The Art of Autism is universal.  For so many of our kids, art is that first inspiration that lures them out, into a world of fulfilling social interactions, through their exceptional, autism-enhanced ability to connect to others through art.  That’s why Autism Today has teamed up with author Debbie Hosseini, to create Artism: The Art of Autism, a magnificent coffee table book, packed with beautiful art by artists who happen to have autism.  As you enjoy the book, Hosseini takes you on a journey into the lives of 54 artists from around the world, and how each has used art to overcome the challenges of living on the spectrum.  In the process, she dispatches, one by one, with common myths about people with autism, perceptions among neurotypicals for example that people on the spectrum lack emotion, creativity, sensitivity, and empathy.

But Artism: The Art of Autism is not just a book.  It’s a community!  Be sure to check out our website, ArtismToday.com.  Interact with Debbie Hosseini, who curates the site.  Follow Artism artists in the news.  Each artists continues to attract interest and media coverage now that Artism: The Art of Autism is now available.   Learn about Keri Bowers’ upcoming Art of Autism Tour dates and how to participate, www.normalfilms.com.  Share YOUR story or that of a friend whom art has helped to cope or to transcend the challenges of autism.  Best of all — have fun!  Our goal is for ArtismToday.com to be an online crossroads for everyone interested in art and, yes, autism too.

We look forward to seeing you, interacting with you and learning about you and your art soon, on ArtismToday.com!

I won’t kid you – it’s not easy to combine the true believers from either the purely behavioral or purely biomedical schools of thought at a single event.  Some people feel deeply antagonized by the mere suggestion that both sides could have something to teach us.  Some speakers don’t like the format, some families and teachers don’t understand it.  And imagine trying to explain the significance of such a happening to the mainstream media!  But at Autism Today, we are deeply focused on empowering individuals – people with autism spectrum disorders and their families – on the most complex, personal journey they will face – the path of emergence (some even say, “recovery” and even, “cure”).

The argument over how to define a fulfilled, fully expressed life is as varied and endless as the human race.  Our job, as we see it at Autism Today, is to equip each person and his or her family with information about every legitimate tool they might use to find their own way.  There are not top-down answers in autism.  It’s not only grass roots; it’s deep in the soil.  Success depends in part on a willingness to get dirty!  And on some level, love that process.  Watch the HBO movie about Temple Grandin, or listen to painter Keri Bowers describe her work with her son Taylor Cross, literally spending hours, dipping him bodily into paints, and creating art, or listen to almost any narrative of successful intervention, and you learn – it’s a hands-on process.

Autism Vancouver is still two weeks away.  But it is not too early to give thanks to our champions who will make this such a special event.  None of this could happen without a dedicated staff and the support of our Autism Today friends and family.  We especially wish to thank Keri Bowers, founder of Normal Films, and director of Normal People Scare Me, Debbie Hosseini, author of our newest title, Artism: The Art of Autism – both tireless champions of the arts as a vehicle of emergence — Kelly Lebrock, who has donated her star power and agreed to act as honorary hostess of our Gala, and Diana Graling, of Helms-Briscoe, whose invaluable logistical counsel is helping us to run a tight ship in Vancouver.

For those unable to join us in Vancouver, I hope you won’t mind this special Congress edition of the Autism Today newsletter.  Please remember we will be broadcasting segments of the Congress via webcast every day of the Congress, April 7-9, and for those who wish to experience the complete program, we will make this available in DVD for purchase.

Soon, we will have the capacity in place to make all of our programming available by live webcast, so you can enjoy and benefit from it without the expense of travel, and in the company of family, students or colleagues.  Keep an eye on our newsletters for announcements about these enhancements to our program offerings.

Thank you again for your friendship and support.

Warm regards,
Karen?

The Live FREE Webcast Details are Listed Below:

Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA): A Flexible and Affordable Intervention for Autism
Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh, Executive Director and Founder of the Centers for Autism and Related Disorder (CARD)

March 14th, 6pm PST / 7pm MTN / 8pm CST / 9pm EST

The webcast can be viewed at the following URL:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/autismvancouver

As you know, Doreen is one of the world’s leading ABA practitioners and will be a featured speaker at the Autism Vancouver Biennial Congress, this coming April 7-9 2011!

