Archive for September 2014

Monthly Archive

AAC and Autism

AACCommunication deficit is a key feature of autism, and we see children who have communication strengths and challenges of all types. Some children benefit from the use of alternative/augmentative communication, known as AAC.  AAC includes any type of communication that is not speech in order to replace or supplement talking. Parents frequently and understandably have questions and concerns when a clinician starts talking about AAC for their child – it certainly is a new, different and unfamiliar way to communicate. Or is it? If you think about it, we all use AAC every day – we point, gesture, click on icons, text or email. This is all nonverbal communication! Not so unfamiliar after all. Read full post »

Oh the Places You Will Not Go

(with a child with autism)

Burke-Gilman TrailOn my way to work I sometimes walk a short stretch of the Burke-Gilman trail, an expansive 27-mile path for pedestrians and cyclists in Seattle. As I merge onto the trail, I make a concerted effort to become aware of my surroundings. I walk on the side of the track, my arms tucked in at my side. Cyclists reach top speed and I’m on alert for that familiar warning “On your left” which means don’t move to your left or you will become a human bike rack.

I think about my son with autism almost every time I walk this trail. This is one of many places my son cannot go. Arthur is 15 and has autism. Arthur is not always aware of the world around him and that split second instruction to watch your left side would be lost on him. He would inevitably stray and wander along the path, Read full post »

Autism and Teaching Parents to Fish

“If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. 

If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”

Chinese proverb

We’ve all heard this saying before and know that it is used to stress the point that it is more valuable and longer-lasting to teach skills towards being independent rather than to provide short-term temporary support.

As parents, we know the wisdom of teaching our kids to do for themselves rather than doing for them. This applies to parents too. At Seattle Children’s Autism Center, we strive to empower parents by providing them with tools for parental self-efficacy, the confidence and competence to handle the challenges autism presents.

First I want to recognize that as a parent new to the diagnosis,

I didn’t want to fish.

I didn’t want to be given a fish.

I wanted nothing to do with fishing.  Read full post »

Autism and Parent Support Groups

ArthurWhen my son was first diagnosed with autism at age 22 months, one of the first things I desperately craved was to talk with other parents. I had so many questions.

What just happened? 

Where do I start? 

What early intervention program do you recommend? 

What therapies have your tried? 

Why isn’t this therapy covered by insurance? 

How do I get my kid in this school? 

Why is he flapping his hands in front of his face? 

What helped? 

What didn’t? 

He’s not talking. When did your child start talking? 

I’m sad, tired, scared and lost. Are you? 

Will I always feel this way?

And who better to ask than those parents who had already experienced it? I went to a few support groups. I asked my questions. I did not get answers. Read full post »