Autism Creations Community

10/07/2024

Created using http://studio.stupeflix.com/; Not radio version

09/19/2024

08/26/2024

08/23/2024

08/19/2024

SoftScape Toddler Playtime Corner Climber, Indoor Active Play Structure for Toddlers and Kids, Safe Soft Foam for Crawling and Sliding (4-Piece Set) - Contemporary/Green, 11619-CTGN

Act soon to receive a $10.00 off coupon.

What I love about this item is that your child can climb and slide to release that pent-up energy.

(Paid link)

Little ones can sit, climb, crawl and slide on the confidence-boosting Toddler Playtime Corner Climber! Keep active and engaged; encourages hands and feet to explore up the soft steps, crawl across or sit on the platform and coast down the gentle slide. Designed for use in a corner to ensure a sa...

07/30/2024

Landon's then and now.
Landon
only related to numbers.
related to our cat, Shadow. He wouldn't talk to us but he would talk to her.
barely talked.
didn't care about relationships.
jumped off of every piece of furniture in our house.
jumped into bodies of water.
jumped off the highest thing he could on his playground set.
would escape from the house and take off. We ended up bolting everything in the house and baby-proofing everything that we felt we lived in Fort Knox.
almost got hit by a bus.
lots of excessive jumping and free falling that we designed his bed to withstand the impact.
would go without sleep. There were many months where the lack of sleep got the best of us. That's when we had to get him on medication.
he would strip his clothes off when they got wet.
he would bite and hit.
hiding. He did that up until Covid. After Covid and things started going back to normal, he didn't do that quite as much.
he ran off during his cousin's wedding.
hated to eat out.
we got a call from the school almost every day until he graduated from High School.
had speech services up until high school.
Pt services until we left KY and we still had some within the school system in Knightdale.
Ot services until maybe middle school.
Psychologist and psychiatrist evaluations especially when we went through a period we thought he was schizophrenic.

TODAY:
LOVES and hugs people. He gets so excited when he sees someone he knows. He hugs people he feels safe and comfortable with. We knew that Restoration Church was where we belonged because the first time he met Pastor Roy, he hugged him. He has never done that at any church we belonged to or the church I used to worked at. Everyone LOVES Landon. I don't go anywhere without someone asking me about him or telling me they saw him. Very rarely does he tell me he doesn't like someone. If he does, they are the ones that are loud and noisy. He is the friendliest loving young man. He has an innocent heart of gold.

Doesn't like to leave the house unless there is a reason. He looks forward to STEP. One thing we taught him was to be spontaneous. Now, we can surprise him with something at the last minute and it doesn't bother him at all. We taught him that things in life change so he responds to change fairly well unless it's too much change like what happened last year.

Landon is respectful around water. He is careful, doesn't run, takes his time, and lets others go down the water slide before he does.

We still hear him jumping around in his bed but not like he used to. He used to like to sleep under his bed or in the closet but now he prefers to be in winter PJs during the summer months covered under all his blankets. How he is not dying from heat, I'll never know.

The kid that wouldn't sleep, sleeps all the time. I think he is making up for the many years of sleepless nights.

His love of numbers continues today. He loves simple algebra, designed his own sudoku puzzles, and stats. At one point he had the most impressive baseball Excel stat sheet he designed himself that would make anyone love to get their hands on it.

He has one specific interest. Anything, everything baseball. He will follow all the sports seasons but baseball literally knocks it out of the park. That's why ABLE Recreation means a lot to him. He knows almost everything about any major league baseball player and he has his favorites. His favorite team has been the Arizona Diamondbacks and until this day we have no idea where it came from.

He can have a conversation with you. The child we could barely get a word out of, sometimes will go on for quite awhile. Rambling along and everyone is so patient with him while he rambles about past, present, and future stuff all in one breath. When he gets home from STEP and I ask about his day, I'm more exhausted from the conversation than he is.

He manages himself very well and can regulate himself to a point. He has his limits. Taking him out for a day can be very challenging. He will do well as long as there is a point to it all. Such as going grocery shopping, and going out which as you saw in the past he hated, we actually had to curb his eating out because he wanted to eat out every day. At home, he goes to bed somewhere around 9 unless he is extremely worn out. When we are on vacation or visiting he is in bed exactly at 8 to escape overwhelming situations. When we do visit his contact with everyone is very brief and then he retreats into a room to be alone unless it's time to eat or if we are playing a board game. Socializing for long periods is very hard on him.

He still has his occasional behaviors and attitudes. Just like all of us, we have our bad days except he can't express what happened so we play 20 questions with him. We can't drill him for too long or he gets upset with us.

Hygiene is not one of his strengths. That is a twice-a-day issue with him.

He is easy-going, flexible, and will try just about anything. There are some things he will tell us he will never do again.

He's such a joy to be around. All I have to say is Landon can you please empty the dishwasher and he will either say yes, Marvarneous my love, or yes mother, or yes father (I'm not your father). Very rarely is he belligerent. If he is, he has had an off day.

I wouldn't trade it for a million years!

