Tag: DSM IV

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World Autism Awareness Day in San Francisco

Today I’m having yet another guest blogger and that is my wife Mama Fog who runs her own blog about what she has learned about autism to help her better understand how to deal with the system when it comes to our daughter. You can read more on her site Out of the Fog.

Tomorrow is World Autism Awareness Day.  It seems like a perfect time to list some of the local resources available for families with autism.

Autistic Like, Graham’s Story, the movie will be airing on some PBS stations.

Support for Families of Children with Disabilities hosts workshops, support groups and trainings.  They offer parent mentors, a library and many online resources.  I think their IEP workshop is a must for any parent of a student with an IEP.

List of autism friendly local activities and attractions.  Includes times and dates for the AMC sensory friendly movies and times at bounce houses around the area.

Our daughter is too young for these activities, but I have heard good things about them.

SF Park and Rec Adaptive and Inclusive Programs

KEEN – Kids Enjoy Exercise Now

Special Olympics of Northern California

Janet Pomeroy Center

Parents of children under 3 with a child with autism will be eligible for some help from Early Intervention.   Contact the Golden Gate Regional Center.

Like most city school districts, SFUSD is confusing at best: San Francisco Unified School District’s Special Education

Last year an audit was done on SFUSD’s special education programs and services.  The report was not favorable.

SFUSD is attempting to remedy this.  They are allowing special ed inclusion students to apply at any SF school.   It remains to be seen how this will be supported: San Francisco Unified School District Community Advisory Committee for Special Education

Community Alliance for Special Education offers free and low cost legal counseling and advocacy for families with special needs.

The blog SF K files documents the journey of several parents going through the gauntlet that is the admissions process here in our lovely city.  I’m pleased that they are featuring parents of children in special education.

Here’s a great post about the special education enrollment process.

Redwood City knows how to start and maintain a special ed PTA.  SF should have this too!

Other local bloggers and sites:

Senior Dad

Laura Shumaker

Squidalicious

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Becca’s Birthday and the SFUSD

Yesterday was my daughter’s fourth birthday and she had a fun party at her pre-school. My daughter was diagnosed with autism right around her second birthday and having to deal with autism in a child can be a struggle. I have to say that the City and County of San Francisco did it right this time. We received early intervention assistance through the Golden Gate Regional Center until she was three. They came daily and worked with her to help her with her speech and behavior and they did a great job.

When she turned three she moved away from GGRC services to the San Francisco Unified School District’s pre-school for children with special needs. This is more than just autistic children, but some who are mentally retarded or physically handicapped so it can be difficult for the teachers let alone with them having to deal with the wide spectrum that covers autism. In looking at the choices that were available to us we finally chose Grattan Elementary School because they seemed to have the best people for the job there.

Well, I have to say that Becca’s teacher Kara is THE super cool pre-school teacher. She is very similar to the teacher’s I had as child with the exception that she’s not a few years from retirement and prune-faced like my teachers were. She’s young and energetic and has the assistance of a few aides to help with some of the more problematic kids. Kara loves all of the kids she teaches and gets to know them all very well and all of their idiosyncrasies.

We brought doughnuts, party hats and horns for the party and the kids couldn’t have been happier. Her friend Jeffrey that she rides to school with every day helped her put on her party hat because he’s the kid who looks over all the other kids in class. Becca’s other friend Brandon showed off by stuffing an entire doughnut in his mouth and eating it without choking.

Kara as well as her aides have had special training in dealing with physically and mentally challenged kids. Autism is kind of hard to explain to some people because they equate it with mental retardation — it’s not. There are lots of people with autistic kids who argue that this thing or that causes autism, but it’s such a wide spectrum of behavior that I can’t put a finger on any one thing and I don’t really want to go there. When you first see our daughter you don’t really notice anything wrong until you notice she doesn’t talk much. She’s getting a lot better at talking now, but to a lot of people she’d just look like a quiet little kid. Little being relative because she’s four feet tall at four years of age.

What is a bit troubling is that the school district doesn’t have the funding to cover the kids needs. Kara gets $5 per child per year. That’s it, nothing else. She has to purchase items for her class out of her own pocket or ask parents to bring in the things she needs. Even though we aren’t floating in money we do what we can to help out. It amazes me how well she is able to do with so little money. It’s just a shame that there isn’t enough money to help our kids get a better education.