Personal insight from an autism professional My son, Sean, was 2 years old when we first noticed something wasn’t quite right. He stopped pointing at things. He lost what little language he had been developing. Looking back, I realize his development hadn’t exactly been “neurotypical” up to that point. But my wife and I didn’t know that then. We also didn’t know our lives …
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2017 OEF Golf for Autism
OEF Golf for Autism Announced for August 7th (Save the Date) The Orange Effect Foundation has one goal – to make sure those children who need speech therapy services get the funds or technology they need…to reach their full potential. For many families around the world, insurance or government grants don’t fund these activities. That’s why we have to step in and help. Our 11TH annual Golf …
How My Son’s Speech Therapy Ended Up Helping Me
It was an agonizing, gnawing fear. What if my son didn’t get the help he needed? For months my husband and I had been concerned about our toddler’s lack of speech. People kept telling us to give him time and he would magically start speaking one day. Everyone had a story to this effect about someone they knew who was once speech delayed, but suddenly, abruptly caught up. Other people told us …
Freeing Joey Summers
Joey Summers, the recent winner of a prestigious award for exemplary Ohio special education students, enjoys using his augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device to tell jokes and charm his teacher and therapy team. But communication hasn’t always come easy for this bright young man. It took a caring professional team, parental support, and the right AAC device to open up his …
How to Prevent Bullying of Children with Medical Conditions
Bullying can be a serious problem for any child, but for children with a medical challenge the risk is increased. Knowing the facts about bullying is the first step toward preventing victimization of children and teens with medical conditions, and keeping them safe. Aggressive behaviors What exactly is bullying, and how does it affect the children involved? Bullying consists of aggressive …
Children of Color with Autism Face Disparities
African-American children are often diagnosed with autism at older ages than white children, missing years of potential intervention and treatment. Special correspondent John Donvan and producer Karen Zucker meet a black family who struggled to find community and resources for their son with autism, but are now helping others who need answers and support. Source: PBS.org …
I Saw the Signs…
People often ask, and I have countlessly asked myself, if there were early signs that my son, Joshua, was on the autism spectrum. Almost since birth, Joshua was an arm flapper. That was probably one of the most outwardly visible signs looking back. Predominantly when he was excited he looked like a big bird ready to take flight. Joshua also had tremendous problems with eye contact. People now tell …
Easing a Stutter
Did you know that when people who stutter speak the same material in unison with another speaker, they become more fluent and speak more clearly? This is called the choral effect. In 2016, the Orange Effect Foundation funded a device to assist a teen who has a severe stutter. This device, called a SpeechEasy, mimics the choral effect by allowing the wearer to hear her own voice with a …
Using AAC in the Classroom
Stephanie Taymuree has witnessed huge advances in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) during her nearly 40 years as a speech-language pathologist (SLP) and special educator, and her implementation of AAC technology in the classroom is unrivaled. But she still finds it thrilling when a student embraces AAC to express a novel thought or idea. "My very best days are those when an AAC …
App Gives Autistic Teen a Voice
Did you know that an I-Pad app can provide a voice for someone who has difficulty communicating verbally? One specific augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) app enables users to modify and personalize it for specific situations, such as ordering lunch at a local sub shop. With this new "voice," users gain independence and self-esteem. Watch as a teen uses an I-Pad app to ensure that his …
Using Animals to Assist With Speech Therapy
Animal-assisted therapy has been gaining strength in popularity and recognition as an effective part of a therapy regime for children who have a wide range of social, language and communication disorders. Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) is defined by The American Humane Society as: “a goal-directed intervention in which an animal is incorporated as an integral part of the clinical health-care …
Speech Pathologist Knows Firsthand About Difficulties
BY HEATHER DEROSA As Jessica Clark was learning to talk, her brain would send a message to her mouth to speak, but all that would come out were grunts. When her parents took her to speech therapy and began treatment for speech apraxia, they were told their daughter would always be an introvert and never able to do much. Clark didn’t begin talking until the age of 2, according to …
