Some DVD's Worth Ordering

I’ve come across a few DVD’s this past year that have either shown me fun ways to teach Alex life skills or have allowed me to be a fly on the wall and observe other's challenges and victories with their children on the spectrum.

The first DVD I think is worth purchasing is a series titled Bounce!. The description reads, “Bounce is an award-winning DVD series for early learners to play, interact, have fun and practice the building blocks of life. Bounce explores the developmental steps that all children take up the ladder of life."

The DVD series includes five volumes: Emotions, Movements, Let’s Talk, Routines and Let’s Go. Each volume comes with a CD of the program songs that are pretty good! You'll be singing along to them in no time.

Alex was watching the “Emotions” DVD and witnessed an animated character named Balloo crying a shower of tears to demonstrate sadness. After a moment, Alex formed the most pained expression on his face. He was truly moved by Balloo’s emotions and he started to cry too. It took me over an hour to calm him down. It was as if this new feeling of empathy frightened him and the emotion was too hard to control. As much as I don’t like seeing Alex sad, I saw his ability to be empathetic to others as a huge victory.

You can order the DVD at www.SpectrumConnections.com.

I was in the hotel room on one of our experimental family vacations, when I saw the tail end of what seemed like a documentary about autism on HBO. I got home and googled on some names I jotted down while watching the credits.

Turns out the special was a docudrama titled Autism: The Musical. The website reads “Following five Los Angeles children over the course of six months, director Tricia Regan captures the struggles and triumphs of their family lives and observes how this musical production gives these performers a comfort zone in which they can explore their creative sides.” The DVD contains special features, video, interviews and information.

I’ve had my fair share of excitement being a part of plays and musicals when I was younger and I wondered if my son would ever be able to be a part of such a fun activity. The docudrama gave me hope that it’s possible - the challenges are there, but they can be overcome.

You can order the DVD from Docurama.

A few days ago I ordered a DVD titled Recovered: Journeys through the Autism Spectrum and Back. The website states, "The film presents documentation of therapy sessions along with interviews of the children who are now teenagers, their parents, therapists and the founder/executive director of CARD. Their combined stories illuminate both their struggles and triumphs while providing hope to families of newly diagnosed children that recovery is indeed possible. Each child received services from the Center for Autism and Related Disorders Inc.(CARD), including assessments, supervision, parent/teacher training and one-on-one behavioral therapy.

This 2 disc set includes over 60 minutes of Special Features designed to educate families who are navigating the world of autism and autism treatment."

Seemed too good to pass up. I can't wait for it to arrive in the mail!