Yesterday I had the great pleasure of attending my first Autism conference. It was particularly exciting because both Temple Grandin and her mother were speakers. I enjoyed and learned from them both. Sean Barron was also a speaker there. He was diagnosed with Autism at about 5 years old. He has done extensive work on outlining social guidelines for people with Autism. I'm looking forward to reading Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships, which he co-authored with Temple.
Temple is such an inspiration because of her drive to succeed, in spite of Autism. And she has led a very successful life, both in her animal husbandry career and in her passion for helping families struggling with Autism. Her presentation has led me down a path of considering placing more emphasis on sensory therapy for Luke, instead of psychological therapy. I am beginning to suspect that the majority of his negative behaviors are related to his sensory problems. Allowing him to learn sensory coping skills may have a much larger payoff.
Eustacia Cutler, Temple's mother, is very inspiring to parents of Autistic children. Her daughter was diagnosed in the 50's, during a time when "refrigerator mothers" were blamed for causing Autism. What a terrible ordeal, to be told that the only hope for your child was an institution, and oh by the way - we think it is your fault. Between that and the complete lack of support from Temple's father, it is a miracle that she not only survived, but thrived. Her basic premise was (and is) to set expectations for the Autistic child. Never let Autism become an excuse. I strive to be that way. When I'm logical and feeling good, I think I'm doing a good job towards that. Sometimes I only see where I'm failing.
The final speaker of the day was Beth Aune, OTR/L. I very much enjoyed her presentation. It was more targeted to the teacher population in the audience, but it reinforced my feeling of focussing more on sensory therapy for Luke. She covered the basic information on the sensory systems and common classroom related problems and solutions. It was good to learn that some of the solutions were already being used for Luke at school. Also good to learn that some of the ideas would work just as well for similar problems at home. I am so glad I stuck it out for her presentation, instead of leaving like so many others did.
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