Life on the Spectrum - The FOCUS Spectrum Unplugged

Dispelling Preconceptions about Autism

Recently FOCUS Spectrum Unplugged presented a panel at SEPTO in Willington.  The mission of the unplugged panels is to help give people a greater understanding of what it is like for families on the Spectrum.  Since 2004 and with over 100 presentations under their belt the FOCUS “panel of experts” has wowed educators, students, service providers, business and community groups all over Connecticut and Massachusetts. This panel consists of current FOCUS students, alumni and staff who are all on the Autism Spectrum. Led by Donna Swanson our FOCUS Executive Director the panel is an open and honest discussion about what life with autism is really like. Panel members clearly describe their school experiences, their difficulty with relationships and their feelings of isolation and loneliness. They are also quick to relate to educators’ and service providers which approaches and techniques worked and which did not. The panel is always enthusiastically received and is responsible for providing awareness and hope to thousands of children and families and for raising the consciousness of many concerning this growing disorder.

Yesterday the FOCUS Spectrum Unplugged spoke at the SEPTO in Willington. It was a very long day but we love to be together. The audience was so attentive and interactive. The panel was the same members as last year as were some of the attendees who could not believe the changes and growth in the panel. What impresses me the most is not only their growth but the fact that this growth is apparent and happening at the same time that each panel member is going through some very difficult life changes. The message here is there is hope even when life throws us a curve ball if we are surrounded by support and people who believe in us. So proud of all of FOCUS..kids, families and staff..WE MAKE THIS HAPPEN TOGETHER! Donna Swanson, founder and executive director.

Success SEPTO is to works within our local communities to encourage school districts, legislators, and families to work together. The organization strives to understand, support, and enhance education, and provide greater opportunities for children with special needs. They serve Ashford, Mansfield, Stafford, Tolland, Willington and other surrounding towns in Northeast Connecticut.

FOCUS Center for Autism is a grassroots, community-based nonprofit whose mission is helping children and young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders achieve their full potential. FOCUS Center for Autism became a non-profit organization in 2000. It began as an after-school program and a camp in the summers for children and adolescents on the Autism Spectrum and, is now an intensive and growing clinical continuum of care. In 2009 FOCUS expanded its Extended Day Treatment Program to include the morning hours and to offer a Clinical Education Program that targets children who are having a difficult experience in their traditional school setting. This program coupled with our After School Program offers a comprehensive clinical model that promotes social, emotional and academic growth. The FOCUS Extended Day Treatment Program has developed into a well respected community-based model of treatment that has now served over 500 children.

Creating jobs for their Autistic children

A Proactive Choice - Some Parents Stepping In

There's a report in USA Today about parents creating jobs for their Autistic Children. The story features Lori Ireland and her non-profit organization Extraordinary Ventures which employs 40 young adults on the Spectrum. They're doing jobs cleaning buses and making candles. 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/28/autism-jobs-parents/2839027/

The article also mentions The nonPareil Institute in Plano, Texas. The Institute started five years ago to offer the founder's children training in technology. The non-profit trains young adults on the spectrum to develop digital games and apps. The cost is $675 a month. According to CEO Dan Selec, they have released five apps and a couple of games. There are plans to expand to seven more cities.

In both these examples parents with means are offering their children opportunities. There's nothing wrong with that but, there are many parents who do not have the means. There are many young adults on the Spectrum who do not have the support from their parents. As a community, we need to come together to find solutions for young adults on the Specturm. Many are waiting for the chance.

At FOCUS Center for Autism, this subject is on the front burner. When I was on the Board we made attempts at expanding our transitional role. Now as a member of the development team the need for funding has come into sharper focus. We hope to be offering housing and support services for young adults transitioning out of the system at age 18. The stumbling block is always resources.

Buffet denies he wants to scrap Obamacare

Republicans and Tea Party members take his comments out of context. Nothing unsual there when the end justifies the means. Just lie and keep on lying.

Warren Buffett on Obamacare
A three year old interview was taken out of context by a blogger. Now Republicans are running with it. It doesn't matter how many times Buffet denies he called for scrapping the Affordable Care Act. Certain politicians are bent on misinformation.

A week ago, billionaire investor Warren Buffett denied he wants to “scrap” Obamacare, calling such reports “totally false.” But that has done little to stop some Republicans from spreading the rumor.
A day after Buffett’s denial, Rep. Jim Jordan said, “All the momentum is in our direction. Warren Buffett said yesterday, ‘Scrap the bill.’”

There's more at Factcheck.org. The article takes us back to the origins of this lie. The interview was on CNBC in March, 2010.

In the CNBC interview, Buffett talked about the high cost of health care in the United States — which he correctly said consumes about 17 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. He compared health care costs to “a tapeworm eating, you know, at our economic body.” He then said the Senate bill would do little to address the cost of health care.

“Unfortunately, we came up with a bill that really doesn’t attack the cost situation that much. And we have to have a fundamental change,” Buffett said.
The host, Becky Quick, asked Buffett if he was “in favor of scrapping this and going back to start over.” He said: “I would be if I were President Obama.” But he also said that he wasn’t changing his mind on the bill and he preferred it to the status quo.

So, what are the ethical standards of politicians who fail to check sources? What about when they know something to be untrue and they continue telling the lie? Is the standard among partisans that you can say or do anything as long as you win? Has this become the ethical standard for our society? country?

Young Adults With Autism Less Likely to Have Jobs

Young Adults With Autism Less Likely to Have Jobs

Articles like this can be depressing. The statistics from the survey of young adults with disabilities don't offer much hope for jobs and independent living. Actually, there were two studies as reported on by HealthDay reporter Brenda Goodman. The first report focused on employment.

