Children with autism have difficulty adjusting to changes. They mostly rely on routines and familiar places, objects and activities to occupy their time, day in and day out.

Any change in schedule would probably bring an onslaught of varied reactions from them.

Family-friendly places are beginning to make adjustments to accommodate these families to their places. For example, these families can now have Florida vacations because Walt Disney World have made arrangements for guests who have a child with autism welcome.

I also found this site helpful for those families with a child who has autism in the USA who are looking for places to go to.

In England, Picturehouse Cinemas schedule autism-friendly movie screening days where the lights and volume are both reduced. And yes, they are free to move around too!

Do you know of any places where these families can have a vacation? Suggest these places now and help other families.

There are some people who, though briefly we have met them, gave a considerable impact to our lives. We may have met them briefly, worked with them or even met them just once but they left a somewhat lasting impression.

Yes, these people are few and far between. In my career as a teacher, I have encountered students who made these impressions with me and very few of them, I worked with very briefly.

This thought came to me last night when we were on our way to our favorite fast food place. My youngest daughter said “orange” in a way that was familiar. Yes, she too remembered a student I once had, IT. It may have been the way he pronounced the word that daughter remembered but it was more than that to me.

IT has been “passed on” to the other special ed teacher in the center where I used to work due to scheduling problems. It has been more than a year since I saw him so it came as a surprise when my youngest daughter remembered him.

IT came to me by accident. He was not referred by a doctor. They came looking for me because his mother was referred to go to that center by an OT they have been seeing in another center. He has been diagnosed with autism but I think the parents are in denial about the condition, especially the father.

He was not too enthusiastic to learn at first. It took a Superman action figure “speaking” to him to make him sit down and do the tasks prepared for him. Later on, it took Mr Potato head to give the instructions.

Together we learned to write his name. Together we learned to do rote counting, reading the number words as we went along. Together we learned about colors and how these are colors names are read. Together we learned about shapes and how these can be drawn. Together we learned to sing action songs.

I am curious how IT is now and where he is placed in terms of school placement.

I am thankful that I got the chance to work with IT. I learned a lot from him and from his mom who is very understanding.

One more thought…

Children with special needs can not be grouped by POS systems like merchandise on display even if they have the same diagnosis because they are all different from one another.

They can not be labeled with precision and related sameness and compared with other children who have the same diagnosis.

On hindsight, perhaps IT was not given to me “by accident”, he was given to me on purpose.

“MMR Vaccines do not cause autism”, that was the ruling made by three different special masters or judges in response to the cases they were hearing if vaccines cause autism.

Click below to read the article:

Vaccines Exonerated on Autism

Because of this scare, there is an increase in the number of Measles cases. Click here to read.

But still there are puzzling cases which baffle experts, click here to read.

So many things to read but still, knowing the correct information always help in the quest for answers to the questions parents have in their minds

Special needs parents? Whatever happened to children with special needs? Who are these people?

I am so happy to brag write about this. Woohoo!
Click here to read my article posted at FilipinoMomBlog.

This is a brief explanation of Simon Baron-Cohen about Autism explained in 100 words:

Simon Baron-Cohen

Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) occur in 1% of the population, are strongly heritable, and result from atypical neurodevelopment. Classic autism and Asperger Syndrome (AS) share difficulties in social functioning, communication and coping with change, alongside unusually narrow interests. IQ is average or above in AS with average or even precocious age of language onset. Many areas within the `social brain’ are atypical in ASC. ASC has a profile of impaired empathy alongside strong `systemising’. Hence, ASC involves disability (when empathy is required) and talent (when strong systemising would be advantageous). Psychological interventions that target empathy by harnessing systemising may help.

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Here is CHAT, a Checklist for Autism in Toddlers that you can check out for those children in the toddler years. Click here.

Parents expect a lot when they have their children go into therapy, whether it is occupational therapy or speech and/or language therapy and physical therapy.

Of course, they expect a lot because they pay a lot of money to be able to get these services for their children.

Here in the Philippines, parents/families of children receiving therapy services pay for these services, unlike those children in other countries who get these as part of their tax benefits.

Getting into these therapy services don’t mean instant relief and instant improvement of the developmental and behavioral problems that need to be addressed.

So what should parents expect during the first few weeks of therapy?

Below are a few observations I have made during the course of working with these therapists:

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