American Library Association honors autism books for kids

by Beth Finke

Two children’s books about autism are included on a new American Library Association list of “outstanding books that portray emotional, mental, or physical disability experiences.” Here’s how the American Library Association describes the two books about autism on the list:

Choldenko, Gennifer. Al Capone Does My Shirts. Putnam’s Sons, 2004.
Twelve-year-old Moose Flanagan moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when his father takes a job at the maximum-security prison there. Moose struggles to make friends while taking care of Natalie, his older autistic sister, and their mother unrealistically tries to have Natalie accepted at a special school. For grades 5 to 8. Newbery Honor book, 2005.

Lord, Cynthia. Rules. Scholastic Press, 2006.
Sometimes twelve-year-old Catherine resents her brother David, who is autistic, breaks all the rules, and gets all her parents’ attention. Then she meets Jason, a teenage nonverbal paraplegic, at David’s therapy center. As the two become friends, Catherine realizes that accepting differences matters more than any rules. For grades 5 to 8. Schneider Family Book Award, 2007.

You might wonder how I learned about this American Library Association list in the first place. Well, I must confess, one of the books listed caught my eye. Or better put, it caught my ear:

Finke, Beth. Hanni and Beth: Safe and Sound. Blue Marlin, 2007.
Seeing Eye dog Hanni describes her routine duties to guide and protect her partner Beth, a woman who is blind. Both Hanni and Beth provide personal notes about their background. For kindergarten to grade 3. ASPCA award.

All three of these books are available at the Easter Seals and Autism Bookstore link on our autism Web site – the online bookstore features books reviewed on this blog, and every time you order a book through our bookstore, a portion of that sale goes to Easter Seals.

Happy reading!

Let people know about our autism services: Send an eCard

by Beth Finke

If you keep track of this blog, you already know that Easter Seals is the leading provider of services for people with autism. In fact, Easter Seals has been the leading provider of disability services for nearly 90 years.

The need for services continues to grow. That’s why I hope you’ll send a free lily eCard to your family and friends — the card will not only spread the joy of spring, but also help spread the word to your family and friends about all the great work Easter Seals does.

Easter Seals created these free eCards with beautiful images of lilies — a symbol of spring. You can choose from six versions-each version features the same original artwork used on the 2009 printed seal stamps (it’s those stamps, or “seals,” that give our organization its name).

Millions of people live with disabilities, and that number increases every day. Sending an eCard to friends and family is an easy, quick way of letting others know about the services Easter Seals provides.

Robots could help people with autism

by Beth Finke

A story in this week’s Washington Post describes a new generation of service robots that can provide therapy, coaching and monitoring for people with disabilities. Among the early successes of these “socially assistive machines” are robots that might help children with autism. The story says that researchers first need to determine what these socially assistive robots can do for children with autism, and then also consider how the machines should look. 

Machines that are almost, but not quite, like a person are worse than those that are either completely humanlike or a bit further away,” Simmons says. 

That’s particularly true of robots designed to work with children with autism, who want something decidedly machinelike. Kaspar, for example, a diminutive robot being tested with children with autism in the United Kingdom, has a minimally expressive face and wires sticking out of its neck and wrists to make it clear to the kids that they’re playing with a robot. “We tested another robot that looked like a doll with eyelashes and color on its lips, and the children didn’t like that one as much at first,” says Dautenhahn, who headed the team that created Kaspar. 

Certainly no one would mistake CosmoBot, a 16-inch-tall robot designed by AnthroTronix, an engineering company in Silver Spring, for a person. And that seems to suit Libby, a 6-year-old with autism, just fine. Before being introduced to CosmoBot, Libby couldn’t imitate even the most basic actions. But after several weeks of playing with the robot, she was mirroring its motions as it led her through a Simon-says game of raising her arms, patting her head and clapping. 

“Her mother and the professionals who saw this were in tears,” says Carole Samango-Sprouse, director of the Neurodevelopmental Diagnostic Center for Young Children at George Washington University. “It was incredibly encouraging that the robot, through repetition and predictable behavior, was successful in getting her to perform the motions she had seen adults doing for years.”

 

The story ends with a conclusion we hear again and again about opportunities (health insurance, education, funding) for people with autism. Children and the elderly get attention, but what about  working-age adults?

“Older children who are autistic or in wheelchairs grow up to be adults with those disabilities. I’m waiting for others to identify those needs so we can analyze how robots can help.”

