Marti Murphy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQT-LMCGfq0



Autistic Motivational Speak Marty Murphy speak about Autism. Dec 2006, Normal Illinois. Born in 1963, Marty grew up in Normal, Illinois. By the time she was 5, it was clear that she was a child of special needs. However, more functional than one with stereotypical autism, she fell through the cracks of the school system. By the time she was nine, she was led to believe she was mentally retarded, marginally surviving mainstream schooling.

She furthered her education in Bloomington, Illinois where she was determined to have ADHD, autism, dyslexia and dyscalculia.

In 1988, she furthered her graduate studies at the University of Arizona. Through a series of unsuccessful college transfers, and part time jobs, she was informed by a doctor that she had a disability; "High Functioning Autism" also known as "Aspergers". She indeed had ADHD, dyslexia and dyscalculia, but most surprising, she was not retarded.

Marty went abroad, attending the Ballymaloe Culinary School in Shanagarry, County Cork, Ireland, to which her schooling gave her an opportunity on the open seas as a chef, but alas social circumstances were not a good match for her. Returning to Normal, Marty was in the darkest part of her life, as a selective/elective mute with a clear diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

But being properly diagnosed made great differences in her life. Doctors found success in medications that finally helped her. Doctors encouraged her to get active in the local autism organization, and it was that advice that changed her life forever. With over seven total years of being mute, the program brought a comfort level that eventually led to Marty finally speak again. As a result, Marty not only speaks, she is now a prolific poet, author and public speaker. At age 39.

Now 44, Marty spends her free time as a highly sought after public speaker, offering first hand perspectives on autism. She works with school districts across the country to help put supports in place for particularly challenged children.

Marty Murphy currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Autism Society of Illinois as well as the Autism Society of McLean County. Through these two organizations, she finds she can finally help put direct support in place for children and families who struggle with autism.

Marty was recently quoted as saying "I have spoken to legislators about the tremendous needs that our communities have and will continue to have without increased funding, and hopefully I am helping to shine a positive light on the life long possibilities for individuals with autism, about who they can be and what they can achieve given the right supports".




THE OTHER SIDE
All her life, she has struggled with autism spectrum disorder. For years it ruled her, unable to speak at times, challenged with sensory overloads and volatile meltdowns. But, now she is being asked to act in the feature film NORMAL FOLK. Once again she will set herself apart from her "typical" peers to play the role of an autistic character named DORA. Be sure to catch the latest episode as we follow the behind the scenes progression of this feature film project NORMAL FOLK - A Graham Streeter Film.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og_NVCyR9Jo


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO7DC8QI1-Q


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA5TLk8Dt3I


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WbqRJ2kwG0


www.normalfolk.com

Good Evening Mr. Phelps

The school sent me an email regarding my request to tape the IEP meetings:

"The meetings should not be taped. If a parent tapes the meetings without staff permission it is a felony eavesdropping." Therefore, the meetings will not be taped and we will all continue to take personal notes. If you have any questions regarding this matter, please don't hesitate to contact XXXXXXXX at the XXXXXXX legal department.

Felony eavesdropping? First of all, I asked to tape the last meeting. I was told that they were reluctant to let me do so unless the principal allowed it. When the principal arrived, she permitted me to tape, but at that point, there was only about ten minutes of the meeting left, if that. The tape recorder was not hidden, nor was it running without permission - they all could see it. I did not eavesdrop.

Second, this was in response to my email about taping future meetings. There was no attempt to do so without permission. It's all been above board. And I am rather offended that they would even say that to me.

Thirdly, why shouldn't meetings be taped? On IllinoisSpecialEd.com, they even go so far as to recommend a brand of digital tape recorder to use for IEP meetings! Yet in my district, they not only believe that meetings should not be taped, but that to do so without permission would be felony eavesdropping?

I have to wonder why they are so resistant to tape recorders, but allow note taking?

What do you suppose they are afraid of?

