5th Annual Walk For Hope and Family Fun Day a Huge Success!

Spring 2011 - 1st Quarter
Vickie Nettles - Editor
Janmel Moore - Co-Editor
while staying small!
5th Annual Walk For Hope and Family Fun Day a Huge Success!
The 2011 Walk For Hope was
a phenomenal success with
close to 3,000 in attendance.
This year definitely marked the
largest turnout ever for the five
year event. The weather was
flawless, allowing everyone
there to enjoy themselves. Although it may have been a little
more crowded than in previous
years, the event and location
still provided an excellent and
safe venue.
Much thanks and appreciation
must go to the following food
sponsors: Albertsons; Cabot
Cheese Company; Cades Supermarket; Friedman Ice Company; Great Harvest Bread
Company; Joyce’s Supermarket; Julien’s Poboys; Kentwood
Water; Kleinpeter Farms;
Knights of Columbus, Cankton
Council, #10745; Lafayette
Sertoma Club; Leading Health
Care; Mello Joy Coffee;
Miller’s Market; NuNu’s Fresh
As the gates opened, the thou- Market; Olde Tyme Grocery;
Popeye’s; Raising Cane’s
sands waiting filed in. Thanks
Chicken Fingers; Sonic Driveto the hard work of Dr. John
and Mrs. Mary Anne Oller and In; Vance & Liz Lanier, Raymond James Financial Services;
the many volunteers handling
registration, on-line and on-site and ACTION Krewe Civitan
Club. The Olde Tyme Grocery
registration was smooth and
trouble-free. The Park quickly snowball stand was a big hit.
filled with families exploring all
of the activities present.
The walk was preceded by a
Whether they were exercising
prayer by Dwayne Bourgeois,
their bodies on the fun jumps
Youth Pastor of The Family
provided by Special Ops, or
Church, and the national anexercising their minds at the
them was sung by performing
build-it-yourself station, with
and recording artist, Gregg
small building kits provided by Martinez. Our emcee for the
Lowes and Home Depot, the
day was our special guest, Dr.
kids were all having a blast.
Jim Ball, Chair of the national
Other activities included: face
Autism Society. The warm-up
painting; a rock wall; Mitch the was lead by Dottie Faulk,
Magician and Balloon Artist;
mother of a child with autism,
Sassyfraz, The Clown, and a
and a personal trainer and ingames trailer which was new to structor at Our Lady of
the children’s activities area.
Lourdes Fitness Center. The
one-mile stroll started outside
the gates of Parc International.
Walkers circled downtown Lafayette returning to Parc International for a day of Family
Fun. This year, a new Walk
event "The Dance Contest” was
held. What a treat to watch the
children and adults dancing their
hearts out! Congratulations to
all the dancers!! Each winner
will receive a ‘Dance Contest’
trophy.
Inside this issue:
Spotlight Column
2
Lance’s Story
3
Walk Sponsors
4-5
Walk Photos
6-7
Workshops,
Conferences, Events,
Programs
8-9
Cohen’s Toy Box
10
Free ASAC
10
Ethan’s Pieces and Cameron’s
Membership
Crew and Blaise’s Too were
recognized for having the largest Federal Legislation on 11
number of walkers. The followAutism
ing teams were recognized for
Movie: Wretches and 11
raising over $1,000! They were
Jabberers
as follows: Alex’s T-Rex’s;
12
Alex’s Army; Beckett’s Buddies;
ASAC Stipend
Program
Braden’s Brigade; Colby’s Clan;
Ethan’s Pieces; Libby, Donna
IDEA Special
12
& Buddy’s Team; Logan’s RockEducation
ers; Noah’s Ark of Hope; Oh
Oh Knights for Cadence; and
5th Annual Walk for
Sky’s the Limit.
Hope. Next year our
Walk will be even bigger
The total proceeds of the Walk
for Hope will allow the Autism and better as we all do
Society of Acadiana to continue our part to put the pieces
together and to keep
its operations and fully fund all
Hope alive.
programs and activities budg-
eted for 2011-2012.
Thank you to all sponsors, donors, participants, volunteers
and Walk Staff, and all who
contributed to the successful
Rock for Hope, March 26, 2011
In April of this year, Jim Nobles,
dad to Cadence, put into motion
a plan to raise autism awareness
in a new and different way and at
the same time, generate funds for
ASAC.
Jim is a musician, a rocker, it’s
what he knows and loves. He
also has many friends and fellow
musicians who he knew would
embrace the cause that is so close
to his heart.
