the sign for autism

  


  If you take the pictures above and string them together you will get the sign for autism. I do not know and am not able to find why they choose this, but I have a theory. My theory is this, my brother is smart. I know that because I see it every day from the way he gets mad whenever we make a wrong turn on the way to school, or the way he picks things up and they throws them on the ground to get attention. He even pointed to my brothers name "Poe" in Edgar Allen Poe, a famous poet, when his name was written on the board. It was like he was saying "that's my brother's name!". Many people just believe that because he isn't able to express himself in the way this society expects people to he is stupid. You may be asking yourself, how does this have to do with the sign for autism? Think about it...is the sign for autism is like a wall going around the face, it is like a wall going around what is going on in Robb's mind. Robb is trapped in his mind in a way, not able to show his true knowledge, and not only that the letter that is making that wall, that is trapping him in the sign (the letter your hand makes) is an "a". A for autism. I am not saying autism traps him, but I am saying in the society we live in autism traps him. I hope someday this will change, but until then this is the world we have made. That is the sign for autism.

Current Events 4/4

What happened: Michael Kelley, a 19 year old kid with autism and down-syndrome, became an official member of the San Antonio Scorpions yesterday after Gordon Hartman heard of this boy's story. Michael had been wearing a letterman jacket as he was representing his school in a special needs sports league, and after a mother complained he hadn't deserved the jacket, it was removed by the staff. Hartman heard this, and not only flew him up to San Antonia to become a Scorpion, he also took him to visit Morgan's Wonderland a place Michael has wanted to go for some time!

Article: Kansas teen stripped of letterman jacket visits Morgan’s Wonderland

Reflection: I just can't believe anyone would say this boy didn't earn his jacket! This boy, as his mother said, had to overcome so many obstacles having both autism and down-syndrome, and the only thing that that woman did by taking his jacket from him is make the boy fell bad and bring him down. Hartman showed us the silver lining of this incident by bringing him to San Antonio, and he gave Michael something he truly deserved and earned.

Autism Awareness Day and Month

Today, the second of April is: Autism Awareness Day
This is the day is globally celebrated to raise awareness of autism everywhere!
So raise the blue flag, and let's solve the puzzle that is autism!

Special Olympics 2015

  Yes it's that time of year again, and it is great! For those of you who don't know, Special Olympics is like the Olympics for people with special needs, and they have athletes who are doing it for fun, and athletes who are competitive. Robb does swimming, and in June he will get to compete in assisted swim with other athletes from the area.
  This year has been great so far, and I have actually gotten the chance to swim with Robb! After doing this I feel I have met Robb in a whole new way, he is so much happier in the water. It is a place where he can relax and be himself. We are now a team in a way, trying hard to make it through each lap. I also feel the other athletes act more comfortable around me, like before I was just the sister of an athlete and now I am in the water with them, I am one of them. I am a member of the team.
   I am going to end this blog post with our cheer:

As a special Olympian what's your job?

To do our best

As a team mate what's your job?

To support each other

Everyday

in every way

we get better and better

go Dolphins!

Matty B.

   A lot of people who are reading this do and do not know Matty B, so let me tell you. Most people may know him for his covers of songs like Rude and Shake it off on youtube, but he also has a sister with Down-Syndrome who is in his video cover of True Colors! It is a video that his sister stars in where girls are mean to her, but one girl gives her a chance and really likes her showing it really only matters about the person on the inside, and I think the video is amazing! People watching it might think he is just doing it for publicity, but though that may be a factor, I know that he is doing it because he loves his sister, and he wants people to know the amazing person she is. He talks about how crazy it is that people judge this girl just because of her "DNA", and that they shouldn't judge someone based on their chemical makeup (something that they have no control over).  A dream many of us have is that people will, one day, not worry about differences and see people for who they really are. I am hoping this video makes an impact on people, and they start making this realization that MattyB has shown. I also hope people see this video, and think more than "oh she is cute", and instead see the video the way her brother wants you to see it. Most importantly though watch the video for the star, MattyB's sister Sarah, who is an amazing actor with and would be an amazing actor without Downs-Syndrome.

If your happy and you know it say ahh

The latest work of Astri and Robb.

Robb has always been musical, he sings "agh" and copies the beat while listening to some of our favorite types of music. (Bluegrass, The Wiggles, and Rock and Roll) Whenever he is angry it is the music that calms him down, and I believe music is one of the few things that gives us a glimpse into the world Robb lives in. This song we have been working on for a while (he has been worked especially hard on pitch)! Enjoy!

