The Autism Life.Com

Welcome to The Autism Life! This site is to help parents, caregivers, family, and friends learn about and deal with having a child diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. This is also a place for the ‘experienced’ parents and the newly diagnosed both to meet (in our Discussion Forum) and find some exciting new links to information, games and activities for their kiddos. Our hope in creating this website is to inform parents who maybe don’t even have a formal diagnosis yet, but are seeing some warning signs and need to find some practical information. I believe that it’s getting clearer and clearer that children show subtle signs, even as infants, of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (learn more about early intervention in our What does the ‘early’ in Early Intervention mean? section). The more that we can help parents, caregivers, family, and friends recognize these early warning signs and call for help, the more positive outcomes we can see for children on the spectrum.

Young children and very young children who exhibit many of the signs or characteristics of an Autism Spectrum Disorder can learn very good coping skills quickly. We have provided some practical, fun, and sometimes silly ways for you and your child to interact. These games, activities, and ideas (check out This Child is Smart) are there to encourage your child to explore the world in sensory safe way and to understand and develop communication skills. Children who exhibit signs of an Autism Spectrum Disorder do have gaps in development that need early and intensive treatment, but they also have a great many strengths that can help them learn, interact, and play. These children can display certain behaviors and can sometimes self-stim. Our goal is to help parents with young children recognize these strengths in order to determine appropriate treatment options and help improve all areas of development.

This site is written for parents by parents. We are a family living with an Autism Spectrum Disorder and we are sharing our story to help others. We try to cover living with Autism from all the different angles including the: Mom, Dad, and Sibling perpectives. The sections and links we have provided are all parent friendly and written in a way to help parents understand the issues and how to practically and functionally help their young child grow every day. Every family is going to experience ups and down, successes and failures, and here we can share all of these things and help each other learn and grow. The links to each subject are not technical or professional terms, it’s written from how a family would experience it. These sections do have definitions (Autism Defined), treatment options, games, activities, and our personal experience with them. Children on the Autism Spectrum often have issues with communicating (Johnny’s Just a Late Talker), social skills, sensory integration (remember the five senses—find about the extra two in The Senses Connected section), eating disorders (What’s For Dinner?), and insistence on sameness or routines (The Daily Grind including dealing with holidays) and our links help explain all these. The Augmentative Communication section is for those interested in an augmentative communication system for those who cannot or do not speak and in this case, have an Autism Spectrum Disorder. There is also a Discussion Forum available to post questions, topics, or events that are coming up. So please explore this site and find something that works for you and your child, and above all else, remember that you are not alone.

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August.3.2006. - the autism life

Newest Additions

Different Roads To Learning

Understanding And Promoting Strengths In Your Young Child

Interview With Joe Swenson President Of DynaVox

An Interview With The President Of DynaVox About The Family Of DynaVox Products

Spring Theme And Activity Ideas

Ways To Connect With Your Child In The Spring!

Winter Theme Ideas

Having Fun During The Winter Months!

Interview About IEP's, AAC, And Autism