Campaign Champion Works With Libraries To Increase Community Awareness of Developmental Disabilities
Lisa Kowalski
Campaign champion, Michigan

“My desire is to spread child development awareness throughout my community in the hope that it will reach audiences nationwide, especially parents. Parents need to know that there are many resources available to them, but the best tool they have is themselves,” says campaign champion Lisa Kowalski.

Lisa always had a natural interest in child development. Her interest turned to passion when the younger of her two boys, Aaron, was diagnosed with autism. Lisa had been comparing Aaron’s development to her oldest child’s and kept noticing delays. “The first two times I brought him to his pediatrician with concerns, I was brushed off and told to wait three months,” says Lisa.

Yet, Lisa knew something wasn’t right. She began monitoring Aaron’s behavior and writing her observations on index cards. Three months later, Lisa took her index cards with her to Aaron’s doctor, packed with information. Using this information in conjunction with their own tests and observations, Aaron’s doctor and specialists were able to diagnose him as having autism.

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Father Helps Families by Merging the Worlds of Technology and Autism
Dr. Gregory Abowd
Georgia

As a father of three children, Dr. Gregory Abowd knows the importance of monitoring developmental milestones. Two of Gregory’s children have autism, which inspired him to start the Autism Research Group at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Gregory and his team are on the leading edge of using technology to address the many challenges of autism.

Gregory and his team at Georgia Tech developed a new way to use video recording to track the problem behaviors that a child with an autism spectrum disorder might be experiencing. When Gregory and his team began, video recording children with autism wasn’t new; however, their method of isolating behaviors at the touch of a button was innovative. “Videotaping allowed us to replay events and evaluate behaviors,” says Gregory. “Studying actual data instead of relying on memory gave us more accurate information.”  Better information can help caregivers to decide how to teach a child a skill in a more effective way.

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Where Are They Now?

As the “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” campaign approaches its 5th anniversary, we continue to be inspired by the effect our champions have in their communities. We checked in with some of the champions we’ve highlighted in past issues to see how they are doing now. We are thrilled with what we are hearing and reminded why champions are so important to the campaign. Our first update is on Sofia Quezada from California. Look for more “Where are they now?” stories in future issues of Campaign Connections.

As Her Family Grows, So Does Her Passion.
Sofia Quezada
California

Sofia Quezada originally shared her story in the August 2007 issue of Campaign Connections. She spoke of her difficulty finding information to help her son, Julian, who has autism. When Julian was diagnosed at 4 years of age, he had many sensory challenges and was almost nonverbal. The few words he knew were mostly jargon or scripted language. Not being able to communicate frustrated him and led to intense tantrums that lasted for hours.

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