Check out Action for Autism

Action for Autism (AFA) is an organization headed by (AACTION Hero!) Merry Barua that we have been working closely with in New Delhi, India. AFA is one of only a handful of organizations in India that is providing services and training for autism. Find out more about AFA by clicking here.

AACTION on Facebook!

AACTION now has a profile on Facebook! Visit us and join the group by clicking here. Also, check back often - we have a lot of exciting things coming up and will posting them in the near future!

AACTION Friend: Qazi

While in India we had the chance to meet a very special man by the name of Qazi Fazli Azeem from Pakistan. You can learn more about Qazi by reading a recent interview by clicking here. He attended our 2 Day Workshop on Structured Teaching. Qazi was the first person with Asperger’s (a high functioning form of autism) to ever attend one of our Structured Teaching workshops. Qazi’s presence at the conference was inspiring and energizing. Qazi gave the AACTION presenters and the workshop participants a unique perspective on autism and great insight into effective strategies for individuals on the perspective. Qazi’s goal is to take the information he learned back to Pakistan to help train teachers and parents struggling with autism. Pakistan is just beginning to recognize and treat autism and Qazi is a large part of the movement. (Read more about autism in Pakistan by clicking here). The AACTION team had time to talk and interview Qazi and we were instantly captivated by his intelligence and charm. We are proud to have met him and to have such a great friend advocating for children with autism. We have kept in touch with Qazi and will remain in close contact to assist and support his incredible work!

Click here to see pictures of Qazi at the conference.

Forever Green a Big Success!

Thank you to all those that came out to Forever Green to support AACTION! You can see pictures of tons of people wearing green and having a good time by clicking here. AACTION wishes to thank Young Irish for their energy, compassion, and support in raising funds and awareness for AACTION!

Party For AACTION at Forever Green!

AACTION is one of two charities supported by the Young Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago for 2007-2008. As a selected charity AACTION will receive a check from YIFC at their annual “Forever Green” celebration on March 14th, 2008. Please visit their website to order tickets and for more information.

AACTION Returns From India

About a week ago the AACTION Team returned from India from our overwhelmingly successful first trip abroad. We are already in the process of planning the next phase of training in India. Some of our accomplishments are outlined below:

• Thomas Owley, MD, our medical director and Christopher Flint, our president, spoke to over 500 autism professionals and parents of children with autism which will positively impact thousands of children

• We were able to train over 150 teachers and parents in two intensive, interactive workshops and identify six Indian autism professionals that have the potential to become trainers

• AACTION made many key contacts such as government officials, medical and research personnel, educators, and parents

• Our videographer took over 25 hours of footage in India and is in the process of making a documentary about our trip which we will use to raise awareness of our cause.

In India, we learned of several hurdles that need to be overcome to better serve people with autism.

• Lack of awareness. Autism is a relatively new concept in India and there appears to be a lack of awareness of the nature of autism and its management.

• Far too few resources. For example, in New Delhi with a population of over 14 million people, there may be over 70,000 individuals with autism, yet, there is only one diagnostician trained to use the best practice instrument to detect autism.

• A paucity of researchers doing work in autism – there are great Indian minds that could be helping unravel some of the mysteries of autism.

• Threre are cultural barriers. Because many people do not understand the causes of autism, mothers are often blamed for their children’s problems. Many do not seek treatment and keep their kids hidden with no opportunities for medical or educational intervention

Every member of our team was touched by the bravery of the children with autism and their parents whom we met. We were also touched by professionals and parents from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and other countries who are in the same or worse place than India when it comes to autism. We heard many pleas for help.

Through all the challenges we see a bright future for India and autism. People there are more willing than ever to talk about and accept autism. The movement has begun. Parents and their children are advocating for themselves and joining forces. AACTION joins individuals with autism and their families in their quest for happiness, independence, and acceptance.

