New to the group

[Guest guest]

Hello ALL!

I am new to the group and am thankful that I was able

to join. I am the daughter of Lyn Redwood (president

of Safeminds.org). I was ten when my little brother

Will was born, I am now 21 and he is 11. Daily I am

reminded of how much potential Will had and yet I am

so proud to see how very far he has come. He just

began 6th grade at a Montessori school, and over the

past 3 years he has been achieving average and above

average grades. I know my view is different

considering I am the sister of a child with an autism

spectrum disorder (PDD-NOS) and not the parent of one.

I am a senior at Georgia State University studying

psychology. I live in Atlanta (near the CDC and Emory)

away from my family in Tyrone, Georgia. Living this

far from Will has shown me how much I miss helping

children just like him. I watched Will's discrete

trial taining and applied behavioral analysis. I am

now looking to go through training in DTT and ABA so

that I may begin working with one or two children in

the Atlanta (Emory/Buckhead/Highlands/Midtown and

surrounding) area. I look forward to hearing from

anyone who can recommend a good place or person to

recieve training. I am overwhelmingly disappointed by

the story of the 7 year old boy but sadly I am not

suprised that so many people (including the media) are

so ignorant on this subject, my heart desperately goes

out to the child and his family. Everyday at school I

hear another professor using very old definitions of

autism thus each year teaching hundreds of bright open

minded students wrong information about autism

spectrum disorders.

I have also watched reporter after reporter come into

our home and constantly get the information wrong

despite getting the right information from my mother

and my family. At this point in my life I believe even

some wrong information is good press. The more people

who get involved, the more people who write letters to

the editor, who stand up in Washington for their

Child, and who continue sharing their voice leads only

to the possibility that one more parent can join in

the activism and one more member of congress can wake

up. I believe that eventually everyone will know whose

hands are dirty. I know parents, siblings,

grandparents, and others who vowed to never be

silenced. For the years my brother was silent and the

harm that he has endured I know I will never be

silent.

I look forward to hearing more and more about the

issues I could have missed and the battles you all are

facing. My heart goes out to all of you!

~Hanna

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