What you will learn on the Live Webcast…

Internationally-renowned pioneer of Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh, provides a practical, informative introduction to this powerful treatment methodology. Widely practiced in North America, intensive ABA has been scientifically proven effective as a means of improving social and intellectual function in pre-schoolers.  Dr. Granpeesheh will also explain how  online tools and services now enable parents and educators to apply ABA more affordably and conveniently.

See you there!

When I woke up, I couldn’t believe the pain shuddering through my entire body.  I wanted to die.  But wait, where was the baby?  I knew I was pregnant and that I had just delivered a beautiful baby boy, but he was nowhere in sight?  As I glanced out the window I noticed the grass was green, but just yesterday snow had covered every square inch of the landscape.  How could this be?  As my nurses came into focus, as well as the faces of my husband and mother, a story began to unfold as miraculous as those angels that surrounded me. They began to tell me what had happened during the past 57 days. I had almost died, was given a 1% chance to live, and was even read my last rites, but I had somehow managed to live again, against all odds.

Yes, I had survived, and so had my son.  But our real story was just beginning. My new baby, Alex, was soon to be diagnosed with ADHD.  His brother Jonathan, my two-and-a-half year-old, had just been diagnosed with autism.  It was a double-whammy!  Along with these two special boys and so many children like them, I had survived for a reason that would soon become very clear.

Where a life starts and why it starts again is the question every survivor faces. My story actually began fifty-three years ago when I was born in Oklahoma City.  Six years later our modest family of four packed up and moved to Florida where I grew up, from one hurricane season to the next.  This must be the reason for my attraction to high-energy people and my fearlessness, which both have served me well.
Dad had his own aeronautical engineering company, and mom worked for Pan Am Airlines, so my sister and I got to travel the world at an early age.  I loved the picturesque, quaint communities and the unique perspective others had in the many different cultures I visited.  I remember one woman in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka, being totally content sitting on top of a pile of rocks and breaking the big rocks into little rocks.  That’s what she did all day long and she had the biggest grin on her face I’d ever seen!  This is also where I fell in love with gemstones, which would become one of my callings in life.

After graduating from high school I attended college in north Florida and then decided to join the U.S. Air Force where I was stationed in Panama City, Florida. But four years was more than enough time for me to realize that the military life was not for me, so I received an honorable discharge and enrolled in the Gemological Institute of America in Santa Monica, California to become a Graduate Gemologist. Upon graduation I started a company in Bellevue Washington.  I later sold the company when, at age thirty-one, I met my current husband and moved to his home in Canada where I set up a jewelry store called The Gem Gallerie.

Jim and I had a wonderful life together. When I was younger, I would never have thought I wanted children, but at age thirty-four, Jim and I began our large, happy family.  We had our first three children in three consecutive years, one right after the other. I had my fourth child, Jonathan, when I was thirty-nine years old. He was rather quiet from the start, which was fine with me since I had three other kids in diapers.  I never noticed anything was different.  How could I?  Kim, Matt, and Christina consumed all of my energy, and I was still running the jewelry store.  Jonathan, I thought, was the perfect baby.  He would lie quietly in his crib, apparently perfectly content with the world.  In fact he didn’t really like to be held much.

It was my sister-in-law, Anna, who insisted that Jim and I get Jonathan evaluated for autism after she happened to listen to a radio talk show on the subject. How could I have known he was autistic?  I didn’t even know what autism was or what symptoms I should be looking for.  This was 1992 and autism was still relatively new territory, even for specialists.  It turned out that Jonathan did have autism and I was told to bring him back in a year, when he would be three-and-a-half years old.

For the next two years I met with special needs counselors and teachers who helped us work with Jonathan and I attended special needs conferences all across Canada.   We also went on to have our fifth child, Stephen, who was perfectly healthy. We thought we had faced our major hurdle in life and had come through it together as family.  We never guessed what lay ahead.

