Questions from families answered!
Finding Dory speaks to disabilities in a powerful way I just saw Finding Dory, another wonderful production from the guys over at Pixar. And as with many connected with Hollywood and the film industry they are challenging society to think about what we all represent. In this case the challenge comes in the form of special needs [...]
Enda and Val speak on the Keith Finnegan Show Val and I had the wonderful opportunity to share our story on the Keith Finnegan show. Conor and Eoin came with us and sat in on the interview. As with many occasions in the last number of years, the interview was a proud moment for all the [...]
LANGUAGE is the key to communication. Story by Jacqueline Hogge And with that a vital tool for learning for each and every child. But for many children with special needs, delayed speech and language can confine them to years of locked in frustration and a litany of missed opportunities. This is how the future [...]
Disney media and speech therapy combine! By Margaret Langevin, Connacht Tribune One of the most memorable quotes from finding Nemo was when Dory repeatedly said, just keep swimming, just keep swimming. That's exactly what Enda and Valerie Dodd did with their twin sons Conor and Eoin who were diagnosed as autistic at an early age. The medical [...]
A Galway family has developed software that aims to help children with autism communicate. Enda and Valerie Dodd’s innovative software solution ALL, Animated Language Learning, is a state of the art, visually rich language learning programme they say has “already lifted their twin sons from the isolation of autism”. They are now determined to make [...]
Animated Language Learning in the national news By Catherine Shanahan Irish Examiner Reporter A Disney movie, parental love, and two autistic sons whose connection with Buzz and Woody gave them the language to communicate were all key to formulating a simple but genius idea that could help autistic kids the world over. With a [...]
Your speech therapist and language. When Val and I look back on the boys' early years, we could remember several specialists who provided communication therapies to the boys. But at the core of the boys' problems, when you cut through all the behaviors, the anxiety and the confusion, behind it all lay a desperate need [...]
The parent advocate and special needs families I am often asked by parents who made the most difference in the lives of the boys after diagnosis - a parent advocate, speech therapist, a school, a clinic or someone else? And what were the decisions we made that helped most in bringing the boys [...]
The Autistic child and communication I remember the early days of confusion surrounding Conor and Eoin after the autistic child "diagnosis". Both boys had been described as intelligent to Val and I, but at the same time unteachable and unreachable. What a nightmare, all I could think of was Dustin Hoffman in Rain man. The [...]
A great many parents worry about Disney animation overstimulating their autistic child. Without question an unsupervised autistic child can become over stimulated watching Disney animation. I remember Conor as a young child glued to his favorite Disney animation and becoming totally over stimulated. It was clear to me that Conor enjoyed the experience of watching Disney animation. But I [...]
