When you make a donation to The ARC of Butte County through the Annie B’s Community Drive we can take advantage of a percentage grant program from North Valley Community Foundation. Making your donation worth even more!

Help The ARC and make your donation TODAY!

There is a critical need to expand The ARC’s Family Support Programs. Day to day life, with its frequent demands can be stressful for each of us.

However, these everyday stresses greatly increase when a family is faced with the extraordinary challenges of parenting an individual with special needs. Our Family Support Programs offer a variety of efforts designed to strengthen and foster healthy families.

It is this spirit of cooperation and working together as a community that will get us through these difficult times.

Click here to make your donation today www.nvcf.org

Or you can mail your donation to:
NVCF 3120 Cohasset Road, Suite 8, Chico, CA 95973
(Make check to: Annie B’s/The Arc of Butte County)

100% of the money raised for The ARC through Annie B’s Community Drive will be used to serve the developmentally disabled in our community.

Donations must be received by NVCF no later then September 30th to be eligible for the grant program.

When Connie Anderson’s son was diagnosed with autism a decade ago, she scoured the Internet looking for treatments. “I tried all sorts of things I now consider bananas,” said Anderson, now community scientific liaison at Kennedy Krieger Institute’s Interactive Autism Network. “At the time it didn’t feel like nonsense. It was hope. People will try all sorts of things to help their child, sometimes even against their better judgment.”

Since Anderson’s son was diagnosed, the number of Web sites devoted to autism and autism treatments has multiplied. While a 1999 study counted about 100,000 autism Web sites, entering the term “autism” into the three major search engines today yields more than 17.4 million results, according to new research. So how can parents know how to weed out fact from fiction when faced with so much information? It’s not easy but there are some steps parents can take to determine if the information they are getting is from a reputable source.

In a study presented recently at the International Meeting for Autism Research, experts analyzed about 160 of the most visited autism sites to determine how often they met measures of quality and accountability, including whether or not the site was selling something; if citations about research supposedly showing the efficacy of a treatment included author identification and references; if the information was current; and if the site asked visitors for personal information (a red flag). Most sites did not meet all of the criteria for quality, said lead study author Brian Reichow, a post-doctoral associate at Yale University Child Study Center.

Experts offer these tips for assessing autism-related information on the Internet:

* Don’t use the Internet as your sole source of info. Seek support from doctors, physicians, teachers and other professionals.

* Pay attention to the domain names. In the study, “.com” sites were most likely to be selling unfounded “miracle cures.” Sites ending in “.edu” or “.gov” tend to have oversight committees or quality standards. Government-sponsored “gateway” domains, such as the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s MedlinePlus or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s healthfinder.gov, which each offer a collection of links to other sites, are good places to start because the links have been approved by experts, Reichow said.

* Look for quality seals such as HONcode (Health on the Net Foundation), a non-profit, non-governmental organization that has developed standards for health information on the Internet.

* Take testimonials for what they’re worth. The placebo effect can be powerful in autism treatments, and only randomized, controlled experiments are considered the gold standard of proof.

* Some autism sites will offer scientific data to back up their claims. That information is less reliable if it is generated by the company or the company’s researchers, who may have a conflict of interest or profit motive, Anderson said.

Anderson cautioned parents to be especially wary of testimonials, no matter how powerful they may seem. For every success story — or a person believing or claiming theirs is a success story — there could be many more failures. “There could be 10 people who have a good experience, and 1,000 who had a bad experience,” Anderson noted.

You can learn more about the Interactive Autism Network here.

- From the Far Northern Regional Center “In The News” July 1, 2010. Visit their site to sign up for their newsletter.

For information about ARC services in Butte & Glenn Counties (Calif, USA) for families with autistic children, please, contact Patti Thomas at (530) 891.5865 or pattithomas@arcbutte.org

It is with great sadness that we at the ARC of Butte County convey our sympathy to the family of Mary “Ginger” Williams. Ginger Williams of Paradise, CA passed away on July 4, 2010 at the age of 73 in Chico, CA.

Mary "Ginger" Williams

Ginger was very active in the community and enjoyed helping others. She was the executive director of the S.T.R.I.V.E program and a board member for the United Way, ARC of Butte County and the Paradise Community House. She was involved in her church and several other charity organizations. She was loved by many and will be greatly missed.

All of us at the ARC of Butte County appreciated Ginger’s many years of dedication, service and advocacy work on behalf of the developmentally disabled.

