Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Darren's story

It was almost two years ago at my friend Claudia's beach house when she told us of their family's worries for one of her grandsons, Darren. Especially compared to his very active twin brother Trevor, Darren seemed withdrawn. After a battery of tests, it was confirmed that little Darren is autistic.

The twins are almost four now and we get positive progress reports from our friend Claudia whenever our rowdy bunch of friends gets together. Claudia's son and daughter-in-law have moved to Fairfax County to be closer to the exceptional care and support Darren can get here.

Not long ago, the boys' mother planned an art project for her boys involving painting and then tearing tissue paper. The response from family and friends at the amazing results propelled the idea to make the artwork into cards like that shown here. Proceeds from the sale of these cards directly benefits Darren and autism research. Click here to visit the family's journey through autism and to purchase a set of these cards.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, Amy, thanks for putting the word out there about autism. As a mom of 8 year old twin girls with autism and mental retardation, I can empathize with Claudia's family. It is interesting how art and music can be wonderful therapy for our kiddos! My girls really enjoy the art their wonderful teachers allow them to create at school. Now if I can just keep them from eating the glitter and crayons.....:)

Saucy said...

My Loopy has Asperger's Syndrome, a developmental disorder found on the Autistic scale. It was not easy to diagnose because of her multiple difficulties - she also has a mild cerebral palsy.

Her art has been a wonderful outlet for her and her special needs. I am so glad more people are becoming aware of autism.