By guest author
Alexis Wineman
Miss Montana 2012

For much of her first 11 years, Alexis Wineman was bullied and teased, staying quiet to hide her speech problems, descending into self-loathing, looking at herself as a punching bag, scratching her arms and even banging her head against walls.

After one bout of frustration in school, a teacher told her she wasn’t getting paid enough to deal with her kind of behavior.

“I felt so alone growing up, and I still do at times,” Wineman, now Miss Montana 2012, told a group of more than 300 people Friday at a conference on autism and Asperger’s syndrome, put on by the Helena-based ChildWise Institute. “Something was wrong with me and no one could tell be what it was.”

Things turned worse for Wineman in fifth grade, when deadlines and timed math tests made it harder for her to stay “below the radar,” or get by “as the cute one who was just a little slow.” Her parents took her to see her pastor, and then a therapist. Wineman, figuring she was there because something was wrong with her, wasn’t cooperative.

Then a doctor saw her for about five or 10 minutes, declared her depressed, and put her on pills that made her tired, angry and forgetful.

Another doctor connected her with a pediatric psychologist. She met a therapist with a cat, which Wineman liked. After three days of tests, she was referred her to a pediatric neurologist, who hooked her head up to wires and gave her more tests.

“To be honest, I didn’t have any idea why I was doing all of this,” she said. “All I knew was I must be sick. Very sick. And it must be bad if I was going to all these doctors.”

Her mother didn’t give up on her, but no matter what she said, it often sent her into fits of screaming.

In seventh grade, her condition found a name: Pervasive development disorder, including borderline Asperger’s syndrome.

“I couldn’t have cared less what it was called,” she said. “It ruined my life before I had a chance to live it.”

She still had some unhelpful teachers, but flunked classes.

Then, in the summer before high school in Cut Bank, she knew things had to change.

She continued cross country running, to help with a sense of belonging. And her siblings encouraged her to join the speech and drama team _ “where it is OK to be a little different,” she said, one of many times she drew laughs from the audience.

Still, she specialized in pantomime, to avoid speaking in front of others.

Meanwhile, her mother talked her into joining the cheerleading team.

“And I hated that more than anything,” she said. “And yet it did force me to walk within a peer group that I was not used to, and I did gain communication skills I had yet to tap into.”

The “group of misfits” in speech and drama became her best friends, and she went to state tournaments. She refused to cheerlead as a sophomore, but returned as a junior and (ironically, she said) became squad captain as a senior, and joined in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City.

“And that was cool,” she said.

Such things have been exciting, though she’s had to push to take advantage of such opportunities, she said. “But to be able to experience normal things is also exciting,” she said.

The iPod, she said, has been her saving grace. The music (she’s partial to swing and Celtic) helps her focus and address fears in the morning, and then relax and decompress at the end of the day.

“By the time graduation rolled around, I was proud of who I was, and I was confident that I had overcome this vicious circle in which I had been sinking,” she said. “I graduated high school, which was something I previously felt was impossible.”

She said she surprised everybody when the decided to enter the Miss Montana program. She told people she wanted to prove to others what she could do; but really, she said, she wanted to prove it to herself.

Now, she has been accepted to the University of Montana, and is deferring enrollment for a year and still looking at her options. She’s slated to be on a national stage _ the Miss America pageant _in Las Vegas in January.

“Being on the (autism) spectrum is not a death sentence, but a life adventure, and one that I realize has been given to me for a reason,” she said.

View the original article at helenair.com

HELENA – Autism spectrum disorders diagnoses in Montana have increased as much as 80 percent in the last few years, partly thanks to increased awareness, according to the Childwise Institute, a Helena-based nonprofit that advocates for children’s well being and abuse awareness.

Similar to much of the United States, Montana has seen a dramatic rise in autism diagnoses, from 188 to 617 during 2000 to 2010, according to Autism Maps.

Friday and Saturday, Childwise is hosting an autism and Aspergers conference that is open to parents, educators and health professionals dealing with children with these disorders.

“We’re touching parents and teachers and they’re learning a great deal about, first of all, having some relief. I spoke with some parents earlier whose child was diagnosed earlier this year, in February. They’ve got a great sense of relief that they’re not alone and it’s not the end of the world and guess what? My child is still my child. No difference,” said Todd Garrison, the executive director at Childwise.

Autism spectrum disorders deal with developmental disability that causes problems with social interaction and communication. The conference focuses on students ages three to 21.

In 2010, 2.6 out of every 1,000 children in Montana were estimated to have autism spectrum disorder.

Garrison said that the increase of those diagnosed with the developmental disorder in Montana is due to better understanding among parents and medical professionals with diagnoses, signaling that it is more prevalent than anyone realized.

View the original article at kaj18.com

September 19, 2012 12:00 am  •  Independent Record

The ChildWise Institute will be holding an Autism and Asperger’s Disorder Conference Sept. 28 and 29 at the Best Western Great Northern Hotel.

