This information-packed guest blog is the second in a series from my friend and colleague Dan E. Burns. Dan is absolutely passionate about asking tough questions and finding answers related to young adults living with autism and their families. Dan’s last guest post Funding Autism for Life addressed options families have for supporting and caring for individuals with autism when they age out of public school. This excellent post from Dan explores The Brookwood Community, the brain in relation to movement and exercise and much, much more. Enjoy!
Touch, See, Feel, Move: The Brookwood Community in Texas and the Autism Epidemic
By Dan E. Burns
“We don’t just believe in miracles,” my guide told me, “we rely on them.” White-haired and in her eighties now, striding ahead of me cell phone in hand, my guide, called “Me-Maw” by some of the residents who to flock around her, prefers to remain anonymous. “I didn’t build this wonderful place,” she explained. “It’s God’s doing.”
She opened door after door as we made our way through clusters of busy citizens in the ceramic workshops, gym, natatorium, and clinic to a fine, on-campus restaurant near the gift shop and gardens of The Brookwood Community, a 495-acre residential/educational village designed to enhance the lives of adults with disabilities.

Right around the corner lurks a yearly extravaganza of ghoulishly engrossing treats and spooktacular tricks. Children have selected their favorite characters to transform into for a night of house-hopping fun. Schools are having fall parties, churches are putting together carnivals, and neighborhoods are stocking up with sugary and corn-syrup laden “goodies”. Does this scare the nightlights out of anyone else?

Birthday parties are not only fun and good times for our kids but they are important for laying a foundation in which our kids’ relationships and friendships can be built upon. Let’s face it. Birthday parties can be INTENSE. They can be loud, hectic and overwhelming…..especially for children with autism spectrum disorders. We wanted to share a few ideas to help your kids attend birthday parties and to make the birthday experience a social thinking experience in order to help your child increase their Theory of Mind skills and their relationships with peers.

As a parent with a child with special needs you most likely spend the majority of your time in the car driving from one appointment to the next as well as within many different waiting rooms. With all that time spent in “transition” it is sometimes difficult to make sure that your child is emotionally regulated, entertained, having fun, learning, transitioning smoothly, eating properly and more. This week we want to help you create a “Bag of Tricks” that will help your transitions move much smoother. You will need a big bag to put everything in.

The new school year has begun and our kids are getting back into the swing of things in their new classrooms. This might mean smooth sailing to some and to others, there may be more challenges to face. As soon as our kids step foot out of the car during carpool, or as soon as they step foot onto that bus or let go of our hand each school day, the worries and concerns tend to build.

Where in the world did the summer go? Here in Texas, many schools start in only two weeks……insanity! With summer coming to an end, we are all busy getting our kiddos prepared for a new school year. We wanted to share links to our previous school-inspired blogs to help your family prepare your child for their new school, new classroom, new teacher or new friends. We wish everyone the best of luck and loads of fun for the 2011-2012 school year!
What Do I Tell the Other Parents?: www.autismspot.com/blog/What-Do-I-Tell-Other-Parents

An article titled “Independence Day” was recently published in the Dallas Fort Worth Thrive magazine. The article emphasizes the importance of encouraging children with special needs to work towards independence at an early age as opposed to steering them towards “learned helplessness.”

Homemade Puff Paint

Potty training. Worst nightmare or piece of cake? This experience is different for everyone. With the first day of school being just around the corner, parents are feeling the pressure to get their child potty trained and to get them potty trained fast. Your system may be working or it may not. Whether you are looking for a couple of tips or a truckload, we are here to help!
There are two things to know that we consider most important about potty training:
1. All children are different. Because of this, some of these ideas may apply to your child and some may not.

So along our journey here we have discussed how antibiotics play a role in poor health, yeast for example is what we most recently went over. You can catch that blog from a few months ago to refresh yourself or read for the first time. As a biomedical doctor I can tell you there is a reason for antibiotics, they have their time and place. Unfortunately, their time and place is too often in the wrong hands. Once we get children healthy again, having addressed the dysbiosis and inflammation its imperative we refrain from using antibiotics if at all possible.