Hundreds of hours are volunteered by community people to
help with the Autism Rocks Art Show and Sales, the Autism
Celebration, the October Mask Making Party, the thrice yearly
newsletter, the award winning web site, the support group,
the computer exchange program, the community oriented fun-raisers,
and the unique Summer Autism Camp /Retreat. Area businesses
are generous in their support through donations of food,
equipment, scholarships, and more.
Nearly 100% of the funds
raised have gone into creating the special events and other
activities that raise awareness, educate and entertain. KindTree
- Autism Rocks, and the people who help us, work to bring
people with autism closer to the world, to bring the world
closer to people with autism, and to have a lot of fun in
the process.
Board members at Kind Tree believe each of us is a member
of the Human community, deserving of the same respect we
feel for ourselves. All of us need a little help one way
or another. We offer that help out of respect for ourselves,
as much as out of respect for others. And through the giving,
we each receive.
Join
our Mailing List: click
here and put "subscribe" in the SUBJECT line. THANKS!!
KindTree
is dedicated to serving and celebrating people on the Autism
Spectrum through art, recreation and community. With warm
hearted whimsy, an open sense of family and a deep level of
caring, we reach inside ourselves to embrace our flaws, gather
our strengths, and offer our love while reaching out to people
on the autism spectrum, their families and care givers. Through
the power of self-advocacy in an atmosphere of acceptance
and respect, autistic and neuro-normal people alike can work
toward self-realization.
What is autism?
Autism spectrum disorder is a processing problem in which
sensory information becomes scrambled and distorted. As
the name suggests, it includes a continuum of conditions,
from almost imperceptibly mild to disabling.
Leo Kanner in the US and
Hans Asperger in Switzerland discovered the condition independently
in 1943. Aspergers Syndrome tends to be more high-functioning
than Kanner's rarer "classic" early infantile autism.
There is a large continuum in between the two extremes. Autism
strikes seemingly normally developing children sometime between
18 months and 3 years old, sometimes later. Early infantile
autism presents with a deterioration or loss of speech--in
some cases, a failure to develop speech. Any remaining speech
becomes echolalic, fragmented and ritualistic. The child loses
interest in social contact and develops repetitive rituals;
self-stimulating behavior, such as hand-flapping or head banging;
self-comforting behavior, such as rocking and spinning (autism
rocks?); and self-injuring behaviors.
People with autism spectrum
disorders often suffer obsessive-compulsive disorders and
anxiety. Anxiety and panic can manifest in "melt-downs".
Change of routine, sudden loud noises, flashing lights, and
offensive smells are just a few of the things that can trigger
a meltdown.
Four out of five autists
are boys. About 40 percent of people with the condition suffer
some degree of mental retardation. A good prognosis depends
more on early intervention than on the initial severity of
the condition.
Nobody knows for sure what
causes autism, though many causes have been postulated, from
an atrophied cerebellum to food allergies or a reaction to
trace amounts of mercury in some mumps-measles-rubella vaccines.
The condition seems to be genetic.
Why Autism
Rocks?
Steve Brown and Michelle
Jones, who started KindTree, coined this slogan during KindTree's
maiden retreat. One of the autists had momentarily lost control
and broken a rocking chair. Steve, always the imp, taped the
slogan on the offended chair. It stuck, and to considerably
more than the chair.
Board of
Directors, 2009:
President: Mary-Minn
Sirag, teaches marketable art to adults with multiple
disabilities, in cluding autism, through the City of Eugene’s
Parks and Recreation Department. She is a free-lance journalist.
Mary-Minn is also available for autism trainings and presentations.
She has autism.
Vice President:
Michelle Jones, has graduated with a Masters in Education
from Pacific University and is presently a social worker at
Lane County Developmental Disabilities Services. When she
and Steve Brown started KindTree years ago, they both worked
as caregivers in group homes for autists in Eugene.
Secretary-Treasurer:
Tim Mueller, Sec/treas, Lisl Waechter Award 2008,
ASO-LCC chapter representative, Lane County MHAC vice-chair,
OCF Community Village Council, Eugene Police Commission
Members-At-Large:
Dyan Campbell, social worker at Lane County
Disability Services, formerly with Full Access, and a parent
of an adult child with autsm.
Johanna Magner is a long time KindTree volunteer
Franklin Michael serves as an educational
assistant and KindTree volunteer.
Liz Fox is Director of Alternative Work Concepts,
a nationally recognized nonprofit employment agency for persons
who experience physical and multiple disabilities. Past recipient,
Lisl Waechter Award.
Rhonda Way, Art Program Director, parent
of two boys on the spectrum
David Walcutt, parent of adult on the spectrum
What KindTree
does:
Our
annual summer camp/retreat for autists and their caregivers
is KindTree's oldest brain- child and the only event of its
kind. Parents and caregivers can bring their autistic charges
and relax with them over the weekend, knowing that they are
in a safe and nurturing environment. The retreat is designed
around the needs of those in the autism spectrum.
KindTree's founding ancestors
Steve Brown and Michelle Jones, both caregivers, conceived
and developed the first retreat in 1997. Ever since then,
our board has been fine-tuning the annual retreats.
Michelle and her minions
cook up and dish out an abundance of succulent and healthy
home cooked food. The curriculum is a flexible but reliable
balance of structured and non-structured activities, illustrated
with photographs modeled after the Lovaas technique which
accommodates autists’ visual and concrete way of thinking.
The Carpet Game, a long-standing
retreat tradition, was conceived at the maiden retreat. Michelle
and Steve designed this non-competitive game with autists
in mind. Each player, seated in a circle, covers his or her
face with a carpet square. All players get a turn to prescribe
emotions to mimic. Then, the other players unveil their faces
and simulate the prescribed emotions. This one usually degenerates
into uproarious clowning and guffaws of laughter.
