Autism News

New Website Offers Advice for Traveling with Children with Autism
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Source: Autism Society of Ameica - www.Autism-Society.org

Autistic Traveler website is written by a travel enthusiast and mother of a son with autism

The Autistic Traveler, www.autistictraveler.com, aims to provide a central source of information for traveling with children who have autism. The site also provides link to help parents successfully plan a family vacation.

Grace Ann Baresich, whose youngest of three children has autism, has compiled information based on her extensive travels that she says may be useful to families thinking of a trip, but feel “paralyzed” by the thought of leaving home.

The site contains information about trip planning, such as deciding whether to take a beach, adventure or touring vacation, and a traveler’s forum. Coming soon are links to useful travel products, travel links and packing tips.

Autism Society Calls on the Senate to Ratify U.S. Participation in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Thursday, July 29, 2010
By: Amanda Glensky
Source: Autism Society of Ameica - www.Autism-Society.org

As the nation marks the 20-year anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Autism Society is continuing its work to protect the freedoms envisioned for individuals through the original act and its amendments of 2008.

The Autism Society has joined the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, a coalition of national consumer, advocacy, provider and professional organizations, to urge the Senate to ratify the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The CRPD seeks the same goals as the ADA did 20 years ago: giving individuals with disabilities the power to achieve economic self-sufficiency, independent living, and inclusion and integration into society. President Barack Obama signed the CRPD on July 30, 2009, and advocacy groups are anticipating the Administration will soon submit it to the Senate for consent. Eighty-eight nations, including important U.S. allies, have ratified the CRPD.

The objectives of the CRPD are consistent with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Rehabilitation Act. Ratification of the CRPD would give the United States a stronger voice in the international dialogue of disability rights, such as participation in the Conference of States Parties. It would also allow the opportunity to provide input into the implementation of the treaty and the development of disability rights.

The Autism Society believes that by passing the ADA in 1990, Congress demonstrated international leadership that has led the global community in giving freedoms to people with disabilities. In a letter addressed to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Autism Society and the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities writes that consenting to the CRPD would assist millions of Americans with disabilities and their families when traveling abroad, whether for pleasure, education, employment or business. “American citizens with disabilities should have the opportunity to benefit from a new world economy that is fully accessible to all people,” the letter reads.

AWAARE Formed to Prevent Wandering-Related Deaths in Autism Community
Six National Autism Groups Join Forces to Address Risks Associated with Wandering from Safe Environments
CARY, N.C., July 7 –

A new coalition of six national autism non-profit organizations, Autism Wandering Awareness Alerts Response Education (AWAARE), launched its website today (www.awaare.org) in a collaborative effort to prevent wandering-related injuries and deaths, apparently on the rise in the autism community. Coalition member organizations are AutismOne, Autism Speaks, the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, the HollyRod Foundation, the National Autism Association (NAA), and Talk About Curing Autism (TACA.)

While there has been no official tracking of wandering-related incidents involving individuals diagnosed with autism, in an online poll conducted by NAA in 2007, 92% of parent respondents said their children with autism have a tendency to wander away from safe environments. A 2008 study from Denmark found that the mortality rate within the autism population is twice as high as in the general population. In 2001, a California research team attributed elevated death rates among people with autism in large part to drowning. Drowning, prolonged exposure, and other wandering-related factors remain among the top causes of death within the autism population.

"We're working together to raise awareness of the threats posed to children and adults with autism from wandering, and to provide parents and caregivers with the tools and resources they need to protect their loved ones," said NAA Board Chair Lori McIlwain. "Saving lives and preventing injuries in the autism community is AWAARE's mission."

In addition to educating parents and caregivers, AWAARE is reaching out to first responders to increase their understanding and adjust their response mechanisms for autism elopement. "It is our hope that law enforcement and other first responders will devise strategies for dealing effectively with wandering-related incidents when they occur in their own communities," said parent and TACA Family Scholarship Manager Moira Giammatteo.

"The AWAARE effort complements the Autism Safety Project (www.autismsafetyproject.org) that Autism Speaks launched last year. We are thrilled to join forces with several autism organizations, so that together we can all provide the much-needed focus on this important initiative," commented Lisa Goring, National Director of Family Services for Autism Speaks.

AWAARE provides prevention materials including brochures, first responder alert forms, guidance in creating a Family Wandering Alert Plan, and materials for use with school personnel. "I urge anyone caring for someone with autism to access these lifesaving resources and to share them with other parents and caregivers," said Ms. McIlwain. "Our main goal is to ensure that families won't experience the devastation that can result from their loved one wandering away from safety."

