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September 28, 2015                                                     
In This Issue
Walk Now for Autism Speaks Logo

Saturday, October 10
Minute Maid Park
501 Crawford St.
Houston, TX 77002

Team/Walker Check-In:
8:00 - 9:30 a.m.

Walk:
10:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. 
 
Join Autism Speaks in raising money and awareness to benefit current and future families affected by autism. Don't forget to stop by Avondale's booth!
Alex's 5K Run/Walk
Alex's 5K Logo

Saturday, November 14
MacGregor Park
5225 Calhoun
Houston, TX 77021
  
Registration:
6:30 - 7:45 a.m.

Kids' K Start:
8:00 a.m.
 
5K Start:
8:30 a.m.

This annual event honors the life of a former Avondale student, Alex Jamrich, and aims to raise awareness and funds for autism-related organizations (like Avondale House).
 Box Tops for Education
Box Tops for Education

Raise money for Avondale while shopping for your favorite products! Clip the Box Tops for Education from specially-marked packaging and mail or drop them off to Avondale House. With your help, we collected more than $200 from Box Tops for Education last year!
Click here for a list of participating products.


Find Avondale on Facebook

Follow @AvondaleHouse on Twitter Follow avondalehouse on Instagram.
St. John's School Volunteers Lead Fun Course Events

Nico crawls through the obstacle while being encouraged by a St. John's volunteer.
Last Friday, 13 seventh graders from St. John's School partnered with Avondale students through an interactive obstacle course as part of recreation class.
 
Not only are volunteer events a great time, they offer excellent opportunities for our students to socialize with peers from other schools. Avondale's upper elementary-aged and young teen students participated in this particular event. Each of the five stations in the obstacle course was led by a team of three St. John's students.
 
The course began with a balance beam challenge, and then led to a station where St. John's and Avondale students identified and mimicked animals. A motor skills challenge came next, where students raced through tire obstacles, a tunnel crawl and mini hurdles. Rounding out the course, St. John's students helped Avondale students with a trampoline station before making a victory free throw into the basketball hoop.

"One boy I met today never stopped smiling," said Emily, a St. John's student, when asked about her favorite part of the day's activities. Other students commented on how impressed they were with Avondale students' abilities to shoot baskets and run the obstacle course.

Presenting tasks as an obstacle course was a fun way for our students to practice many skills like sequencing, receptive processing and gross motor skills. Adding in peer volunteers gave Avondale students the chance to practice social play.


 

St. John's Student Volunteers
Volunteers from St. John's School


 

Avondale House appreciates the compassion and kindness of all the St. John's students who participated. If you know of a school group who would like to volunteer, please click here.

 The Boo-lathon is Rolling Your Way! Sign Up Today!

Boo-lathon Registration 2015
 
Lanes for teams and individual bowlers are still available for the upcoming Boo-lathon! This year's spider theme will have Palace Lanes crawling with spooky ambiance. Bowlers, especially little boys and ghouls, are encouraged to dress up in costume for the tournament. With lunch from James Coney Island, a costume contest and an impressive silent auction, the Boo-lathon strikes up entertainment for everyone!

We appreciate the support of our current sponsors, especially the following:

"Witchy Weaver" Sponsors
Allegiance Bank Texas - Bellaire
Associated Credit Union of Texas
Ann & Greg Hill
Diana & Matt Reeves
Michael Murray
Krissi & Taylor Reid

"Tricky Tarantula" Sponsors
Barbara Boyett
Doyle Carter
Dr. Angelo Giardino
Gail Parazynski

Click the image above for more event information and to register. See you on the lanes!

 United Way Kicks Off 2015-2016 Campaign
United Way of Greater Houston
One of United Way's 2015-2016 campaign posters.

On September 10, the United Way of Greater Houston kicked off its  community campaign to raise $80 million to help transform individual lives and create long-lasting, systemic change in our community.
 
Through workplace campaigns, individual leadership giving programs, corporate giving, foundation grants and special efforts to respond to emerging issues such as disaster recovery, individuals and employees from companies and organizations large and small are being encouraged to support the 2015-2016 campaign.
 
We hope you will make that choice. The United Way invests in a broad array of services that focus on developing children and youth to their full potential, creating strong families and safe neighborhoods, sustaining senior independence and supporting people rebuilding their lives.
 
Avondale House has been a United Way affiliated agency since 1990. Consider designating our agency (with agency code 360) when giving your gift or pledge. With your support, United Way services are able touch one of every two lives in our community. Please give generously, the United Way.
 Autism 101: Brief History of the Diagnosis' Beginnings
Dr. Leo Kanner
Child psychiatrist Dr. Leo Kanner

Since the early 1900s, autism has referred to a range of neuro-psychological conditions. But where did the term come from and who were some of the early pioneers in its diagnosis?
 
The term was first introduced about 100 years ago. Eugen Bleuler, a Swiss psychiatrist, used the word "autism" in 1911 to describe a subset of schizophrenic patients who were especially withdrawn and self-absorbed. He used "autism" because it takes root from the Greek word "autos" which means "self."
 
Autism was first described as a specific medical condition by Dr. Leo Kanner, who published a paper on the disorder in 1943. Dr. Kanner was an American child psychiatrist from Johns Hopkins University. In his paper, he described 11 children who were highly intelligent but displayed "a powerful desire for aloneness" and "an obsessive insistence on persistent sameness." He later named their condition "early infantile autism."
 
At about the same time, in 1944, Hans Asperger, a scientist in Germany, identified a milder form of autism now known as Asperger's syndrome. The cases he reported were all boys who were highly intelligent but had trouble with social interactions and had specific obsessive interests.
 
So while you might think of autism as a new problem because it has become so much more prevalent in recent years, it's actually been used in small circles of psychiatrists and psychologists for a number of years. The history of autism continues to this day, as researchers are still on a quest to determine the cause and the most effective treatment.