Thursday, January 19, 2012

Andrew's Success Story

I have talked with many parents over the years who all have very unique success stories to share about their children.  Some of those success stories are medical, some involve academics, and others surround other disorders.  Autism Spectrum Disorder is a wide range of disorders that can affect a child's communication, socialization, and behavior.



Alison, a parent of a child with autism, has chosen to share her child's success story with the National Autism Center.  Without the knowledge from research and early intervention, Alison feels that her son would not be where he is today due to his diagnosis of autism. 

Here is her story:

"Imagine this scenario: It’s obvious something is wrong with your child, but you don’t know what it is. A doctor tells you your 2-year old child has cancer. He tells you it won’t be fatal, but beyond that can't give you any prognosis. A thousand questions flood your mind, but the biggest one is, "What's the treatment protocol?" He doesn’t have an answer — the best he can do is give you the names of some books to buy. It’s up to you, as the parent, to learn about it. It’s up to you to try, on your own, some of the treatments others have tried. 

This goes on for two or more years. Your child is not improving. Then, you learn that there is one place in the state that has expertise in his disorder. For the first time in years, the weight of the unknown becomes bearable.

This was Andrew’s story — except substitute the word “autism” for “cancer.“

Our lives turned around when we became involved in an intensive early intervention program. When he began the program, at age 5, he had little ability to communicate. He could not sit at a table for more than a few minutes. He showed little interest in any toys except trains. Today, at age 7, he is completing first grade at a local public school. His math and reading skills are above grade level. He likes to make kids in his class laugh with his imitation of Sponge Bob. There is a long road ahead, but the most important thing we have been given by the program is the knowledge of how to work with him and continue his progress."

—Alison, Parent
For more information you can view the National Autism Center Website.

Friday, January 13, 2012

My Personal Research Journey


The topic I have chose is something that I feel very passionate about.  As a Developmental Therapist working for Indiana's Early Intervention System, I see many families enter and exit the program.  My hope is that when they exit, the child will continue with some form of quality early childhood program before starting Kindergarten.  I see many benefits, especially for children with developmental delays, from being in a quality program with other children and quality educators.  The challenge I have found is that many parents are not properly educated or informed about the programs available for their children. 

For my topic, I have chosen to take a closer look at the knowledge parents have regarding their early childhood education options, and how they are informed.  I have discovered that this is a hot topic, yet little literature through articles and research papers.  I have found that one of most helpful strategies when searching for literature was to search multiple databases at one, and open up my search up by searhcing other fields and not limiting myself to just educational databases.  The other strategy that I have found very helpful was to jot down some key words and phrases that I could use to search this specific topic.  Using these strategies have allowed me to find a few great articles that are relevent to my topic of parent educational awareness. 

What strategies are working for you?  What have you found helpful?  What have you found challenging?