Great Quote

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

-Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), U.S. First Lady, diplomat, human rights activist

Real Simple Magazine

Are you familiar with Real Simple Magazine? Check out this casting search for a child with autism!


Subject: Real Simple magazine casting search/Autism



Hi: For an upcoming Real Simple story, we would like to profile a family

with an autistic child between the ages of 10 and 15. Ideally, the family

was able to intervene early to get the necessary therapy and special

education for their child-- and now the child is doing very well. It would

be great if the child had older siblings who might be willing to speak about

growing up with a special needs sibling.


The family that is chosen will be photographed for the magazine.


If you'd like to share your story to be considered, please respond with the

following information


Name

Contact info: phone and email

Age

Profession

Location

Married?

Kids (ages)

A jpeg of you and your family

Plus a description of when your child was diagnosed and how, what type of

therapy and education you pursued, how your child is now doing and the

impact all of this has had on you and your family.


And thanks for forwarding to others.



Claudia Bloom, casting

REAL SIMPLE

claudia_bloom@realsimple.com

Your submission to Real Simple, including contact information, gives us the

right to modify, use, distribute, reproduce, publish and display the

submission indefinitely in all print, digital and other media, means, and

forms without any payment to you. You hereby represent that you haven't

copied the content from a book, magazine, newspaper, or other commercial

source.


Unfortunately, I'm not able to answer each response personally since I

receive so many. If there's interest then one of our editors will contact

you at that time.

Have a Heart

Did I tell you about Nathan's daycare?

I took him there for one of his school holidays. It's the same company that cares for him in after-school care, but this was at a different, larger location, with a lot more kids. They called me up at work to tell me Nathan was having a meltdown, and was hitting at the caregivers. We were to pick him up within a half hour. I told them dh was on his way.

Afterwards, dh tells me that Nathan had been playing with Legos, and a kid tried to rip one out of his hands. Nathan hung on, and the kid started to fight him for it. They sent both boys to timeout. Nathan refused to go. So they grabbed him, and tried to drag him. And Nathan flipped out.

Dh was irritated and told him that with his autism, he can't handle being grabbed. They said I never told them he had autism when I dropped him off! (WTF???) Dh argued that Nathan had been going there for YEARS, and we had filled out all kinds of medical history and stuff, and they said it didn't matter, that I need to tell them every time I drop him off that he has autism! They also said they weren't about to read every medical record for every kid at that daycare.

Oh, give me a frigging break!

(I'm thanking my lucky stars that Nathan doesn't have a severe food allergy, or the consequences could be deadly...)

When I dropped Nathan off that morning, I was wearing my "I love someone with autism" lanyard, and my THREE autism awareness bracelets. Even if they had missed that walking billboard, there were people at the daycare that work with Nathan every day at after-school care! At one point, when I was dropping Nathan off, he was standing there looking lost, and I was suggesting things that they had left out for the kids to play with, trying to get him engaged in something before I left for work. Nathan didn't seem interested in anything out. Then one of the caregivers jumps up and says, "I know what he's looking for! He loves the Legos!" and then scampered off to find the precious Legos for Nathan. This was one of the caregivers from his after-school care program.

I guess they can remember that Nathan loves Legos, but forget that he has autism. Go figure.

Oh, and school has been frustrating again. Big surprise.

First thing that irritated me at school is the fact that they are trying to stop me from tape recording the IEP meetings. (Hm. Why?) I'm going to tell them I'm taping the next meeting, in advance. The next meeting is the IEP and his parent/teacher conference combined. Dh won't be there, so I need to tape it for him. We'll see if they have a problem with it again. I have been checking into the legality of prohibiting me from taping. I have found some interesting information.