On April 18, 1994, I checked into the hospital for what I thought would be another routine childbirth like all the others. I was ready to deliver what would be our sixth and—though we didn’t know it at the time—last child. I had had a typical, healthy pregnancy.  I expected to go home in a couple of days and resume our busy, fun-filled life together.  But just minutes after Alex was born, I started to hemorrhage.  Nothing could be done to stop the bleeding.  What happened in the next 57 days was an unimaginable fight for my life. My family, friends, doctors, and nurses tried everything to pull me through—including a few “wild” schemes to get through to me in my comatose state.  It was ultimately just a few words from my husband that, unknown to him, gave me an ironclad will to live and to return to my family.  His words still ring in my ears.

“Don’t worry, honey.  I’ll take care of the kids”

After I woke up from my near-death experience, or “back-to-life experience” as I like to call it, one thing after another began to happen.  I had an internal drive and relentless passion first to write a book for my autistic son, Jonathan, called Little Rainman so he could understand his own autism as well as the people and the world around him.  I had six children at home at the time, so it’s not like I had extra time on my hands!  In fact every spare moment went into my urge to share my experiences with Jonathan with the world.

Shortly after the book was published I started a non-profit organization.  I would wake up in the middle of the night with visions of what this would be and the words “Key Enrichment for Exceptional Needs” would appear in my head.  In 1996 the KEEN Education Foundation was born as a driving force behind the effort to serve not only autism but also all types of special needs. Today, KEEN continues to support the educational goals of people with exceptionalities by providing them with the tools, research, and resources they need to thrive.
After this I started Autism Today, a small company that became the exclusive Canadian distributor for the worlds largest publisher of autism books and resources at the time.  I attended conferences and workshops to learn as much as I could about autism and special needs.  We’ve now grown from a simple one-computer, home-based business to an international organization that receives close to three million hits a month on our website, www.AutismToday.com.  Parents, educators, and more come to us for resources, coaching, and the latest news and articles from the top experts in the field. When baby Alex was diagnosed with ADHD, I expanded Autism Today to offer information and resources for the parents and educators of all special needs children.

Looking back now, I believe that breaking open my own rocks to see shining gems emerge from what look like only rough stones has always been part of what makes me smile as well–even today–only the stones have changed. What we experience when we are young and what we gravitate to as we grow is preparing us for everything life has in store for us.  Our new banner headline for Autism Today is “Shining New Light on Special Needs.”

As far as surviving, I suppose it is only in looking back at where we’ve been that those meaningful patterns start to emerge.  A new phase in my life is starting Healing Attitudes Seminars, which redefine perfection to share the secrets of the survivor’s story with others who have been there and for those who realize there will always be challenges in the road ahead.  In one way or another, we all are or at some point will be survivors. Here are just seven of the secrets I have learned and now develop and share with others through this program:
What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger–for a reason.

We all teach what we need to learn most, and by doing so everyone’s life is enhanced.
We all have special needs—some are just more obvious than others.  Do what you can to help others heal.
At any given moment, choose peace rather than conflict, love and acceptance rather than fear, and compassion and understanding rather than guilt and judgment.

Practice empathic listening and hearing your own inner, intuitive voices as well as  “true” voices of others.
Transcend all “types” of spirituality to embrace and teach the underlying message of love.
Bring others “up” to shine, acknowledging each person’s special gifts–the beauty and the hope.

I am certainly no angel, but I feel to the very depth of my being that I’m surrounded by miracles.

Karen Simmons is the parent of six children, ages 10 to 20, two of whom have special needs.  She is the founder and CEO of the internationally recognized Autism Today© non-profit organization, established in 1998, one of the world’s leading resources for all special needs, both online and at numerous conferences and events worldwide.

Karen is also the author of four celebrated books, including her soon to be re-released survivor’s story, Surrounded by Miracles.  Currently based in Alberta, Canada, Karen is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, which gives her and her organization a uniquely expansive network with the special needs community worldwide. For more information about Karen’s Healing Attitudes around Special Needs Seminars, her books, and other special needs resources, please visit www.AutismToday.com

I launched Autism Today as an online community in 1998. For families touched by autism, and facing so many challenges already, the Internet is more than a tool, it is a lifeline, connecting us with other families, expertise and resources, inspiration, and yes, good old entertainment.

