[Maureen St. Cyr]

Just to second Nancy's suggestion, I have found my digital
camera to be marvelous for making materials. And
fortunately, digital cameras have been around long enough
that there are many good used ones you can find, so troll
the Buy and Sell. The new models have higher resolution,
but you will never notice the difference at material-type
sizes. For example, my camera takes maximum 1600×1200
pixel images = 1,920,000 = 2 Megapixels. When I bought
it, it was pretty expensive, but today you can probably find
a good deal on a used one and it will create wonderful
pictures up to 8×10 inches or more. You really don't need a
5-Megapixel camera for anything but posters ;-).

The other thing to remember is that using a digital camera
you save an enormous amount of money on developing and
printing, so eventually it will pay for itself.

Avery

[Maureen St. Cyr]

Robin, thank you for putting it so well. If it were not for the
many hours Sabrina and Jean spent helping Maureen and I
get this all sorted out, Ariel would today still be sitting in
the corner, rocking, bobbing and doing just about nothing.
Instead, she is talking, has friends, rides a bicycle, and is
enjoying her life. Yes we have a long way to go, but she
gets there, a little more each day, and she loves her
therapists and consultants and her Lovaas-ABA programs.
And she now has her name on a court judgement which will
hopefully help the next generation of children avoid some
of the battles we have had to fight…battles which would
never have been won without Sabrina Freeman. Every parent
of a child with autism in this country owes her a debt of
gratitude which can never properly be repaid.

[Maureen St. Cyr]

That's a really tough one, Elaine. I think every family with
more than one language needs to evaluate that one on their
own, but here are some factors I personally think are
important:

First, what is likely to be the child's most common language
in life. If we're talking someone from (for example) China,
whose family is here for a few years, but will be moving
back at some point, then I would say Chinese would be
more important. If we're talking about people who will be
staying in Canada permanently, then probably English is
more important.

Second, is the family reasonably conversant in English.
Parents and siblings are probably going to be the single
biggest influences and longest standing relationships in the
child's future. If he/she is only going to hear another
language at home, then that is probably going to be the
most effective language to learn first.

Those two factors can be at odds with each other, which is
the biggest reason why I don't think anyone can reasonably
advise one way or the other on a blanket basis. In that way,
it's like everything else to do with our kids – they're all
unique.

Good luck.

Avery

[Maureen St. Cyr]

Nancy has just reminded me of something else, which
concerns some earlier posts around talking to one's social
workers about treatment in the wake of Auton and
Anderson. It's been noted that social workers seem unaware
of these developments, and then advise they are going to
take it up with their supervisors. Both of these statements
may be 100% true on their parts, but they are also part of
the way the entire MCFD bureaucracy operates — delay,
delay, kind words, delay, sympathy, delay, delay…well, you
get the picture. In any dealings with MCFD, you want to be
very clear about your expectations for when you will have
concrete answers to your questions. Generally one week is
ample time for anyone to get back to you. And yes, do
follow up on paper with your understanding of the
conversation and its end results.

Finally, I must take great exception to Joyce's insistence on
the use of the term IBI. Various governments have fallen in
love with this acronym because it contains neither "Lovaas"
nor "ABA" and they can use it to paper over their pitiful
excuses for programs. For example, the Three Little Pigs
with their snouts in the BC trough collecting millions for the
E "IBI" program here. If you ask for "IBI" you are inviting
them to hand you Porky and his friends instead of funding
your proper, medically-necessary, science-based Lovaas-
ABA program. It really doesn't matter whether jurisdictions
in the US or elsewhere are using the term to mean
legitimate treatment — in Canada, and especially here in
BC, "IBI" means hacks, quacks and flaks. Doesn't your child
deserve the very best? LOVAAS-ABA — ASK FOR IT BY
NAME. (grin).

Cheers.

Avery

[Maureen St. Cyr]

Um…thank you Stephen…I think (LOL). Since we're etching
it into the FEAT archives, I believe it's actually a Chinese
proverb, and the translation is more like:

"He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes.
He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever."

What that means to me is simply that sometimes we are
embarrassed to ask questions in public for fear of being
ridiculed for not knowing the answer. But it is far better to
learn the answer than to remain in the dark forever out of
fear.

If there are people out there who are genuinely afraid to
post here because things become heated on occasion,
please jump in anyway. Forgive us for sometimes jumping
to conclusions when you inadvertently hit one of those hot-
button topics ("Gee, what's wrong with Gateway anyhow?").
Realize that some of us have been in the trenches for a lot
of years now, and we rarely get thanked for our trouble. We
have, however, been attacked, denigrated, and slandered
mercilessly in the past.

Joyce, thank you for acknowledging your debt to Auton et
al. You can better show your gratitude, however, by ceasing
your attacks on the people who made Auton possible in the
first place, and by, as Stephen suggested, taking a large
breather. Your good intentions are noted, but at the risk of
repeating my own favorite expression, good intentions are
unfortunately the asphalt on the toll road to hades.

Cheers, all

Avery

[Maureen St. Cyr]

Found a way to make the URL more usable — here you go:

http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/Jdb-txt/SC/03/12/2003BCSC1299.htm

[Maureen St. Cyr]

The judgement can be found at the following URL — if this
rather long location prints on two lines select the entire
thing and paste it into your browser location field, or
simply retype it there.

http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/Jdb-txt/SC/03/12/
2003BCSC1299.htm

[Maureen St. Cyr]

For some reason, Nancy's posting of the URL is not making
it through the email, though it is readable here on the web
page. I'll try once more and see if it works. Most people
should be able to use this link, but if it doesn't work, start
it off in your web browser by typing "http://" and then
follow it with the rest, all in the single line with no spaces:

www2.news.gov.bc.ca/nrm_news_releases/
2003BCED0046-000581.htm

[Maureen St. Cyr]

I don't think Richard was referring to your post, Ms. Anon
11 pm. :-) Richard, perhaps you could clarify – I think I get
you, but I don't want to speak for you.

Avery

[Maureen St. Cyr]

I don't see that there's anything substantial I can add to this
discussion, as it has all been said already — thank you Jean
and David and the anonymouses who count (you know
which ones I mean). I will merely add this thought:

I am proud to have been able to find over the years all of
the fine, capable, professional, caring, loving therapists,
past and present, who have been a part of Ariel's team. You
know who you are, you know how much you have been
appreciated, and how underpaid you are, and how truly
wonderful you are. Ariel loves you all, and so do Maureen
and I, and forever you will have a huge place in our hearts.
That includes all of the stellar aides who have gone to
school with her as part of her medical treatment team.

I am sad to be witness to the kinds of attacks being
perpetrated against our therapists, our consultants and our
children by these anonymous, malicious, arrogant,
uneducated, incompetent fools. You may hide behind your
anonymous postings, but you cannot hide from our expert
teams. We will sniff your foul stench out, and make sure
you never darken our children's lives.

My beautiful child has autism, a medical condition. Thanks
to the people who matter, to quote a favorite songwriter of
mine, she is getting better, a little better all the time. And
the people who matter include all of you, my friends. Thank
you all.

Avery
Ariel's Dad

[Author]

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