With Spring Break approaching there are many more opportunities for you do get out there and do things with your child(ren). Also, with the weather becoming nicer there are more opportunities to get outside and do activities. By starting out with just the smallest of opportunities it will lead to greater and greater things with your child(ren).
Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.
- Demosthenes
Friday, March 30, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
How beautiful are you?
As I sat at my computer this morning with a heavy heart and tears in my eyes for my colleague and friend Michelle trying to decide what to blog about I read one of the sayings on my day to day calendar and thought that's what I need right now.
The saying goes "Do you ever stop to realize how beautiful you are and who the people are in your life that see your beauty? How about right now?"
We all have beauty it is just a matter of what we deem beautiful. Some of us have surface beauty, some of us have inner beauty and some of us have a combination of both. What makes each of us beautiful in our own way depends on the eye of the beholder. What I find beautiful about someone may be different than what you find beautiful about that same person. Sometimes it is hard to find our own beauty or the beauty in another person, but if you look hard enough you will see it.
Go to the mirror right now and tell yourself how beautiful you are - be specific. What is it about yourself that you find beautiful? Now go and find all those people in your life that you care about and tell them how beautiful they are to you and why. Now is the time, don't wait. You may just turn someone's day around or change how they see themselves.
Often times our lives are so hectic and hurried that we don't take the time to slow down and tell people how beautiful they are so it will be my mission today to tell at least 5 people how beautiful they are. Can you beat me?
Talk to you soon,
Erin
The saying goes "Do you ever stop to realize how beautiful you are and who the people are in your life that see your beauty? How about right now?"
We all have beauty it is just a matter of what we deem beautiful. Some of us have surface beauty, some of us have inner beauty and some of us have a combination of both. What makes each of us beautiful in our own way depends on the eye of the beholder. What I find beautiful about someone may be different than what you find beautiful about that same person. Sometimes it is hard to find our own beauty or the beauty in another person, but if you look hard enough you will see it.
Go to the mirror right now and tell yourself how beautiful you are - be specific. What is it about yourself that you find beautiful? Now go and find all those people in your life that you care about and tell them how beautiful they are to you and why. Now is the time, don't wait. You may just turn someone's day around or change how they see themselves.
Often times our lives are so hectic and hurried that we don't take the time to slow down and tell people how beautiful they are so it will be my mission today to tell at least 5 people how beautiful they are. Can you beat me?
Talk to you soon,
Erin
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
The Harsh Reality
Blogging, it's used to share what's on our minds. Sometimes we will laugh, sometimes we will ponder, sometimes we will learn, sometimes we will...mourn. Today I blog with a heavy heart. I'm not sharing this story to depress, but rather encourage you down the remediation path in order to prevent the outcome that my family has endured. This week Sunday we received the news that my cousin with aspergers was admitted to a mental institution due to psychotic symptoms. The next day he attempted suicide while on suicide watch and he was most likely successful. Today he lays in the hospital in critical condition, little to no brain activity, fevers spiking, seizures etc... His body is giving out, he has given up.
I hurt as a cousin to see him live a life that was so hard, that eventually lead him to the point where life no longer seemed important. I hurt as an RDI consultant knowing that I could have offered more to him, but accept the reality that I can't help everyone and they weren't asking me for support. Without the invitation to help, there was nothing I could do to make his life easier.
For the families that have decided on the remediation route, keep up the hard work. Continue this path of removing these obstacles from your child's life. Our goal is to provide a good quality of life for individuals with autism - to live a full and rewarding life. For those of you reading this who haven't decided to join the remediation path, I encourage you more now to consider this as an option. Often we hear the comment, "my child isn't that bad, he's high functioning." My cousin had asperger's and wasn't even diagnosed until he was in his 20's. He wasn't "that bad", yet his quality of life was poor. This didn't have to be the outcome for him.
