As part of my 2009 resolutions, I promised to highlight families and kids touched by autism here on my blog who are sharing their stories of courage and hope…and who are creating a new voice for autism. To say there are many—or even tons—that fit this bill is an understatement. But I’d like to take this opportunity to share just a few websites I’ve come across recently that I’ve found to be inspirational:
Siobhan’s Dream -- a mother’s site that is dedicated to promoting a more positive message about hope for autism. Artwork created by her daughter, Siobhan, is showcased and a portion of the sales for her paintings is donated to various autism-related charities. Siobhan’s family chose to initiate the Son-Rise program (among other treatments), which is what we followed for Kyle as well. Siobhan’s progress is even chronicled in photos taken over the past five years.
Mosaic – Living with Autistic Spectrum Disorder – After her youngest daughter, Mia, was diagnosed with autism, Elizabeth Newman wrote Mosaic. As Elizabeth writes on her site, Mosaic “is designed as a tool to help parents by encouraging them to reframe their own experiences as they reflect on the author’s stories.” You can read a few stories from Mosaic here.
g5 Family Blog - Shares stories of an amazing family with three beautiful children who have special needs. They say “love, patience and understanding” sees them through each day.
Recovering Matthew - Daniel and Ruth, parents of Matthew, who has autism, chronicle their journey through therapies including mild hyperbaric oxygen and adult stem cell therapy (among others). Their story, like many others, is that of never giving up.
Loren John Presley - Created by a great young author of inspirational children’s and young adult books who is living with autism and doing great things.
Samantha E – Samantha is a very cool kid with autism who expresses herself through music. She says “The reason I am here is to show others that just because I can not talk well does not mean I can not communicate. I use music to show how I feel.”
David Versus Autism – Nancy Siercho is another amazing mom doing great things for her child. Her site is dedicated to her son, David, who has autism and a rare chromosome disorder called Deletion 18q- Syndrome. David attends Celebrate the Children program, which is another spot worth checking out.
Kim Dean Abstract Gallery – Kim Dean is an amazing artist. She is also the mother of children with Mitochondrial Disease and her two oldest sons are autistic. Kim mixes her life experiences with her art and says her “children are her muses and without them, she feels her work would lack love, passion, spirituality, empathy and substance.” Kim also has an autism blog that you can check out here.
Autism Optimism – a very positive blog created by Wanda Lynne Young – a freelance writer, an autism advocate and mother of Kyle, who has autism. Autism Optimism is one of the many amazing sites I learned about through my Facebook causes page.
And speaking of my Facebook cause page…there are really so many important causes, sites, blogs, etc. that are run by unbelievable people and I’m learning about new ones every day. I’d love to highlight each and every one of them on Kylestreehouse.org, but since we only have so much space (wink) I invite you to check them out on Facebook.
Best,
Jenifer