***********A REGULAR GUY***********

Excepts From a Funny & Moving Book

Here are excerpts from an enjoyable, and eye-opening story by Barbara Shumaker. I recommend a visit to the website cited below for the entire piece.

'"we got a letter from an attorney asking us to contact him about the bicycle accident involving Matthew. It turned out that while riding his bike, Matthew had apparently collided with a young boy on his bike the month before.

"Matthew? What's this about a bike accident?"

"Who told you?"

"Someone sent me a letter. Was the boy you bumped into hurt?"

"Pretty much."

"Dear God.
Was he bleeding?"

"Probably. Am I in trouble?"


My husband and I came to the heartbreaking conclusion that Matthew was no longer safe in the community where he had grown up, and his impulsive actions were putting others in peril. He needed more supervision, more than we or the local school could provide."

"The good news now is that Matthew is thriving at Camphill, and is an important part of its community of disabled people. He goes to class, cooks and does his own laundry. He prunes trees, tends an organic garden and takes care of the grass. During the winter he shovels snow gleefully, and has become fascinated with weather patterns in the Northeast. He brags about his new found responsibilities, and tells us he is good at hard things."'


The entire story appeared in the on-line newspaper, SF GATE, March 15, and in the SF Chronicle. Read it at : http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/15/CMGQIF603V1.DTL#ixzz0jFDn9asl

Barbara Shumaker has written a book about her son, Mathew: It is available on her very resource-rich website: http://www.laurashumaker.com/?p=120

Camphill Special School is a private, non-profit residential and day school in rural Pennsylvania. A "Waldorf" school, it was founded and is operated according to the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner. I found my visit to their website an inspiring experience that expanded my sense of the possibilities.
Saskia

Kishorit Therapeutic Community: Israel

I've been reading a book, Rachel in the World - A Memoir; and the author took her daughter to this place in Israel. It is a self-sustaining community. I think this would be wonderful for some of our folks! Here is a link to it - http://www.kishorit.co.il/SiteFiles/1/1689/13030.asp -
Pandiecats

For Late Talkers

This interactive book just came to my attention. I haven't seen it, personally, but it sounds wonderful for late talkers. THE BIG BOOK OF EXCLAMATIONS. Here is the URL: http://linkme4ever.com/watches/?p=2054 .

Please, if you buy and use it, come back to us with your review.
Saskia

ALWAYS MORE TO LEARN

It is easy for us to be experts on the type of developmental disabilities our loved ones, wards, clients, and neighbors have. Toward more mutual understanding & empathy and a deeper sense of community, we will be adding reading, movies & possibly even art & music.

Here are a few resources related to autism.

Temple Grandin
Dr. Temple Grandin is a remarkable woman with autism who teaches at a University and has made significant contributions to society with inventions & techniques for improving the lives of animals, among which are some which take the terror out of slaughter for farm animals.

She is very articulate about her own process and on the subject of autism in general. She has several books which can be sampled on her website. http://www.grandin.com/ ; then click on books and videos. From there you can sample her books. Also, be on the look-out for the story of her life when it returns on HBO.

Horse Boy by Rupert Issacson. Rupert Issacson tells the story of his own son's emergence from the confining entrapments of autism and how it came to be. It is a remarkable story, told well. Although real, it reads like an adventure story. It is also available on CD. This is quite an unusual remedy and expands the world of possibilities when considering treatments, management, and healing of autism.

Warrior Mothers: by Jenny McCarthy. Tells the stories of several parents and their children with autism, their struggles and some of their successes in reversing symptoms through non-standard therapies. It is unclear why the title refers to Warrior Mothers, since one of the parents instrumental in his son's recovery is a father. For people not, yet, familiar with treatments such as chelation for heavy metal poisoning (mercury and others) and diets such as the "specific carbohydrate diet," it is a good introduction.

Son-Rise: by Barry Kauffman. A father's story of his son, finding what worked, learning the meaning of unconditional love and acceptance without expectation. His son did so well with the constancy and quality of attention he taught them he needed, the family began teaching a model of unconditional acceptance that they developed. It is called the Options Process, and it, also, is described in a book by that name. These books are pretty old, so I went on line to see if they were still around. What I found was that they have given rise to: Autism Treatment Center of America: The Son-Rise Program.www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/.

Are you familiar with any of the above? If so, how did you find they affected you? Do you have some to share? Remember, they don't need to be on the subject of autism. This was just to get us started. Lets build this library together.
Saskia