Tag: children with Autism
Horse therapy found to help children with autism
Cleveland Daily Banner
Through extensive study of research from leading medical schools, SpiritHorse Therapeutic has developed specific methods for treating autism through equine-assisted therapy.
These methods have been utilized in over 30,000 sessions with children with autism during the past five years.
Following a study in 2009 by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center that showed statistically “Significant Improvement” in 24 children with autism through intervention at SpiritHorse, representatives from Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, visited SpiritHorse for its spring, 2009 semester to study the results of the SpiritHorse program.
The study of 47 children with autism spectrum disorder, just released, also showed a statistically “Significant Improvement,” including nine children who, after 10 weeks treatment at SpiritHorse, measured nonautistic on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale, a single-blinded measurement.
via Cleveland Daily Banner – Study Equine asisted therapy helps children with autism.
Posted on July 27, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Autism | Tags: animals, Autism, children with Autism, horses
Summer Autism: Puppy camp lets autistic children learn about dogs
Democrat & Chronicle
Children with autism often make a connection with animals – especially dogs. A camp near Rochester, N.Y., lets children with autism and other developmental disabilities, as well as neurotypical children, learn about brand new puppies. The camp is run by a married couple who breed Labrador retrievers, and the wife in that couple is an autism specialist at a local school district.
SPENCERPORT — Lauren Erlichman and Martin Yesowitch might not have spent their wedding anniversary how they expected this year, but the date was memorable nonetheless.
The Canal Road couple, who tied the knot on July 7, 2007, breeds Labrador retrievers. Their canine companions made sure their anniversary was extra special — and numerically aligned.
“We had our litter this week — seven puppies on 7/7,” Yesowitch says. That was just days after helping their 4-year-old dog, Macie, deliver her pups. “We got married on 7/7/07, and we had seven puppies on the 7th with our first puppy.”
That’s pretty amazing. Then again, so is the work that Erlichman and Yesowitch do.
For the second year, the couple is running the Labs of Love Puppy Camp for children ages 7 to 15. Kids learn about training and feeding dogs, as well as health issues, caring for the animals and running a kennel.
Some children learn even more valuable lessons.
Many kids in the week-long sessions have developmental disabilities such as autism, and Erlichman, an autism specialist with the Spencerport Central School District, said the puppies help those children socialize and become more confident.
“Animals speak a non-verbal language with people,” Erlichman says, paraphrasing Temple Grandin, a noted author and speaker who has autism and whose life story was detailed in an HBO movie named for her.
“There’s no talking back. They’re more in control,” she said.
via It’s pure puppy love at Spencerport summer camp | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle.
Posted on July 26, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Autism | Tags: animals, Autism, camp, children with Autism, Summer autism
Play deals with challenges of autism
Main Line Media News
“Love and Communication,” a new play about a family dealing with a child’s autism diagnosis will get a staged reading in Philadelphia after winning a national competition. One of playwright James Christy Jr.’s three children is autistic.
This Saturday afternoon, a new play by Main Line native James Christy Jr. will receive a staged reading in Center City.
“Love and Communication” has an ambitious theme: it focuses on the struggles of a husband and wife after their son is diagnosed with autism.
Christy, who now lives in Princeton, is one of the six winners of the annual competition sponsored by PlayPenn, an organization for new play development. Each year, PlayPenn holds a national competition to select the most promising works in progress.
The playwrights are then given the unusual opportunity for two weeks of intensive work on their plays, culminating in a staged reading.
The theme of Christy’s play has deep personal meaning for him. Of his three children, the oldest, Jimmy, who is now 7, was diagnosed with autism at age 3.
via Main Line Media News.
Posted on July 21, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Autism, Caregiving | Tags: Autism, children with Autism, marriage, parents, Philadelphia, spouse, theatre
Therapy dog helps Florida boy with autism
The News-Press
A 6-month-old golden retriever leaps out of the white sedan onto the gravel driveway.
A few yards away, pasted on the front door of the Golden Gate Estates home, is a picture of a dog with a red heart drawn around it. “Welcome Falcon!” it states.
Slowly, Kathy Lowers leads her 3-year-old son Nate toward the dog with the wagging tail.
She puts her son’s hand on Falcon’s back and looks at Nate expectantly.
Nate doesn’t react.
At first he appears the same as his siblings – Abraham, 11; Victoria, 9; Catalina, 7; Isabella, 5; and Maggie, his twin, who all squeal in delight and crowd around the dog.
But when Nate was 2 1/2 he was diagnosed with a severe, regressive form of autism.
Call his name, he does not turn around; toss him a ball, he does not try to catch it; ask him a question and he does not answer.
PAWS for Love Assistance Dogs placed Falcon with Nate and his family July 9. The specially trained golden retriever was bred for five generations for his temperament and training abilities.
via Therapy dog helps Golden Gate child with autism | news-press.com | The News-Press.
Posted on July 20, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Autism | Tags: animals, Autism, children with Autism, Florida, service animals
Autism and Summer: Learning social skills
Lawrence Journal
Some kids spend the summer learning archery, the backstroke or tennis. Some children with autism are working this summer on their social skills – an area where autistic people often need help.
The Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center in Nashville is holding a Social Skills Summer Camp this summer. Campers 7 to 11 years old work on basic social skills; 12- to 14-year-old campers continue to learn social skills and build on them with field trips; campers 15 to 21 years old learn social skills and early on-the-job skills.
