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FOCUS
Alternative Learning Center |
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AFTER TREATMENT FROM FOCUS ALTERNATIVE LEARNING CENTER Canton, CT 860-693-8809 (This letter was written after Alex was on a panel of FOCUS kids presenting to parents and professionals at an ASCONN meeting) 3/24/05 Dear ASCONN Members,
Thank you for inviting me to the Autism Society meeting. It was the first
time I was ever on the FOCUS panel. I was a bit nervous, but I had a fun time
talking to people. All the people were great, so it was one of the best nights
of my life! I hope I'll be able to be on the panel again. You were all helpful
in understanding autism.
I've been a kid with autism all my life, so I know all about autism. I like to
help other people to understand autism. It's hard to be a kid with autism when
people don't understand you. It's easier, and more fun to have autism when
people can understand you. That's why I like to go to FOCUS. People there
understand my autism. When I said having autism is boring, I meant when people
don't understand you. Sometimes, I call those times autism-mania. People don't
understand why I take everything literally. Now that I've been around for eleven
years, I'm starting to understand sarcasm and jokes.
If
your children haven't been around for that long, there are a lot of things they
don't know yet. You have to teach them. FOCUS helps kids learn about social
skills. Parents help kids learn about social skills, too. It's important for
people to understand autistic kids, so they can teach them. It's impossible to
know everything, because you're never too old to learn. I hope you learned
something from the FOCUS panel. Thank
you again for listening to our panel. I enjoyed being on the panel. Mom and I
couldn't believe I stayed in the room so long! It's hard for me to sit still,
but I tried hard at the meeting. It was the kind of meeting I like, because you
are all nice people. I hope I can come to your meeting again.
Your friend, Alex (age 11) |
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