Robb Amazes Me

  I was playing with Robb just a little while ago, and I came up with this simple sentence: Robb Amazes Me.   From when he wakes up in the morning, to when he goes to sleep I am amazed by his way of life. He can spend hours being alone, and he will never be bored. He can swing around a towel and watch it all the movements fascination. You can tell when he is thinking because a million expressions go through him at once, and never have I ever seen him bored. I am also amazed that he has been able to go through life communicating with the little communication skills he has been taught. He rarely gets angry when he can't get his point across and looks for new ways to get the point across. Everyday he is able to make the best of, even though not many people (if any) understand him and who he is. Robb may not be able to communicate in what we consider a "normal" way to communicate, but he goes beyond that. He communicates through his world, and every moment I am with him I feel like I am glimpsing into a better world. The world I see from him is a much better place, and every day I want to see more of it, know more of it, though there is still so much I don't know about it, can't know about it, yet so much to find out. I may never understand it, but I will always love and accept it. I just want Robb to always be happy, (impossible as that might be) because I know that he is one person that would make the most of a happy life, or even just a happy hour, a single happy second. Robb amazes me.

Sibshops

  For those who like chess there is chess club, for those who enjoy a fandom there are clubs to go and talk about your fandom with other, for siblings with special needs there is sibships. Sibshops is an organization that lets siblings of kids with special needs hand out with each other, and talk about are siblings, and also do activities that give us a better understanding of how are siblings live their lives. I am part of a group of about seven people who started a sibshops about two years ago. I have not only made many friends, and learned about a bunch of different types of special needs making my understanding a little bit better, but I have also learned that I am not the only one. Not the only one who worries about what is going to happen to their sibling...not the only one who can be annoyed at all of the care their sibling needs....and not the only one who just wants the best for the sibling they love so much.

I am always excited to see my sibshops friends when we meed once a month!

Ableism?

  Today I was wondering...we have racism for discrimination against race, sexism for discrimination of gender, but what about for people with special needs? What is the word? I looked it up and it turns out the word is ableism. Ableism? My brother is many things, but he doesn't have less abilities than someone without special needs. He has to work a million times harder me and millions of others every day, and now people are saying it isn't ok to be mean to him because he has less abilities?! This is crazy!!!!! Then I thought about the term used for people with special needs...disabled? My brother has not disabled, if anything he is above abled. He works hard everyday to do things that many people take for granted, and this is what people think of him! Well I have decided to try and stop using these words...I have deleted them from all of my posts (but not this one), except for quotes and I plan to everyday stop the myth of people with special needs being "disabled"! I hope after reading this you will think twice about what is considered abled.

The Human Genome Project

   I really don't know much about the Human Genome Project, we just watched a video about it in school. I do think that the project could help find out what causes autism or what genetics cause autism though....I saw one person in the video take DNA samples from his patients with a muscle disease and found made major discoveries about all humans. If samples are taken from people with autism and without and then compared think of what we could find! What if autism could be in everyone, it just has to be turned on?!? (switches in the body will turn on or off different genes that could effect people in so many different ways) This is just a theory, but it fascinates me so much that it hasn't been tried....or it has been tried and the autistic community hasn't heard yet!!!! I want to be there and know right away when they have answered the questions I have always been asking! I hope sometime soon we will have this knowledge, and if not I plan to start doing my part to solve the puzzle!

Love

Robb and I have been learning new signs and we just learned the sign for "love"! Here it is......

(not a very good picture so here is a picture of the sign)

KEEN

For about a year now Robb has participated in KEEN, where he does, "controlled play" to help improve "socialization skills". I think that if Robb didn't love it so much I would think that it was a program where they treat the people with special needs like they are babies or act awkward around him. This is something my whole family hates, but here they play with Robb like they would with any kids his age. They are also very kind and every Sunday (when it takes place) they are amazed by his abilities!! As long as Robb is happy with it I am to, so keep your fingers crossed that it will always go as well as it has been going!

Happy Holidays!

Now that the Holidays our coming up (we are in the middle of Hanukkah) my whole family is getting excited! For Christmas I am getting my brother a juicer, so he can make orange juice himself. I had no idea what to get him because really he doesn't want much and can't have to much.
Candy-allegries
Toys (toy train, football, baseball)-Robb doesn't like to sit down and play with toys and he already has millions of other toys he doesn't play with
T.V.; ipod, iPhone, macbook-not only would he not use the apple devices, but I am also looking for items in the 5 and below range
Juicer-he has started working out and squeezing the orange is good for muscular strength (I think :) )
and I know how much he loves orange juice!
Fingers crossed it will work!

