Monday, November 16: Professional Understanding
Cover image courtesy of Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Read: "A sad observation that I have made is the lack of training in the pediatric community for children with autism, and the confusion and fear that overtakes parents because medical professionals have been somewhat unprepared for the impact this childhood condition manifests both for the child and the parents. ... A legacy of fringe medicine masquerading as science, leading parents to poor care and often expensive quackery that has not really benefited any significant number of sufferers, has therefore offered parents more hope than well-trained neurologists and psychiatrists." -- Michael G. Chez, M.D., from Autism and Its Medical Management, this week's featured book.
Tuesday, November 17: Come So Far
Read: "Not a day goes by where I don't find myself looking at my son and marvel over how much he has overcome, how rare and fortunate he is as a former 24 weeker and over the many, many more hurdles he must overcome or somehow get around as he continues to grow. He, with the help, love and support of his team of medical professionals, educators, his family, his friends, his fans has come so far, so very far. I celebrate it. I give thanks for it everyday. But then I look down the road and know there is so much more he must do." -- Laura Scarborough, from the post "The Question That Can't Be Answered" on the blog Adventures in JugglingWednesday, November 18: Differences
Read: "Parts of the human spirit are universal and parts are idiosyncratic. With most people, we overstate their universality, but with the disabled we focus more than we need to on their differences. They need to prove they're smart, prove they're fun, prove that they understand what someone is saying." -- Richard Ellenson, from an interview with Louise Kinross on the blog BloomThursday, November 19: Inclusion, Exclusion
Read: "The thing I find most tragic is that we as a society have been unable to find effective inclusionary environments. We haven't found an appropriate teaching model for children of different abilities, so students with special needs are often excluded from a general curriculum and put in a separate environment. Yet in every high school, one kid is going to go to Harvard and one is going to community college. Their experience is not so different from that of people who are typical or have special needs and yet we don't make that distinction." -- Richard Ellenson, from an interview with Louise Kinross on the blog BloomFriday, November 20: Headlines
Read: "We want to build devices that provide not just communication, but the foundation for a change in perceptions. So if a person in a wheelchair with a device has a headline over their head that says 'This is a difficult life,' my vision is that the headline becomes: 'This is an interesting life. This is someone who has insight and fun. This is someone worth knowing.'" -- Richard Ellenson, from an interview with Louise Kinross on the blog BloomMonday, November 23: It Changes You
Cover image courtesy of Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Read: "It changes you. It makes you more outgoing because you're always having to stand up for your child all the time. It really brings you out of yourself." -- "Mother of Peter: 17 Years," one of the parents of children with autism interviewed by Francesca Bierens in A Spectrum of Light, this week's featured book.
Tuesday, November 24: Being There
Read: "When you introduce a child who has differences, what you also do is ask people to step outside their comfort zone. And there's also the need to allow people time to get over the 'fear factor.'" And I think you can only get over the 'fear factor' by a little public education and by simply being there." -- "Mother of Alex: 7 Years," one of the parents of children with autism interviewed by Francesca Bierens in A Spectrum of Light, this week's featured book.Wednesday, November 25: The Nice Things
Cover image courtesy of Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Read: "Parents know the sort of questions that parents will be thinking. What they need to hear immediately are the nice things; that their children are pretty; that the children have normal bedrooms; because you only think of the bad things. 'Will I ever be able to leave the house again?' 'Will my life ever be reasonably normal again?'" -- "Parents of Eleanor: 7 Years," one of the parents of children with autism interviewed by Francesca Bierens in A Spectrum of Light, this week's featured book.
Thursday, November 26: Perspective
Read: "I've adopted very much a 'go with the flow' approach and I find it creates a calm, happy environment where little things don't matter. I think parents of any child with a disability develop an odd sense of perspective and sense of humour that keeps their nerves firmly rooted in their nerve sockets." -- "Mother of Michael: 4 Years," one of the parents of children with autism interviewed by Francesca Bierens in A Spectrum of Light, this week's featured book.Friday, November 27: Who Gets Diagnosed
Cover image courtesy of Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Read: "It's the parents who are diagnosed, not the child. When the child is diagnosed with autism, nothing changes for the child. They just go on their merry way being what they were in the first place. It's the parents who are diagnosed. You are now the parent of an autistic child." -- "Parents of Eleanor: 7 Years," one of the families of children with autism interviewed by Francesca Bierens in A Spectrum of Light, this week's featured book.
