Autism Intervention Moves Online - to Offer Hope and Help to Struggling Parents - to Relate to Autism

    CAMBRIDGE, MA, June 07, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Put an autism practitioner with experience treating over 800 children and families together with a part seasoned technology developer, part inventor, and the result becomes RelateToAutism.com (http://www.relatetoautism.com) - dynamic, breakthrough software technology that brings together extensive hands-on autism intervention specialists and autism support, with real and practical answers and autism resources.

Relate to Autism offers a wealth of services including, among others:

- Phone consultations with autism practitioners, occupational therapists, and holistic health counselors
- Coaching sessions with other parents of autistic children who are themselves conducting home-based interventions
- Weekend workshops that provide an opportunity for families to meet and share experiences with both other parents and a range of experts

The duo behind the system are Kat Houghton and Mark Tuomenoksa. Houghton, an autism practitioner who has worked with hundreds of children and families over the last decade, is currently conducting doctoral studies in autism treatment at Lancaster University, U.K. Tuomenoksa is a seasoned technology entrepreneur whose resume includes Research Director at Bell Laboratories as well as inventions and patents filed with Nobel Laureate Arno Penzias.

"Frequently, people who experience the impact of autism on their own family dynamic are overwhelmed and drained by the financial, social, physical and time requirements of their autistic children," stated Houghton. "Others simply don't know just how tough it really is, until they experience it firsthand."

"Parents of autistic children may be uneducated about the actions they can take from a very early age to help their children with autism, or they're overwhelmed by exposure to too much information and not enough practical support," stated Houghton. "At Relate to Autism, the parent-child relationship is the foundation for all social development. With interactive guidance and focused support, parents can deepen their relationships with their children while enhancing child development with lasting results."

The key to the technology's effectiveness is its comprehensive suite of online tools and services that are designed for parents to begin immediately helping their children at home with minimal time and cost. Houghton developed what she calls the "Growth through Play System" (GPS), an approach drawing on best practices from multiple autism treatment paradigms providing parents with a program specifically tuned to their child's needs.

"The flexibility of GPS reflects an understanding that every child is different," said Houghton. "The GPS integrates current autism research with tried and tested autism approaches to create a unique and cohesive program for everyone involved: the child, parents, extended family and practitioners from various fields such as Occupational Therapy, Nutrition and Parent Counseling."

Houghton's desire to make the Growth through Play System more accessible to families everywhere brought her to Tuomenoksa of Tefsoft Inc., for help translating her ideas into an interactive online format that could be brought to parents via the Internet. The result, available at RelateToAutism.com (http://www.relatetoautism.com), presents easy-to-use Web-based tools for parents seeking to understand their child's development, specify goals, identify learning activities, measure progress and evaluate what is working most effectively, all from their home.

"Kat's vision is to help families overcome the day-to-day - and for some, the moment-to-moment - struggles," said Tuomenoksa. "She inspired me to translate her knowledge and experience into something that could be used by thousands of families all over the planet."

"A common issue for children with autism is relating to others, because they skip critical developmental steps," added Houghton. "This presents difficulty in reading and responding to others in social interactions." Houghton used Tuomenoksa's technology to communicate her deep understanding of autism and impact on relationships with production of the GPS Starter, an online evaluation that interacts with parents to identify gaps in the development of pivotal relationship and communication skills. The GPS Starter then instantly generates a set of focused curriculum items along with guidance on teaching these skills through vibrant, fun and engaging activities.

Tools are available that empower parents to integrate all aspects of their child's treatment program such as:

- Multimedia sharing
- Real-time, integrated messaging among support teams
- Shared scheduling
- Automated progress report generation

Social networking brings together parents, professionals, extended families and volunteers, to fill a critical need for focused support and daily encouragement.

Rita Gendelman, an occupational therapist in New York City, speaks enthusiastically about the openness and holistic nature of the Relate to Autism approach. "So many organizations offering services to families of children with autism are well-meaning but can become inflexible in their approach, placing a higher priority on their organization's program than on the specific needs of an individual child," said Ms. Gendelman. "As an occupational therapist working regularly with autistic children, I'm thrilled to see an organization that openly embraces a diverse set of disciplines and practices to provide a mixture of services designed specially for each child."

About Autism

Center for Disease Control and Prevention study indicates that approximately 1 in 110 children born in the United States have some form of autism. A spectrum of developmental disorders, autism generally appears within the first 3 years of life and is characterized by difficulties interacting, playing, and communicating both verbally and non-verbally. Although there are many therapies that can help children with autism, there is still no known cure.

Near epidemic growth in autism diagnoses over the past 30 years has far outstripped the supply of trained practitioners experienced in working with autistic children; there are simply not enough practitioners to go around. Although most experts agree that early intervention is critical, many parents are currently waiting a year or more for basic diagnosis, evaluation and recommendations by autism specialists.

Relate to Autism helps parents to provide immediate and meaningful support to children with autism with affordable and accessible online tools, information and support services. Relate to Autism facilitates collaboration and partnership among parents, family members and practitioners complementing existing therapies or designing custom treatment plans tuned to the individual needs of each child.

To learn more about the Relate to Autism system visit www.relatetoautism.com or [email protected]

MEDIA: To arrange for an interview with the creator or developer of Relate to Autism, contact Kat Houghton at 518-697-0637.

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