My Dream

      My dream or wish is to someday make a place that people who have any type of special need can go. They would have a doctor and dentist office with people who can handle people with special needs. It would have sign language classes, and it would have classes to prepare parents who have found out their kid will have special needs to educate them. A place where research for autism and many more special needs. It would have a vacation location so people could go with their family, have a great time, and not worry about their kid or adult with special needs getting lost or breaking things. It would have many locations, central for regular visits and vacation ones.  It would have everything from doctors to life guards for a pool. It sounds ambitious, and will might never happen, but it is one thing that I want for my brother. A place for Robb to be Robb, and to be happy and proud about being himself. One day maybe my dream will come true, it may not even be me who makes it happen. I am not the only one with this dream. Just something I think about and plan for making it better each step of the way because if it does happen I will be ready.

Al Capone Does My Homework

If you have heard of Al Capone Does My Homework you probably think of a boy on Alcatraz, but what you might not have known was that he had a sister with autism. This is a letter to the author that I wrote to school about it, take a look at the second part!

Dear Gennifer Choldenko,

Your book Al Capone Does My Homework not only showed me that historical fiction isn’t always obscure and out-of-date, but also gave me a friend who understood what it is like to have a sibling with autism. Before reading this book I had always thought historical fiction was just a boring story about a bunch of girls with big fluffy dresses who talked in British accents, but this novel showed that the genre can be so much more. The kids in the book reminded me of kids at my school even though there is a century separating us, and we have similar predicaments. One example of that is when my friend didn’t know whether she was still dating a boy she danced with at a mixer and hasn’t seen since, which was the exact same situation Moose got into in the book (he kissed Piper, but since then she never talked to him at all so he didn’t know at all what to think). Then when Moose and his friends compete to see who can throw the bottle caps the farthest, I remembered doing the same thing with my good friend except with a baseball (she almost always won though). After reading these stories, I was excited to read more historical fiction, and I did better on tests on historical fiction novels because I had been attentive and excited the whole time I read them. History also excited me more because now I know that some of the kids even centuries ago could be just like me! The thing that I loved most about the book though was Natalie, Moose’s sister, because I too have a sibling with autism. Moose knew what it felt like to be a sibling to someone with autism and instead of bullying her or taking pity on her, he just accepted her and treated her like a normal sibling. I think that that is something only a sibling can do. This was especially important to me because at the time I didn’t know anyone in that position accept for my younger brother who was in two grades below me, which feels like a lifetime away. Moose was a great friend to me, one who understood what it felt like when your sibling embarrases you in public. What I really loved the most about Moose that when Natalie was accused of setting a fire at their house, he never stopped supporting her. I also thought that you did an amazing job at shining a light on the beauty of Natalie, and how though she might not be able to express herself she is still very smart. You did this best in the scene in which Natalie says “Alcatraz three hundred and seventeen”(204) to the antagonist, Donny. Throughout the book you had shown that Natalie was amazing with numbers, and if anyone else got sent to alcatraz this would be their number. It freaked Donny out, but as Moose says at the end “When it comes to numbers, Natalie never makes a mistake”(204). You had Natalie end the book, but not as a disabled person, but as someone who only needs to say one number to make herself understood. I have never seen this positivity towards someone with special needs in a book before, and hopefully there will be more of it! Once again I would like to thank you for writing a book that changed my life by opening up the world of historical fiction for me and giving me a friend (he may be fictional but understands me better than any real person) who gets what being a sibling to someone with special needs is like. I hope you will continue writing your books, and keep Moose, Natalie, and the rest of the characters alive!

Sincerely, Astri

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come and passed, a holiday that Robb loves!!! We get to go to  a family members house and hang until dinner is ready; though Robb doesn't eat much of the food he does enjoy hotdogs with cranberry sauce! It isn't really about the holiday though, it's about the energy going around. Everyone is kind and happy which makes both him and I feel great!

Check out my friend Page's blog: sammyssister.weebly.com
Here brother is 17 with autism, and she is studying to pursue a career in helping people with special needs.

Something to remember

  Robb is one of the nicest people I know and one of the most accepting too! I have noticed a lot of people with special needs are. I have been known to judge people with special needs or just people in general because of the way they look or seem. I think that the thing to remember is that they didn't choose that position. Robb didn't choose to be non-verbal, have autism, down syndrome, so why do people judge him. It gives me an open mind about people in general, and especially about people I have meet with special needs. All people judge without even thinking about it, and after knowing this little thing to remember it is hard to judge anyone (it was hard for me).

Produce #wherehopegrows

To kick off Down-syndrome awareness month what the trailer for Produce: Where Hope Grows!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pf2VL_pTmg

Back 2 school

Going back to school is hard for all of us. Especially when you are like Robb and your buss leaves at 7:30am!!! Robb also has therapy after school making the day even longer for him. Hopefully this work will lead to a great school year! :) :)