Facing Autism in New Brunswick Nominated For A 2007 Canadian Blog Award

Facing Autism in New Brunswick has been nominated for recognition in the Best Personal Blog category of the Canadian Blog Awards 2007 . It really is an honour and I thank Scott Tribe for the nomination. There are a number of excellent blogs nominated in the Personal Blog category and I feel good about just being included in that list.

I am happy to see that some people appreciate the realistic approach that I have taken in describing Autism Disorders and my son's life as a person with Autism Disorder and profound developmental delays. There are many blog sites on the internet which paint a rosy picture, a joyful picture of autism. Some of these sites are hosted by people who condemn any attempt to describe autism realistically.

I have always believed that I would be doing a great disservice to Conor by bowing to pressure to paint autism as something other than what it is for him and so many other autistic persons - a debilitating neurological disorder which severely limits their life prospects. I include happy stories, and happy pictures, of life with Conor on this site. He is my buddy. And he makes me very happy. But daily life with Conor's autism is a real challenge and sometimes he hurts himself and others. His long term prospects - after his mom and dad have departed as we all must do - are not pretty. I feel obligated to tell the world the complete truth, good and bad, about Autism Disorder.

For now there is little in the way of evidence based treatments or interventions available to help autistic children. Applied Behavior Analysis, ABA, is the only intervention which has consistently, based on decades of research, been found to be effective in making gains in all domains for autistic children but even ABA is not a cure.

There is, however, an incredible explosion of research now taking place in various areas of autism. The neurological structures and processes of autism, causes and possible treatments are all being explored. We truly are living in the era of the Autism Knowledge Revolution. Hope for treatments to improve the lives for autistic persons is more realistic today than ever before.

Long live the revolution. Long live the Autism Knowledge Revolution.

autism