For Jim, it was a no-brainer to put
those contacts and skills to use and
so it was that Rock for Hope was
born. Jim was the planner, coordinator and promoter of the event.
On March 26, Artmosphere, on
Johnston Street, hosted the rocking
event which began Saturday afternoon and lasted till the wee hours
of the morning on Sunday. The
lineup included: Ronnie Vice;
Good Vibes; Oceans & Chimneys;
Ray; and Brass Mimosa. All of
the admission fees were donated
to ASAC. Several people gave
donations at the door or simply
refused to accept their change
from the $7 per person admission
fee.
Autism Society of Acadiana is
so grateful and appreciative of
this one member’s desire to
make a difference for his child
and so many others.
The 1st Rock for Hope,
which we do hope will
become an annual event,
raised over $1300 for Autism Society of Acadiana.
Jim, we just want to say
thank you, give you a shout
out and say - YOU ROCK,
DUDE!
Spotlight on Achievement—Our Brag Section!
1) Yancy Romero
Woodvale. Congratulations, Renee!!
who is in the 4th
grade at L. Leo Judice
Montessori made the
7) Catherine Nettles rehonor roll for the first
ceived a 1st Place ribbon
9 weeks. Yancy has
in the Girls 50 Meter Walk
Asperger's syndrome.
at the Lafayette Parish
Way to go, Yancy!
Special Olympics Track
and Field event on April
1st! Congratulations, Catherine! April 1st was
2) TJ is now potty
also Catherine’s birthday! Happy Birthday,
trained and talking so Catherine, from Mama and Daddy!
much that he almost
got a sad face one
8) Caden Carlos can now
day! YAAY!!!
write his name and can
sign almost 200 words.
He can now communicate more easily with his
family and others! Way
3) Brandon Moore
to go, Caden!!
has begun to take
part in small
group activities in
school! He has
also begun to start
taking words he
knows and using
them in context, forming two to three
words from time to time!
4) Andrew Waihi is
using complete sentences about 50% of
the time both at home
and at school and is
asking questions too.
His parents, Duane
and Vickie are thrilled with his progress. Congratulations and keep up
the good work, Andrew!
5) Nathan Andrepont
made straight A's for the
3rd nine weeks period!
Way to go, Nathan!
6) Renée LaCour
made honor roll on
her 3rd nine weeks
report card. She is in
Mrs. Laurie Labit's
third grade class at
Page 2
9) Conner can spell 3-letter
words, say and spell all his
colors and write his first
name too! Keep up the great
progress, Connor!!
10) John Michael Pellegrin
received a 2nd Place ribbon at
the Lafayette Parish Special
Olympics event. That’s awesome, John Michael!
11) Anthony DesOrmeaux is
an 11 year old who was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome and PDD-NOS the
summer of 2009. Anthony
also has been diagnosed as
having ADHD since his first
year in kindergarten. After
many years of struggling in school with difficulty learning basic math facts and language,
he has overcome many challenges. Recently
his principal contacted his mom in order to
submit Anthony’s name for the Cox Inspirational Hero Program. As his mom, Chrystal,
has watched her son struggle for so many
years, she is so proud of what Anthony has
accomplished and is so very proud of the
person her son is growing to be.
12) Braden Leblanc, son of
Melissa and Neal Leblanc,
came in 1st place for the
2010-2011 Young Author's
Contest, 3rd Grade Nonfiction (SPED). Braden's
paper now moves on to
Regionals!! Congratulations, Braden!!
13) Chance is an 11th
grade student at North
Vermilion High School.
He recently started working his first job at The
Grand 16, just returned
from a missions trip to
Mexico and took the ACT
where he scored a 31. Way to go, Chance!
His parents are so proud of his many accomplishments! Congratulations, Chance!!
** If you would like us to highlight YOUR
child’s accomplishments in this column,
please submit the announcement via email
to acadiana_autism@yahoo.com.
Please submit a photo also so we can put a
face to your child’s achievements for all
the world to see!!
If you have any questions, please contact
Vickie at the ASAC office, 235-4425 or via
email at acadiana_autism@yahoo.com.
All our dreams can come true, if we
have the courage to pursue them.
~~~~~~~~~~~Walt Disney
All things at first appear difficult.
-~~~~~~~~~~Chinese proverb
To climb steep hills requires a slow
pace at first.
