The forum and a awesome video

Last week I had the opportunity to give a forum at BYU-Idaho. I presented it to all the special education, early childhood students. I talked about Porter and all that we have been through with him and how far he has come. It was a really wonderful experience for me. The students came with wonderful questions and I think I did a pretty ok job. It always surprises me how healing it is to share our story. I was really nervous because one of the things I was asked to share about was how Dallin and I have grieved. That is something that is hard for me to tell anyone about, but I just kept thinking how important it was that future teachers understand what these parents go through so they can understand better why sometimes parents have a harder time to seek help and services for their kids. I have been complained to before about other parents with children with needs because of this very thing and I always try to explain that these parents are grieving and sometimes all you can do is grieve. I just hope that those parents are then treated with a little more understanding. I also encourage people to continue and help those parents seek services but just to be more patient with the process. Another great thing I was able to share with teachers was ideas on how to help and reach children with autism as well as ideas on how to talk with parents about getting their child tested for autism.

Anyways it was a wonderful experience and I was glad for the opportunity. Also as a side note. We have a wonderful therapist Wendy, who recently just made a movie about autism what it is and also how as members of the church we can help those children and their families. Porter is in a lot of it. We are very excited about this DVD and Dallin posted it up on his website. It is called I'll walk with you.

I'll Walk With You-Profiles of Autism in LDS Congregations from Dallin Cotterell on Vimeo.