Welcome

April 12, 2008

Welcome, ! I am Liz, Mom to Tori, age 8 with Ds; PDD-NOS; OCD; ODD;

NLD; GERD; Hashimoto Thyroidtitus and is legally blind (although we can't

tell). Tori was dxd in Sept. of 2003.

Liz

November 29, 2008

Hi ,

In my district an inclusion facilitator works with students who have special

needs who are in regular education classes, full time. I work with children who

have Downs and who are Autistic. I travel to different schools within the

district and help the general education teacher and para-educator who are

assigned to the student. I can't believe that you had to wait so long to get a

dx. If I may ask, how did you know? What signs did you see and how did you know

what signs were caused by autism vs. downs? My brother has DS only. When he

was born they told my Mom that he would not live to be seven, he is now almost

50. They told her to put him in an institution, which she refused to do. He

has taught me many life lessons which I later got to use when my son was born.

According to everything I was told, he should have been severely disabled ( I

didn't believe them) but at age 33, he now has his own apartment and is very

independent.

Dr. Delia J. Ross

Inclusion Facilitator-School District 300

Aurora University-Dept. Special Education

________________________________

To:

Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2008 8:44:38 PM

Subject: Welcome

Welcome Delia. What does a inclusion facilitator do? I know what a

facilitator does I just have not heard the term inclusion.I welcome

anyone with knowlege that can possible help my son.Dr. Capone

and KKI in Baltimore land has wrote articles on getting the dual

dx and why it is so hard to get. My son was 9 yrs old before we got a

true dual dx. I knew after he turned 3 yrs old. Does your brother

have autism as well as DS? Cyndi B

>

> Hi,

> My name is Delia and I am new to the group. I have a brother

who has Downs and a son who is developmentally disabled. I have been

involved in Special Education for 30 years as a sibling, parent and

teacher. I come to the group because I am an inclusion facilitator in

a northwest suburb of Chicago. In recent months, I have noticed an

increase in students who have the dual diagnosis of Downs and

Autism. Teachers have come to me asking for help on how to service

their students. It has become apparent that I need to know more to

help them. In my role as an inclusion facilitator, I also want to

help the children enjoy the life they deserve in every aspect.

Having lived most of my life being involved with children with

special needs, I know how important this is. I am also a professor at

a local university, teaching special education to graduate students

who will be getting a degree in special education. I feel that it is

> important for them to know about students with dual diagnosis. I

hope that I will be able to offer the group knowledge that I've

gained from years of experience while I become more informed about

children with the dual diagnosis of Downs and Autism.

>

> Dr. Delia J. Ross

>

> Inclusion Facilitator- School District 300

> and

> Aurora University-Dept. Special Education

>

November 30, 2008

Delia, My son was a typical kid with Ds until age 3. At three years

old he started toe walking,self injurious behaviors such as slapping

himself.Then he started rocking, toe walking,screaiming for hours on

end with no apparent reason.Later he stopped sleeping through the

night. Then later he developed OCD. When I say typical kid with DS he

was happy and learning,responding, just slow.I have pictures of him

as he started to regress.We do not have inclusion facilitators in our

school that would be wonderful.My son benefits from ABA and they do

not have that either.In your son typical or disabled? Here are some

links on DS/autism http://www.kennedykrieger.org/kki_misc.jsp?

pid=2141 & bl=1 http://www.altonweb.com/cs/downsyndrome/index.htm?

page=autism.html My son is 13 yrs old and non-verbal mostly. He says

one word things at times like eat,mom,mean,etc. He completely stopped

talking a few years ago after he had cellulitis of face/head.He is

now starting to talk again with the help of a DAN doctor. Cyndi B

>

> Hi ,

> In my district an inclusion facilitator works with students who

have special needs who are in regular education classes, full time.

I work with children who have Downs and who are Autistic. I travel

to different schools within the district and help the general

education teacher and para-educator who are assigned to the student.

I can't believe that you had to wait so long to get a dx. If I may

ask, how did you know? What signs did you see and how did you know

what signs were caused by autism vs. downs? My brother has DS only.

