Apr 2, 2009 9:38 pm US/Central
Autism Emerging From The Shadows
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
-
-
Noah Martin, 9, attends a special school for children with autism.
CBS
Thursday is Autism Awareness Day, and many of us don't realize it but one in 150 children are born with this disorder. CBS 2's Anne State has the story of a local couple dealing with it.
Both of their kids have autism. But these parents have found a special school that's helping one of their kids.
Margaret and Peter Martin watch their son, Noah, as he works with a teacher's aide, Bonita Lewis. They're doing numbers and letters today. It's not always easy.
Noah's parents say both he and his younger sister have been diagnosed with autism. Autism is defined as a developmental disorder where kids have trouble talking and communicating. Social interaction is hard for them.
And, of course, that is hard on their parents.
"Like you know our children are probably 35 percent toilet trained," Margaret Martin, Noah's mother, said. "They're 7 and 9 years old. I've been changing diapers for 9 years."
Noah goes to the
Easter Seals Therapeutic School and Center for Autism Research in Chicago.
He's in a small classroom. The lights are turned off. The school says it tries to give the kids a calm environment.
"Most autistic children have sensory deficits," says Dr. Louis Kraus, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at Rush University Medical Center. "And they're gonna be sensitive to sounds, to smells, to tastes, and any type of change in their environment is often seen as some level of anxiety."
And when kids are anxious, Kraus says, they have trouble learning and may become disruptive.
The school also teaches students basic things, such as how to set the table, make the bed and do laundry.
"All of those little things that we take for granted, we have to teach those individual tasks," Nicole Davenport, school administrator, said.
But some parents have concerns. One mother not affiliated with the school told us that schools like this tend to eat up a lot of government funding. She wishes that parents could use some of that money instead for treatment program, which they feel are best for their kids.
But the Martins say their son needs a therapeutic school like this. He's happy here, and so are they.
"It's been a huge postive influence for our family -- life changing, actually," Margaret Martin said.
Kraus says this school can most help the kids with severe cases of autism. The school still has room for students. Click
here to see eligibility requirements.
Additional Internet resources are the
Rush University Medical Center Autism Resource Center and Autism Speaks.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Jewish Celebrities
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
