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| Resources for Homeschooling Your Autistic Child What Are Social Stories What are social stories? They are wonderful little stories for teaching everyday skills! Read this link for what they are and how to use them, and click below to download your free social stories to print. If you would like to purchase them printed and bound email me for prices and availability: teachingathome@lycos.com FREE SocIAL STORIES Clean Hands I Can Say "Hi!" Emotions (This one is a bit different and isn't in story form) More coming as I write them for Luke! Support our site and ongoing education for Luke by purchasing items from these links:  (SUPER resoureces here for teaching autistic children!) |
General Autism Information
Advantages of Homeschooling
Autistics
The Socialization Issue TEACCH. com The Option Institute Speech/Pathology Directory Autism Today Bringing Your Special Ed. Child Home Special Education At Home Wrong Planet Syndrome Wrong Planet's Mom Story SonRise.com Alex's Story What is a Meltdown and Why Do They Happen? Quirky Autism Oddizms What Autism IS and What It Is NOT Quirky Kids A Child's Book About Autism Autism Acceptance Autism-PDD Network Gluten-Casein Free GFCF Diet.com Enzymes & Stuff Neurodi-versity.com Are Other Families Homeschooling? MSN Group for Autistic Children Aut-2-Be-Home (great resource!) Riding the Rainbow Theories Aout Autism Autism Research Institute Autism Society of America (or most of this stuff on one page) The Socialization Issue TEACCH. com Dana's View Autism-PDD Support Network The Option Institute Speech/Pathology Directory Autism Today Bringing Your Special Ed. Child Home Special Education At Home |
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<><>In the
beginning of this
journey into the world of autism and after wading through mountains of
research,hundreds of books and articles, interviewing and
speaking with
professionals of all kinds, I found myself drowning in a sea of
information with still no clear answers to my questions.
A couple
of years later I
accept the fact
that there are no answers as to "why" and that maybe there never will
be. The only thing left for me to do is decide how I am going to live
with this
person in my life
with autism. I guess I fall somewhere in between the two camps.
On one
side we have most of the medical community and the belief that autism must be cured... NOW. On
the other hand is the view that autism really isn't a disability at
all. I tend to believe both.
And no, I'm not riding any
fences. I believe several
things that guide and
influence my thoughts on autism,
as well as how I choose to raise
my son Luke.
Among these are:
1) The belief in a Sovereign, Just & Holy God... and that there are no mistakes. That includes autism. I may not understand this but I trust the Lord with it completely. 2) The belief that we are all different in our own way, some just more so than others. 3) Everyone is unique. I have no desire to make my children into cookie-cutter replicas of each other. Quite the contrary. |
<>
These beliefs lead me to reject ABA for Luke because at it's foundation is the belief that autistics aren't "normal" and that they need to be changed or made to "FIT" into society. How many wonderful inventors, composers, artists and entrepreneurs would the world miss if we were to "cure" everyone that is different? I do believe diet and nutrition plays an intricate role in all of our lives and that perhaps there is something to the whole "gut malfunction" controversy as it relates to the autism spectrum. Luke did quite well on a gluten and casein free diet. He broke out with some speech that had previously only lingered under the surface and aggression/stemming receded. He seemed more at ease. I have since added gluten back and he now takes enzyme supplements. Same story. He seems more at ease and his
speech is
still progressing. The main reason I stayed with the gluten-free idea
though is because on
the diet (and with the enzymes too) he has had no more sinus pain or
ear infections. At
all. That in itself might have caused the progress in terms of speech.
In the end, we might think we
understand autism, and maybe someday we
might have a "cure". But for now, if you have a child with
autism, relax. Do your best for them and leave what you cannot change
in God's hands.
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