What is MyAutismTeam and how do I use it?

MyAutismTeam gives you the easiest way to find the best providers who can help your child thrive. Share with other parents like you, and learn from their experience. We’re still in the early stages of MyAutismTeam, and have already pre-populated our searchable database with over 30,000 providers from our growing list of partners like Autism Speaks, Easter Seals and Parents Helping Parents.

In addition to the searchable local business database, we’ve built a social network to make it easier for parents to connect with each other and exchange insights about providers. More often than not, parents feel alone and excluded from information that can help them help their child. Our philosophy is to make it easy for all parents to easily get to answers they need. The more parents know and share with each other, the easier it is to see if you’re missing a specialist that could help your child and see if the providers you have are among the best. Below are key areas of the site:

Find Providers best suited to meet you child’s needs based keyword and zip code/city and state. This is a great place to start building your own team.
Find Parents most like you based on location, your child’s diagnosis and age. You can browse everyone’s story and team, which helps provides insight as you share and build your own team.
Q & A section enables you to search previously asked questions and answers, and gives you the ability to ask your own question that will be answered by other parents on MyAutismTeam.
Activity page is where parents’ daily updates happen. It’s where daily triumphs and trials are shared and supported.
Parents use MyAutismTeam to find and share the best autism providers and businesses (from dentists and therapists, to autism-friendly businesses like barbers, babysitters, etc.) that especially cater to autism needs (marked by “autism-yes”) – on a hyper-local level.

What exactly is a ‘team’? A team on MyAutismTeam is everyone you recommend. Sometimes it can take years of trial and error to build the right team to meet your child’s needs. Everyone from that special speech therapist to the friendly barber who ‘gets it.’ It’s the team of people you’ve brought together to make life on the spectrum better for your child. MyAutismTeam makes it easy to find those best suited to meet your child’s needs while providing you a social network of support from other parents like you.

Our goal is to have hundreds of thousands of teams over the next two years. We know we can’t do it alone. With the help of parents who use autism specialists or autism-friendly businesses, we can quickly identify and grow the searchable MyAutismTeam database to help many parents new to the autism community sooner rather than later. You’re not alone and you shouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel.

Now the confusing part is 2 fold: what is causing this new change in behavior and why does he only exhibit this behavior at home not at school. The change in behavior can likely be explained by a couple of different things and maybe a combination of all three of them. First is change in schedule, Brandon has been on Christmas break for almost 2 weeks so his routine was changed. And Brandon like most Autistic kids live and breath by routine. Second is growth spurts, children with Autism that go through growth spurts often do not feel comfortable in their new body and since it is different, they need to sooth themselves. Third is regression, children with Autism can sometimes take one step forward and two steps back. Frustrating when it happening to you kid but the key is to press on. I believe in Brandon’s case it is a combination of the change in routine and a growth spurt happening at the same time, the Perfect Storm.

The second part of my confusion is why does he not act like this at school? I do not have good theories for why the behavior only appear in the home but I do have a couple thoughts. First, maybe he feel more comfortable to be himself at home and know he can release his emotions on us without feeling awkward. Second is school is extremely structured, there is not much room to stray off the planned path for the day. This part is fustrating to me and extremely fustrating for my wife Dee who has to work with Brandon after school.

Lucky for us we have an extremely good support system set up to handle all of  the challenges with Autism. We have a great school with awesome teachers, fantastic therapy workers, a phenomenal sister Emma, and the best mom and wife to make sure we continue to be there for Brandon in his quest to defeat Autism.

One episode that stood out to me is when the father reaches the end of his rope. Because not only does he have the pressures of raising a kid with Autism, he has all the pressures everyone else has work, family, money, etc.

http://www.lilsugar.com/NBCs-Parenthood-Adam-Punches-Man-Who-Calls-Max-Retard-11920639

When our son Brandon was younger he was denied Medical Assistance because insurance did not recognize Autism as a medical condition. Until he was 3 and diagnosed with Epilepsy, a known medical condition, did he finally get coverage. We are working on paying off his enormous medical bills and donating the rest of the funds to research. He has gone through so much and we as parents have borne a burden which no parents should ever have to go through.

Here is a brief version of Brandon’s story:
When Brandon was about 4 weeks old he began having Grand Mal seizures. The seizures took him to St. Chris’ Hospital in Philadelphia, PA for close to a month. With no real answers they let him go home with medication to control the seizures. 4 Months later, Brandon was diagnosed with multiple neurological disorders. He had constant therapy for Hypertonia, feeding issues as well as Sensory Integration disorder.

When Brandon was 2 1/2 he was diagnosed with Autism. His seizures were under control until he was 3, however, one day in June 2007, Brandon had several Grand Mal seizures. He was then diagnosed with Epilepsy.Now, Brandon is on Medication daily, a special diet and he receives therapy to help him with his numerous developmental delays. Recently Brandon has experienced some breakthrough seizures and we are continuing to monitor him closely.

Its been a very exceptional year for Brandon with lots of developmental breakthroughs. Brandon is now in 1st grade and it is proving to be challenging, yet joyous for both him and us. The school continues to be very supportive of Brandon and his needs and they provide much needed services for special needs children.