-~~~~~~~~~William Shakespeare
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
-~~~~~~~~~~Japanese Proverb
“Lance’s Story” by Janmel Moore, Co-editor, ASAC Newsletter
Oftentimes individuals with
autism stand
out. Some like a
sore thumb and
others not so
much. But the
truth of the matter is, they are stars waiting for
their chance to soar just like the
rest of us. People with autism
have delays in development, a
language delay is usually one of
the main characteristics. However, so many individuals affected
by this disorder, use their
strengths to amaze all around
them. There may be only one or
two things that the individual is
really good at or really passionate
about, but whatever it is, they are
often exceptionally good, and/or
extremely passionate about it.
Autism Society of Acadiana's
newsletter editor, Vickie Nettles
said, "If we nurture their interest,
it can turn into something they are
really good at [doing]."
One individual affected by autism who has accomplished outstanding things in life by accepting who he is and using his
strengths is Lance Pelissier.
Lance grew up receiving a number of diagnoses from the time he
was a preschooler. Because he
was not speaking at age three, he
was put into the school system to
receive early intervention help.
His mom remembers the separation anxiety and social anxiety
problems Lance began to have.
"They said he had a behavior
disorder," replied Lance's mom,
Lynn Pelissier. Lynn continued
saying, "We tried ADHD medication and that did not work." Mrs.
Pelissier also recalled that they
seemed to go through all the diagnoses that kind of went along with
behavioral issues but never
seemed to receive one that truly
fit Lance. Lance's parents did not
fully understand his disorder at
the time; they could only be patient and take it one day at a time
with him.
So Lance began his school years
as a misunderstood child by soci-
ety at-large. "The biggest problem
was that kids were not taking the
time to get to know me and I feel
that was the biggest source of the
problems I was having," Lance
commented on his school years.
Lance also wished that some of
his teachers could have tried to
get to know him as well. "It
would have given them an understanding and teach them how to
handle special situations." Mom
recalls that middle school was the
worst because that is when all the
bullying and teasing began.
"Instead of punishing the students
who were doing the bullying and
teasing, they punish what they
don't understand," said Lance.
Lance remembers being punished
for lashing out in response to
being picked on for no other reason other than being different. So,
while he could not understand
why kids were treating him so
unfairly, he also had to deal with
feeling like he was the one doing
something wrong; this situation
would frustrate and confuse anyone. As for the faculty and staff
of the school, Lance’s mom says,
“Some handled it [well], and others didn't."
going on," said Lance. "Step one
to solving a problem is realizing
there is a problem," he added.
In 2001, Lance received his
high school diploma from Acadiana High School. All individuals
affected by autism do not reach
this goal, and Lance was one of
two to make the accomplishment
in the state of Louisiana that year.
"Exit exam modifications helped
Lance," said mom. Of course the
language section was the most
challenging for him, but Lance
did not let that stop him. He had
taken and failed the section before, when he realized something.
"I am more of an auditory
learner," he said. Lance explained
that he could not understand certain things if they were read to
him, but if he read it himself, it
made things more understandable.
"I read it myself and caught my
mistakes and that helped me to
understand the language part
more," replied Lance. And the
strategy worked perfectly for him.
Lance retook the language portion
and passed. Lance said that he
feels this is why taking the time to
get to know a person and what
works for them, whether one is
After years of adapting to his
affected by autism or not, is so
behavior and mannerisms, Lance's important. He is a firm believer
parents finally got the right diag- that everyone can learn and
nosis. Lynn was teaching special should be given the opportunity to
education at the time and was
do so. "Continue on and fight for
preparing to welcome an individ- your child and someone will
ual affected by autism to her
eventually listen. I know it's frusclass. "I was reading up on autism trating and we've all been there,
for a new student and then I real- but the parent knows the child
ized it," said Lance’s mom. Lance best," Lance’s mom replied, givshowed so many of the character- ing advice to other parents of
istics of an individual affected by children affected by autism.
autism, that she instantly knew
this was the right diagnosis. After
Between the ages of five and
Lance was seen by a psychiatrist seven, Lance found his first love,
for an evaluation to make the
computers, after getting his first
determination, he was diagnosed video game, The Nintendo. He
with Asperger Syndrome at the
self taught himself technical supage of 18. "Nothing really
port issues dealing with comchanged at that point, we just
puters years later because of this.
adjusted to what had to be done," Then he got his first digital camreplied his mom. It is evident that era and began watching Tech TV.
they were doing the right things
Merging the two began his love
all along because Lance is amaz- affair with digital media. "I got
ing. "The first thing I recommend my first digital camera and it was
is to understand the disorder and
around that point that I started
realize the complexity of what is working on pictures," said Lance
with a smile on his face. Anyone
who knows him knows how much
he loves to take pictures and make
slide shows or picture movies.