On a more postitive note, I dedicate myself even more to the families that I work with, knowing that I can walk them down the remediation path. I strive to do all I can to prevent this outcome for others and instead to improve the quality of life for the entire family. I am so glad that remediation is now an option! I had the wonderful opportunity to cry with a family today over the joy of how much progress their son has made and how much their quality of life has imporved as a family. What a priceless moment and one that I needed at a time like this!
Until next week and even more fired up about remediation,
Michelle
I hurt as a cousin to see him live a life that was so hard, that eventually lead him to the point where life no longer seemed important. I hurt as an RDI consultant knowing that I could have offered more to him, but accept the reality that I can't help everyone and they weren't asking me for support. Without the invitation to help, there was nothing I could do to make his life easier.
For the families that have decided on the remediation route, keep up the hard work. Continue this path of removing these obstacles from your child's life. Our goal is to provide a good quality of life for individuals with autism - to live a full and rewarding life. For those of you reading this who haven't decided to join the remediation path, I encourage you more now to consider this as an option. Often we hear the comment, "my child isn't that bad, he's high functioning." My cousin had asperger's and wasn't even diagnosed until he was in his 20's. He wasn't "that bad", yet his quality of life was poor. This didn't have to be the outcome for him.
On a more postitive note, I dedicate myself even more to the families that I work with, knowing that I can walk them down the remediation path. I strive to do all I can to prevent this outcome for others and instead to improve the quality of life for the entire family. I am so glad that remediation is now an option! I had the wonderful opportunity to cry with a family today over the joy of how much progress their son has made and how much their quality of life has imporved as a family. What a priceless moment and one that I needed at a time like this!
Until next week and even more fired up about remediation,
Michelle
Friday, March 23, 2007
Get Out There!
I just returned from a wonderful cruise vacation and sat down to blog with something in mind that I noticed while on the cruise. We traveled on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship and one of their tag lines is "Get Out There!" I thought that this is also applicable to the realm of remediating autism. Parents need to occasionally be reminded to "Get Out There!" and do something with their child(ren). So, with this simple tag line in mind it should prod you to do just exactly what it says - "Get Out There!"
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Larry King Live
I know I already posted for today, but I really had two things I needed to say this week and since Michelle is on vacation I’ll just take her spot and post twice. Nicole and I happened to be online doing a chat last night when someone posted that Larry King Live was talking about autism right at the moment so we both flipped it on. While I am happy that people in the media are bringing awareness to the topic I wish that a little more research would be done prior to airing shows like this.
I have to say that I was utterly depressed and very sad watching this show last night. It even caused me to talk to my t.v. (yes I know they can’t hear me). All of these parents and celebrities on there showing this grim picture of what autism is and what we should do to “treat” it. Of course all of what they discussed was compensation strategies that will not help those children reach a quality of life. It made me so sad because these parents want so badly to hope that things will be okay, but obviously do not see a bright future for themselves or their children. Nicole and I (as well as many other RDI ® consultants) know we can do something to help these families and I think that is what makes this so hard to watch.
Well we took action and I posted a comment on Toni Braxton’s website www.toni-online.com and we both e-mailed Larry King. If any of you feel so moved I would encourage you to do the same. Let’s get the word out that there is something we can do to remediate autism and provide a quality of life for people on the autism spectrum and their families.
Here’s to remediation!
Erin
I have to say that I was utterly depressed and very sad watching this show last night. It even caused me to talk to my t.v. (yes I know they can’t hear me). All of these parents and celebrities on there showing this grim picture of what autism is and what we should do to “treat” it. Of course all of what they discussed was compensation strategies that will not help those children reach a quality of life. It made me so sad because these parents want so badly to hope that things will be okay, but obviously do not see a bright future for themselves or their children. Nicole and I (as well as many other RDI ® consultants) know we can do something to help these families and I think that is what makes this so hard to watch.