For more information, visit www.awaare.org.

On April 10, thousands of children with autism will be able to do something that for many of them was impossible until recently: go to the movies. They'll see How to Train Your Dragon at one of 93 "sensory-friendly" screenings in 47 cities across 30 states. The lights will dim but remain on, the volume will be lowered, the movie will start promptly at 10 a.m. with no previews, families with special dietary needs will be allowed to bring snacks from home, and if the kids yell or even stroll around the theater, no one will complain.

April Autism Awareness Month marked the first anniversary of the Sensory Friendly Films program, a joint venture of AMC Entertainment and the Autism Society. Screenings of the G- or PG-rated movies, all newly released, are held once a month on a Saturday morning. Expansion to other cities is planned. (See six tips for traveling with an autistic child.)

A regular at the screenings is Marianna Pollock of Virginia Beach, Va., and her 6-year-old son Xander. "We attempted a regular movie a few times," says Pollock. "We always ended up having to leave within the first 15 minutes because Xander gets so excited that he flaps and makes noise. It was very stressful." Xander's behavior at the movies is typical for many people with autism, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates affects 1 in 110 children. "One of the challenges for people with an autism spectrum disorder is coping with strong sensory stimulation," says psychologist Sandra Harris, who runs the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. "They may be overwhelmed by loud sounds, bright lights, crowds of people. A person of any age with an ASD may flap his or her hands, twist her fingers, call out or rock when she is excited by an event such as a movie." (See nine kid foods to avoid.)

Silvia Townsend of San Diego took her 12-year-old son Bailey to a regular movie. Once. "It was horrible," says Townsend. "He was terrified when the lights turned off. And when the loud music started, he was covering his ears and started screaming in obvious pain." Now Bailey loves attending sensory-friendly films.

So does 18-year-old Matthew Kay, who has severe autism and attends the films with other young adults and the staff of the group home he lives in near San Diego. The last time Matthew was able to attend a regular movie, he was 4. (Read about whether there is a more effective genetic test for autism.)

The idea for the films first came about in 2007 when Marianne Ross, of Elkridge, Md., took her then 7-year-old daughter Meaghan, who has autism, to see Hairspray. Ross purposely picked an early matinee, when there would be fewer people. "Meaghan loves Zac Efron, so when he came onscreen, she just danced, twirled, flapped her hands and jumped up and down." Several patrons complained, and the manager asked the Rosses to leave. "I was so frustrated, angry and upset," recalls Ross, "because Meaghan had been so happy. I thought, There's got to be a lot of children in the same situation."

The next day, Ross called her local AMC movie theater in Columbia, Md., and spoke to manager Dan Harris. She asked if he'd be willing to set up a special screening. Harris, who had never known anyone with autism, met with Ross, heard her suggestions and came up with some adaptations to make the screening more sensory-friendly to kids with the disorder. (See pictures of a school for autistic children.) Ross put the word out about the upcoming screening through her local Autism Society chapter. "We didn't know if we'd have an empty auditorium," says Harris. "We had 300 seats, and we had to turn people away. I knew we were on to something."

Harris held three more monthly screenings, then contacted AMC's national headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., where he spoke with community-relations manager Cindy Huffstickler. She thought it was a great idea and was surprised no one had thought of it before. Huffstickler then contacted the Autism Society's national headquarters, which got its chapters behind a few national test screenings that proved just as successful. (See a study on whether higher rates of autism are real.)

"Attending a film where you know everyone in the theater is either in the same situation as you or is at least informed that the 'Silence is golden' policy doesn't apply today takes the tension away," says Angela Vandersteen of Greenwood, Ind., who takes her 5-year-old son Ray to the screenings. When Marianne Ross takes Meaghan to the movies, she also takes along her 8-year-old son Gavin, who does not have autism; he has developed a network of friends who are siblings of autistic kids at the screenings. (Read TIME's 2007 story "Autistic Kids: The Sibling Problem.")

Even families of children without autism but with other special needs, like those with physical disabilities, have started attending the screenings, citing the sense of acceptance they feel there.

"Our children are constantly under scrutiny," says Xander's mother Marianna. "They look normal, so people often think they're just misbehaving. It becomes exhausting trying to validate their right to be themselves. At a sensory-friendly movie, we as a family finally get to go to a movie and relax. Boy, does that feel wonderful."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1977230,00.html#ixzz0qaGpxXN3