My name is Rachel Evans and as part of my newsletter service, I conducted a survey for one week during
July. Here is a selection of some of the questions:

'What relationship do you have with the person who has autism or suspected autism?'
'Which products or services have you used in the past that have been helpful to you?'
'What autism related treatments have you used and how would you rate them?'

Exactly 500 people responded and the results from the survey make for fascinating reading.

I have compiled the results of the survey into a pdf document which you an view at the following url:

http://www.essential-guide-to-autism.com/TheEssentialGuideToAutismSurvey2007-tp.pdf

The respondents of the survey were overwhelmingly parents of autistic children, who share their experiences about which products, services and reatments they have found helpful and also those that failed to live up
to expectations.

Rachel Evans
http://www.essential-guide-to-autism.com/blog

I have a story to tell you about my son whos 21 and a half and has severe autism,learning disabilities and seizures. 17 Mths ago my son was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. When hes was sectioned, I felt my world had ended, but I decided against the odds that I would keep positive and focus on all things positive. I visited my son regularly,started taking him for walks on hospital grounds and then into the community.Before long he was having overnights at home every wk. I never thought I would be able to manage my son on my own as before his dad had been there to help. I found myself coping very well and it felt so good. On 30th July this yr, my son came home for good and he was discharged on 13th august:) I thought I would share this with you ;)

Living with someone with Autism is always going to be a challenge but how do you make that challenge more bearable????It's no use fighting it!! so why not simply go with the flow, take each day as it comes is the key to success. "Pat" yourself on the back even when others who do not understand make you feel like a failure. Keep smiling! AND never give up (very important)

The wondrous transition in to creative play.. Aethan has been choosing animals to "be." Last week it was a puppy. He would get down on all fours, pant, bark and even lean down in front of you and say "you can pet him!" Although he still does not say "I" "I am" or "My" and "I'm a puppy" came out "you're a puppy," it was still a joyous thing to watch. This week Aethan is a penguin. He's been watching "March of the Penguins," and now he waddles, scoots on his belly, gets between my legs and makes a very strange half-cry half-goat sound that apparantly comes from the penguins. He's also used his new penguin status to avoid eating certain foods. This seems so small and trivial to those with nuero-typical 3 year olds, but to someone with autism this is a very big step in a good direction.