A celebration of life will be held on Sunday, July, 18th from 2-4 p.m. at the ARC Pavilion at 2020 Park Ave Chico, CA. She will be put to rest with her husband and son in a family service in Arcata, CA.

To post a message for her family and loved ones, please, visit the “Guest Book” at the Paradise Post.

There's nothing as special as a good friend

In July, ADP Instructors will be taking clients on all kinds of fun summer adventures. On the 7th the Oroville group will be visiting the Olive Pit in Corning, on the 14th you’ll find them enjoying the Honey Run Covered Bridge and on the 28th they’ll be splashing in the Sycamore Pool at One Mile Park.

Instructors and clients build close relationships and have great fun whether it’s in play or during vocational readiness.

The ARC’s ADP also offers a vocational readiness and work experience program in both ARC Stores. Our work program combines both paid work and skills training for over 110 clients in Chico and Oroville.

Work or play the ARC’s Adult Day Program has proven itself a great place for the special needs adults in our community.

If you have questions about the ADP, please, contact Nelson Corwin.

Oroville ARC ADP Clients & Instructors

Just like it’s Chico counterpart, the Oroville ADP includes both center based and community based experiences for clients with developmental disabilities. Plus vocational readiness and work experience in the big Oroville ARC Store. Instructors engage clients in a variety of constructive activities that aid in acquiring self help skills.

Between educational classes, entertaining activities and field trips the ADP clients stay very busy interacting with peers, instructors and the community.

“The ADP staff is always looking for new activities for the clients,” says Cindy Roy ADP Supervisor,”We recently added a Problem Solving Support Group twice a week that the clients are benefiting from greatly. They’re learning new coping skills and tensions are reduced after the class.”

If you have questions about the Oroville Adult Day Program, please, contact Cindy Roy or Ed Grzanich.

ARC's 10th Annual Wine Tasting

Thanks to all the vineyards, restaurants, businesses, volunteers and ARC staff! We really appreciate everyone’s hard work and support of this event.

Funds raised at the Wine Tasting go to the ARC’s Family Support Programs which now serves approx 900 families with special needs children and adults in Butte and Glenn Counties (Calif, USA).

Check out the ARC’s Facebook Page for tons of great photos!

EVENT SPONSORS:

KNVN/KHSL and Chico News & Review

VINEYARDS:

LaRocca, Indian Peak, Honey Run, Naughty Boy, Matson, Halter Ranch, Schwarz Quality Imports, VitaLuce Cellars, PB Hein and Castoro Cellars

RESTAURANTS & BUSINESSES:

Sierra Nevada Brewery, Sicilian Cafe, Pedrozo Dairy, Bustolini’s Deli, Lodestar Farms, Olive Pit, Mim’s Bakery, Woodstock’s Pizza, Schubert’s Ice Cream & Candy, Six Degrees, Beatniks, California Organic Flowers, Mission Linen, Little Red Hen Nursery

RAFFLE:

Olde Gold Jewelry, Scrubb’s, Feather Falls Casino “The Lodge”, Pullins Cyclery, Lash’s Glass, Grey Fox Vineyard, Gooney Bird Bar & Grill and Thornton Chervon.

Last but not least, Robert & Sharon Karch for the lovely live music!

Cheers!

We hope to see all of you again next year!

The Joshua O’Neill and Zeshan Tabani Enrichment Fund offers financial assistance to young adults (18+) with Down syndrome who wish to continue to enrich their lives by enrolling in classes that will help them to enrich life through employment, independent living skills, life skills or another way.

To date, over thirty students have received grants from NDSS to help cover the costs of pursuing their postsecondary education and enrichment goals.

The National Down Syndrome Society envisions a world in which all people with Down syndrome have the opportunity to enhance their quality of life, realize their life aspirations, and become valued members of welcoming communities.

We at the ARC of Butte County want to offer you both local and national resources so you can make informed decisions for your family.

Please, visit this Blog often for updates and our Resources Page for more information.

Rainbow of Kids Club @ Bidwell Park

That’s just what the Rainbow of Kids Club did for Earth Day.

The kids and instructors had a great time touring the Chico Creek Nature Center and joining other local groups to clean up litter in the park.

To see all the fun pictures of the animals the kids got to meet, please, visit our Facebook Page!

Every Saturday, the Family Support staff plan educational and fun activities for special needs children and their siblings. The activities offer a varied recreational and social experiences. If you would like to sign your child up for ROCK events, please, contact Rene Tousant.