Here's What's Hot On CBS11TV.COM:
Apr 14, 2008 7:29 pm US/Central
Plano Autism Program Holds Awareness Fundraiser
Seema Mathur
PLANO (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
April is Autism Awareness month. It's estimated that every 20-minutes a child is diagnosed with autism and while there's no cure for the disorder, added awareness is helping bring emotional healing to some.
Over the weekend the 'Under the Umbrella School' in Plano held a family concert and event to raise money for technology, curriculum, parent education, and other costs for Under the Umbrella, Specialized Education for Children on the Autism Spectrum.
Doing the 'chicken dance' at a public event is a huge deal for the Bordelon family. "We didn't go to a restaurant as a family for four years," says mother Maureen Bordelon. "We just now went to a movie as a family - all of us."
Maureen's son, Johnathan, like many kids with autism has sudden outbursts. "Meltdowns where [he's] just screaming at the top of his lungs," she explained.
But at the weekend event for children with autism Johnathan and his family felt free. "If your child is having a meltdown nobody looks at you like you have three heads," Maureen said.
Though children with autism are affected at varying levels, experts say the neurological disorder affects the ability to communicate and relate to their world. Johnathan's father, David, explained, "He wants to tell you what he wants or where he wants to go, but he can't get it out."
Johnathan was diagnosed with autism at 16-months-old. "Johnathan was perfectly normal. He was a bouncy little baby until he had his immunization and then it was like the light just turned off," David says.
Many parents blame immunizations for somehow triggering autism, even though the Centers for Disease Control say there's no definitive link between immunizations and autism. CDC experts say more accepted research points to genetics and environmental factors as possible triggers.
While the medical community struggles to find the cause and standard treatments for autism, parents are joining forces and sharing not only treatment information, but as Johnathan's parents put it, 'the beauty' autistic children bring into their lives.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
In Case You Missed It ...
CBS Mobile Launches Local News iPhone Apps
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments