Autism Awareness

I just wanted to take a second first off to thank you for visiting this page. If you found this page through a search engine result and have no idea who the heck I am, my name is Lisa Angelettie and I am the mother of 3 beautiful daughters – one who is on the autism spectrum. In my business, I make some of my income from affiliate earnings. I donate a portion of those proceeds to autism awareness projects, campaigns, or workshops. I also give autism workshops to educators in the NYC-PA area. And this is why…

Around 18 months old, I knew that something was different about my daughter Ali. I don’t have the same stories that many mothers have about her being perfectly typical and then one day she woke up totally different. Ali was different almost from the beginning, but nobody saw it but me. In fact, it is very hard to notice if you only have a casual relationship with her, even now.

But by the time she was 2 years old, I finally started listening to my instincts and my background in psychotherapy and stopped listening to the grandmoms telling me that I was simply comparing her to my oldest child.  I had her tested, and she was diagnosed with a development disorder found on the autism spectrum.

Ali had early intervention services at 2, then was placed in a sensory integration based preschool program for two years, then was moved to an inclusion kindergarten class, and later mainstreamed into a regular classroom with supports. She has made leaps and strides that I couldn’t have even fathomed in 2004.

I attribute her success to the programs that she has been in at school, the fact that I have been able to be very hands on with her teachers, psychologists and therapists, (all because I work from home), and of course the support of my family.

There are things about Ali’s autism which make her very unique and special. We celebrate them. She has the best memory out of everyone in our house and we call it her “superpower”. So I do not strongly feel a need to “cure” Ali, but what I think is more important is creating a layer of autism awareness and education in her school, our community, and then the larger world, because autism can be socially isolating, even for someone as high-functioning like my daughter.

If we create communities of autism-educated people, it will be a much more tolerant world, and a place where Ali can have REAL friends and a REAL sense of community. This is what I want for her and every child on the spectrum.

More About Autism Awareness

Autism Awareness Month – April
http://www.autism-society.org/about-us/national-autism-awareness-month/

Why Autism Is Different For Girls
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/why-autism-is-different-for-girls-1907315.html

What Is Autism?
http://girlshrink.com/what-is-autism/ 

My Favorite Autism Organization
http://AutismSpeaks.org 

Thank You For Reading,
Lisa Angelettie
Let’s Talk On Facebook!