Scheduled activities include
a two-hour seminar on autism, led either by an autist or professional
working with autists; an improv theater-games free-for-all
for everybody on and off the spectrum; swimming and boating
on Siltcoos Lake. Throughout the retreat are planned art activities
and nature walks.
After dinner on Saturday
is a wild shindig, where autism rocks and rolls. Afterwards,
we gather around an outdoor fire to share sagas, play musical
instruments, gawk at the jeweled sky, roast marshmallows and
pig out on gluten-free s'mores. The retreat is a time for
rejuvenation and solidarity. Autists are accepted and enjoyed
for themselves, not forced into a procrustean neuro-normal
mold. Caregivers and parents swap stories. Autists and neuro-normal
people get to know each other. Magic happens.
This is some of the greatest
autistic fun there is.
The
Autism Celebration is an event in fall bringing together
members of the autism community to display their talents and
celebrate their differences.
The
support group, conceived for people with high-functioning
autism and Aspergers, has been meeting monthly for three years.
Cheryl Nel Applegate, a professional in the developmental
disabilities field, is the facilitator. There are about 8
hard-core regulars and new arrivals often join; they range
from 19 to 50 years old. They share stories and discuss different
challenges posed by living with autism spectrum disorders.
It's a safe place.
Our
computer exchange program provides for distribution
of computers to people with autism - for almost FREE! KindTree
has provided over $12,000 worth of tax deductions to donors
and over 40 systems and components to people with autism over
the last 8 years.
The
traveling art show has art works created by people
who have autism spectrum disorders. We proudly participate
in Eugene's exciting "Art and the Vineyard" event
every July 4th weekend, offering for sale cards, prints and
a wide variety of original art produced by people with autsm.
This event creates income for the artists and lets everyone
know who they are. The show has appeared at the Oregon Developmental
Disabilities In-Service in Salem, the Hilyard Community Center,
The Unitarian-Universalist Church, Lane Community College,
DIVA, Lane ESD, Lane County Courthouse, and Maude Kerns Art
Center. We celebrate our artists with a gala opening, giving
neuro-normal people a chance to rub elbows with some notable
autists, and autists palpable proof of their self-worth and
a market for their art.
Reaching
Out--Reaching In, our thrice yearly newsletter, goes
out to over 650 households. In addition to publicizing upcoming
KindTree events, our newsletter contains writings by people
with autism spectrum disorders, reports on medical discoveries,
and other news in the autism community. We also produce the
KindTree Flash!, an
e-newsletter. Click
here to subscribe.
www.kindtree.org,
our award-winning interactive web site, is replete with links;
news about autism; a guest-book, in which people can ask questions
and share information with each other; and more.
Things
people say:
About our summer retreats:
"What a magical weekend.
Our son was more engaged with the world for a longer period
of time than ever before, and he's in his 30's!"
"All of us, people
with autism and caregivers, really enjoyed getting away from
daily routine and being with people who share our problems.
The whole State should be here!"
"People benefited
because they were surrounded by love and a lack of anxiety,
with an absence of oppressive, sometimes alienating, professionalism--friendship,
as opposed to “staffing“. Thank you so much!"
About our computers-to-autists'
program:
"I understand that
KindTree is donating a computer to us with upgrades, too.
Wow! I'm so ex- cited about getting my own computer to learn
on. My family and school will be able to help me use it and
hopefully it becomes a language that we can all understand.
Thank you to those who donated the computer and thank you
to KindTree for reaching out to kids like me. I really do
feel special."
From the web site guestbook:
"What a wonderful web site this is. The soothing blue
back ground makes it delightful to spend time here. I am a
parent and a professional advocate in Eu gene, Oregon, for
people with developmental disabilities and other special needs.
My son, 8 years old, has autism, so I tend to work with a
lot of families who have children within the autism spectrum.
I look forward to networking with people from this web site
and reading folks' messages. Thank you. Andrea"
SPECIFIC
OBJECTIVES AND PURPOSES, Est. 1997
The specific objectives and purposes of this corporation shall
be:
To improve the lives of
people with autism, their caregivers and loved ones, through
the establishment and maintanence of the following programs:
1) EDUCATION
-Regular Seminars and Training Programs for caregivers and
interested
persons.
-Manuals and Guide Materials for caregivers and loved ones.
-A Resource Library containing texts related to autism and
people with autism for use by interested persons.
-A Newsletter to be published bi-monthly with articles by,
about, and for
people with autism and their caregivers and loved ones, as
well as
information about Kind Tree and our activities.
2) RECREATION
-Regular Retreats for people with autism, their caregivers
and loved ones,
to take place over certain weekends and to include an educational
presentation.
-Week long Summer Camps for people with autism, their caregivers
and
loved ones (especially families).
3) COMMUNITY OUTREACH -
Programs to educate the general public about
autism and about Kind Tree’s role in the community,
including:
-Fundraising Events including concerts, a halloween haunted
house, a
traveling “Art in Autism” museum/exhibition, and
other events.
-The sale of materials produced by or having subject matter
related to
autism or people with autism.
-The establishment and maintenance of an internet website
and electronic
links to other autism related organizations.
4) VOCATIONAL PROGRAMS
-Employing people with autism to produce materials for sale
and/or
inclusion in the “Art in Autism” collection, or
for any other related
purpose.
-Other employment opportunities for people with autism.
5) RESEARCH
-Participating in research on autism and related conditions
conducted by
other non-profit research groups.