Well we took action and I posted a comment on Toni Braxton’s website www.toni-online.com and we both e-mailed Larry King. If any of you feel so moved I would encourage you to do the same. Let’s get the word out that there is something we can do to remediate autism and provide a quality of life for people on the autism spectrum and their families.
Here’s to remediation!
Erin
An Overflowing Heart (Emotion Sharing)
There was a great quote this morning on my daily calendar which tied in nicely with what I was going to write about.
“When the heart overflows, it comes out through the mouth.” – African proverb
I had the greatest emotion sharing moment ever at school yesterday. I have a group of two students with autism that come to see me two times each week. One of the students asked at our previous session if we could read the book I know an old lady who swallowed a fly. So yesterday was the day. Now, I have several versions of this story and just randomly selected one of the books off the shelf to read. I guess that even though I have read this version before I must not have ever really paid attention to the pictures. As I was reading yesterday I was really trying to call attention to different aspects about the book not just the words, but the pictures and to use some declarative language. I came to the page where the lady is going to eat the cat and looked down at the picture where I discover the lady is making a cat sandwich. She is putting all sorts of condiments, lettuce, olives, cheese, etc. on the cat’s head. The cat has this expression on it’s face like “why me?” Well I started to chuckle a little and then the two students started to laugh and we all ended up just laughing and laughing about this. It got even funnier when on the opposite page the woman has obviously started to eat the cat and the cat’s tail is sticking out of her mouth. Well needless to say we all had a good belly laugh over this.
How I wish I had a video camera yesterday to capture that on tape. It was the best. Our hearts were surely overflowing out of our mouths at that moment. Try letting your heart overflow today.
Talk to you soon,
Erin
“When the heart overflows, it comes out through the mouth.” – African proverb
I had the greatest emotion sharing moment ever at school yesterday. I have a group of two students with autism that come to see me two times each week. One of the students asked at our previous session if we could read the book I know an old lady who swallowed a fly. So yesterday was the day. Now, I have several versions of this story and just randomly selected one of the books off the shelf to read. I guess that even though I have read this version before I must not have ever really paid attention to the pictures. As I was reading yesterday I was really trying to call attention to different aspects about the book not just the words, but the pictures and to use some declarative language. I came to the page where the lady is going to eat the cat and looked down at the picture where I discover the lady is making a cat sandwich. She is putting all sorts of condiments, lettuce, olives, cheese, etc. on the cat’s head. The cat has this expression on it’s face like “why me?” Well I started to chuckle a little and then the two students started to laugh and we all ended up just laughing and laughing about this. It got even funnier when on the opposite page the woman has obviously started to eat the cat and the cat’s tail is sticking out of her mouth. Well needless to say we all had a good belly laugh over this.
How I wish I had a video camera yesterday to capture that on tape. It was the best. Our hearts were surely overflowing out of our mouths at that moment. Try letting your heart overflow today.
Talk to you soon,
Erin
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Staying the Course
As a consultant to families I get to celebrate the highs with them, as well as support them through the lows. When families experience periods of difficulty or setback I often find myself telling them that autism is tough, but they are tougher. They have to be. Autism is hard and change usually doesn’t come easily. We cannot allow ourselves to become too blinded by the joys of the highs or the sorrows of the lows. We must stay the course and know that in every marathon there are some miles that will be harder and slower than others. I recently came upon something called the Stockdale Paradox, which was written in the realm of the business world. It reads:
“Retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties. And at the same time confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
I want families to write this out and stick it on their refrigerators! We must be tenacious in our desire to remediate autism, and at the same time be honest and willing to act on the things that are getting in our way. It does no good to believe that somehow we will prevail if we are not willing to look at the very real obstacles and problems that must be addressed. It also does no good to stay focused only on the immediate problems at hand and not have a long-term vision and mission for what we will accomplish. Both are needed – a long term mission that accepts nothing less than success, as well as short term willingness to confront the obstacles that are getting in the way.
Until next week,
Nicole
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