Day 14: Meetings and Tours

Yet again we were up early again and off to AFA for a tour of the school and meeting with the teachers who had attended the workshop. Christopher and Lally also visited some classrooms and met with AFA trainees to give advice on structured teaching in their classrooms. Also discussed with Merry future plans of action between AACTION and AFA. Before leaving we again visited the vocational room and bought some beautiful bags, cards, etc. made by the older students. The staff at AFA very kindly helped us make plans for early morning cab pickup to the station to catch the Agra Express.
This evening we met up with Winnie at Swagath Restaurant and once again had a wonderful classic Indian dinner.

Check out pictures from today here!

Day 13 – 2nd day of the Fundamentals workshop

After a quick “dry clean” (due to lack of pressure in the plumbing system at Pammi’s), we rushed out to the taxi which apparently had been waiting since 7:00 A.M. packed Rosie’s equipment in the “boot” and were ready to leave, but the driver found it necessary to first wash the windows – strange?? We had another misunderstanding - we were sitting in the wrong cab! After much laughter we were on our way to AFA for our second day of the Fundamentals Workshop.
Today Chris was given a couple of breaks when Lally took over presenting and did an excellent job. Today was also had a day of interviews. India TV 3 interviewed Christopher and AACTION interviewed Dr. Maroof Qureshi and his wife Mrs. Roohi Maroof of Pakistan and parents of a child with autism and Qazi Fazli Azeem who has ASD also from Pakistan. The response to our workshop has been overwhelming with requests to come back and to bring the training to other Asian countries. This is something we may have to explore upon our return to the US. We also met with five possible candidates from Delhi to continue training through AACTION sponsorship.

Pictures from the day are here!
To give AACTION team members a much-needed break and some privacy, we decided to spend our last three nights in India in the guesthouse Classic Palace.

AACTION Day 12: 1st Day of Fundamentals Of Structured Teaching Workshop

We left early today to get ready for the Christopher, Lally, and Lydia to present the 2 Day Basic Elements of Structured Teaching Workshop. Again we were a part of history in India, as this was only the second interactive Structured Teaching Workshop in the country (the first was our workshop in Bangalore the week before). This conference had over 200 registrants for only 75 spots which was a demonstration of the need of more training. Several people that were not registered showed up in the morning unannounced as begged the conference organizers to let them in because they had traveled so far. As the room was already overbooked they were sadly turned away but were told all the best efforts of those involved would make sure that more trainings would be offered in the future.

The first day of the conference was extremely excited. The participation and enthusiasm from the participants made the day informative and enjoyable. We were not only able to share knowledge about our methodologies for working with children with autism but we also learned quite a bit from the wealth of experiences the participants from Pakistan, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and India brought to the table.

We also had our first participant ever with Asperger’s attend the training! He is from Pakistan and is hoping to take some strategies back to his country to help children with autism and their families. After the conference the team was exhausted and we headed back home for some rest.

Pictures from the day are here.

AACTION Day 11: Day 2 of Southeast Asian Regional Conference

Today was Tom’s turn to talk at the Southeast Regional Conference on Autism: Building Bridges. Dr. Tom gave an invigorating talk with on Medical Management and Autism along with several other International physicians. Tom’s talk raised many enthusiastic questions during the discussion and he thirst for knowledge from the audience was very evident.

In the afternoon Rosie and Christopher interviewed parents, doctors, and educators from all over Southeast Asia including Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. The stories were amazing - both in the lack of resources and the amazing people that are working so hard to provide services and resources for people with autism. For example, a doctor from Vietnam that we spoke to has started one of only two places for children with autism in Hanoi, a city of over 3.5 million people. It is difficult to imagine the strife in the lives of the thousands of children and families affected by autism that do not have access to any resources. After the interviews the AACTION team was emboldened and energized.

At night the AACTION team attended a reception for all the conference speakers on a beautiful rooftop terrace in Delhi. The chilly night was warmed by dozens of woodburning cannisters throughout the terrace. We enjoyed networking with all of the speakers, making new friends, and enjoying delicious Indian food.