Every week, something truly magical pops up on YouTube.  This week we received a video by Susan Werner, a deeply personal song about autism, entitled Different Son. It is from her album,  Kicking the Beehive, which will be released March 1st.

Her agent says he fears Different Son will not get radio play, because it deals with too serious a subject.  But with one in 110 children born with the disorder in the US, we feel this is, for all the right reasons, music for all ears.

At Autism Today, we have a special love for artists.  Something magical happens when a child on the spectrum is moved to create art.  Properly cultivated, art can be the key to unlock exceptional gifts.

This is why we created the Artism series; and will soon publish Artism: The Art of Autism; and celebrate Autism Vancouver with a wonderful arts carnival.

So, today, instead of my usual blog, I decided it would be enough to share a beautiful song, about something we all are passionate about. Sometimes a picture — or a song — is worth a thousand words.

There are quite a few web-based tools on the market that are meant to treat children with autism and related disorders. And as with everything, another one just emerged – Skills™. But unlike all of the others, that shall remain nameless, Skills is not only a web-based tool for parents and practitioners, but gives committed users the power to recover children from autism….really.

The Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD), considered the world’s largest autism treatment center that provides state-of-the art therapy, recently released two web-based programs that go hand in hand, while at the same time, can work alone.  CARD eLearning™ and Skills™ provide training to parents and practitioners and allow the ability to assess and design treatment for children with autism and related disorders. Both of these programs are based on the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA), which has been empirically proven to be the most effective autism treatment and is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Surgeon General.

Journalists seeking access to the CARD e-Learning and Skills programs can obtain free passcodes by calling (877) 975-4559.

CARD eLearning (www.cardelearning.com) is a 40-hour online training course designed to facilitate effective intervention for children with autism by equipping users with foundational knowledge in ABA. The training consists of nine video-based training modules which feature online note taking, quizzes, a final exam and certificate of course completion.

Skills™ (www.skillsforautism.com) is an affordable program that provides everything that educators of children with autism need to assess a child, design a curriculum, and implement a comprehensive behavioral treatment program in one easily accessible location. Skills also provides charts and graphs that track treatment progress and the impact of various events (including other treatments and life events) on the child’s progress.

Check out Skills and CARD eLearning’s websites if you’d like to learn more about them. Or, you can call (877) 975-4559 for free passcodes to test drive these programs.

When I founded Autism Today, I asked my sister Susan to create a logo that would be overwhelmingly positive.  I asked her to use a star, like the gold star we all loved to get from our teachers in school, instead of the puzzle piece.  Autism Today is about celebrating the gifts of our children on the spectrum, not focusing on what we all know and understand to be real challenges.  There’s no argument autism is real and, for those without the necessary resources, overwhelming.  But all of us, parents and children with ASDs, must focus on the unique and often amazing attributes – the positive side – of ASDs, first to cope, next to survive, and, finally, to thrive.  I raised my son Jonny to think of his autism-related skills as wonderful gifts.  When he was born, I could never have imagined how much fulfillment and fun Jonny would bring into our lives as a family.  Focusing on his ASD as a gift, rich with possibilities, was an important aspect of that journey.

I remember people challenging me that no one would know we were about autism since we didn’t use the puzzle piece like everyone else.  My thinking has always and will always be to accentuate the positives and eliminate the negatives.  That old Johnny Mercer tune was a great favorite of my beloved father, Jack Simmons, a World War II veteran, pilot and aerospace engineer.  Attitude got him and many hundreds of thousands of military folk through a terrible time in history.  It can be easy to be overwhelmed by the trials in our lives raising a child on the spectrum.  But inside that child is a treasure chest of possibility.  It is our duty, those of us who know and love these children, to find the gems within – and to do that, we must always, every day, focus on unlocking those gifts.  To do it, we must always accentuate the positive!

My dear friend, Stephen Shore and I were talking about how positives are so good for our kids with autism, especially when accompanied with a red skittle, and sometimes teachers can get carried away with saying “good job” to often so we came up with 77 ways to say good job without being redundant.  I thought I would share them with you all.  Its rather cute.  Enjoy and don’t forget to get the red skittles!

