My key chain....

June 2010

The other day I watched as someone was toying with my key ring.  I noticed that they were really looking at it.  Now, I use that ring multiple times a day but probably have not really paid attention to it---ever.  I've recently added keys and occasionally lose keys.  One of our frequent games at home is "Who can find mom's keys?"!

So, I tried to see those keys as Zac was seeing them.  I saw a fob that was from a club I no longer belong to.  A ponytail holder had been at the ready for so long it was no longer stretchy.  There were numerous keys that must be important.... but what exactly did they unlock?

I removed the fob and hair tie and I got to thinking about sets of supports, especially the "formal" ones like IEP's.  Sometimes the sets of supports might be a bit like the way I had been utilizing my keys daily as they were important - vital, even- to get me where I'm headed.  But does my keyring need updating?  Weeding or weaning?  Might there be something I'd never considered (flashlight? return address in case of loss?) that would be a great help?

The end of the school year might be just the time to think of the official and unofficial supports you have in place.

Happy Start of Summer!

Beth

Regular Moms vs. Special Needs Moms

Moms, a stranger walks among you. We look like regular moms but we are the hybrid to your standard engine. Our child's disability altered us, enhanced us.  Many words describe us: resilient, creative, protective, emboldened, sympathetic, fierce and determined. We are special needs moms. How do our lives stand apart from your own? Take a look under the hood and see for yourself.

Regular moms soak in the tub when they want to unwind.
Special needs moms consider a bathroom break a luxury.

Regular moms think OT means overtime.
Special needs moms know more acronyms than a NASA engineer.

Regular moms know the names of all their friends.
Special needs moms know most of their friends by their username.

Regular moms tell their kids to wake up and get dressed in the morning.  And they do it.
Special needs moms put on battle gear to get our kids ready to start their day.

Regular moms think accommodations refer to hotels.
Special needs moms have memorized the top 20 accommodations for their child.

Regular moms wave goodbye as their kids run off to catch the school bus.
Special needs moms get awesome door-to-door bus service for their child.

Regular moms judge other moms when kids have tantrums in stores.
Special needs moms say to themselves, "Hmm, I wonder which disability he has?"

Regular moms complain about driving their kids to sports and recreation classes.
Special needs mom grin and bear the weekly trips to tutors, doctors and therapists.

Regular moms' kids have a teacher.
Special needs moms' kids have a team.

Regular moms talk about accomplishments.
Special needs moms talk about skills, as in play skills, conversation skills, life skills, social skills and vocational skills.

Regular moms relax with their kids during the summer.
Special needs moms start their second job as home teachers, therapists and skills coaches.

Regular moms hope their child finds a good career.
Special needs moms are hopeful someone gives our child the chance to work.

Regular moms enjoy reading the latest best selling book.
Special needs moms should receive an honorary degree for all the disability books they've read.

Regular moms go out for dinner and a movie with their husbands every month.
Special needs moms have a date night with their husbands every…wait, what decade is this?

Regular moms complain their kids won't eat their vegetables.
Special needs moms are so desperate we consider chicken nuggets to be a legitimate meat product and throw in ketchup as a vegetable.

Regular moms' kids go to play groups.
Special needs moms' kids go to therapy groups.

Regular moms meet for a ladies night out.
Special needs moms get together at support groups and forums.

Regular moms have medical claim forms that fit in one file folder.
Special needs moms will tell you a small forest was cut down so we could receive our claims.

Regular moms have time to cook a full dinner every evening.
Special needs moms will never admit how many times we've picked up fast food.

Regular moms complain their husbands sit on the couch while they do all the work.
Special needs moms...well how about that?  Some things do stay the same!