In Wisconsin, a group of parents, teachers and others started an 8-week Social Summer Experience for autistic children. And The Autism Project in Rhode Island is offering a variety of social skills classes for children on the autism spectrum this summer.
In Lawrence, Kansas, a high school for autistic students offers a summer course on socialization with field trips to a variety of community settings.
From an outsider’s point of view, the scene looked pretty chaotic as students and staff from Free State High School’s summer autism program took a trip to a restaurant.
Of the dozen students on the outing, several were yelling, one was crying, and others expressed emphatically that they simply didn’t want to eat there.
One by one, staff members worked to calm the students.
The program and the community outings are all part of social skills lessons the program emphasizes during the summer months when the students are away from regularly scheduled classes.
“These kids need to be out in the community as much as anybody else,” said staff member Emily Hughes. “Our biggest goal is to help them learn how to be independent.”
via Free State High School’s summer autism program encourages social interaction / LJWorld.com.
Posted on July 20, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Autism | Tags: Autism, autism teenager, children with Autism, social skills, socialization, summer, Summer autism
Quality of life for autistic adults subject of new study
The Salt Lake Tribune
In the 1980s, 400 Utah children diagnosed with autism became the subject of long-term study.
They have contributed greatly to researchers’ understanding of the disorder’s prevalence and characteristics. Just last year, a study showed a surprising number grew up to have fulfilling lives as adults with jobs, meaningful relationships.
Now researchers want to know the “whys” behind the good and less than favorable outcomes, which will entail tracking down as many of the original 400 as possible.
via Quality of life for autistic adults subject of new study | The Salt Lake Tribune.
Posted on July 16, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Autism | Tags: adults with autism, Autism, children with Autism
Children with autism respond to horses, hippotherapy
WICZ
Before he started riding lessons with Elvis the horse, Jaden Farnham didn’t say much.
“He just said words, not a lot of sentences,” said his grandfather, Bob Farnham.
Now…
“Tell her what you do at the creek with Elvis,” urges farm owner Linda Fargnoli.
“I throw stones and I see fish,” answered Jaden.
Laurie McNulty had trouble talking and connecting with people outside her immediate family.
“She’s a lot more affectionate,” says her mom, Cathy McNulty. “She seems a little more confident.”
And Max Markosky didn’t speak.
“That moment when he said that sentence, ‘I want ball, please,’ everybody around the horse that was walking with him just was astounded,” said his mom, Catherine Markosky. “They just fell over.”
These are the stories you’ll hear at Fargnoli Farms.
Posted on July 15, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Autism, Caregiving | Tags: animals, Autism, children with Autism
Maria y Yo – Documentary on life with an autistic child
YouTube
via YouTube – tráiler MARIA Y YO.
Maria Y Yo (Maria and Me), is a Spanish documentary based on the illustrated book by award-winning illustrator Miguel Gallardin in which he tells the story of life with his 14-year-old autistic daughter.
Here’s a Washington Post interview with Gallardin. He talks about how his art changed as Maria’s autism emerged, and how his drawings are now a way to communicate with her.
Posted on July 14, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Autism, Caregiving | Tags: art, Autism, children with Autism, movie, Spain
Autism: Legos build children’s social skills
Dallas Morning News
PLANO – Carla Graham’s Lego Lovers are creating more than castles and spaceships. They’re building social skills.
Graham started Plano Lego Lovers as a way to bring together kids who have a passion for Legos but difficulty with social situations. The idea came to Graham as she searched for a play group for her 10-year-old son, Ian, who has Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism.
“Legos were all my son was interested in,” Graham said. “He needed to have something where he was forced to communicate with other kids. With Legos, they have to talk to each other and work together.”
Posted on July 14, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Autism | Tags: Autism, children with Autism, Legos
Clara Park, autism mother and groundbreaking author, dies
Berkshire Eagle
Clara Park, an important voice in the history of autism awareness and understanding, has died in Massachusetts at 86. In 1968, Park’s first autism narrative, “The Siege,” challenged the conventional wisdom of the day — that autism was caused by mothers’ treatment of their children. “The Siege” told the story of raising her autistic daughter and earned Park international acclaim. Two later books continued the story. Park was also a senior lecturer at Williams College, where President Adam Falk remembered her in a post on a college blog. (Here’s a Boston Globe story on Jessica Park, Clara Park’s autistic daughter, an artist and Williams mailroom employee.)
WILLIAMSTOWN — One-hundred and thirty-four families with autistic children in the Berkshires work with Community Resources for People with Autism, and the Center for Disease Control estimates that one in 110 children have the disorder nationwide.
But before there were support centers or even readily available statistics about autism, there was Clara Park’s 1968 book “The Siege,” a canonical narrative about raising an autistic child. The work helped pave the way for the compassionate understanding of the disorder that advocates are still forging today.
Park died in Williamstown on Saturday and will be buried at the Williams College Cemetery this morning. She was 86.
In 1968, Park published “The Siege” about raising her young autistic daughter, Jessica Park. She then released a second edition in 1982 that updated the story of Jessica, who was by then a young woman who had achieved a reputation as an artist, a friend to many, and a longtime employee in the Williams College mailroom. “The Siege” was translated into numerous languages. In 2001, Clara penned “Exiting Nirvana: A Daughter’s Life with Autism,” which contained a foreword written by Oliver Sacks, the noted physician and best-selling author.
via Author raised awareness of autism – Berkshire Eagle Online.
Posted on July 9, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Autism, Caregiving | Tags: Autism, book, children with Autism, Massachusetts