Lance also likes to upload his
work on YouTube. But that's not
the only work of Lance's to be
found online. "About two years
ago, I created a Microsoft word
document and submitted it to
Lulu.com. The document was
Lance's first book, Living With
Asperger’s. The book can be purchased from Lulu.com or Amazon.com, and is printed as it is
ordered. Today, Lance, 29, is a
volunteer at the Lafayette Animal
Shelter. He goes there about twice
a week and is responsible for
walking the dogs. He is mostly
proud of the fact that he gets to
name a few from time to time.
“It's a pretty good feeling,” replied Lance, continuing, "I am
happy to go out and do something." Lance wants to obtain a
degree in computer science, be
able to live on his own, and be
employed.
Through the love and acceptance from his parents and by his
own efforts, Lance has come a
very long way. “Originally, it was
kind of difficult, but now it is not
something that I think about. I
just do it, except for when I'm
tired,” Lance said. His mom,
Lynn, is proud of Lance’s gains in
understanding the subtleties of
language, such as slang and idioms, which he often uses. She
also commended her son for his
new level of tolerance and acceptance of those who are unwilling
to do the same for him. "Over the
years, I learned how to control a
lot of my issues,” Lance replied.
He added that when he does lose
control it is usually in response to
someone making him mad by
provoking him. Although he is
still in the middle on his feelings
of being in social settings, Lance
is definitely a face of hope.
"Lance is loving, loyal, and just
an all around good kid”, his mom
said. "I am talented for one;
gifted in a particular field." added
Lance.
Wishing all mom and dads a very Happy Mother’s Day and Happy Father’s Day!
Enjoy YOUR special day of recognition for all that you do!
Page 3
2011 Walk For Hope Sponsors: Platinum, Silver, and Bronze
SPICE
Annie Spell, Ph. D.
Alesi’s Restaurant
Arthur C. Leblanc Jr. ,
CPL & Associates
Charles E. Padgett, M. D.
Drs. Kristoffer and Joslyn McCoy
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THANKS TO ALL WHO MAKE THE WALK DAY GREAT
ACADIANA BOTTLING COMPANY
ACTION KREWE CIVITAN CLUB
ALBERTSON'S
ALLIED WASTE SERVICES
AT&T PIONEERS
CABOT CHEESE COMPANY
CADES SUPERMARKET
CELEBRATIONS
DISCOVERY TOYS
DOTTIE FAULK, LOURDE'S FITNESS CENTER
FRIEDMAN ICE COMPANY
GREAT HARVEST BREAD COMPANY
GREGG MARTINEZ, SINGING ANTHEM & MISSING PIECES
JOYCES SUPERMARKET
JULIEN'S POBOYS
KENTWOOD WATER
KLEINPETER FARMS
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS, CANKTON COUNCIL #10745
LAFAYETTE PARISH SHERIFF DEPARTMENT
LAFAYETTE SERTOMA CLUB
LEADING HEALTH CARE
L&D COMMUNITY CARE
LOWE'S HOME IMPROVEMENT
MELLO JOY COFFEE
MILLER'S MARKET
MITCH THE MAGICIAN
MARK DOMINGUE, DOMINGUE DJ SERVICE
NUNU'S FRESH MARKET
OLD TYME GROCERY
POPEYE'S
RAISING CANE'S CHICKEN FINGERS
SASSAFRAZ THE CLOWN
SONIC DRIVE IN
SPECIAL OPS ENTERTAINMENT
SPORTS CLIPS
ST. PIUS KC'S
THE FAMILY CHURCH
VANCE & LIZ LANIER, RAYMOND JAMES FINANCIAL SERVICES
VOLUNTEERS AND FRIENDS OF ASAC
SPECIAL THANKS
TO ALL OF OUR 2011 AUTISM ANGELS
M.A. PATOUT & SONS
ARIES MARINE CORPORATION
MID SOUTH BANK
MARINE INDUSTRIAL FABRICATION
PHIL FRUGE
COMMITTEE TO RE-ELECT BOBBY GUIDROZ
IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
MORNHINVEG & CASTILLE JEWELERS
ACADIANA HANDICAP SOLUTIONS
GOOD NEIGHBOR PHARMACY
MICHAEL MELANCON, MD
PARAMOUNT OIL TOOLS & EQUIPMENT
THE SCHUMACHER GROUP
SURGERY CENTER
PROGRESSIVE TRACTOR & IMPLEMENT CO.
FOOD N FUN, INC.
THANK YOU TO PUBLICITY & MEDIA SUPPORTERS
KLFY TV-10
KATC TV-3
LAMAR
FACE MAGAZINE
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