This Saturday is your last chance to support Easter Seals Camp Friendly’s programs for kids at any Friendly’s Restaurant and be rewarded with a sheet of Valentine Cards. The Valentine Cards can be redeemed at Friendly’s for 5 free Kids Cones and $5 off any $25 purchase.

Funds raised in Friendly’s Cones for Kids program support Easter Seals Camp Friendly’s programs in 26 different locations up and down the East Coast. So put down the shovels, turn off the snow blower and go ahead and enjoy some ice cream at a Friendly’s restaurant near you. If you and your family manage a visit to Friendly’s before Sunday you can help support essential disability Camp programs in your community while you shake that cabin fever.

I’m not the only one pining for summer — a comment to Patricia Wright’s post about nature touted a surf therapy program for children with autism. As it turns out, Patricia Wright lived in Hawaii before accepting her position as National Director of Autism Services here at Easter Seals. That’s right — she moved from Hawaii to Chicago two years ago, and she’s still here. Now that’s dedication!

But back to surfing. “This is a very cool program!” Patricia told me. “They had an event every year in Hawaii. Huge names in surfing would show up and surf with the kids.” There are huge names in surfing? Who knew?

Patricia said she did water safety a couple of times for the event, and it was lots of fun. Who knows, maybe this could catch on in Chicago. I’ve heard that some folks surf right here on Lake Michigan from time to time.

I wouldn’t expect any surf therapy programs to spring up here very soon, though. It may be above freezing and sunny this week, but we still have a ways to go.

Starting today, and all the way up to Valentine’s Day, you can support Easter Seals Camp Friendly’s programs for kids with autism and other disabilities every time you visit a Friendly’s restaurant. Not only that, but you’ll be rewarded with a sheet of Valentine Cards! The Valentine Cards can be redeemed at Friendly’s for 5 free Kids Cones and $5 off any $25 purchase.

Funds raised in Friendly’s Cones for Kids program support Easter Seals Camp Friendly’s in 26 different locations. Camp Friendly’s provides an opportunity for kids with autism and other disabilities to be included in regular camp activities, such as boating, swimming, archery, campouts, hiking and sports. Through the Youth Leadership program, young adults with autism and other disabilities develop their leadership skills and begin to see new possibilities for themselves.

The Friendly Ice Cream Corporation has supported Easter Seals since 1981 with nearly $26 million through Cones for Kids. With the help of generous consumers, 26 Easter Seals affiliate organizations have benefited from this powerful campaign created by Friendly’s Restaurants up and down the East Coast.

So go ahead and enjoy some ice cream at a Friendly’s restaurant near you. Every time you and your family visit Friendly’s between now and February 13, you can help support essential disability camp programs in your community.

For years, the Cradle of Forestry has been helping people better understand local ecology through recreation and educational opportunities. Now, the Cradle of Forestry has partnered with the Autism Society of
North Carolina to increase the accessibility of their programs. Cradle of Forestry’s web site describes their specially designed Adventure Zone like this:

… a collective of hands-on activities (indoor and outdoors) that were designed to help children and adults with autism become active in the outdoors and gain a better understanding about the natural world. The Adventure Zone activities were created to be exciting for everyone! The maps and schedules we’ve added were designed to make these fun activities accessible for people on the autism spectrum, but the Zone is open to anyone who is interested in experiencing fun in the great outdoors.

What a great example — an organization stepping up to meet the needs of people with autism. Accessibility for outdoor activities is generally good, but the real world can present with a few barriers (barking dogs, busy traffic). How great that some organizations are attempting to meet the unique needs of individuals with autism — even in the great outdoors. And as it states in their literature, The Adventure Zone is open to anyone.

If North Carolina is on your list of places to visit (or if you are lucky enough to live locally) maybe you should put the Adventure Zone on your list of “must-sees.”

And so, okay, she’s moved around a lot the past few years, but trust me, she’s worth keeping up with! Her willingness to provide a glimpse into her family is very generous, and her posts are typically insightful, sometimes heart breaking and always well written.

Dr. Chew frequently shares that her son Charlie has a great appreciation for the outdoors. For example, here’s a bit from a post she wrote for Change.org:

I like the idea of Charlie working on a farm. He likes being outdoors and the kind of work one does when gardening strikes me as combining many of the things he’s drawn to do.

And here’s one from a post she wrote for We Go With Him:

The ocean is the great equalizer for Charlie — he’s a 12-year-old boy first and foremost, diagnosed and diagnosis-less, straining for his independence and annoyed to no end to hear his parents placing limits and saying “be safe.”

Charlie is taller (far taller) than most of the children on the beach. When I see them, I can’t help thinking of my boy when he was all skinny limbs and clamored for us (both of us — this was when he was 6 and under) to carry him. Charlie was fascinated, absorbed, obsessed with the waves and quite reluctant to venture into them without Jim and me supporting him. Then we thought it’d be enough if Charlie could learn to hold onto his board and stay atop it. We knew we’d feel beyond joyous if could learn to swim so he could jump and splash in the waves like the other laughing kids around us.

Charlie did learn to swim, and that post features a photo of Charlie out in the waves while his mom and dad watch from the shore.

Outdoor activities can include kayaking, bike riding and the beach, to mention just a few. From my days as a classroom teacher, I remember well many students who really appreciated their time outside of the classroom. Kristina Chew’s posts about Charlie’s love of nature have inspired me to do some research on organizations who have gone out of their way to meet the unique needs of individuals with autism — even in the great outdoors.

Look for my next post to find out about a forestry organization that has partnered with the Autism Society of North Carolina to increase the accessibility of their programs. Stay tuned!

