This page was exported from Shelburne Free Press [ https://shelburnefreepress.ca ] Export date:Tue Jul 23 4:26:07 2024 / +0000 GMT ___________________________________________________ Title: World Autism Day: April 2 --------------------------------------------------- World Autism Awareness Day is April 2nd  and one of the families raising awareness for Autism in Shelburne is a young local family, the Dodds. One of the many organizations also raising awareness is Autism Speaks. They offer a unique way of  bringing attention to Austism on World Autism Awareness Day and the Dodds invite Shelburne to take part in the visual spectacle by joining them at Jack Downing Park at 8 p.m to see Shelburne's  City Hall ‘Light It Up Blue'. According to the Austism Speaks website, they began the Light It Up Blue Campaign in 2010 in support of World Autism Awareness Day. At that point almost 3000 structures in over 600cities, 45 countries on 6 continents lit up structures with blue light and this year, Shelburne's City Hall will be added to the list of supportive participants. This year, is the 7th annual World Autism Awareness Day. Shelburne's newly formed support group called Shelburne Parents On The Spectrum (SPOTS) was started by the Dodds family whose young son was recently diagnosed with Aspergers, a form of Autism. According to SPOTS one in 88 children find themselves diagnosed somewhere on this spectrum with different forms of Autism. The Dodds, unable to find a support system in Shelburne decided to create one and as a result, all of Shelburne will now be able to participate in the Light It Up Blue campaign. The Dodds' seven and a half year old son, Liam experiences a form of Autism that creates a hyper sensor sensitivity to light, sound, touch, and like so many children living with Aspergers, often wanders off. A missing child can be a parent's worst nightmare and the Dodds are looking into a companion dog for extra help. For now, newly formed SPOTS is grateful for the Town of Shelburne's ongoing support to its community, hopes for a great turnout and is looking forward to creating more support and activities in Shelburne in support of families with Autistic children. For more information, SPOTS can be found on Facebook by typing in Shelburne Parents On The Spectrum. Visit www.autismspeaks.org to see other spectacularly lit structures in blue light in support of  Light It Up Blue celebrating World Autism Day. For near-by support visit Kerry's Place Autism Services in Orangeville, located at 58 First St. or call 519 307-1366. By Alex Sher   --------------------------------------------------- Images: --------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Post date: 2014-03-19 15:15:14 Post date GMT: 2014-03-19 19:15:14 Post modified date: 2014-04-03 17:27:49 Post modified date GMT: 2014-04-03 21:27:49 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Export of Post and Page as text file has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.gconverters.com