We started The Doug Flutie Jr. foundation for Autism 10 years ago in honor of our son Dougie, who has Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD), a low functioning form of autism. Our goal is to help financially disadvantaged families care for their children with autism, as well as fund research and raise awareness, but we also want people to know that they are not alone, this has happened to us too and we are here for them. The foundation is so important to us because we feel that this is Dougie’s calling and the foundation will be his legacy, he was put here to help others deal with autism, which has helped us (as a family) deal, understand and make peace with Dougie’s autism.
Dougie is now 16 years old; he is about 5ft 5in tall and growing like a weed. He was diagnosed with CDD when he was 3. He is non-verbal and requires one on one attention, but he has made tremendous progress over the years and we are so proud of all of his accomplishments.
Dougie goes to school full time (5 days a week all year round). He works hard at school and has a lot of therapy, but he loves all the attention. He also has home based tutoring 3 days a week (after school) and on Saturday afternoons (which he also loves). He loves to go to his horseback riding therapy every week at Ironstone Farm and during the summer he attends water sports camp at Access Sport America where he enjoys windsurfing as well as other water sports. He also just enjoys hanging out with family, whether it's swimming with his big sister Alexa, playing with his 3 dogs, playing ball with dad or just lounging and watching a movie with mom. Dougie loves life and is the happiest person I know, he always has a smile on his face and because he is happy, it makes all of us happy!!
We will continue to do all that we can to help Dougie’s foundation give to others afflicted with autism. Dougie is our inspiration and truly a blessing to our whole family, but the foundation has given back to us as well. It has given us the opportunity to meet a lot of wonderful, caring and giving people. We wouldn't be able to help Dougie help others without your generous support, so we want to say THANK YOU for all that you do for us!!!
Thanks again for all of your support! Laurie Flutie
16 comments:
i go to ironstone farm and access america with jen and ross
it's fun
Words fail to express my heartfelt gratitude to you for your extraordinary generousity and commitment to families, schools and institutions invested in improving the lives of persons diagnosed with autism. I have seen firsthand the joy and gratitude of those who have directly and indirectly benefited from your care and support.
Thank you so very much.
Love the new web site ... Your family is an incredible gift to families dealing with autism. Families like ours!
My family has been on the recipient end of the Flutie Foundation and we'd like to extend a great big thank you for your generousity to families trying to cope with autism spectrum disorders. Sometimes a little bit of help can brighten another's world in an extraordinary way. Could not have done it without you. Thank you!
Thank you for setting such a positive example for local all volunteer organizations seeking to make a difference for families living with the challenges of ASD in our communities. Does it ever get easier?
Cheers and be well.
I am very happy you guys have a blog and bring positive attention to Autism.
Like your Dougie, My son is the light of my life and an inspiration.
Our son was diagnosed with Autism in November. I happened upon your blog, but had known of your foundation and all the good work you do.
As a parent of an Autistic son, our job is to help him understand the world........and I want to thank you, for helping the world understand our children.
Happen to stumble across this site... we had the privileged of going to a Fundraiser in Melbourne a few years ago and we enjoyed the music... hopefully you will have another Fundraiser in Melbourne, FL as that is where we are from also... keep up the good work! Take care...
has thimerisol mercury been removed from all vaccines? if this is the case, are there medical researchers and statisticians monitoring the rate of autism? if the rate drops substantially in years to come, it would be proof that mercury is the causative agent. have the researchers looked at the devastaion in minimata japan? have researchers looked at statistics of children that have missed or refused a particular vaccination? this would point to the vaccine as the problem and not the mercury preservative. has there been any research/blood tests on autistic children testing for other heavy metals? all, and i repeat, all heavy metals and their salts are extremely toxic. is there any data if these children were exposed to lead paint chips? has chelation therapy been tried with any success? i am in the aviation repair industry and we take extreme care when handling lead, cadmium and mercury compounds when sevicing aircraft components.
steve m
fusionsm@aol.com
I was just watching Larry King Live on CNN today February 28, 2008 on the topic autism. I had not known and understood what sickness has afflicted my son, but from all the discussions I am thankful that I now know my son is suffering from autism. My son is 17 years old; he does not speak, cannot feed himself, cannot dress up on his own, cannot brush his teeth, infact cannot do all the basic things on his own. I have tried to train him to visit the washroom on his own but it is sometimes difficult. At the age of 2 years, he talked twice and since then has not spoken. What are the ways for me to be able to access help for my son? I am prepared to enrol him for any investigations to solve this terrible problem. Thank you for the great work you are doing. Where does one send donations to this worthy course. Thank you. Margaret.
I am moved by the common ground I see in our son's lives. Our 11 year-old son John-carlos loves the water even if it involves icy swims in Lake Michigan near where we live in SE Wisconsin. I was wondering if Dougie has done the SurfersHealing experience which we did in N Carolina last Summer and was wonderful or if he or other bloggers have tried Rapid prompting Method (RPM) which we have been into for over a year and is a great help in helping our son communicate and learn.
thanks so much for your inspiration
john
I just watched your amazing interview on CNN. I want every family with an autistic child/brother/sister/family member to appreciate how special they are. I had an autistic brother. Unfortunately, he died tragically two years ago at age 19. I love my brother very much. He was low functioning and could not talk. However, even though he couldn't talk we had the best time taking walks together and enjoying each others company. When you think about that is what matters in life, it is not the conversations that you might forget but the time you spend together just enjoying one anothers company. I just want families with autistic children to know how special autism can be. Please enjoy every moment with your autistic family member as I would do anything to have one more moment with my brother...
Thank you for allowing all of us to know your family and in turn, it helps us hold our heads a little higher when society still doesn't accept our kido's.
God bless you,
The Rays Family
I am so happy to have stumbled across your site! I am a parent of a 9 yr old non-verbal child with autism and never seem to learn enough. Your family is an inspiration to all but especially to family's like mine with autistic children. Thank You!
Dear Laurie, what a beautiful thing you and your family are doing. I have a question about Autism and being an Adult. We live in Michigan and My son is 19,(knowing your son is coming up right behind)he was receiving behavioral services in our home until he was 18. Now that he is an "Adult" I am being told it is funded differently so he no longer can receive in home care! Iam grieving this, but my question is who else beside cmh could I contact to help me advocate for my son. Our cmh would rather place him in a group home or an apartment that they staff then help keep him in his home! It makes no sense to me. Do you have anyone you could think of in Michigan that I could contact to help us? I am a single mom, with 2 jobs(R.N. working at the U/M hospital and I own a small business in our home town) Since they stopped my help at home it has been very difficult for us.My son gets very frustrated with things very easily,and has self injurious behaviors, along with other behaviors that need to be monitored. CMH knows this, but is not helping. I am sorry I am going on,and on, but I do not want my son to end up with a closed head injury along with his other issues! Any suggestions you may have would be greatly appreciated. God Bless, Sincerely, Jane S. my email is bscheff@umich.edu
Just wanted to thank you for having a blog. I like having a network of positive people in the autism community. My family is starting a foundation for athletes on the spectrum. It is still in the fetus stage but we have a website already. asdathletes.org.
Cheers and thanks again for sharing. i hope that you get back to blogging soon. I myself have been intermittent.
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