New Horizons and a New Way for Autism Awareness

I'd like to thank my friends and family for helping raise autism awareness through fundraising last year. It was the first time i've gathered a personable approach to raise money for the autism walk now a-thon. Through my friends and family altogether, we raised over $1700 and I want to thank them all for their contributions.

Next year opens new horizons. There's a lot of confusing outlooks on how celebrities have taken on autism to how autism is caused by wi-fi networking radiation spillovers. The truth is nobody still knows the origin and quite frankly, there's a growing number of autistic people who just want acceptance to the real world.

This year in the past few months, I've actually gone to an Applied Behavioral Analysis Conference at San Diego, CA. I was surprised to find the techniques of rewarding and teaching to toddlers and school-grade children is still being applied today and not much has changed since the behavioral patterns of Dr. B.F. Skinner. What shocked me there were some professors who want to resort to shock therapy if a pupil gets extreme. But it's not a barbaric approach to the punishment like those in the past, it's more of mindmolding the pupil to shape through isolation. Absolutely Absurd I thought, but it's taught with videos there.

I remembered undergoing through Applied Behavioral Analysis from pre-school and kindergarten at UCLA by Dr. B.J. Freeman. I couldn't remember what I did as a kid, but it is where i was diagnosed with autism. Knowing I could have been an early subject of isolationism and measurement was just mindblowing to recall. The ABA benchmarks and processes of 1984 to 2004 may have improved, the fundamental ABA principles from B.F. Skinner and other behavioralists are still intact to autistic children throughout the world.

At the ABA Conference, I was surprised to hear Dr. B.J. Freeman retired from her studies and I'd really like to thank her for helping me as a child and my mom for understanding Autism when it was very very rare in the 80s.

This year, More and more families are begging for a financial need of aid for assistance to help their children through autism. And while there's a few autism organizations that are successfully raising monies, none would disclose how they distribute their money to aid them. AutismSpeaks is notorious for spending more money on autism research to find a cure than to help aid families from facing bankruptcies and foreclosures. The cost to aid an autistic child is more than $50,000. Good luck if you can find that amount of money today. A check and aid from AutismSpeaks will be a blessing to you and I'd have to move on to other groups who can help spread the message of aid and need of families and children now than attempting to find a pharmecutical patent for treatments and cure of Autism. Something AutismSpeaks would love to get their hands on.

Which leads me back to the ABA conference I went to on May. I went there coming from the recieving end of the ABA analysis and it's more of the same. It's measuring behavior patterns from three to seven year olds who respond by gestures, shapes, colors or objects and they get rewarded a treat. While this helps the kids understand phonetics, language and building commuication skills, this also left me wondering if there's any new techniques they can use to accelerate their progress of basic math and reading. The result as i've found by many workshops to be varied and less customizeable per student.

It actually gets more interesting to find in their exhibit halls at the San Diego Manchester Hyatt (the location of ToorCon 7 last I went there). There are software programs for autistic spectrum treatments for kids to respond on video game systems to play on the visual fixations of the kids. The minimum cost of these services Is beyond $1500 and for ABA Software to visual pulsing machines. It is big business there at these ABA conventions. From Private School programs to software apps to even ABA schooling at major universities, The exhibition hall at the ABA convetion was far bigger than what I remembered at ToorCon. Autism isn't just about understanding the disability, it's also about understanding the treatments for money.

There's a lot of goodies I took. I'd like to thank the Kinark Centre of Ontario for passing out the led light with a compass and hook. I'm using it to navigate my way when i'm commuting on my bicycle.

My missions for the coming months for Autism Awareness before April 08 are as follows:

• Continue to raise money for autism research and at best, better the amount I raised this coming year than last year.
• Finding more methods to raise funds for familes in need of help.
• Raising to specific groups that have helped me in the past. Specifically the Harbor Regional Center and the Jay Nolan Center.
• Help other Autism Adovcacy Groups besides AutismSpeaks, like The Autism Acceptance Project.
  
• Besides Bowling, I'd like to start a Bike for Autism and maybe a few shows hopefully for other Autism groups.
• Finally, constant updated blogs. I apologize for the lack of updates. I've been busy. Such as travelling to Europe.
  

I'm very excited about the new ideas and new methods to help the families and children with autism overcome it. It's something that can't be cured, but it is something that can be accepted and adapted to the world.

- Al

Two Stories of Undercutting Autism Support in South Carolina and Canada

There are two sides of every story and none that will benefit the best of autistic children the way I had when I was a kid.

The First story is a disturbing trend that is seen in most U.S. School Districts to offer special treatment and therapies for Autistic Children. Throughout South Carolina, several school districts need money from a $1.4 million shortfall in federal funds to provide services to Autistic Children.

See the story from The Aiken Standard (Aiken, South Carolina) or WISI 10 (Columbia, South Carolina).

The funds to care for autistic children at South Carolina are about to run out in June. They're seeking to find $1.4 million dollars that isn't readily available for them because Medicaid cut the funding for those services.

Amongst one of those services was Applied Behavioral Analysis. I did go through ABA or some aspects of it from kindergarten to first grade with my kindergarten teacher Ms. Entin (now Mrs. Blumethal, that lovely lady on my profile pic next to me at age five being interviewed by McCloud at a Save Autistic Children Telethon) from Leapwood Elementary School. ABA has worked for me in my early developments. I didn't get chained to a table if I didn't learn how to brush my teeth. Most of my early ABA treatments if i remember were rewarding phonetic sounds and geography lessons and stuff. After my kindergarten and first grade years, In my third and fourth grade, I went through Aphasia Speech and English Development with other students ranging from the fourth to sixth grade by my teacher, Mrs. Izumi at Annalee Elementary School. Aphasia is the loss of developing language due to brain damage. In my case, It was used to help me develop my speaking and language construction habits. Sometimes this can apply to autistic children to develop. Both of these developmental therapy sessions were helpful to me at a young age.

