April is Autism Awareness month! Please take a few minutes to learn about the many different forms of Autism.
Asperger's Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), and other forms of autism are occurring at alarming rates in our young people. Approximately 1 out of every 150 children will be diagnosed with some form of Austism.
My daughter was misdiagnosed as ADHD and later was correctly diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. Unfortunately, due to the slow diagnosing, she is no longer eligible for some of the programs that would have helped her tremendously in school and life.
Most people who meet my daughter have no idea she is living her life with Asperger's Syndrome. I'm sure there are a lot of people who think she's just a brat or needs more discipline. She's very "black or white", the "gray area" just isn't there. Thankfully she is on the milder end of the spectrum and doesn't have as many problems as those who are more severe. Daily I wish her educators would learn more about Autism spectrum disorders-I give every teacher who has her some information from the Mayo Clinic. It's a great place to start. Unfortunately most just set it aside and we have many unnecessary problems throughout the entire year because they "didn't know this is part of how an Aspergers child behaves or thinks" or "Aspergers is just an excuse-she should know better" (that one really irritates me-she would know if YOU'D TEACH HER!).
I'm asking everyone to take a moment to look at any one of the following sites and spend a few minutes reading about this rapidly growing issue. Our kids don't need "fixed". They need to be taught using different methods. They are square pegs people are trying to fit into round holes.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/aspergers-syndrome/DS00551
http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer
http://www.autismspeaks.org/
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm
Thank you from my family and all the other families you will soon understand better.
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