The Ministry of Education on St. Kitts, with UNESCO funding, held an autism training workshop. For two days, preschool teachers, special education professionals, day care supervisors, and nurses learned about recognizing early signs of autism in children. The Principal at the Special Education Unit on Nevis, Mrs. Violet Clarke, hopes this education results in an early intervention center. “The centre will be set up as a demonstration environment to provide training for parents, nurses, preschool providers and teachers. Children will have the opportunity to be screened and receive intervention programmes designed by a multi professional team,” she explained. The focus therapies for the children will be speech and occupational therapies in order to best increase social and communication skills. Clarke hopes this goal will prompt different governmental and educational agencies to work together, sharing knowledge and funding.
Read original article: UNESCO Workshop on Nevis Draws Attention to Federation's Children with Autism
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The long and winding road
Jul 4, 2009 by AnonymousConor is the name of my beautiful green-eyed boy who last year was formally diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. We had been told by a teacher at his daycare that she felt he needed to be evaluated. We took him to our local school district and they agreed that he had "developmental delays." It wasn't until January of last year that his speech therapist actually uttered the word "autism" in assocation with Conor and that was the most devastating word we had probably evere heard. However, whatever we started to read about autism didn't seem to fit him completely. Conor is a very affectionate, articulate and happy little boy. There didn't seem to be any books out there to describe him in the context of having autism. That seems to be changing but it's still quite lacking. I guess I'll have to write my own book!
Nevertheless, as it turns out, loving a child with autism is not the worst thing in the world. We have been enormously blessed with the school Conor attends, where he has been for two years now. He is attending summer school now to keep up the work and not have it disrupted. He only has two more weeks left at this school and then will move to his new elementary school for kindergarten. We are trying to prepare him as best we can. We have set up meetings with his new teacher and drive by the school whenever we have an opportunity. His new school has the same cross-categorical program that his current school has so while he'll have a whole new teacher, school and routine to adjust to, he'll at least have the same program. In the morning, he'll have one-on-one work for his IEP and then in the afternoon, he'll attend regular kindergarten witih his peer group and have an assistant who will shadow him and another cross-cat student. I am excited to have him start this new school with all the possibilities it will provide. He'll be in a class with children his own age, whereas now, he's in with some kids who are a little younger than he is, whom he often imitates (i.e., screaming, hitting himself, making baby noises, etc.). His teachers are confident that he'll outgrow this tendency to imitate, which will come with maturity. We can ask him, "Hey, who are you imitating now?" and he'll respond, "Justin, Payton, Jacob, etc." So he knows he's doing it and knows it's not an entirely desirable behavior. His teachers have commented that this is upsetting to the child he's imitating so we work diligently to overcome that behavior.
Conor has come a remarkably long way and his teachers agree. There are many things he can now do that he wasn't able to do before. Academically, he's right on track, but socially, not so much. He has a hard time making friends. We hope that he will develop better skills in kindergarten to make connections with friends and learn the appropriate ways to interact with friends. Sharing is a big hurdle!
Conor has an 18-month old sister and that has been an interesting journey. When we first brought her home from the hospital, he didn't want us to get her out of the car! He has had to learn what is appropriate behavior with her and how to be gentle. It's very disconcerting when he laughs inappropriately when she cries in distress. However, if I cry, he shows immense concern and empathy. It's pretty remarkable to witness. I think as he and his baby sister get closer and closer as they grow up together, his connection to her will be more compassionate.
Conor has been a study subject to research the low-dose effects of Risperdal in ASD children. Having him participate in this study was a very arduous and painful decision. His participation ends next month and we're not entirely sure how much it has helped him or affected his behavior positively. In fact, there seems to be an emphasis on some undesirable behaviors and we're not sure if it's environmental or biological. Who knows? All of this is such a crap shoot... everyone just wants a definitive explanation about how to heal/treat/cure autism. Lord knows I sure do! But as I have said, this I can handle. It's certainly a challenge but it's not insurmountable. My child is healthy and happy... we can work together to get him where he needs to be.
Respite Care
Apr 11, 2007 by AnonymousHere is a place in Maryland near Annapolis: http://www.aamentalhealth.org/warmline.html - it’s kind of like a 311 only for social services. Actually, the entire attached document has numbers to call depending on where she lives.
Respite care provides people with temporary relief from tasks associated with caregiving. I have pasted below information for Washington DC. Each state should have its own version of respite care.
Here’s a county list for Virginia: http://askunitedway.communityos.org/local/os040/posting_area/local/CentralPoints.htm. VA also has a program called Family Day Systems (FDS) whereby children are referred to available day care centers. Here’s a definition: http://www.autism-pdd.net/respite.html, http://www.autism-pdd.net/disability-resources.html#asssist.
And finally a phone number: http://www.goprincegeorgescounty.com/Government/AgencyIndex/Social_Services/child_care.asp?nivel=subfoldmenu(1,3) – this is actual Child Care Assistance, found by googling: respite care Washington DC.