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Jason McElwain.....an autistic boy changing lives

The story of Jason McElwain never ceases to amaze me. I'm often amazed, though, that the coach never saw his potential before the last game of his senior year. It makes me wonder how much of a high school basketball "career" he missed out on.

At the same time, though, if it hadn't been for playing those last 4 minutes in that last game of his senior year, how many of us wouldn't have been touched by the enormity of what this young man could do.

Every time I watch the video footage of "JMac," I get tears in my eyes. I see my own son in this young man and have hope that someday, my Zach will do something that will "wow" the rest of the world and show that autistic kids are bright and amazing, far beyond what other people see on the surface.

JMac is now releasing his new book and doing book tours.

You can check out lots of video footage on JMac by clicking ----> HERE

There's lot of good watching there.....you won't be disappointed.

Diagnosing Girls' Autism

A couple weeks ago, I watched a fantastic video done by ABC.com  This video shows a little girl with autism and says that girls are harder to diagnosis than boys, as they often disguise the symptoms.

It's a fascinating, but also heartbreaking, video and just proves that more people need to be aware of what's going on. People also need to be more patient with children and families that are dealing with autism every day. This comes with educating people.

The more we spread the word, the more we educate people, the more we make people aware, the more we can work towards a better present AND future for our kids.

Diagnosing Girls' Autism

Great autism awareness items! Spread the word!

AutismButtons.com
I ran into a local friend recently whose little guy has autism and it was good to catch up with each other on how our boys are doing. She and her little guy live in the next town over and is a little younger than my Zach.

She pointed to her van and I could see her bumper sticker. She told me that she found an awesome website with all kinds of autism related items that are great for making people aware. She sent me an email with the link to this site and I wanted to pass it along to all of you.

Autism Buttons & More is a great site with lots of items available to help spread the word about autism. There's buttons, bracelets, car magnets and bumper stickers, ID tags and SO MUCH MORE! This is probably the site with the MOST product available for the cause of Autism Awareness. I was amazed at how much was on here!

The prices for the products AND shipping are very affordable and I have a wish list that's already growing and I'll be putting my order in soon.

The items on this site are great for passing around to friends, family, teachers, doctors, interventionists, etc. They make great gifts for the people that work with our children and I have plans to make this site my go-to place for gifts. This site has over 450 styles of buttons.....talk about finding something for everyone!

This site is run by a father of an autistic child. His passion is to educate, create awareness and to find a cure. I'm always touched by other parents that raise their voice to be heard when their children can't always be heard.

Check them out at: Autism Buttons

What Kind of World Do You Want?

I've heard from a lot of people recently about the video that you can watch to help support Autism Awareness and research. I'm always touched when people email me with things like this, telling me that they thought about me and Zach when they saw it. THIS is the kind of awareness that always touches my heart.

I checked in on the video and yes, it is legitimate.

You can view the video by clicking here:

What Kind of World Do You Want?

The cool thing about this video is that not only are you educating yourself but you're also helping to fund research.

*Each time* the video is viewed, the band, "Five for Fighting," will donat $0.40 to Autism Speaks.

Please take just 4 minutes out of your day today to watch this, to be educated, to be aware to be touched.....and then pass it on to others so they can experience the same and others can be helped.

How can YOU make a difference?

***This post has been made STICKY and will stay at the top of my blog until the winner of the give-away is chosen on Thursday (11/8). Make sure to scroll down to see my newest posts....you don't want to miss anything! :) ***

I've had some big news brewing that I've been ITCHING to share with you all! Today is the day! It's finally here and I can FINALLY share it with you! Everything is up and running and ready to go! A while back, I shared a really funny clip on my Stampin' Mama blog that I found on YouTube that showed a hilarious peek at the die-hard world of scrapbooking. From that YouTube clip, I found out that an entire mockumentary had been made and put on DVD called, "Inside Scrapbooking" (put out by the twisted and genius minds at MockUTV). I was hooked and when I got my copy, I couldn't stop watching it and couldn't stop laughing at it!

Well......just recently, I was contacted by Russ Jones, the producer of the mockumentary. What he proposed to do amazed and shocked me and showed me, once again, that there are wonderful people out there that truly want to make a difference in this world.

Here's the clip, in case you missed it the first time.....and after you're done watching the clip, make sure to keep reading because I've got LOTS more to share.....AND give-away!

So....what did Russ propose?

He wanted to help my son, Zach, and I to make a difference in the world of autism. 