To help Brandon, my wife and I have decided to start selling calendars as a fundraiser to help Brandon in his endeavor to live a normal, well balanced life. These calendars are full of some of my best photos and are only $10 each. Think of friends and family when purchasing these, they really do make lovely gifts and I’m sure people would love to know their gift is supporting a special cause. To view and order the calendar visit www.bringsmejoy.com/bmj-products. Please feel free to forward this email to your all your friends and family.

As parents of an Autistic child we couldn’t be more proud of Brandon’s accomplishments and we hope he continues flourish. We’ve really been blessed beyond measure. God Bless and thank you again for your love, kindness and support for our family throughout the years. To keep up to date with what is going on with Brandon and the family visit our family website, bringsmejoy.com

Sincerely,
The Hall Family

Here is a brief version of Brandon’s story:
When Brandon was about 4 weeks old he began having Grand Mal seizures. The seizures took him to St. Chris’ Hospital in Philadelphia, PA for close to a month. With no real answers they let him go home with medication to control the seizures. 4 Months later, Brandon was diagnosed with multiple neurological disorders. He had constant therapy for Hypertonia, feeding issues as well as Sensory Integration disorder.

When Brandon was 2 1/2 he was diagnosed with Autism. His seizures were under control until he was 3, however, one day in June 2007, Brandon had several Grand Mal seizures. He was then diagnosed with Epilepsy.Now, Brandon is on Medication daily, a special diet and he receives therapy to help him with his numerous developmental delays. Recently Brandon has experienced some breakthrough seizures and we are continuing to monitor him closely.

Its been a very exceptional year for Brandon with lots of developmental breakthroughs. Brandon is now in 1st grade and it is proving to be challenging, yet joyous for both him and us. The school continues to be very supportive of Brandon and his needs and they provide much needed services for special needs children.

To help Brandon, my wife and I have decided to start selling calendars as a fundraiser to help Brandon in his endeavor to live a normal, well balanced life. These calendars are full of some of my best photos and are only $10 each. Think of friends and family when purchasing these, they really do make lovely gifts and I’m sure people would love to know their gift is supporting a special cause. To view and order the calendar visit www.bringsmejoy.com/bmj-products. Please feel free to forward this email to your all your friends and family.

As parents of an Autistic child we couldn’t be more proud of Brandon’s accomplishments and we hope he continues flourish. We’ve really been blessed beyond measure. God Bless and thank you again for your love, kindness and support for our family throughout the years. To keep up to date with what is going on with Brandon and the family visit our family website, bringsmejoy.com

Sincerely,
The Hall Family

Many parents are hard pressed to explain to their youth why some music, movies, books, and magazines are not acceptable material for them to bring into the home or to listen to or see.

One parent came up with an original idea that is hard to refute. The father listened to all the reasons his children gave for wanting to see a particular PG-13 movie. It had their favorite actors. Everyone else was seeing it. Even church members said it was great. It was only rated PG-13 because of the suggestion of sex–they never really showed it. The language was pretty good–the Lord’s name was only used in vain three times in the whole movie.

The teens did admit there was a scene where a building and a bunch of people were blown up, but the violence was just the normal stuff. It wasn’t too bad. And, even if there were a few minor things, the special effects were fabulous and the plot was action packed.

However, even with all the justifications the teens made for the PG-13 rating, the father still wouldn’t give in. He didn’t even give his children a satisfactory explanation for saying, “No.” He just said, “No!”

A little later on that evening the father asked his teens if they would like some brownies he had baked. He explained that he’d taken the family’s favorite recipe and added a little something new. The children asked what it was.

The father calmly replied that he had added dog poop. However, he quickly assured them, it was only a little bit. All other ingredients were gourmet quality and he had taken great care to bake the brownies at the precise temperature for the exact time. He was sure the brownies would be superb.

Even with their father’s promise that the brownies were of almost perfect quality, the teens would not take any. The father acted surprised. After all, it was only one small part that was causing them to be so stubborn. He was certain they would hardly notice it. Still the teens held firm and would not try the brownies.

The father then told his children how the movie they wanted to see was just like the brownies. Our minds lead us into believing that just a little bit of evil won’t matter. But, the truth is even a little bit of poop makes the difference between a great treat and something disgusting and totally unacceptable.

Click here for the full length article.

Butler Township police said Freeman allegedly slapped the boy across the face on Sept. 22 at approximately 3 p.m. at the Drums Elementary/Middle School while placing the youth in his seat on the school bus.

According to the police report, two autistic classroom support specialists witnessed the assault and contacted school officials.

District Transportation Director Fred Mariano said he investigated the incident along with district Security Director Vincent Zola and Drums Principal Dan Diehl, who then turned their findings over to Butler Township police.

As a result of the joint investigation with school officials, police said a citation charging Freeman with harassment was filed at the district court office of Magisterial District Judge Daniel O’Donnell in Sugarloaf Township.

According to David Chiverella, owner of Chiverella Inc., Freeman was intervening in an altercation among students on the school bus that day.

For the rest of the story click here.

I have personally seen what early intervention can do for kids with Autism. Brandon has been receiving early intervention care for 2 years and it is the primary reason he is as high functioning as he is now. And I personally know several kids with Autism that have benefited tremendously from early intervention care. To read more on the bill visit click here.