GREAT GRAND PARENTS

April 27, 2008
I was honored to spend the last 2 days in Huntsville, Tx. I went to work with parent's and grandparent's at an autism workshop presented by the University of Texas Autism Program. This is a non-profit, self-sustaining organization started by 2 women (Pam Buchanan, a lecturer at the University of Texas and Dr. Jody Jensen, a professor of Kinesiology at UT). These 2 women have given their blood, sweat and tears for the last 12 years to this program. Autism is their passion and they offer UTAP workshops in Sensory Integration Therapy and Play Therapy to families, educators, therapists and family members who are affected by or teach children with Autism.
I have been honored to be asked to become a part of UTAP as a Parent Liason, so to speak. We are now trying to find donors who would love to see the program continue. The goal is 4.4 million dollars.....WHOA!
I was at the workshop yesterday and amongst the activities were a very gentle-looking, much older couple. I went over to meet them. These wonderful people introduced themselves as the great-grandparent's of a young Autistic boy who was attending the program with not only them, but the grandparent's as well. The young boy's parents are no where to be found. This set of Great-grandparent's have been raising this little boy since he was 9-months old.......AMAZING.
They looked at this little boy with all the love and joy ANY parent would look at a child of theirs. I spent alot of time with these two loving people.
This couple retired 10 years ago December. They were happy to be able to rest and relax and enjoy their retirement. Well, God had other plans. 2 months after they retired, entered the Great-grandson. He had no where to go.
I believe this young man has made these "GREAT"-grandparent's really know what un-conditional love is. They have had to learn patience along with having to learn how to parent a child with Autism.....yes, PARENT a child.
This little boy is well-fed, well-cared for and most of all well-loved by these 2 souls that God has picked to be his caretakers and his Guardian Angels at a time that he needs someone the most.
My wish, after meeting these two lovely people is....they live a very long life...they deserve to see the child they gave so much up for grow up and show them the lovely MAN they have helped to mold through their undying and unselfish unconditional Love. I know I have become a better person for just meeting them...how lucky this young boy is for having them as "GREAT" "GRAND" "PARENTS"....

DISHPAN HANDS....

I really am having a hard time writing this post, but I am at my wits end about my dishwasher. We were truly blessed 1 1/2 years ago with our new home....it was to make our life easier and more efficient. I do not want anyone to feel sorry for me, we really did get an amazing gift. I jus need to vent for a brief moment.

When we received our new home, I was thrilled to see a brand new kitchen filled with gorgeous stainless steel appliances. All of them read Kenmore...except the friggin dishwasher. Lo and behold...FRIGIDAIRE....
You see, I hate Frigidaire. We had a refrigerator that had to be repaired 6 times in one year. Finally, they got the repair right. But, I had to go without a refrigerator for over 6 months during that year.

I decided to take the higher ground and give Frigidaire the benefit of the doubt and maybe, just maybe, their dishwashers were better built than the refrigerators.

NO SUCH LUCK.

The dishwasher given to us is a model PLD4375RFC...it is a piece of JUNK.

It has not worked for more than 2 months before it overheats or the control panel

starts flashing ER and "uo"....No more dishwasher.

It has been repaired FIVE times...count them FIVE times. I have not had the

luxury of a dishwasher for a total of 6 months.

This dishwasher sells for over $550.00 at most retail stores. I would not waste

any money on this appliance.

Frigidaire has answered my question when I asked them, "Are you telling me that

your appliances are built to last just 1 year..."

Yes, the person replied, that is why you should have purchased an extended warranty.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

This company believes it is okay to fork out $500.00 a year for something that should

last at least 10 years.

I will be going out soon to purchase a new dishwasher...you can believe me when I say

it will not be a FRIGIDAIRE.

Now, I am off to lotion my very dry, brittle, DISHPAN HANDS.

PIECE OUT....

My son, Little Patrick, was on the ToysRUs website today, trying to convince me that he needed to get 2 new wrestling figures...he is obsessed with the WWE and TNA. This little 8-year-old boy knows every wrestler ever...living or dead.
Patrick noticed a puzzle piece with Autism written over it..they are donating money to Autism for the month of April, I believe (I could be wrong, so don't hold me to that).
Patrick asked me why they have a puzzle piece for Autism...he said, "I am not a puzzle piece".
I asked him, "If you are not a puzzle piece, then what are you"?
Confidently he said, "DUH, I AM A BOY, A PERSON, YOU KNOW"!!!!!!

YEAH, I KNOW !!!!!

AND ALONG CAME A SPIDER.....

And Along Came A Spider....

Who Sat Down Beside Her....

And Frightened Miss Muffet Away....

BOO

These are the first lines in the play my son was

in called "Making Lemonade"....