07/30/2024

While this is still fresh in my brain, I wanted to reflect on the Temple Grandin movie we saw at the Appalachian Theatre last night. I may have been the only one that cried near the end. Cried for the fact that Temple endured so much in her life and became the inspirational story for many individuals who are raising a loved one with Autism.
Almost each year I share our personal story during Autism Awareness month. I share our story to do the same....to prove that all the hard work you put in, it pays off. There have been several moments in our journey I thought all the hard work was a waste of time. These were the rough times when I lost hope. The very first time was Landon's early years. In Kentucky, we were in speech therapy, having PT and OT sessions and he was in early intervention. We sacrificed everything for one child. Our poor daughter was left on the back burner and she suffered her own struggles of dealing with a brother on the spectrum. She had no friends that could relate to these struggles. It was a tough time for all. Waking up to Landon's room and adjoining playroom covered in p**p left me in shock for weeks. I never thought I could go on after that. Our move to NC changed our hopelessness to hope when we received a CAP slot and were provided desperately needed services. No one would babysit our kids so we never had time as a couple. After I went through a one-week PECS class with the TEACCH program, changed everything for us. We were seeing progress but it was still difficult because Landon's behaviors were at their all-time worse. 24-7/ 7 days a week of one issue after the other. How to keep him safe, how to get him through a day at school, and how to give our daughter the attention she needs. It didn't take until he graduated high school and a few years to adjust to his transition to the STEP day program. Life was on track until one day his behaviors started escalating because something at the day program wasn't right. We had some people angry with us over his behavior and we were trying to figure out how to "fix" it. It took a while to get through that and life was back on track until last year. What a time that was! He ended up "quitting" his job, not in a good way, crossing lanes of traffic and getting a ride from a stranger. Again, we were left defeated, and hopeless. During that time I gave up on him. Everything we worked for went right down the drain. I was in shock for months mapping out the series of unfortunate events that took place before he quit his job. It took months before HIS world was back in order and now he is doing well. Now, we reflect back to that time and know it was for the best. He does talk about wanting another job, but that would require supervision. A year later, he is happy, and has a VERY successful microbusiness that he enjoys. As in the movie, Temple's mother pushed her to do many things out of her comfort zone, we had to do the same for Landon. Without the help of all the therapists and support groups like "Parent to Parent" Family Support Network - High Country to share our experiences and find the resources we need, we have no idea where we would be today. Again, I want to thank everyone in our lives that pushed us to push Landon to be at his full potential.

07/23/2024

Wow, I read their criteria for a camper, and they want only those that are independent. You would think that having a camp like this, they would have trained staff to handle those that are somewhat independent.

They wouldn't accept Landon because he needed some assistance with a few things.

I got the feeling that the girl I talked to wasn't interested in having him there.

I guess they get so many inquiries that they need to be selective.

Mobile and capable of benefiting from a residential camp experience with structured support. We are not able to accommodate wheelchairs or other mobility devices.

Able to listen, follow simple directions, and verbally communicate their interests and needs.

Able to manage basic self-care skills such as eating, showering, dressing, and toileting.

Able to participate in activities without needing significant medical or behavioral support (do not exhibit significant behavioral or aggressive traits, do not need individual nursing support to manage health needs, and do not require one-on-one attention).

Interested in and willing to participate in group activities, including those that take place outdoors.

Camp Blue Skies is for adults age 21 and older with developmental disabilities, including Autism, Down syndrome, Williams syndrome and others. Our camps are in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

06/27/2024

https://www.p2pga.org/

Parent to Parent of Georgia offers a variety of services to Georgia families impacted by disabilities or special healthcare needs. Our Vision is to be the source of choice for support, information, education, and leadership development for Georgians with disabilities or special health care needs, ag...

04/18/2024

WeBUILT Wilkes NC is pleased to invite you to attend an interest meeting
for a unique housing community planned specifically for adults with
developmental disabilities - building a private special needs community
for individuals to live at their highest level of independence This community
will be planned and built very specifically for individuals with autism. If you
attended one of our meetings in 2023, this will be an update. If you are
just hearing about WeBUILT Wilkes, this meeting will get you up to speed.

The meetings will be held Tuesday, May 7 from 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EST via
ZOOM and/or from 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM in person with light dinner included at The
Masthead, 711 Main Street, North Wilkesboro, NC 28659.

*RSVP!* Please let us know of your plans to attend the evening session by emailing us at
[email protected] by May 1, 2024.

Prior to the meetings, take a look at this link: https://webuilt.info/ and
check out the video to learn more about the WeBUILT concept. Also, follow
us on Facebook at WeBUILT Wilkes NC
for future updates.

Thank you from the WeBUILT Wilkes NC Advisory Board: Susie Lyall, Karolen
Bowman, Lisa and Michael Lentz, William Buchanan, Kim Forester, Tabitha
Hudler, Paul Peters, Beth Lovette

We Build Unique Independent Lives Together (WeBUILT) believes that every person deserves to live at their highest level of independence within a community setting. The thought is, if your house was just right, everything would be easier. To achieve this WeBUILT focuses on meeting sensory and individ...