occurring in February, and February being Black History Month, we thought it was fitting to use the month of February to pay tribute to Haitians and show love to the people who live there.

Temple Grandin premieres this weekend on HBO

by Beth Finke

Already, people across America are preparing for the big show this weekend, gathering up snacks and cold beverages, grocery shopping for chili ingredients, making sure their TV screens are big enough to catch all of the action.

Football game? What football game? I’m not talking about the Super Bowl! I’m talking about the premiere of the film Temple Grandin on HBO this Saturday night!

Temple Grandin is a highly successful doctor of animal sciences, an internationally renowned autism advocate, and a best-selling author. Heather Pint published a book review here of Temple Grandin’s memoir, Thinking in Pictures: and Other Reports from My Life with Autism, and the book is available through our Easter Seals and Autism bookstore.

The movie will cover Grandin’s early years, which Pint’s book review described as isolating, particularly since autism spectrum disorders were fairly unknown at the time. The synopsis on HBO’s web site describes the film like this:

“Temple Grandin” paints a picture of a young woman’s perseverance and determination while struggling with the isolating challenges of autism.

Temple Grandin Premieres Saturday, February 6th at 8PM (ET/PT)., and Claire Danes will star in the leading role. It sure will be interesting to see if this actress who won awards for portraying a teenager in My So-Called Life has grown up enough to play someone bigger than life, like Temple Grandin.

Autism community forum in Oakland, CA

by Matt McAlear

If you read Patricia Wright’s blog post last week, you know that we’re hosting an Autism Community Forum in Oakland this Friday. We are really looking forward to the event, which will highlight evidence-based practice treatment strategies for children with autism.

The response to our event has been overwhelmingly positive! For more information about the community forum visit the Easter Seals Bay Area Web site. And for anyone out there not able to attend, all of the conference materials will soon be available on our Web site.

That’s all for now — I have to go help get things ready for the conference!

Thanks to your comments, a new respite program is born

by Bob Glowacki

In my blog post last week I asked for ideas of services you’d like for your loved ones with autism. The post got a lot of comments, and I am sharing them with our leadership team.

I wanted to let you know that already, as a result of some of your comments, I have approved a new respite training program focused just on working with children and adults on the spectrum, called the Give Me A Break program. In partnership with the Autism Society of Southeast Wisconsin and the Respite Association, Easter Seals Southeast Wisconsin will devote over $10,000 of Easter Seals’ resources to make this program a reality in Wisconsin by the middle of 2010.

Thank you for your heartfelt comments, and please keep them coming. Your suggestions and ideas are very helpful to us as we gather to discuss Easter Seals Southeastern Wisconsin’s current status as an organization, survey our community for unmet needs and develop plans for service expansion.

Bay Area to host Autism Community Forum

by Patricia Wright

San Francisco, here I come!

Okay, really, I am going to be in Oakland. But that is so close! I lived in the Bay Area for almost ten years and, much like Tony Bennett, I left (at least a bit of) my heart there.

But next week I’ll be back. Easter Seals Bay Area is hosting a community autism event on February 5 to highlight evidence-based practice treatment strategies for children with autism, and I’m really looking forward to it.

One of the delightful things about this forum is that it will gather multiple community organizations, and we’ll all be there to share information and ideas. Nobody can meet the growing needs of individuals with autism alone, we must work together. Professionals from UCSF Autism Clinic will be at the forum, and professionals from the M.I.N.D. Institute are coming too. The health-related policy consultant for California’s Senate President pro Tem will also be in the mix.

Interest is high for the Easter Seals Bay Area Autism Community Forum. In fact, the forum is sold out: all three hundred available seats have been taken. This is testimony of the desire for quality information on the topic of autism. How wonderful that this is an inclusive event, drawing experts from the local community to meet the incredible needs of individuals with autism.

Happy Birthday, dear Bubble Wrap

by Beth Finke

You spent yesterday celebrating the 50th anniversary of the invention of Bubble Wrap, right? I sure did! Fifty years! It’s a momentous occasion.

Here at the Easter Seals and Autism Blog, we love Bubble Wrap. Two years ago our Celebrating Bubble Wrap post referred to an Autism Vox post by Kristina Chew. In her post, Chew wrote that her son Charlie, who has autism, “took a liking to bubble wrap a few years ago.”

He had long showed more interest in the ribbons and wrapping paper than in the actual presents themselves, no matter how elaborate a Playmobil set was concealed inside. Popping the plastic bubbles seemed to provide a sensory experience in several ways: Charlie could feel the thin plastic flattening beneath his fingers, and he could hear the effects: Pop, pop!

Comments to that post told us that Charlie is not alone. Lots of kids — and adults — who have autism enjoy Bubble Wrap. Further research back then revealed that Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day was just around the corner. Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day is the day Sealed Air Corporation (creator of Bubble Wrap) announces the grand prize winner of its annual “Bubble Wrap Competition for Young Inventors.” Among the 15 semi-finalists that year was a 13-year-old girl who had designed bubble wrap wallpaper to engage and stimulate children with autism. Hannah Haas described her sensory wallpaper like this:

Wallpaper designed to engage and stimulate children with autism through the combination of a textured bubble surface containing large and small bubbles, and a calming, blue wallpaper background.

You can watch a video about Hannah’s invention via MPG format or in Flash format.

When we found out that Hannah Haas was the grand prize winner, we published a post here encouraging everyone to Pop the cork … and the bubble wrap! Autism wallpaper wins!

And then, Just last month around holiday time, we published a post about engaging children with autism in play. Needless to say, the long list of ways to play included a line about Bubble Wrap.

Let your child pop the bubbles on bubble wrap using his hands, fingers and feet.

Happy Birthday, Bubble Wrap!

Tell us — what autism services do you need?

by Bob Glowacki

Here at Easter Seals Southeast Wisconsin we gather annually to discuss our current status as an organization, survey our community for unmet needs and develop plans for service expansion. This is a key dialogue within our agency management team. These discussions lead to new services — our Kenosha Adult Day Services program that opened in 2009 and our Autism services that will begin serving two children in one week through our new Applied Behavioral Analysis program are both results of the discussions we had last year. And this year is special: our recent merger with Waukesha Training Center means we now offer job placement and work opportunities.

Unfortunately, many times, with all we have going on and the limited resources of a non-profit, this is an internal discussion that carries our own thoughts, prejudices and personal interests. This blog allows me to reach beyond our walls and even our state to solicit ideas for services that can support individuals and families.

As a parent, family member or caregiver of someone living with autism or another disability, what are the needs you see in your area? What are some great programs or services we might consider bringing to Wisconsin? What programs or services are needed, not just for children, but adults?

Trust me, your input will be shared with a very talented, mission-driven team that will find a way to make it happen. Our team delivers. That’s why we feel fortunate to work at Easter Seals!