Autism Awareness Month is here!

Although the warm weather has yet to follow, April is here and it is Autism Awareness month.  Feel free to share your stories about how you have made an imprint on the world of autism.  Let's celebrate all of the joy that individuals with autism have brought into our lives!  If you are a person with autism, celebrate your own strengths and be proud of the person you are!  Sunny days are on the way!


Matthew Halem, MSE Family Autism Support

Moms Fighing Autism

Although I am not a mom, I somehow began receiving emails a while back from a website called www.momsfightingautism.com.  The reason that I recommend signing up to receive emails from this wesite is that it offers free autism webinars from time to time.  I recently listened to a webinar by Dr. Stephen Shore.  I know that it isn't easy to coordinate your availability to listen in on a webinar but if the timing is right, it might be worth listening in on one if it lines up with your schedule.  I was lucky enough to happen to be available at the time of Dr. Shore's webinar.  I had never heard of Dr. Shore before and was really impressed with how he spoke about addressing the needs of people with autism.  It all started with respecting the individual and understanding the "why's" of a lot of the common behaviors we see in people with autism.  People are often told to try to eliminate behaviors such as hand flapping and increase behaviors such as eye contact in individuals with autism.  Dr. Shore cautioned against attempts to eliminate or increase a lot of behaviors because they all have reasons that may not seem valid but are very meaningful to the individual with autism and enable them to cope in a complicated world.  Ultimately, Dr. Shore emphasizes not only respecting individuals with autism, but HOW to respect individuals with autism.  Although the webinars are free, if you miss one that really interests you, you can still purchase it.


www.familyautismsupport.com

Up and Running!!!

Welcome to Family Autism Support!  I would like to share a special story behind the Family Autism Support logo.  In search of something that was meaningful to what we stand for, I stumbled upon this painting on an internet search.  I felt like the picture was powerful and wanted to use it but needed to get in touch with the person who painted it first to get her permission.  When I finally contacted her, she told me an amazing story about the painting.  It was painted after her family lost everything in a propane gas explosion that occurred directly under her two daughter's bedrooms.  Fortunately nobody was in the house at the time and everything was lost except each other.  The painting is a symbol of positivity, hope and family.  I think that these symbols are also instrumental to what Family Autism Support stands for.  I want to thank Michelle Filer for permission to use her painting as the Family Autism Support logo.