Starting NOW through January 1st, 2008, MockUTV is donating $1 from each copy of this awesome DVD sold towards a charity that is near and dear to my heart: Autism Support Daily

Did you know that one in every 150 children are diagnosed with some form of autism? That's ONE TOO MANY! And did you know that's only the number of children that are actually diagnosed? And did you know that many of these children "fall the through the cracks"? There ARE things that can be done about this and YOU can help!

And get this......you even get FREE shipping on the DVD! Talk about a win-win for everyone! This is the perfect gift for any papercrafter and scrapbooker on your Holiday wish list or even as a treat for yourself....and the best thing is, you're supporting a VERY worthwhile cause!

You can check out a bunch of great links on the MockUTV site:

• Inside Scrapbooking's home site
• Zach's Page - Zach's bio and lots of great links to sites on autism
• Purchase a DVD and help support Autism Support Daily
• Preview "Inside Scrapbooking"
• Learn about MockUTV
• More fun free videos

Molly, the crazy and zany star of "Inside Scrapbooking," has graciously offered up a fantastic give-away in honor of the announcement of this great cause! She's giving away an awesome scrapbooking tote bag! How generous of her!

So, what can you do to enter in this give-away?

Just leave a comment here telling me what your favorite scrapbooking tool is!

BONUS: Spread the word on your blog or website, let us know about it (leave a link to it in your comment) and you'll get a bonus entry in the drawing! Spread the word!

We'll pick a winner on Thursday at 11 am (EST) and announce it here.

And this isn't the only give-away......we'll be celebrating and creating awareness all the way through, so make sure to keep checking back!

And make sure to stop on over to MockUTV to get your copy of "Inside Scrapbooking!" Share the news with your crafting groups, on any forums you're a part of, with your friends, relatives......help spread the word and let's make a difference TOGETHER!

Thanks!!!

-Erika

Autism TV

I was searching around online today and found this really great website: Autism TV

This website is an internet portal for websites containing videos and audio files on autism.

You can click on the different channels and audio files to find, listen to and watch some great information on autism.

One of the most talked about is Channel 5's Center for the Study of Autism's new video website which includes a one-hour video called "My Child was just Diagnosed with Autism?  What do I Tomorrow?"

For those that are dealing with a new diagnosis, this is a fantastic watch. Lots of great information and empowers parents to advocate for their children and points them in the right direction to get help for their children.

This website is great, also, for people that are working with autistic children, or that need a better understanding of relatives with autism.

Great Resources on Autism and a FREE Webinar!

Well, I'm finding all sorts of great stuff today.

Brookes Publishing Company has a wonderful selection of books on Autism. You can find them by clicking here ----> Books on Autism.

Brookes Publishing has books on all kinds of resources: texts, guidebooks, curricula, videos and tools based on the best research in disabilities, education and child development. There's more than just resources on autism.

Brookes is having an Autism Library Giveway right now worth over $500. Click here -----> Autism Library GiveAway to enter the contest. This contest runs all the way through the end of April and they're doing a give away each week during the month of April (which is Autism Awareness Month). You can click here ----> Over $500 worth of Free Books! to see all the books included in this giveaway!

And while you're at their website, you can click here ----> Autism Webinar to learn more about the FREE webinar (web seminar) they're offering on April 18th. This webinar is on Understanding the Nature of Autism: Behavior and Brain Science. This webinar will allow you to see the world through the eyes of a child with autism - and discover what's behind often-misunderstood behavior.  You can register right on their website for the webinar and it's FREE! 

The Autism Calendar

Having your child diagnosed on the Autistic Spectrum can be really overwhelming for a lot of people. For me, I could sense that there was something happening with Zach's development and after reading some information in a magazine and then doing a little bit of research, I had a gut feeling that what we were seeing were traits of an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Zach was 13 months old at that time. It took us another 5 months to find a program in our area that could work with him and point us in the direction we needed to go for support. Intervention and programs have come a long way in the past 7 years since that time, but it's still not an easy thing to know where to go or who to turn to when you're told that your child falls somewhere on the Autistic Spectrum.

A lot of parents find strength in connecting with other parents that are going through the same things (or similar things) they are. There are many adults with autism that are looking to meet with other people that live in "their world."

The Autism Calendar is a great resource if you're looking to hook up with other people in your area. Not all states have listings, but most of them do. There's even Canadian listings for our neighbors up north.

Click here ----> The Autism Calendar  to access this calendar.

Welcome to Holland....

