Dear Members, Families, Friends, and Fellow Spectrumites,

            I am so excited to be writing this letter to you today as the new Executive Director of GRASP.  As the facilitator of the Hudson Valley support group chapter, I have had the privilege of working closely with Michael John, the Board, and the members of this wonderful organization.  I have been a witness to and a participant in the great work that we do to spread the word of our mission:  which is to improve…

Dear spectrumites, families, friends, and colleagues,

As you have heard, I will be stepping down as the Executive Director of GRASP and shifting into a role of "Founder," while retaining a Board seat. In this new position I will continue to act as a spokesperson (media and otherwise) for GRASP, but will no longer run our day-to-day operations. 

In essence, and with your support, we accomplished everything we set out to do in 2003 when we started GRASP. And in…

To recap a rough few months . . . 

1. In the fall, GRASP had the displeasure of having to dispute, on a webTV show, that Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) was a “fad.”

2. In that same season, we participated in the first-ever Congressional hearings on autism—unaware of how skillfully…

All,

A slew of articles have emerged rebuffing the earlier attempts to negatively the autism spectrum in the wake of the Newtown horrors. As many of you all no doubt saw, certain media outlets described autism and Asperger's Syndrome as signifying a great potential for violent behavior . . . even though studies show the exact opposite. While TV news gives a lot of charlatan clinicians airtime, it really seemed more the cause of an irresponsible rush to report than to demonize…

We here at GRASP (and I as the father of two school-age boys), cannot be more saddened and devastated by the news of the shootings in Newtown, CT. Our thoughts, wishes, prayers, and heaviest hearts go out to the victims and their families.

While it has not been confirmed, two major news outlets are now speculating that the shooter, Adam Lanza, had been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. Much remains to be seen to provide the full picture of who this man was, but AS may…

All:

In what will come as no surprise to those who suspected as much, and according to the attached study from Focus Autism Other Dev Disabl published online 5 December 2012, by Crosland, Clarke and Dunlap . . . research studies have failed to examine the spectrum in its entirety, thus perhaps skewing many of our perceptions.



Huge thanks to research pro and GRASP friend, Dr. Brenda Smith Myles, who comments . . .…

All:

Unfortunately, we lost this one. The changes to the proposed criteria for ASD in the new DSM, due out next Spring, were finalized as argued against. 

Things to take heart in:

1. GRASP will be encouraging clinicians to use the new ICD (International classifications of Diseases)…

First off, I want to thank everyone who wrote or posted messages of thanks and/or congratulations. As those of you who watched the proceedings easily saw . . . nobody was expecting THAT. Wow. Four hours of vaccine-causes-autism theory. I was stunned. We haven't been in conversations like that since 2005. This subject didn't just dominate the proceedings, it monopolized them.

What appears to have happened—which I can explain—is that SafeMinds, a vaccine theory organization,…

http://tiny.cc/mrsahw

I am thrilled that GRASP has been invited to the Thursday, November 29, hearings but I read in the uploaded letter to the Director that he is permitted only five minutes to speak. That does not allow much to be said. And I understand that another big voice in the autism community, Ari Ne'mann, is also invited to speak at the hearings. I also understand that the topics that are supposed to be discussed at this…

Whew...GRASP members WILL be represented, and there will be some (if not all) spectrum representation! Thank you for all your calls that made this happen!…

...well those practicing within the realm of conventional medicine anyway. What's worse, western culture is so brainwashed by the billions of dollars spent each year to keep you enslaved to it. So who spends this money? -it's anyone and everyone who has some financial stake in your unhealthy decisions... 

• what you eat and where you get it from...
• which weight loss program you subscribe to...
• from whom you receive healthcare...
• which poisons you…

Dear spectrumite, family member of a spectrumite, or friend of GRASP:

Unlike other organizations, we don’t send out many fundraising appeals. Usually over the course of year, we’ll ask you to participate in our annual benefit, and we’ll ask you to read this fall, pre-holiday letter. GRASP does not charge for membership, nor do we charge admittance to any of our meetings or programs. Everything GRASP does for our members is free.

Why? Because compared to other…

My partner calls me the Pied Piper because the pets follow me around everywhere. I realize it's because I understand them a little better, and could that possibly be because most mammals (especially cats) are basically autistic in nature? Or is it that I just understand them because I analyze them more?

If you think about it, most mammals don't associate in large groups; rather, humans are the only ones that do, and only for the last 10,000 years or so. Is autism somehow a…

One of the more common challenges (at least according to the experts) for a child with Asperger Syndrome is developing an understanding of the subtleties of communication. I can't speak for other children, but Haydn definitely has trouble with basic conversation skills. He always asked questions and made little speeches (mostly about fans and lights), but actual conversation is a real challenge.

His initial diagnosis included "Semantic-Pragmatic Language Impairment," which of course…

All,

The following images have been generously given to us by EP Magazine. Obviously, we're grateful for the exposure. But we also want to convey what a wonderful publication this is, and has been for 41 years. Their Mission Statement alone is remarkable to us for its directness..."Information that matters from people who care." Especially if you're a relative of someone with ANY special need, we hope you'll check them out by clicking …

(NOTE: The author of this is Michele Montanez, not mjc)

From: Michele Montanez 


Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 5:57 PM


To: Liz Feld, Executive Director, Autism Speaks


Subject: Walmart and cures

Dear Liz,

I had the pleasure of meeting you at the National Conference in Chicago a few weeks ago.  We spoke briefly regarding the continued use of the word cure as part of the Autism Speaks lexicon.  I was fairly emphatic that it…