Mrs. Izumi had one of the greatest quotes that stuck in my head til the day I die: "Master The English".

The situation at South Carolina of funding shortfalls could be offsetted by fundraisers from other local Autism Groups. If AutismSpeaks would shift their fundraising priorities from trying to find a "cure" to actually helping the kids now with monies to help Autistic and Developmental Children, these kids wouldn't feel lost about having autism and their parents wouldn't have more to worry about for their autistic kid. There's a lot of other factors that complicate it such as taxpayer groups who demand a "reasonable" funding ratio of special education classes to mainstream classes by budgets and student to teacher ratios to combat school overcrowding. The public not wanting to pay higher taxes. The list goes on that goes nowhere. However, At least in South Carolina, $1.4 million could be raised in other ways and every penny counts to help these kids develop in their first 12 years. ABA to Aphasia to mainstream acceptance is not a quick fix, it varies, and it can help most autistic children become functionable in society.

Many of these parents can't afford a private therapy session for their autistic child. For many that aren't in the top 20% of the disposable income level of South Carolina, cutting autistic funding would be devastating for the progress of their child and if they have to take matters in their own hands, it would more likely involve moving to an another state, similar therapy at a lesser cost, or home schooling without the theraputic benefits.

I feel sad at what's going on at South Carolina, but that scenario may seem to resolve itself with private fundraising (which I'd be happy to support, btw) than what's happened in Canada Recently.

This is the headline for the second story of my post that just says it all:

Supreme Court won't hear Ontario families' appeal on autism funding

See the story from CBC News.

I know our President wants to wage war on Autism with the Combat Autism Act in the United States, But At least I can sit here and poke at our president's war on Autism by painting me an "enemy combatant." But, In Canada, Their Supreme Court refuses to hear an appeal to Autism Funding because [quote] The court, in this and a couple of other rulings, clearly suggested that decisions on social-policy spending belong in the hands of the legislatures, not the courts. [/quote] Parents at Ontario felt shocked but not surprised at the ruling. I can understand the bicameral process of passing laws, but I know this doesn't signal hope for families struggling to make ends meet with the rising costs of Autism.

Nothing I can express would ever change that. Action usually speaks louder than words so I would rather have you reply to the Canadian Parliament and voice your take on supporting Autism Funding in Canada. Your petition and action to support Families in Canada and South Carolina will help the funding and the power they need for their kids to go through autistic treatments that don't involve chelation as the answer.

Autism is a Gift. And at Canada, Organizations reflecting that gift I can think of are The Autism Acceptance Project and Autism Ontario.

Whether you are at Canada or not, please help support their National Autism Policy that will support autistic families of all provinces.

The National Strategy of Autism at Canada would cover lifelong services and support for people with Autism and burdening income taxes for families who have to cope with a child in the Autism Spectrum.

• The Canadian National Autism Policy
  
• Senator Art Eggleton. He's the Ontario Senator that is spearheading the Canadian National Autism Policy - Supporter -
  

If Art Eggleton supports the National Autism Strategy of Canada, I'm hoping if you live at a different province, you can convince your senator to support the National Autism Strategy. Hopefully, It can emulate to the likes of that of the States like the State of California's Lanterman Act.

There's always hope.

- Al

Autism Fundraising - A Noble Experiment

What made me think about what I'd like to give back is based on how lucky I could have been as a kid. My mother was watching Oprah's special on Autism last Thursday and she was in tears given what these parents had to sacrifice and fight for their children. It brought her back the memories she had to go through with my autism when I was first diagnosed at age three and a half to four from the UCLA Medical Center. My mom tells me she prayed everyday for me as a kid while trying to help me seek developmental treatment with special education courses from Kindergarten to fifth grade and the weekend assistance at the Jay Nolan Center and the Harbor Regional Center.

I have been very fortunate with their help and assistance and it has helped me overcome my autism at some points. However, I'm still having trouble expressing my words verbally in front of important people, the boss, or even the chairman. I don't know how to convey my point well and it's something I'm still working on.

In April, only in Los Angeles, I'm hoping with the help of my friends and family to start a fundraising campaign before my 5k Autism Walk on April 28th. This is my very first time fundraising for the people I relate with for Autism Awareness since I was a child with my kindergarten teacher at the "Save Autistic Children" Telethon back in the mid 80s.

This is my start and it's going to be a work in progress from now til this month on my Donation website | http://www.walknow.org/07losangeles/al. I marked my donation goal at $500, but I want to raise as much as $5,000 before the walk.

Today, I've recieved some pledge agreements from my Chief Operating Officer at work. I also emailed my pledge to my friends from my fantasy baseball league. I'm also hoping to create more autism events later this week and next week. I'm very fortunate to have friends who are also willing to help out and donate as well. When I passed out my donation pledge copies at Caroline's Easter-hipster Housewarming party last night, it was chill and my reception there was great when discussing about how I had to live with autism.

If April in Los Angeles proves to be a good success, I'm hoping or aiming for the same at San Francisco with a team before the June 9th Walk.

- Al Porotesano