3 years ago, I was going through one of my recent issues of PaperKuts scrapbook magazine, I read a wonderful article on scrapbooking a child with a disability or special needs. One of the pages had this article written up as the journaling. The woman that wrote it (Emily Perl Kingsley) has twin boys and one of them had Downs Syndrome. Ironicly, the woman that founded PaperKuts has two autistic children. She used this article as her journaling on a 2 page spread highlighting her autistic son and daughter. I love it!

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

by Emily Perl Kingsley

Autism on the Seas......Autism centered CRUISES!!!

I'm part of a yahoogroup that provide free support to parents of children (all ages) with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Today, I got a post in my email inbox sharing a link to a group that organizes cruises for families and adults with autism. I got REALLY excited about this and wanted to share it with all of you. I'm sure there is someone else out there, like me, that will find this information exciting and beneficial.

The last 3 years, my husband and I have been on the Stampin' Up cruises. So many people ask us if we take our children with us. The answer has always been, "no." There's a few reasons for this. One of the biggest reasons is that it would cost a lot of money to take the kids with us on a 7 day cruise. These 3 cruises were something that we earned through my Stampin' Up business and were completely paid for by the company for each of us. What a blessing that was for us, since we would never have been able to justify the cost for us to go on these trips.

One of the other reasons that we didn't take our kids on something like this (if money was completely taken out of the deciding factor) was that it would be a difficult thing for us to take Zach on these kinds of trips. I think our daughter, Elise (AKA: Girly), would love a trip like this and would do very well on it. Zach is another story.

Zach is a curious little man. In some instances, he has NO FEAR whatsoever. But Zach is also a very dependent little man and we are fiercely protective of him.

One of the things about autism is that most of the time, when you look at an autistic child, there really isn't anything visible that would give away that there is a disorder. We've had many strangers try to interact with Zach in public places (in line at the grocery store, at the checkout desk at the library, building sandcastles at the beach, etc) and they're puzzled as to why he doesn't answer them right away, why he doesn't always acknowledge them or an answer the way they want him to and so much more. It's hard to leave Zach in the care of someone that is willing to be patient in communicating with him, that will take the time to understand him, or that is even willing to engage with him and connect with his world.

Because of this, we knew that taking Zach on a cruise would be a hard thing. The Stampin' UP cruises are wonderful and all, but there's a lot that goes on for demonstrators and their guests. There would be times that we would need to leave Zach in the care of someone else. While cruise lines have FANTASTIC programs for kids, we knew that the chances of them being able to meet Zach's needs would be close to none. The other thing that was made known to us as far as these programs on board go, is that the kids are not required to stay in the program. They have the freedom to leave at any time. The program workers can not hold these children in the programs against their will. That would be a major problem if Zach didn't want to be there and we weren't there to take care of him if he left in the middle of a program. There has also been times when Zach has needed light restraint in moments of frustration and communication breakdowns. We didn't want to leave Zach in the care of someone that might not be familiar with this kind of intervention.

So.......because of these limitations, we opted to go on these cruises as just a couple. I've often wished for a low cost cruise that wouldn't take up TOO much time, but would also cater to our needs as a family with an autistic child. WOW! It looks like they really DO exist!

After looking over this site, I am excited to start thinking about planning a family vacation like this!

Autism On the Seas offers cruises that meet just the needs we have! And for those of you with autistic children or adults in your family, I'm sure that they meet your needs, too! (We've cruised with Royal Caribbean before and they're AMAZING!)

          Autism Group Cruises
For families and adults with autism

Featuring

                        - Professional Autism Staff for the Group
                        - Autism Awareness Cruise Staff
                        - Professional Medical Physicians and Nurses
                        - Special Dietary Accommodations
                        - Service Animals Permitted
                         - Private Group Family Party
                         - Sea Animal Bingo
                         - Flashlight Scavenger Hunt
                         - Adults with Autism Social Gatherings
                         - Teen Social Gatherings
                         - Sibling Celebrations
                         - Parent's Play Time
                         - Early Dinner Seating with group (Early Dining)
                         - Special Gifts
                         - Most "Special" Requests and Needs met
                         - All of the regular services and activities on board Royal Caribbean Cruises...and more 

Wouldn't it be amazing to get a group together that could cruise with their families and not have to worry about needs being met, about who's taking care of the kids and if they're qualified for it, about the siblings of our autistic kids being left out of programs, etc?

I highly recommend checking out this site ------> Autism On the Seas. Let me know if this is something you're interested in! I'm all for putting a group together!