77 ways to say “GOOD JOB”

1. SUPER
2. That’s RIGHT
3. That’s good
4. GOOD WORK
5. Perfect one
6. You’ve just about got it
7. THAT’S IT
8. Now you’ve figured it out
9. GREAT
10. I knew you could do it
11. Now you have it
12. Good for you
13. Couldn’t have done better myself
14. That’s the right way to do it
15. You did it that time
16. You’re on the right track now
17. Nice going
18. WOW
19. That’s the way
20. Keep up the good work
21. TERRIFIC
22. That’s the way to do it
23. SENSATIONAL
24. EXCELLENT
25. PERFECT
26. Much better
27. WONDERFUL
28. You did that very well
29. FINE
30. OUTSTANDING
31. FANTASTIC
32. TREMENDOUS
33. That’s great
34. Right on
35. Superb
36. Good remembering
37. MARVELLOUS
38. I like that
39. Way to go
40. Good thinking
41. Good going
42. Very good
43. You remembered your sound
44. That’s really nice
45. Uh huh
46. That’s a good one
47. Yes
48. I liked that sound
49. Good
50. Nice
51. You’re really working hard today
52. You are very good at this
53. I’m happy to see you working so hard
54. I’m proud of the way you’ve worked today
55. You are doing much better today
56. That’s the best you have ever done
57. You’re doing a good job
58. That’s quite an improvement
59. You’re getting better every day
60. That’s the best ever
61. You must have been practicing
62. You’re really going to town
63. ow that’s what I call a fine job
64. You’re really improving
65. You’re doing beautifully
66. You’ve got that down pat
67. You certainly did well today
68. Keep it up
69. You did a lot of work today
70. I’m very proud of you
71. Now you have the hang of it
72. You’re doing fine
73. You are really learning a lot
74. You out did yourself today
75. You figured that out fast
76. That kind of work makes me happy
77. That’s it

But what a track record!  In just 2 years, CAN has grown from a relatively small, locally-focused charity, primarily backed with Canucks resources, to a major force in the autism community in western Canada.  Since 2008, Jodi has overseen the planning and implementation of a variety of grassroots-driven programs and services that now span the entire province.  Exciting examples include Understanding Minds, a high school social network program, and Soup from the Soul, a pre-vocational/vocational training program for young adults.  Congratulations Jodi and everyone involved in the Canucks Autism Network.  We hope to find ways to collaborate with you.  For more information, visit: www.canucksautism.ca

As children grow, parents ask many important questions, such as, “What will my child do? How can my child function in the real world? How will my child communicate?”

Since the autism epidemic first began in the mid-eighties, hundreds of thousands of families now have a child reaching adulthood, without a comprehensive resource, to help make that transition.

The book Autism Tomorrow is both a life guide, with solutions, and a warm, heart-felt combination of two families’ stories about their sons with autism. My son, Jonny, is high functioning, while Bill’s son, Chris, requires a great deal of care and attention. Through their stories, along with the practical tips from all the authors, you will learn how to help your child build a solid and safe future.
As you read on, you’ll discover this is a book of hope and understanding. Autism Tomorrow provides solutions, makes you laugh and cry, and gives you a roadmap for your child’s future, no matter where he is on the spectrum. This is for parents, educators, caretakers, first responders, people around you, and all people with autism. It has practical lists of things to do and not to do, beginning when your child is young, and later, going out into the world. This includes school, special training, medications, classes, post-secondary education, jobs, and families.

Because we learn from each other in the world that revolves around a child with autism, we want to share what we have learned (often the hard way), about working with schools, community, and neighbors. Everything we do benefits you, and your child with autism.

Everyday life is hard, and some of the most difficult decisions relate to how to make plans for your child’s care whether you are around or not. You’ll want to know who will care for your child, where she will live, and how the life style is funded? You’ll also want to know more about what your child’s daily life will be like, whether he or she can live independently, and what kinds of documentation you’ll need to implement today to ensure your child’s best interests.

Facing each day not only brings new challenges, but also gives birth to the dawn of knowing you can take action and make decisions for a better future.

Karen Simmons, founder & CEO Autism Today