Click here for pictures from Day 2 of the conference!

Day 10: Building Bridges Conference Day 1

Today the AACTION team was up bright and early and off to the Southeast Asian Regional Conference on Autism: Building Bridges. Christopher presented on Structured Teaching (a methodology for working with people autism) to an audience of over 200 participants from India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and other countries. The presentation was well received and Christopher was asked several questions during the panel discussion. During lunch Christopher was deluged with people requesting more training. It was exciting to see such enthusiasm and at the same time it was overwhelming to see such a huge need and difficult to think how our small organization could meet those needs.

At night we went to Rodeo – it was quite interesting to have Mexican food in the middle of downtown New Delhi!

Click here for pictures from Day 10!

Sadhu Playing his Nagaswaram

Today was a hectic travel day for the AACTION team. We awoke to a foggy day and gathered our luggage as we prepared to leave for New Delhi for the second leg of our journey. As we walked out to our car from the house we were greeted by a Hindu Sadhu playing a Nagaswram. He had a cow with him that was adorned with garland and had incense burning from a container on his head. The experience was both vivid and surreal – our whole team felt a sense of serendipity as a visit from such a holy man is quite uncommon. It gave us a chance to reflect on the hard work we had done in Bangalore, our fond memories from the past week, and the friendships we had created. We left Bangalore with soaring spirits.

Our plane to Delhi was not soaring however. The fog caused delays and we ended up spending six hours in the airport and another hour on the tarmac. It gave us a chance to reflect on the past week, plan for the future, and catch up on some much needed sleep.

We arrived in New Delhi in the evening and took a car to Pammi’s house. When we arrived she greeted us with open arms. With Pammi lives her son Ashu, his wife Bonnie, and their two beautiful daughters. We had dinner, visited, and then were off to bed.

Pictures here!

Day 8: Exploring Bangalore

At last one day of sight seeing in Bangalore! Gowda, our very able driver and tour guide, got Christopher, Lydia and Lally out of the house by 8am with our first stop at the beautiful Iskcon Temple (International Society of Krishna Consciousness) of which Sri Rhada Krishna Temple, followed by Hanuman and Balajee Temples. An interesting observation - as people exit temples they are given a bowl of rice. The reason being that temples are seen as providers of sustenance of both mind and body.

We also visited the Ministry and High Court Buildings and then took a lazy trolley ride through the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens. It took quite a bit of persuading Gowda to take us to the Old Bangalore City Market which was a cornucopian experience of sights and smells. We went wild bargaining for spices, bangles, tar dye powders and much more. To end this exciting day the three of us crammed into a ‘three wheeler’ auto rickshaw and amongst the diesel fumes of Bangalore we were delivered safely back to Marsdan House for a wonderful late lunch prepared by Mrs. Gulhati.

Christopher joined some kids in the neighborhood for a game of cricket and was up to bat a six plus as the ball went soaring over the rooftops. Realizing this was the only ball the kids had, he went off to the local shops and bought eight new cricket balls

In the evening we participated in the celebration of the first winter harvest of the year, known in Northern India as the festival of Lodi—celebrated with pomp and cheer as it heralds the onset of the first crop and the end of the bitter cold. A bonfire is lit, popped corn and sesame candies are thrown into the fire and songs are sung. Although we are in Bangalore, our host family, the Gulhatis, hail from the North and preserve their cultural traditions.

Check out some pictures from today.