 

Accessing stimulus funding if you’re not on public aid

by Katy Beh Neas

A comment to our post called The stimulus plan: what’s in it for people with autism? prompted me to write more on this issue, because it’s an impoirtant one. The person who commented asked whether parents can access economic recovery funds if their children do not receive Medicaid or Social Security benefits.

The details of how states are going to allocate the economic recovery funds are just now coming out. That means that now is a perfect time for parents to identify the needs of their children and find out if these needs can be met with these funds.

For example, states are getting a significant amount of funds to support special education. School districts will be the recipient of the bulk of these funds. So if your child could benefit from a piece of assistive technology — or a teacher needs additional training to meetyour child’s needs — now is the time to push these ideas.

You can start by talking with your child’s teachers and principal. These new funding increases are a response to long-time demands — by teachers unions, school boards and others — to have Washington fully finance the mandates laid out in the federal law regulating special education.

Living with Autism Study dispels divorce myth?

by Beth Finke

The Easter Seals Living with Autism Study was mentioned in a post on the Left Brain/Right Brain blog last week. The post was titled “Divorce and Autism,” and quoted from different blogs that had pondered the divorce rate among couples who have a child (or children) on the autism spectrum.

Easter Seals (in conjunction with the Autism Society of America) did look at the question (quite recently I might add: July, 2008 — Report Published in December, 2008) as part of a larger “Living With Autism” study.

Using our Easter Seals Living with Autism Study as a reference, the Left Brain/Right Brain post determined that reports of a high divorce rate among families with autism are “urban legends.” The post encouraged readers to download the Easter Seals Living with Autism Study to see the results for themselves.

Third time’s the charm: Extreme Makeover this Sunday

by Beth Finke

Remember our blog post last March about the Extreme Home Makeover show? Back then, actress Marlee Matlin had appeared on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to present a $50,000 college scholarship to Stefan Vardon. Stefan’s parents are both deaf and his younger brother has autism. Matlin is an amazing advocate for people with disabilities and is an Easter Seals Honorary Board Member.

And then, just two months ago, another member of our Easter Seals family was featured on an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition episode. Eight-year-old Jake Grys has brittle bone disease and receives services at Easter Seals Peoria-Bloomington. One of Jake’s therapists at Easter Seals is Angie DeLost. Angie nominated the Grys family, and on January 11 they were featured on the popular ABC show.

And now a third member of the Easter Seals family will be featured on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. This Sunday, Easter Seals 2005 National Adult Representative MaryAnn Riojas and her family will tell their remarkable story and tour their new beautiful and accessible home in Fresno, California. Easter Seals first approached the popular program about building a home for MaryAnn and her family a few years ago and our persistence paid off!

Born without legs and only one fully developed arm, MaryAnn spent her childhood in foster care, moving from one family to the next. When MaryAnn was 5, Easter Seals provided her with her first wheel chair. Shortly after, she enrolled in swimming lessons through Easter Seals and attended Easter Seals camp. As an adult, MaryAnn worked for Easter Seals Central California’s Child Development Center. In her role as Easter Seals National Adult Representative, MaryAnn and her family traveled the country, sharing their story with our many volunteers, donors, corporate partners, staff and other families.

CVS Caremark, a national advertiser of the show, engaged their associates in helping to renovate the Riojas home and took the opportunity to make a $25,000 commitment to Easter Seals Central California in MaryAnn’s name. Funds will be used to support Easter Seals’ Fresno-based Child Development Center and introduce a lily garden at the Center. This is the second time that CVS used their support of the show to benefit Easter Seals. Last year, when the Vardon family in Alabama received a Home makeover, CVS committed $25,000 to Easter Seals to introduce a literacy center in the family’s name.

Extreme Home Makeover improves the lives of deserving families across the country through the generosity of thousands of volunteers. All materials and labor are donated for every house that is built. Easter Seals has long known the power of its volunteers, and watching this show reinforces in a meaningful way the lesson that Easter Seals volunteers have demonstrated for years — together, we can accomplish great things.

Showtime! Movie screenings for families with autism

by Beth Finke

A year and a half ago, I published a post here called Autism-friendly screening: Harry Potter. The post talked about changes a theatre in Nottingham, England had made to help patrons feel more comfortable at a screening there.

“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” will air in a special “autism-friendly” setting at Broadway Cinema in Nottingham today at 1:00 p.m.

Sponsored by the Prince of Wales Arts & Kids Foundation, the film will be shown at a lower volume and with the lights turned on in the theatre during the movie. Broadway Cinema assures guests that they can move around and make noise during the show without being reprimanded.

