Short Introduction

Hi Everyone!

I just want to introduce myself briefly so you know who I am and what my mission is. I was born in China, grew up in Vancouver, Canada, where I did my honors in Biochemistry and Medicine. After graduation, I practiced many years as a Family Doctor and as an Emergency Doctor. I really love practicing medicine; I used to say, “Wow, they pay me to do this?”

About 15 years ago, I moved to the United States from Vancouver when my husband’s infertility practice was relocated here. I had just finished settling down and re-started my work when my son, Marc, was diagnosed with Autism. I thought to myself, how many years did I spend in medical school and how many years did I spend with my beloved patients? The least I can do is to spend my time and energy in helping my son now.

So I stopped all activities and just concentrated on helping my son. Along the way, so many parents asked me for my help that I started my practice of treating Autistic kids exclusively. All my waking and sleeping hours were devoted to figuring out how best to treat these lovely, sweet kids.

Fortunately, the protocols have been improved more and more so that most of the kids that we treat with the DAN (Defeat Autism Now) protocol improve greatly. Some improve quickly, just with the gfcf (gluten free casein free diet) alone, some more slowly. Then there is the challenging 10-20% that won’t budge, no matter what we do. So I continue to be humble and open-minded—we want to be able to help ALL Autistic kids!

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The Online Autism Community is trying to build up our links page. In 2008, we are trying to gain as many links to other autism sites as possible. We would like our links page to be a powerful resource for people looking for information on Autism.

If you have a site that is Autism related, please let us know. We'd love to swap links with you. It's a great way to build traffic for both sites, as well as helping your readers find great Autism related information.

Come on, let's swap Autism links!!

Wanting to talk to someone who receives services from the Schertz Cibolo School district - wanting help starting with the school district?  Anyone out there?

Our great city of Cherry Hill NJ is neglecting our most vulnerable children.  They have installed (now dismantled after we found out) a padded room to place our children in when they are having a meltdown.  Staff is undertrained, some not trained at all.  Staff cuts, denial of assessments, lack of implementing IEP's are just a few of the reasons our children are not progressing. 

 We are not against the use of Quiet rooms when they are used in an appropriate way.    I am urging everyone to please sign this petition http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/cherry-hills-shame.  We must stop this administration from harming our children any further. 

 Below are many of the news that have carried our plight out to the public.  read more »

Hello, This is my first blog entry and I am writing because I am interested in finding out if there is anyone with an autistic child who has tried to get them to write over and over an autosuggestion like "I will be good in school" over and over. Did it help? I would like to know if that would help in school instead of sending a child (my grandson is 12) home expelled for two days for calling a teacher an unacceptable name. Thanks for any help.

I am often reminded of the lack of awareness some people have with their attitudes towards the behaviours and symptoms of autistic children and the relationship of these behaviours and symptoms to the style of ‘parenting’ they receive.  I’m sure most (if not all) parents with autistic children have at some point in time been on the receiving end of disapproving comments and 'tips' - often from people who have little understanding of autism, and no thought for the hurt that they cause the parents. I’ve spent the day pondering the whole ‘parenting and autism’ thing. Parenting style (or for that matter what some people consider ’lack of’ parenting) is simply not the cause of autism, and will in no way ‘bring on’ an autism spectrum disorder. Sadly though, an autism spectrum disorder (and the behaviours and challenges that an ASD brings with it) may cause many parents to question their ability to effectively parent (and unfortunately the parents’ questioning of their own attributes can be escalated by the attitudes of those around them). Even after a diagnosis, and when people are aware of a child’s autism spectrum disorder, many family members and friends will still link the child’s behaviours back to the parenting.  Speaking from personal experience, an autism spectrum disorder can place a great deal of strain on social relationships. An autistic child’s behaviour will often have to be continually explained to others, and a parent’s social interactions may be continually interupted and challenged. But for many parents, social contact may drop off not only because it all becomes too hard to manage the child’s needs in a social environment, but also because of the scrutiny that they come under in regard to their parenting skills. Parents often find themselves subject to criticism (whether it is intended as ‘well meaning’ or not) and sadly, a lack of understanding in regard to what they do and how they ‘manage’.  read more »