The premise of this wonderful 2nd grade play was the many characters of Mother Goose who were mistreated or treated people badly got together and made lemonade out of lemons. They all gathered together and drank the lemonade and became friends.

Hence, the second lines of my amazing son...

It Certainly Changed My Bad Attitude

A couple of songs later, Patrick said his last lines...

And Along Came A Spider....

Who Sat Down Beside Her...

And Made A New FRIEND Today...

A lovely message, don't you think, to teach ALL children and ALL adults about getting along in this world. If we could all just sit, for one moment, and enjoy all of the wonderful qualities our children have, instead of focusing on all of the negatives.

This little boy, who is now 8 years old, has made his own lemonade out of lemons. He was diagnosed with Autism at 18 months. He was non-verbal until the age of 4 years old. He has worked hard on his Socialization skills and his Speech and Sensory issues. He is now fully inclusioned in regular ed classes without an aide....but, he is still Autistic and Amazing.

Now, off I go to make my LEMONADE...

DEIRDRE'S POEM...

Deirdre wrote this poem when she was 8 years old. She wrote it for the 4th grade
talent show....she is now 13....
This was written before we knew Deirdre was diagnosed with Asperger's...

'My Autistic Sister'
Autism silences your beautiful voice
From telling me what you are feeling
What causes you to laugh
When I don't get the joke
To the tears you shed
When I don't know your pain
Or your favorite song
andWhen you hug me
when youFear the thunderstorms
Not knowing what torments you so often
Keeps me from comforting you.
Although autism silences your voice
I see love in your gleaming smile.
Even though I don't get your joke
I find myself laughing myself to tears
Just to see joy emblazoned on your face.
You are my sisterAnd that is what defines you
Not AUTISM.

Needless to say, there was not a dry eye in the house.

MY JOB....IT IS DONE...

Meaghan wrote this for Language Arts Class...after I read it, I realized...MY JOB..
IT IS DONE...

A world without somebody is a missing puzzle piece, not a complete circle, a rose, without
petals. But, when everybody is here it's complete happiness. Some kind of difference would
be nice...but I know I want things to change. But, I don't know what.
I have the world at my fingertips and the world can change. Me, myself, can do something
beautiful and I did.
It took me months to figure this something out, and I got for that a pocketful of sunshine.
My plan was to put a smile on everyone's face to make their day worthwhile. My dream is
for everybody to pass it on. To give flowers...to give Love....to put a smile on their faces.
To give and to give until you cannot give any more. That is what I want.
Something unbelievable happened. My dream came true. I DID IT. I made a
difference in the world.

Not too bad from a 10 year old girl. I know through this, we have taught her well.

WORLD AUTISM DAY....

The United Nations has decided to make April 2 World Autism Day...starting this year 2008. All day long we will see pieces on Autism. We will see families struggling for services and education. We will see Jenny McCarthy, yet again, telling us about her knowledge about Autism and "curing", "recovering", "almost curing" her son....maybe she will make up her mind this time. She will go head-to-head with prominent doctors about vaccines and Autism...now that will be worth watching.
We will see Larry King massacre the pronunciation of Autism...
We will see families with multiple children saying how difficult their lives are by having so many children with Autism. We will see meltdowns and temper tantrums. We will see tears flowing from the faces of parent's who envisioned a better future for their children.

What we won't see is children and adults with Autism actually thriving in our communities. You won't see that there are children getting better and thriving every day. You won't see promotions for amazing programs out there that are seeing results from Sensory Integration Therapies and Play Therapies.
You won't see children with Autism who can go to school, sit quietly and respectfully in a classroom, because they have been inclusioned since 5 years old. You won't see parent's who have worked hard with their children and not allowed inappropriate behaviors in public....

Instead, we are going to be subjected to the "gloom and doom" bias of Autism. The Autism that requires a parent to slap a tee shirt on their child and blame their Autism for their behaviors. It is much easier not to parent that way. We are going to get to see mothers and fathers crying about the child they were supposed to have, instead of the glory of the child who is sitting right in front of them.

I think I will celebrate WORLD AUTISM DAY in our home. I will remind my children to be on their best behaviors today...because the WORLD is watching them. I will let them know they are the most wonderful, amazing children in the WORLD and I am so very proud to be their Mother. I will make sure their day...WORLD AUTISM DAY...is celebrated with joy and happiness in our home. Heck, maybe I will even bake a cake for this occasion.

So, I better get started, it is already 6:30 am and WORLD AUTISM DAY has already begun....


UPDATE:
I found this amazing piece on CNN about a young man, living in the community....with Autism.
Thank you Dr. Gupta.

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2008/03/31/gupta.adult.autism.cnn