Keynote speakers include Ellen Notbohm, an award-winning author and columnist, and Patricia Wright, the national director of autism services for Easter Seals.

Notbohm is scheduled to speak from 9:30 a.m. to noon on Friday, Sept. 28. The title of her presentation is “Parent View, Child View: Putting Autism in Perspective.” Notbohm has two sons who are on the autism/ADHD spectrum; she will offer guidelines for facing a child’s autism with a healthy and productive outlook. Notbohm will also share some of the ideas from her book, “Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew.” Copies of the second edition of the book will be available at the conference.

Notbohm will debunk misconceptions about autism, identifying common environmental, language and social-emotional challenges/characteristics of autism and how adults can modify their own behavior and environment to better communicate with and teach children with autism. Attendees will also gain a parent’s perspective on the multi-disciplinary network of therapeutic, educational and social services that parents must navigate and manage on behalf of their children with autism, and learn how professionals and family and community members can provide perspective and emotional support to parents of children with autism.

Wright is to speak from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 28. Her presentation is titled “Living with Autism Spectrum Disorders.” The session will focus on effective services and supports that promote quality life outcomes for those living with autism. Specific strategies will be discussed with the focus on practical strategies that can be implemented to produce meaningful results. Through advocacy, service delivery and collaboration, individuals with autism can receive the services and supports they need resulting in a high quality life.

Also speaking will be Miss Montana, Alexis Wineman, who will open the conference on Friday, Sept. 28. Wineman was diagnosed with Asperger’s disorder when she was 11 years old and has overcome many obstacles in her life. She is passionate about raising awareness on autism spectrum disorders and advocating for Montana’s youth.

The Saturday schedule for the conference includes several breakout sessions. Topics include: transition into adulthood, insurance provider Q&A, nutrition for cognition, understanding the school’s responsibility and communication strategies.

The conference is geared toward educators, psychologists, therapists, mental health professionals, health care providers and parents. Continuing education credits are available. Cost of the conference is $99 for one day, $175 for two days. For more information and to register, visit www.childwise.org. Registration deadline is Sept. 24.

The Helena-based ChildWise Institute is a nonprofit organization that works to improve the lives of vulnerable children through education, awareness and advocacy.

The ChildWise Institute was created by Intermountain but operates with its own staff and board of directors. The organization helps children by providing parents, policymakers and health care and education professionals with tools they can use to help better the lives of those in their care.

We have another Federal issue that is threatening funds for children and families that you need to be aware of and decide if you want to take action and contact your legislators. Social Services Block Grants fund Montana’s foster care, child and adult protection services, and services for the disabled. This type of grant provides millions of dollars of funding that is critical to the state and to children and families who often are our most vulnerable citizens. Please look through the information below sent by the Alliance for Children and Families. There are very easy steps included to contacting your legislators.  Also, please share with others who would want to support this funding. Thank you for your time considering this issue.

— Todd Garrison, ChildWise Institute Executive Director

The kids are back in school, and you’ve given them everything they need to succeed. But has your school? Has the government?

As election season heats up, it’s time to ask what investments the candidates would make in improving the well-being of our children by addressing child poverty and education. Because new data shows that many students are still getting left behind.

Federal test score data shows that only around one-third of fourth graders can read proficiently. And it’s even worse for low-income students and communities of color. In Montana, seventy-seven-percent (77%) of fourth-graders from low-income families can’t read proficiently.

Few people would consider it right to have a child go hungry, though odds are, many do not consider the implications of such hunger beyond the discomfort of a growling stomach. However, the cumulative consequences of children growing up without proper nourishment are much more far-reaching and serious. Not only does the lack of proper nutrition lead to poor health, it also limits children’s long-term cognitive and socio- emotional development. In recent years, food insecurity and hunger have become problems faced by an increasing number of children, strongly impacting the health, academic performance, and employability of an entire generation.

According to  Montana’s partnership with Share Our Strength (mt.nokidhungry.org), eighty-percent (80%) of teachers in Montana say children are coming to school hungry at least once a week. It’s no surprise when you consider that forty-four-percent (44%) of children in Montana under the age of eighteen live in moderate poverty (source: MontanaKidsCount.org).

So far the media and the candidates have largely glossed over these issues. And without voters voicing their concern, they have no reason to. Join us in demanding the campaigns give more time to kids!

Let’s be child-wise. Contact the Presidential  and local candidates in your area and tell them that the well-being of our children is the  most important thing on Earth, and you expect them to make children a priority, not a footnote.

Did you know only 1 in 3 fourth graders read proficiently? Tell the 2012 candidates we can do better! Mitt Romney; Barack Obama.

Low-income students are scoring much worse on reading tests. Why aren’t the 2012 candidates talking about this? Mitt Romney; Barack Obama.