She lived long enough to see her hopes fulfilled — it’s impossible to count the number of our own Easter Seals clients who benefit from the sports training and competition they receive by participating in Special Olympics. Two perfect examples? Team USA member Jamie Smith, and our blogger Maurice Snell.

Jamie Smith, a graduate of Easter Seals’ Autism Therapeutic School in Chicago, traveled with the Special Olympics to Shanghai, China in September, 2007 and brought home two bronze and two silver medals for powerlifting.

Earlier this year Maurice applauded Jamie Smith’s efforts in a blog post about Special Olympics:

It has helped change the lives of many different people — including my colleague, Jamie Smith. Jamie went to Shanghai, China and did extraordinarily well -– he won four Olympic medals!

Maurice benefited from his own participation in the Special Olympics. He was diagnosed with autism when he was six years old. At age seven, he and his family visited what today is the Easter Seals Therapeutic Day School, a place where students with autism ages 3 to 21 receive not only an education and therapy, but recreational services, too. During Maurice’s 10 years at the school, a team of professionals helped him develop his speech, language and communication skills. They helped with his social skills, too: he learned to swim and play baseball, and competed in the Special Olympics. Today, Maurice works as a classroom aide and mentor at his former school.

I was an active participant in the Special Olympics during my days at the Therapeutic School and Center for Autism Research. I enjoyed the opportunities to participate in various events and meet many different people. To me, Special Olympics kept me going throughout my life. It motivated me to achieve higher standards and make me grow as a man. I’m grateful for Special Olympics and Easter Seals’ involvement in Special Olympics.

I don’t think I can say it any better than Maurice did. So many lives have been changed for the better thanks to Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s work. Thank you, Eunice. You will be missed.

Lose the training wheels, and gain your independence
By Candy Porter

Last month I had the privilege of observing the opening and closing ceremonies of the Lose The Training Wheels camp here at Easter Seals Crossroads. An article about our Lose the Training Wheels camp appeared at About Special Kids (ASK), a parent-to-parent Web site and resource for Indiana families with children who have special needs. The article described our program like this:

Children ages 8 to 18 with disabilities (such as autism, developmental delays, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy) are taught how to ride and transition to a conventional bike within a five-day period. The program utilizes adapted bikes and techniques developed by Dr. Richard Klein, a retired professor of mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois.

Think back to when you mastered a two-wheel bicycle — do you remember the time and place? I do — and that was over 55 years ago! What a life changing, growing experience it was. I have a feeling that it was even more so for our young riders.

I saw wobbly kids, scared kids and reluctant kids evolve overnight into successful kids, proud and confident. Better put: I saw earthbound caterpillars turn into soaring butterflies. What a joy — and privilege — to behold.

From that blog post, you can watch a CBS interview — professional surfer Israel Paskowitz’s son Isaiah has autism, and Israel gave a great interview about his son’s experience in the water. Israel was raised in a surfing family, and his childhood experiences were captured in the film Surfwise. When Isaiah was diagnosed with autism, there were questions about whether the surfing legacy would continue in the next generation.

Thanks to programs like Surfers Healing, Isaiah and others with autism are able to experience the thrill that surfing provides!

While the post does not focus on autism per se, it says a lot about what it’s like to be judged “different” from others. It tells of Paul Newman regularly coming to camp to sit down at a lunch table with the campers.

One version of the story has the kid look from the picture of Newman on the Newman’s Own lemonade carton to Newman himself, then back to the carton and back to Newman again before asking, “Are you lost?” Another version: The kid looks steadily at him and demands, “Are you really Paul Human?” Newman loved those stories. He loved to talk about the little kids who had no clue who he was, this friendly old guy who kept showing up at camp to take them fishing.

It had never occurred to me before that superstar Paul Newman had anything in common with kids suffering from serious illnesses, kids on the autism spectrum, people (of all ages!) with disabilities.

It took me years to understand why Newman loved being at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. It was for precisely the same reason these kids did. When the campers showed up, they became regular kids, despite the catheters and wheelchairs and prosthetic legs. And when Newman showed up, he was a regular guy with blue eyes, despite the Oscar and the racecars and the burgeoning marinara empire.

Goodness knows kids with autism — and their parents — know what it’s like to be stared at in public for being “different.” I can’t even see them, but I feel it — people often stare at me when I’m out and about with my Seeing Eye dog. I try to hold my head high regardless. Now, feeling this connection to the great Paul Newman, that will be easier to do!

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While most people look forward to a vacation with its new vistas, surroundings, food and routines, many families traveling with children with autism face a daunting task of providing some well-established routines to help their child feel secure. Long lines, masses of travelers, new schedules for eating and sleeping can throw off their child and make the trip less than relaxing.

The article chronicles families on cruises and at resorts where the destinations have made accommodations for children with autism. It also points out that Americans with all sorts of disabilities are vacationing in record numbers

Yet for every parent who decides they’re better off staying at home with a child who might have a meltdown if someone accidentally brushes against him at a hotel breakfast buffet, there are others who are determined to hit the road, particularly if there are nonautistic siblings in the equation. And with Americans who have disabilities spending $13.6 billion annually on travel in the United States (not including the caregivers and family members who often accompany such individuals), according to a 2005 Harris Interactive poll for the Open Doors Organization, a small but growing number of tour operators, travel agents and resorts are offering specially geared getaways.

Congrats to the resorts and hotels who are wise enough to go out of their way to educate themselves and their staff about autism. Goodness knows our families need vacations as much — or more — as any other family does!