Then, Nathan was sick last week. I kept him home for three days, with a very high fever. The first day I kept him home was the same day the behavior specialist was supposed to go observe him. Rats. I've been trying to get this scheduled for months, but something always goes wrong! Anyway, I wrote the teacher to inform her that the behavior specialist was aware that Nathan was sick, and would be rescheduling, probably the following week. The teacher refused to allow it until after March 17th, because of the ISAT tests! Oh for crying out loud. All the woman wants to do is observe him in his academic environment. She doesn't want to interfere. But they tell me it's against ISAT regulations. I can't find it in the ISAT regulations, but they insist it is. I suspect I could push it, and demand that they show me exactly where it says that I can't have a behavior expert observe him during the testing days, but I suppose it really isn't worth pressing. For one, it may be an actual regulation, and I just haven't found it yet. For two, I'm not even sure the specialist would want to observe him during the testing period. It's not exactly a regular ol' day. Maybe it's better to wait.

On the other hand, why are they not as anxious for this specialist to observe as I am??? I feel like they don't want her to come. Sigh. Don't they realize I'm trying to HELP this situation? Don't they want someone to help improve his behavior?

Shoot.

And then Nathan had a rough day on Friday. Go figure. He's still struggling with the flu. He felt like crap. And I'm sure they were really patient and understanding because of that. (cough cough).

The teacher called me up at work, and told me he was refusing to behave, he wouldn't go to lunch, he wouldn't go outside, he was angry, etc. Great. I asked if I could speak to him. She refused at first, because she was not about to give him her cell phone. (He had tried to throw it during a previous meltdown, so she wasn't going to make THAT mistake again.) Geez. So I guess the only reason she was calling me at all, then, was to have me come and get him. Then the teacher suggested bringing him to the office, and having me talk to him there on a regular phone. FINALLY! A compromise!

I talked to Nathan for a while, and got him to calm down somewhat. He told me right off that his stomach hurt, so I got the school to give him some kiddie Malox that I had previously sent to the school. He also told me a mean kid had been knocking him down on the playground and running away (and he didn't know who the kid was), and he was NOT going outside! PERIOD! I explained that this was not an option, since it is against the law (and unsafe) for the school to let him sit inside alone while everyone else went outside, and I assured him that I would tell the grownups at the school about the bully, and asked him to hang around by grownups at recess. He accepted that. Protected from the bully, medicine for the tummy ache: Problems All Solved.

So we conquered all of the obstacles that the school couldn't seem to overcome. And did it in 5 minutes or so. I didn't even do anything special or tricky. Too bad the school couldn't have done the same thing. But that would take putting aside your anger at his defiance, and try some patience to find out what's behind the opposition. I guess that's asking too much.

Nathan went to lunch, and then went outside like he was supposed to. He got through the rest of the day without any further meltdowns, though he didn't really do any work, either. It pretty much takes all his energy not to get upset, when he's that wrung out. But he listens, and he still soaks up more education than you'd guess. I doubt they realize that though.

I wish I knew how to help him.

FDR

Nathan had to do an assignment about Franklin D. Roosevelt. In an article about the former President, it stated that Roosevelt was left disabled after suffering a bout with polio. His leg muscles were weakened, and he used either leg braces or a wheel chair. He hid his disability, insisting that no one could photograph him being carried, and he wore his leg braces under his pants, because disabilities were seen as a weakness at the time, and he most likely would not have been elected, had people known. It went on to say that he passed many laws to protect the poor, the elderly and the disabled.

At the end of the article, it asked Nathan to tell whether or not he thought Roosevelt should have hidden his disability.

This was his answer:


"Yes, he should have hidden that he was disabled, because if he didn’t, then he never would have been elected as President and important rules about protecting the poor, elderly and disabled, wouldn’t have been passed. But I think it’s mean that he had to hide his disability. He shouldn’t have to hide his disability. Just because he’s different doesn’t mean you have to ignore him. I think it’s sad that Roosevelt had to hide his disability. I don’t think he’s really disabled. I don’t think the polio made him disabled. It just made his legs so sore that he can’t hold himself up. It doesn’t mean he can’t do the job. He’s not disabled, he’s able! Just like me."