When he was born they told my Mom that he would not live to be seven,

he is now almost 50. They told her to put him in an institution,

which she refused to do. He has taught me many life lessons which I

later got to use when my son was born. According to everything I was

told, he should have been severely disabled ( I didn't believe

them) but at age 33, he now has his own apartment and is very

> independent.

>

> Dr. Delia J. Ross

>

> Inclusion Facilitator-School District 300

> Aurora University-Dept. Special Education

>

> ________________________________

>

> To:

> Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2008 8:44:38 PM

> Subject: Welcome

>

> Welcome Delia. What does a inclusion facilitator do? I know what a

> facilitator does I just have not heard the term inclusion.I welcome

> anyone with knowlege that can possible help my son.Dr.

Capone

> and KKI in Baltimore land has wrote articles on getting the

dual

> dx and why it is so hard to get. My son was 9 yrs old before we got

a

> true dual dx. I knew after he turned 3 yrs old. Does your brother

> have autism as well as DS? Cyndi B

> >

> > Hi,

> > My name is Delia and I am new to the group. I have a brother

> who has Downs and a son who is developmentally disabled. I have

been

> involved in Special Education for 30 years as a sibling, parent and

> teacher. I come to the group because I am an inclusion facilitator

in

> a northwest suburb of Chicago. In recent months, I have noticed an

> increase in students who have the dual diagnosis of Downs and

> Autism. Teachers have come to me asking for help on how to service

> their students. It has become apparent that I need to know more to

> help them. In my role as an inclusion facilitator, I also want to

> help the children enjoy the life they deserve in every aspect.

> Having lived most of my life being involved with children with

> special needs, I know how important this is. I am also a professor

at

> a local university, teaching special education to graduate students

> who will be getting a degree in special education. I feel that it

is

> > important for them to know about students with dual diagnosis. I

> hope that I will be able to offer the group knowledge that I've

> gained from years of experience while I become more informed about

> children with the dual diagnosis of Downs and Autism.

> >

> > Dr. Delia J. Ross

> >

> > Inclusion Facilitator- School District 300

> > and

> > Aurora University-Dept. Special Education

> >

December 1, 2008

Hi Delia and ,

I was wondering how many families see their children " change " around age 3. My

son has DS and is waiting for ASD assessment. He has always been the way he is,

very resistant to change, lots of throwing and spinning of objects, difficulty

processing sensory input, nothing could be vertical, surfaces had to be cleared,

and no real expressive language through signing until he was almost 2. He is 3

now, and doing better in some aspects like language with signing. He's still

throwing and spinning, but not as much. We did a lot of work with him before

anyone brought up autism with us, and after we were wait listed for assessment

a behavior consultant came by from our Infant Development Program to give us

some ideas on how to work with him. That has really helped a lot. I always

noticed he was different from other DS kids, but I always put it down to two

introverted Type A parents and some family history of OCD. He also had seizures

after birth due

to fetal distress, and no one was ever really sure if that would have an affect

on his development.

I read this article and it talked about signs for dual diagnosis.

http://www.kennedykrieger.org/kki_misc.jsp?pid=2141 & bl=1

________________________________

To:

Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2008 1:45:10 PM

Subject: Re: Welcome

Delia, My son was a typical kid with Ds until age 3. At three years

old he started toe walking,self injurious behaviors such as slapping

himself.Then he started rocking, toe walking,screaiming for hours on

end with no apparent reason.Later he stopped sleeping through the

night. Then later he developed OCD. When I say typical kid with DS he

was happy and learning,responding , just slow.I have pictures of him

as he started to regress.We do not have inclusion facilitators in our

school that would be wonderful.My son benefits from ABA and they do

not have that either.In your son typical or disabled? Here are some

links on DS/autism http://www.kennedyk rieger.org/ kki_misc. jsp?

pid=2141 & bl= 1 http://www.altonweb .com/cs/downsynd rome/index. htm?

page=autism. html My son is 13 yrs old and non-verbal mostly. He says

one word things at times like eat,mom,mean, etc. He completely stopped