Researchers found that only about half of those with autism had ever held a job since high school, and only about a third were currently working. Even worse, young adults on the autism spectrum were less likely to be getting a paycheck than people the same age who had other kinds of disabilities. 

The second study focused on living arrangements. Researchers found that only 17 percent of young adults with autism, who were between 21 and 25 years old, had ever lived on their own. 

By comparison, 66 percent of kids with learning disabilities like dyslexia had lived by themselves, as had 62 percent of those who were emotionally disturbed, a category that includes anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder andeating disorders. Even those labeled as intellectually disabled, meaning they had a low IQ and slower mental processing, were about twice as likely to have lived on their own as young adults with autism

There Is Hope

If you dig deeper into the article, you'll find the situation is not hopeless.  Study author Paul Shattuck, an associate professor at the Drexel University School of Public Health, in Philadelphia points out that getting these children involved in social activities, extracurricular activities and community service increases their chances for employment. 

Alan Hilfer, director of psychology at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York thinks the study is right on target. He says kids with autism require intensive tutoring, coaching and mentoring to help them find and keep jobs.

In other words, services and treatment are the key to the future for 1.5 million children on the spectrum. They are rapidly approaching adulthood.

I'll be up front. I work for FOCUS Center for Autism. We offer treatment that includes coaching and mentoring. It also includes training in social skills and milieu therapy. "The milieu or “life space” is a planned treatment environment that is constantly supporting, nourishing and reinforcing a child’s ability to learn and grow. It is a “social incubator” if you will, in which every day events and interpersonal interactions are used as clinical opportunities for learning."  We're one of the few in Connecticut offering treatment on a daily basis. There needs to be much more so these young adults can be engaged and productive.

FOCUS at the Lyceum

FOCUS Center for Autism has an event coming up at the Lyceum in Hartford. The title of the event is Meet the Many Faces of Autism. There will be food and beverages. Some Speakers will speak (they promise to be brief). Some talented individuals with Autism will be there to meet and greet you and perform. They'll surprise you. And, there'll be an Autism Spectrum Unplugged Panel.

I was asked to come up with a tag line. What do you think? Which works best?

• Expect the Unexpected
• It’s More Than Meets the Eye 
• Time to Shift the Paradigm 
• When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change." - Dr. Wayne Dyer 
• “autism is more like retina patterns than measles” ― Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump
• “I didn't get where I am today by not being autistic” -Larry Arnold

Meet the Many Faces of Autism will be October 16th, 6pm to 9pm with the help of our partners The Connecticut Autism Action Coalition, The Connecticut Department of Public Health and, UCONN'a AJ Pappanikou Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities

Unemployment Rate and African Americans

Black unemployment rate is consistently twice that of whites

Unemployment for African Americans is twice the rate for Whites. It has been that way since the 1950's when the Bureau of Labor Statistics started keeping track.  According to an article published by Fact Tank (Which is part Pew Research), the statistics are, in part, a result of Last In First Out (LIFO). The current unemployment rate among African Americans is 13.4% as opposed to 6.7% for whites. Couple this with the rate for African American teens at 43% and, you have a grim statistic. At the same time corporate profits are at an all-time high.

Corporate Profits Soar To Record, Now More Than Double Their Peak Under Ronald Reagan
The job creators...as they were called in the last election...are not creating enough jobs despite record profits. And, the jobs they are creating are low wage.

New jobs disproportionately low-pay or part-time

Back in the days when I was a history major (I went on to other things) there were studies about the growing tensions created when the income gap between the top 1% and the other 99% got too wide. The result was turmoil and revolution. So far we've avoided that in this country because of the strength of the middle class.The Progressives from the early 20th century understood this and, did something had to be done to break the corporate stranglehold on American or we would pay the consequences. The middle class is being deeply eroded. Minorities are suffering the most with the highest unemployment rates. 

How long can we continue on our current path? Is congress really going to stand up for us? We elect congress. I think we can do something about this.

Cuts at Head Start

Sequestration is leading to an even wider divide between the 1% and the rest of us. Sequestration means 57,000 children will be cut from the Head Start Program. For those who think we cannot afford Head Start and other social programs consider how much we (Americans) spend on ice cream each year. We spend $10 billion a year according to statistics provided by the International Ice Cream Association.

I'm not saying we need to give up ice cream. I'm saying our priorities need to change if we want to grow as a country. Giving children living in poverty a chance with programs that help them with their education should be at least as important as an ice cream cone. If you're thinking, there's nothing I can do. It's the government. We are the government.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sec-kathleen-sebelius/the-numbers-are-in-seques_b_3780237.html

There's a lot more on the cuts from a posting by Kathleen Sibelius in the Huffington Post. ( link above)

There Are People Who Care
There are organizations trying to help the poor and other groups in the greater Hartford area. Asylum Hill Congregational Church house a neighborhood daycare in its building. Grace Lutheran Church in Hartford offers a free meal to its neighbors Fridays. Grace Lutheran is struggling too. The congregation is small and the church has been running a deficit. Yet, through alliances with groups like Foodshare, the church is feeding neighbors who are struggling with poverty. I work for FOCUS Center for Autism. We serve children on the Autism Spectrum. We depend on funding from State sources as well as grants and individual donations.

In each of these cases these organizations could be doing more. Other organizations could be joining in to lessen the load. The key is resources. There are not enough available to go around.

There would be if more of us would become involved. The cuts to Head Start this year will be $400 million. That works out to about $1.27 per person in this country. The cost of an ice cream cone is about $2.50.