And now, good news! The British Invasion has finally come to America, this time in the form of autism-friendly screenings! An article in the San Bernardino County Sun last week reported that — thanks in part to our friends at the Autism Society of America — autism-friendly screenings have started in California

The Autism Society of America and AMC Entertainment recently launched “Sensory Friendly Films,” a monthly series for families dealing with these issues. The series gives the families with autistic children an opportunity to enjoy movies like “Bedtime Stories,” “Hotel for Dogs” and “Race to Witch Mountain” with the sound reduced and the lights turned up just a touch, so those with sensory disorders can be more comfortable.

Couple with autism featured on Good Morning America

by Beth Finke

Here’s a follow up to Patricia Wright’s Autism, adulthood … and love post — you know, the one about the two young people with autism who fell in love and were featured in a Glamour Magazine article.

Well, that article must have caught somebody’s attention at ABC TV — after the magazine came out, David Hamrick, 29, and Lindsey Nebeker, 27, were invited to appear in a story on ABC’s Good Morning America.

Despite their difficulties, they both kept trying to reach out and connect with others. Nebeker learned to make friends by reading Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” Hamrick had tried to untangle the rules of dating by reading self-help books.

Apparently, all that reading was worth it. The Good Morning America feature said that the couple met at an autism conference in 2005, became friends, and eventually did the “impossible.” They fell in love.

Ask Congress to improve services for people living with autism

by Beth Finke

Right now, lawmakers in Washington are working on critical autism legislation. Who better than us to help them understand how vital this issue is? Congress votes on autism legislation in early March, and our online form makes it easy to send an email to your representative and senators. Tell them that in order to help the children and adults living with autism live better lives, autism legislation must include:

• Increased research funding for autism intervention and services.
• Expansion of health insurance to cover vital autism-related services.
• Establishment of a National Autism Family Resource and Information Center, to provide families with accurate, trustworthy information about intervention and other services.

Send an email this weekend! Together, we can improve services for children and adults living with autism.

What can we do? How Easter Seals North Texas responded to budget cut threat

by Jennifer Friesen

Easter Seals North Texas has an Autism Treatment Program (ATP) that is primarily funded through a $1.25 million grant contract with the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS).

In 2008, we, along with three other service providers in Texas, received the funding to provide applied behavioral analysis (ABA) services to children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The funding was supposed to continue through August 2009, but on February 10 our affiliate received a phone call from DARS stating that Governor Perry had asked all state departments to cut at least 2.5% of the budget for the current fiscal year. We were told that the ABA funding for autism was potentially going to be cut entirely, effective March 31, 2009 — five months prior to the anticipated end date.

We knew that if this cut was approved by the Texas Senate Finance Committee, it could have potentially devastating results — not just to our budget and staff, but more importantly to our clients.

So when we got this news, our team took immediate action. We contacted staff at Easter Seals Headquarters, CEOs of the other Easter Seals Affiliates in Texas, our local Autism Society of America chapter, and our contacts at the University of North Texas (UNT)
— we collaborate with UNT for our Autism Treatment Program. Our team also initiated contact with the other three service providers that would be affected by this cut.

When Easter Seals North Texas management team members informed the staff, their first question was, “what can we do?” When staff informed our clients’ parents, their first question was also, “what can we do?”

Our team organized a letter-writing campaign. We provided contact information for the members on the Texas Senate Finance Committee and helped letter-writers send their messages to each committee member. Our families wrote dozens of personal, heartfelt letters to members of the Texas Senate Finance Committee.

Additionally, I travelled with Monica Prather, ESNT President and CEO, over to Austin. Five families came along with us — two families brought their children who were receiving services in Autism Therapy Programs and one family brought the older sibling of a child receiving services. Our intent was to provide testimony during the committee meeting on the importance of the program and the negative impact a five-month break from services would have on the clients.

Apparently, it worked! I’m happy to report that the funding for Autism Therapy Services has been maintained. As one of our family members was providing testimony, Senator Ogden, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, announced that the funding was NOT going to be cut.

From this experience, we realize how important collaboration and advocacy are for programs, particularly those supported by state funding. We are waiting to hear the final decisions of the budgetary cuts, but we are confident that our grassroots efforts have paid off.

I am so proud to be surrounded by such a talented, hardworking and enthusiastic team — from the families we serve to the staff at Easter Seals HQ, to our management team, to the therapy providers, to the support team. Each played an integral part in maintaining the funding for this program. I’m humbled to be a part of an organization that truly does believe in the purpose of bringing positive changes to the lives of people with disabilities and their families!

Read Jennifer Friesen’s biography.