 As my son goes into adulthood and we are getting older, I am trying to be a responsible parent.  I have set up our wills and have found no one to accept the overseeing of my son. I am an only child and my husbands family were not very supportive of our adoption of Chris so I know none would step forward. My son is an only child. He was a difficult child to raise and we thought of adopting again but, Chris took so much of our time we did feel it would  be fair to bring another child into that kind of turmoil.  Since my own battle with breast cancer I have become more aware of how time is passing . My mom has set up her will and since she is an only child everything has been left to me. I have gone to a workshop on setting up a trust. I have read that my son could lose all his important  supports if he received anything from my Mom's estate. I know it would be the same if we left him our estate. My main concern is that my son be well cared for when we are no longer here. We are not wealthy but have a home, life insurence ect.  I will find someone to help me with the trust but my only stumbling block is to find some one to over see the funds. We have some close friends but they have children of their own. I will continue to focus on getting things set up but I have great concern for my son when we are nolonger here to make sure he is being cared for.      Any one with any ideas are welcome

I am a Disabilities Studies student during a research project, due on Dec. 21, on the early detection of Autism.  I will be working in the field when I graduate next year. I am looking to ask some of the families, about your experiences. Most importantly, how you knew your child needed to be evaluated and then, how your child was diagnosed. My 18 year old daughter was diagnosed with child-on-set schizophrenia at age 14. I knew in my gut something was wrong, but it took me over a year to get the diagnoses, and finally the help she needed. I was hoping to have a dialog with different families to help me better understand the process each of you went through. Thank you for your time and consideration. Sheridith

Bestselling Author and Superstar, Jenny McCarthy, Shares her Journey in Healing her Son's Autism in a seminar in San Diego Monday, January 14, 2008 from 07:00 PM to 09:00 PM at the Learning Annex.

Jenny McCarthy will discuss her experience with healing Evan's autism through biomedical intervention, teaching children on the spectrum how to play and other challenges she has overcome as the mother of a child with autism.

Learn how to:

• Let truth be your guide and learn to persevere.
• Find your true purpose.
• Take on amazing challenges in order to uncover and use your gifts and talents.
• Maintain a positive attitude through anything.
• Choose your battles and transform adversity into opportunity.
• Change directions and set new goals.
• Be resilient.
• Have faith and courage in yourself.

The cost of the seminar is $49.99. You can get more details here: http://www.learningannex.com/default.taf?sctn=A&_function=detail&cnum=35...

It is really exciting to see how much this community has grown in the last couple of months. We have several new members and several people posting regularly. I hope that this community is a place where all can feel comfortable sharing and asking others.

If you know of anyone who might benefit from this site, please let them know. Share the link with other parents, support groups, classes, etc. The more people we have, the stronger the community becomes. So, please invite your friends and family to join in on the discussion.

My husband had an afternoon out with the kids recently - one diagnosed autistic, one neurotypical - although with the afternoon he had, I think it was difficult to pick which was which!!!

The following is a snippet of the post he wrote on our blog, detailing the events of the afternoon:

"Can we go to the pool Dad... please?..."

How can you say no to that….?

Well, that’s what I thought anyway - This will be easy, a quick trip to the pool to wear them out and then enjoy a peaceful afternoon at home.

I told my wife that we were off to the pool, and she gave me that “are you completely insane?” look, but then proceeded to pack the kids bags in record time and wave ever so sweetly as we drove down the street. Looking back this should have been my first clue……….

We arrive at the Pool, and get a park right out the front (first win to me!). The kids unload themselves, and charge into the building determined to beat each other into the water. I run after them, stopping only to pick up the 3 toddlers, 2 grandmothers, and 1 mother that had rather selfishly got in between my kids and the water!

After apologising to all involved, I make my way over to the attendant to pay the entry fee. I explained that my kids were already on the way to the pool and I needed to pay for them. I pointed them out, just in time for the attendant to witness the 2 of them doing “blowfish’s” on the beautiful clean windows for all to see! He then gave me another one of those “are you completely insane?” looks and passed on my receipt. In hindsight, this should have been clue number 2…….

Continued... (http://managingautism.com/uncategorized/can-we-go-to-the-pool-dad-please)