[kj] OT Film about my family, a few years ago, to benefit a non profit

[Cliff Livingston]

Hey that cool we don't chat much so i forget yer on here,also i think franks
got kids on the spectrum.i keep getting in contact with old friends via
facebook and they tell me they've got a kid with autism,small world.
well this film was bout 2 years ago,the boys are now huge and wolfgang is
almost 200 pounds,and stands at 5 foot 8 inches,the size of an adult
male,and is non verbal,and has this behavior of putting things in his
ears,like rocks,food,crayons ect..friday we go to have his 4th day surgery
to have that stuff removed.So yes they'll be kicking out asses soon,i hope
they start to talk so we can help with their needs,communication helps
alot.They use picture communication and wolfgang has a machine that he uses
to talk that has pictures and is programmable.
The arc of anchorage well there's many Arc's around the country,i was'nt
really looking for donations,as much to show you the video of our family's
experience.Yes at the time this film was made both my wife and myself were
working for this agency,but my wife got a different job after 14 years of
working there.Now she's training folks with doing service for folks  with
disabilities and the elderly.Cheers,Cliff

On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 7:41 AM, TB <planetary at socal.rr.com> wrote:


> Cliff Livingston wrote:

>

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4V56A0PsSc

>

> ++++

>

> Very nicely done, a great document of what it's like day to day as parents

> with children with autism. About the only thing I would

> dare to suggest is that you might want to include more direct contact

> information about The Arc for people who wish to donate or may

> have need of their services.  Also, are you and/or your wife officers of

> this organization?

>

> Our son, who just turned 13 also suffers from autism and while he isn't

> non-verbal (although he was up 'til 6) and not as severely

> involved as your kids, he's presented many of the same challenges as your

> kids do. One of the biggest challenges has been dealing

> with our school district from the beginning when he was pre-kindergarten

> and getting fair and appropriate services for him.  We've

> had to go to due process twice and even sued the district (and won) for

> things like an aid for the entire day, speech and OT.  All

> that hard work has paid off as he's close to being mainstreamed in regular

> classes and we're phasing out his full time aid before he

> goes into High School.

>

> Throughout our own journey, we've met other families who have children with

> autism, so we've seen kids who run the entire gamut of

> barely noticeable issues to extremely severe.  My wife is very active in

> TACA (Talk About Curing Autism) which is more geared

> towards support for parents and advocates for other families in our area

> who are just starting down the road of getting services for

> their kids.  She been interested in starting an NPA in California very

> similar to what ARC appears to be, which is *lifelong*

> support for autistic and other special needs children through adulthood.

>

> Here's a few photos of our son Jason, one from around 4 when he was

> non-verbal but loved banging away on guitar and one several

> years later in 2005 just before he inexplicably developed an aversion to

> loud noise (we take him to movies and other "events" with

> earplugs and headphones so he can handle the noise issues) and one from

> last week during his 13th birthday with another boy who also

> suffers from autism:

>

> http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h26/Partyslammer/JASON.jpg?t=1268323015

>

>

> http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h26/Partyslammer/TBandJason12-05-1.jpg?t=1268322934

>

>

> http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h26/Partyslammer/Jason13thBirthday4.jpg?t=1268325484

>

> T.B.

>

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