Day 7: AACTION in Bangalore -Work, fun and a bit of play

Saturday, 8:30am, Mrs. Suchitan Somashekariah from SSA (Shristi Special Academy) came to pick up Christopher, Lydia, Lally and Rosie. SSA is a school out in the country about 25 km west of Bangalore, that works with the children and adults with multiple disabilies. We arrived and were amazed at the facilities.. We were welcomed with bright happy faces, hugs and lots of Hello’s. After a wonderful tour including their vocational department, we were given a huge papaya from the trees on the land and we were waved off by a group of children showing off their cricket skills. Along the way we saw a farmer plow his millet field with two white oxen, and also took some pictures of Jack fruit trees (a huge prickly oval shaped fruit when opened the flesh has the worst smell but apparently a strong mix of pineapple and papaya/mango flavor). We also stopped off at the Shristi store to buy some gifts made by students for our friends and colleagues back home.

Our second stop of the day was at Bubbles school which is an after-school program similar to Have Dreams. We arrived mid-day and were greeted by parents, teachers and the Founder/Director Sarabani. As we walked in, a game was in progress. There was a table full of plastic foods like pizza, Bananas, PB & J, Hamburger, oranges. They were asked to identify healthy and not so healthy foods. Then we all joined in to sing songs and, believe it or not, as they had recently learned holiday songs we all joined in to sing Feliz Navidad! Sarabani’s son who volunteers at the center played the keyboard. We were amazed to hear Spanish sung here in India

Both schools were grateful that we were able to visit and we also learned a lot from them.

We were invited to take “tiffin” (picnic lunch) at the Gulhati’s fragrance factory, Sonarome, followed by a very interesting tour of the facility where they are also opening a clinic with free health services for their staff and people who live in the surrounding area.

We got passed the “india snake” driving and traffic, arrived home and got ready for the closing ceremonies of the Autism Conference at NIMHANS. Earlier we had all decided to wear traditional Indian dress, saree for Lydia, salwar kurta (tunic and pants for women) for Lally and Rosie and jhuba pajama for Tom and Christopher. Delegates were very impressed and appreciative. We arrived at the convention center and had a very warm welcome from Jayashree and all the ASHA and Rotary staff. The evening entertainment included traditional dancing with candles presented by the School for the Blind, School for the Deaf and wonderful singing by other children with special needs. This was followed once again by a delicious dinner. This brought to an end to our week-long work in Bangalore.

Check out some great pics from today.

Day 6: AACTION in Bangalore

Today, AACTION attended the conference at NIMHANS (The National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences), India’s hub for Psychiatry and allied fields. Indian and International Speakers discussed myriad subjects, followed by an enthusiastic discussion that would have easily gone into the wee hours of the morning if we hadn’t stopped in time. Tom Owley spoke on adolescents and adults with Autism and how resilience in families impacts them. Christopher presented the successful treatment of a struggling adolescent and described some of the programs for adolescents at H.A.V.E Dreams. Chris’ film clips and discussion of his young man were the hit of the day, and ended with extended applause for his presentation as well as the comments on the video from the young man. The talks were greeted with great enthusiasm, as reflected in the extended question and answer sessions that followed (the day ran far past the expected time!).

Tom Owley (who had his photo in the Times of India as well as an interview outlining AACTION’s mission) was greeted like a celebrity—with warmth and interest. Like minded psychiatrists discussed NIMHANs treatment of children affected by autism. We were surprised to learn that the child psychiatry unit had 40 rooms and a third of these routinely had autistic individuals. Not only that but when a child is admitted to the inpatient psychiatric unit, the family is admitted as well! The doctors here in turn were surprised that in the United States, the child was admitted without the family! Much discussion ensued on reliability and validity of diagnostic methodology, treatment and research. Definitely a lot of possibility for us as a team—this has set the stage for a rich and vibrant collaborative process.

Click here for some great photos from day 6!

AACTION in Bangalore: Day 5

On day two of the training we got off to a prompt start. Once again Christopher wore his traditional Indian outfit. Everyone was excited to make more materials and share their tasks with the group. During the morning Tom met a reporter of the Indian Times (the most widely read newspaper in the country). While the participants took a morning break, Christopher was also interviewed by the reporter who stayed on for a good portion of the remainder of the morning. The afternoon was very productive, participants learned strategies to work on communication and leisure goals and created leisure activities. Rosie had an opportunity to interview some of the participants, amongst them a parent/teacher from Mumbai and Kanak, a psychologist from Hyderabad. The afternoon ended with many participants taking photographs with our AACTION team and the satisfaction of reading 70 great evaluations with excellent suggestions and comments which will be followed up on for future workshops in India.