About the writer

Dawn Villarreal runs One Place for Special Needs, a national disability resource that lets you find local and online resources, events and even other families in your neighborhood. Stay awhile and check out the site. She is also moderator of Autism Community Connection, a Yahoo group for families in Illinois. Dawn has two awesome kids, a supportive husband (honestly!) and strives for a day when communities can effectively reach out to support all special needs. Reprint permission granted by including: Reprinted with permission from One Place for Special Needs http://www.oneplace forspecialneeds. com

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You’re Invited to Autism Awareness Day at the Capitol- April 27th

Governor Granholm has declared April Autism Awareness month in Michigan! Awareness as at an all time high and now it's time to use that momentum to get Autism insurance legislation passed in Michigan! AIM is doing its part to raise awareness by providing educational displays at the Capitol and it will recognize and show appreciation for those legislators who have been advocating for autism insurance reform. Please join us for an AIM sponsored Autism Awareness Day at the Capitol building in Lansing on Tuesday, April 27th, from 12-1:00pm.

 
 

We have reserved the Rotunda in the Capitol for this hour, and will present awards of recognition to our various legislative champions. Key legislators, a representative from Governor Granholm's office, Dr. John Wycoff of the Wycoff Wellness Center and Dr. Koenigsnecht, superintendent of the Montcalm ISD, will be speaking. We are also inviting a family and a child who was affected by autism to come and speak as part of the education campaign we are undertaking to help promote awareness of the issues affecting the families in Michigan whose lives have been impacted by autism. We expect this event to be both informative and educational, and a good way to create awareness of autism issues in Michigan. We also expect there to be announcements relative to further action on the autism insurance reform initiative for Michigan. We are inviting the press to be there as well to help publicize this important issue.

 
 

Please plan to attend and help us show our heartfelt appreciation for our legislative supporters. A healthy turn out by families affected by autism and those who support them is a crucial sign to our legislators that the effort to assure autism insurance legislation in Michigan is still as important and necessary as ever. Please come to this event! We ask that you please RSVP to Lisa Espinoza at lisa.marie.espinoza@gmail.com by April 23rd.

 
 

The week leading up to this event, we will also be having an autism awareness exhibit in the lower level of the Capitol building. This will provide an opportunity for legislators to learn more about the facts of autism and how autism is affecting their constituents in Michigan.

 
 

Thank you for your continued support and advocacy!

So…This is a blog.

March 11^th

So… This is a blog. I'm blogging. I'm a blogger. This is the first time I have ever put those words together and I am glad you're here to witness it!

 

As that witness, that means you are now an official Autism ASK-er! You have navigated successfully through our many carefully crafted (representing hours and hours of mostly Stephanie's late nights) website pages to come to this spot. In your travels here at Autism ASK I hope you have picked up on our very real sense that this is really YOUR website, too! I invite you to help make this site into what you need it to be. Know of an event? Have an idea for a service? Heard of a good organization not on our site yet? Long for services closer to your place? I think we have forms for all of those! If we don't have a form for your specific need, the info@autism-ask.com will do the trick just as nicely.

 

At the risk of sounding old, I have been part of the autism community for 16 years. (Don't worry… those of you who I know have been around just as long or longer… I won't out you as old, too!) Not to bore you with the "Back in my day" …..but….. back in my day, the internet was not yet a standard tool. The incidence rate was four or five in 10,000 with a diagnosis. I could have subsidized a lot of interventions for charging a nickel for every time I had to explain to a perplexed face as to what autism (not artism or… my personal fave… altruism) was.

 

Fastforward to 2010…. I cannot state my job field to someone without hearing of their connection somehow to ASD. This has made our "community" much larger and almost dictating it then, by sheer numbers, less connected. Less strength. Less cohesion. Less of a voice of one that can collectively make system changes.

 

It is our hope that Autism ASK can help give a little more shape to our Southeast Michigan autism community. Over the next few months we will continue to roll out ideas and opportunities that keep in mind our main objective of Advocacy, Support and Knowledge (the ASK of Autism ASK) while building a stronger networking amongst all of us who make this community…. individuals, families, parents, siblings, professionals, colleagues and the community at large.

 

Something to grow on: I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people who are convinced they are about to change the world. I am more awed by those who struggle to make one small difference after another. Ellen Goodman
American journalist (1941 - )

 

Keep making those small differences!

Beth

Welcome to our blog!

Welcome to the first blog of Autism ASK! We are thrilled to be starting this blog and look forward to writing in it ourselves as well as having guest authors write from time to time. If you are interested in being a guest blogger, please send us an email! We welcome your input.

Stephanie and Beth