Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Walk Now for Autism







Saturday September 13, 2008 at Jordan Valley Park
Register and Resource Fair Opens - 9am
Walk Begins - 10 am


This is our third year walking in Autism Speaks Walk Now for Autism. We are doing it again because it is so important!!! And we need you to help us...Join our team and walk with us!!!Even if you can not attend the event, you can be a virtual walker and still raise money for the team. We need all the help we can get.

Today, 1 in 150 individuals is diagnosed with autism, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. It occurs in all racial, ethnic, and social groups and is four times more likely to strike boys than girls. Autism impairs a person’s ability to communicate and relate to others. It is also associated with rigid routines and repetitive behaviors, such as obsessively arranging objects or following very specific routines. Symptoms can range from very mild to quite severe.

Did you know…
• 1 in 94 boys is on the autism spectrum
• 67 children are diagnosed per day
• A new case is diagnosed almost every 20 minutes
• Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability
• Autism costs the nation over $90 billion per year, a figure expected to double in the next decade
• Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of many less prevalent childhood diseases
• There is no medical detection or cure for autism

That is why we walk for our son Zion and all the other children out there on the Autism Spectrum. My son Zion turned five this year, and is starting Kindergarten in the fall. Zion has come a long way since he first was diagnosed with Autism at the age of two and a half. He was completely non-verbal and really did not take any direction from us. Then we had a Floortime Specialist start working with him.

During the first session with her Zion was giving her high fives and getting him to do things that we had never seen him do. She also taught us how to work with him. The year after his initial diagnosis was the hardest year of our lives. We had enrolled Zion into Developmental Center of the Ozarks and we were doing Floortime therapy when he got home. Once Zion got into the special education preschool we continued Floortime, but also hired two ABA therapists to work with him four nights a week in our home. Still today we have a therapist come in twice a week to work with him. Our schedules, our finances and our lives revolve around autism. But it has always been an easy choice for us.

When he started preschool he had maybe a five-word count. Today he can tell me his phone number and address, count to twenty, and definitely get his point across. His vocabulary is flourishing and we are amazed everyday as he forms complete sentences and really develops his own personality. We have learned so much on this journey and Autism Speaks was one of our big teachers! Please help us raise money for this valiant cause.

Raise awareness, Raise hope, and Raise an answer.

Join our team. Raise Money. Walk With Zion's Tribe to Raise Awareness.

Click Here.
Join Zion's Tribe Team