Tonight we are going to try some “cheap and cheerful” Indian/Chinese cuisine!!

Check out photos from the day here!

AACTION in Bangalore: Day 4

The team once again enjoyed a substantial and delectable breakfast at Mardan House (our home away from home) to start off the first full day of work.
Arrived at the very impressive GM Rejoyz Auditorium Building at 7:30 A.M. (see photograh) for our first day of Fundamentals of Structured Teaching Workshop. Jayashree and her colleagues from ASHA were hard at work with setting up materials After a last minute decision to turn the entire room around, we were ready to go when the first of 70 participants arrived.
A warm welcome from Jayashree and a short talk by Tom Owley about AACTION was followed by a beautifully sung invocation and lighting of the oil lamps surrounded by gerbera petals by the AACTION members (actually only 4 members lit the lamp as a certain member lit two . Christopher and Tom fitted in so well dressed in their traditional Indian garb!
Participation was enthusiastic from the word go with continuous interruptions for questions and very soon we found ourselves behind schedule (which was made up with shorter breaks and lunch). Everyone enjoyed making hands-on materials in their groups in the afternoon, but once again we ran behind and had to leave presentations of materials for Thursday morning. Participants left saying how they were looking forward to the following day. Eventually an exhausted training team headed home at 6:00 P.M.
The day was not done, our host and hostess Mr/s Gulhati (Soyna Owley’s parents) were celebrating the 42nd wedding anniversary and had invited our team to join them for dinner at the beautiful Taj Residency Hotel, where we sat outside surrounded by 20 foot high bamboo trees and at midnight we were all ready to crash in order to be ready for the second day of our workshop.

Click here for pictures from the workshop.

Day 2 ½ & 3—AACTION in India

The response to AACTION has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic. Over and over we hear the refrain—this team is here to come back over and over again. Last night, Jayshree Ramesh, of ASHA, hosted a dinner for AACTION at the Century Club—a club that still retains some traditions of the bygone British Raj. There, Lydia Wising introduced the AACTION team, took a few minutes to talk about the history of AACTION and how we reached our present goals. Soyna Owley, talked about not just her own connection to India but how every member of AACTION was somehow predestined to come to India and help children in this vast subcontinent. The audience, approximately 20 people were a diverse group that included child psychiatrists, neurologists, psychologists, social workers and OT personnel. Too cool! Tom Owley, MD talked with a child psychiatrist from NIMHANS and learned that there were exciting pharmacogenetic work as well as training for ADI and ADOS happening right here in Bangalore. Not just that but that a child psychiatrist was seeing on an average 7, autism patients a day and about half of those were new patients!!!!! The evening ended with the President of the Rotary Club (very active in India, responsible for eradicating Polio and now turning their gaze toward the autism epidemic.) Mr. Rai, presented each member of AACTION with a welcome gift—a small sandalwood elephant and a box of fragrant incense made in Bangalore. How beautiful.

The good news is, that AACTION can definitely be of help. The schools here are not without their strengths. They are enthusiastic, smart and willing individuals that will benefit from learning skills and knowledge that AACTION has to offer. In turn, we will learn and already are, the cross cultural differences and similarities between classrooms in our respective countries and within this enormous subcontinent in South Asia.

Click here for pictures!

AACTION in Bangalore: Day 2

Today we visited ASHA - a school for children with autism in Bangalore. The busy, smiling students are proof of the dedicated, caring staff. The AACTION team was inspired with the work being done at the school.

Click here to view pictures from ASHA!

