Personal Autism Blog

Welcome to the personal autism blog at Autism Epicenter. This is a digital online diary (and more) written directly by parents of children with ASD as we deal with the triumphs and challenges of raising children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Two people post here, both parents of different families, both dealing with autism.

With this blog you are gaining access into a whole new world. If you’re parenting a child with ASD yourself, then you can relate. If you’re not, maybe this will help you gain an understanding of what parents go through. Either way, welcome to our world!

Autism Apps That Will Help You

Parents – Are you aware of the great autism apps available for iPhone and iPod Touch? These apps can be of tremendous help to you and your child with ASD. Apple devices are cool and the apps are pretty inexpensive once you get the device itself. (The way I’m going on here you’d think I own stock in the company.)

Let me paint you an example; If your child is non-verbal consider that the iPhone with the largest memory capacity will run you $350 after tax. And remember, you don’t have to get the one with the largest amount of memory. You could spend as little as $200 on an iPhone or iPod Touch. Then consider that purchasing an augmentative communication device like a DynaVox or a conventional schedule maker costs hundreds of dollars more. There’s really no comparison. And did I mention how much cooler these little Apple devices are? Oh yeah!

Green Eggs and Ham

Good evening everybody!

I spend most of my time on here blogging about my son, Sir Dantes, and the different experiences we have had due to his being autistic. Well, tonight I want to write about his sister, Ms. Maxie.

For so long now I have worried and wondered what the effect of having a little brother who needs so much attention has had on her. Do we give her enough attention? Does she get jealous because she doesn’t understand; she is only five? Does she understand why we expect more of her while her brother seems to get more chances?

Bouncing Birthday Boy

Having a lovely Sunday afternoon and I hope you are doing the same.Well, last Friday night Sir Dantes had his third birthday. Since we are in the middle of moving (the house is an absolute disaster) and we got a nice income tax return; we decided to reserve Bounce U for a private party. In case you are unfamiliar, Bounce U is a huge warehouse with rooms full of huge “toys” to bounce on. It is quite pricey, but worth it if you can manage to swing it.

IHSS Terminated?

Yes, if you haven’t heard, Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed eliminating the In-Home Supportive Services program as part of his 2010-11 California state budget proposal. What an ugly thing to do to our state’s elderly and disabled population.