Untitled Page

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Grant Applications Arriving

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Tip of the Month

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Applications for the grant money are filtering in. The deadline is October 16th, so there is still time to apply! Everyone who applies has an equal opportunity to receive a grant. Don't let the opportunity pass. This money can be used to help your autistic family member in many ways!

School is starting! These are some suggestions from the Autism Society of America.

Getting a haircut:
Find a place that shows videos. Explain to the stylist about autism and that speed is important! Give your child lots of praise following the cut.

Helping with lunch:
Use fold-top sandwich bags that can be opened easily in packed lunches. Slightly tear packages for easy opening. Avoid too much chocolate and sweets!

Teaching manners:
Be polite and use good manners with your child and he will learn to use them too. Ask, "Are you all right?" whenever your child falls or cries; this will teach him to ask the same of others.

Getting rest:
Establish routine bedtime for your child and stick to it!

In The News....
Here are a couple of links to some interesting topics from Autism Speaks and the Autism Society of America. Hope you enjoy reading!

HEARTstrings will be a feature each month for readers to share personal stories. If you would like to submit a story for the newsletter, please send it to me at AutismHearts@stny.rr.com Please remember that this newsletter is on the Internet, so anything you say can be viewed by anyone. If you wish to submit a photo, attach it to the story. Also, I must be able to reserve the right to edit for space and content if necessary. This first story below, (from 1987) many of you may have already seen, but I think it bears repeating. - Sandy

Note: The contents of this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the AutismHearts organization.

Welcome to Holland-Emily Perl Kingsley
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability- to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say, "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy."
But there's a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around....and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills..and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy...and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss.
But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things... about Holland.