We’ve arrived and it feels like home…

Our trip started at O’hare airport were we all met at 5pm Saturday. It seemed like the first part of our trip went fairly quick considering we were on a plane for 8 hours. Arriving in Zurich seemed smooth. We had some time to kill before our next 8 hour plane ride. The coffee we had at the airport café was great. New Dehli was our next stop.

1am, now Monday early morning, New Dehli. Our flight to Bangalore wasn’t till 6:30am, but it was at a different airport that didn’t open till 5am. We drove around looking for a place to sit down, eat and have some coffee. Nothing was open and finally decided to have our taxi drivers just take us to the airport. It was 3am when we were dropped off and noticed a sit down place right next-door. We walked in and had our first official meal in India and what a meal it was.

All six of us are sitting near gate #1 at Indira Gandhi’s International airport. I had decided to start writing my first blog of the trip. Normal airport noise is around us, it’s pretty foggy here, or maybe it’s all the construction that’s going on. We were waiting to board our third and final plane ride, which will take us to Bangalore. A voice on the telecom announces that our flight is now boarding. On the plane, the pilot makes an announcement. “Due to very bad fog, the flight will be delayed.” He said “It could be an hour or more.” We waited, waited, and did more waiting. 3 hours had past and we are now plane #11 in line to depart. Our 2 our plane ride to Bangalore became a 6-hour ride.

Baggage claim in Bangalore was quick and we found our driver waiting for us. Couldn’t miss him as he was holding up a sign that said, WELCOME AACTION! The drive to Soyna’s parents home was very familiar to me. I walked up the steps and expressed to Soyna how much it feels like home.

-Rosie Aybar

AACTION and Sister Cities

AACTION is proud to be a friend of Sister Cities. New Delhi is one of Chicago’s Sister Cities. Smita Shah, the chair of the Delhi Committee for the Chicago Sister Cities International Program, has been a faithful supporter of AACTION. Read her comments at our last event by clicking here.
Christopher Flint, AACTION President

AACTION Autism in India Tribune Newspaper

AACTION Autism is highlighted in an article in India Tribune! India Tribune is a newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, USA covering race & ethnic society and culture. India Tribune is an English language weekly newspaper launched in 1977 in Chicago. The newspaper serves news and information to the Asian Indian settlers of the USA. AACTION is thankful for India Tribune for running the article and helping raise awareness of our cause. Click here to read the article.
Christopher Flint, AACTION President

New AACTION Hero!

We are pleased to announce a new AACTION Hero, Merry Barua. I met Merry when AACTION brought her over this past past April for training and planning. I was immediately impressed by her wonderful spirit and caring nature. Merry definitely has a mission - to advocate for children with autism in New Delhi. She works tirelessly for these kids and their families and has made so much progress against so many obstacles. AACTION was lucky to find Merry - she will be our key person in New Delhi as we set up trainings and begin to develop autism trainers. Please read her full story in the “AACTION Heroes” section on the site.
Christopher Flint - AACTION president

Fundraiser at Raj Darbar Huge Success!

On Tuesday, November 27th AACTION held its final fundraiser before our trip to India in January. With the support of Mayor Daley and his wife, along with Sister Cities - New Delhi, Hansa and Kamal (owners of Raj Darbar), and the 90 or so people that came to support us we raised over $14,000! The evening was magical - the excitement and generosity were truly overwhelming. Check out pictures from the event by clicking here.

AACTION has had its ups and downs as I imagine any grass roots, not-for-profit does. A few months ago we were contemplating canceling our trip to India because of a lack of funds. On Tuesday, as I looked around at all the people that filled the restaurant to near capacity, my faith was restored not only in AACTION and its endeavors but also in the human spirit. Despite what we hear from the news there is a lot of good in the world. There are a lot of people out there to help others do good things. Myself, along with the rest of the AACTION Board, are truly grateful for everyone who has given to AACTION. Because of your help we will be able to make the world a better place for children with autism.
Christopher Flint - AACTION President