In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network reported that approximately 1 in 110 children in the United States has an Autism Spectrum Disorder. This represents an increase in the prevalence of autism disorders compared to earlier in the decade when prevalence was cited as 1 in 166 and 1 in 250. In the nineties, prevalence was 1 in 2500. It is difficult to compare autism rates over the last three decades, as the diagnostic criteria for autism have changed over the years, No matter what, this has become a problem we get to deal with in powerful and effective ways.

Stephanie Ray, a Legacy Center graduate, NC129 Leadership, has written an article about autism and parents.

What parents should expect from school professionals

(reprinted Raleigh Autism Examiner)

As you are reading this, another woman is giving birth to a child with autism. He won’t be diagnosed for a few years, but when he is, his mother will probably search frantically for treatment options; options that range from shock therapy to alternative schooling to intensive home programs. Most parents don’t even question the scientific validity of treatments. The majority of parents, especially new ones, tend to take ideas heard on television talk shows, printed in magazines, or blogged on the internet as fact and scientifically relevant when there is NO evidence to attest to the treatment’s validity. While it is excusable, to an extent, for parents to get caught in the whirlwind of autism treatments presented in pop psychology today, it is NOT acceptable for school professionals to do the same. What should parents of children with autism expect from their school administration and professionals?

Schools have nothing to learn from pseudoscientific treatments, but they have plenty to learn from marketing strategies. Responsible professionals find these treatments hard to accept and consider it unprofessional to let their students and parents cling to unrealistic hopes. However, while school professionals need not nurture false hopes, neither should they ignore the power of hope and the parents’ emotional needs. Parents need to feel positive about their children’s educational environment and the ability of that environment to meet their child’s needs. This applies to the parental population as a whole, but especially for parents of children with special needs. Parents need to feel useful; they need to feel like they can make things better for their child and it’s the school’s job to nurture that feeling.

How should school professionals respond when parents request for services a district is unable—or unwilling—to provide? It is the responsibility of the professional to investigate it. Families should be encouraged to discuss what they’ve heard. To understand the concept, professionals should watch the program or read the article that inspired the parents. They should search for value in the teachings, for they want to appear as credible as talk show hosts, right? If they feel the information presented in the program or article about a “miracle” treatment is not valid, they should explain why and what would make it more valuable. School professionals are dealing with a fragile entity, parental hope. They want to direct the parent’s energy away from an unreasonable program and toward something constructive they can do for the child—together.

The best defense against an unreasonable demand is a good assessment. This can reassure parents that someone understands their child as well as, or better than, the family. However, it is important that school professionals don’t try to bluff the parents. It’s better to go into IEP meetings with questions that with pat answers. If school staff have incomplete information, they need to be honest about it. Most parents will respect professionals who say they need more time to evaluate the child or want the parents’ opinions on issues as well as solutions.

Ideally, a starting point would be established by parents and school staff as a team. Once this is done, setting appropriate goals can be a difficult task for both professionals and parents alike. A main reason for this could be that our society hasn’t done a satisfactory job of articulating goals of regular education, let alone special education. Parents generally have a fuzzy recollection of their own school experience—recalling nine months a year divided between academics and recreation. Perhaps they think the only educational objective was graduation and preparation for college.

Parents assume special education will be different from regular education, but they don’t really know what to expect. They may ask “What exactly will my child be learning?”, “How will I know if they are making progress?”, “How will the teacher reach all the children when they all have different disabilities?” and possibly most importantly “What is the ultimate goal of my child being in a special education classroom?” The uncertainty can add to their uneasiness. They already have a child who can’t fully understand; now they have to deal with an educational system that hasn’t been clearly defined!  Some parents hope special education will help their child catch up with other students. They may hope for a total recovery by graduation. However, most parents recognize that their child’s disability won’t fade with age. Rather, the child with a disability will become an adult with a disability. Eventually, even the most hopeful parents face their compromise with destiny.

As a school professional, it is our job to join forces with parents in service to the child. This may mean being open to new ideas, facing being questioned about our own beliefs, and willing to make sacrifices for the success of the child. Parents rely on school professionals to provide top notch services to their child with autism and expect nothing less than our very best. It is the job of the school professional to create an educational environment that is both nurturing for the student and satisfying for the parents.

HOW SELF-TALK AFFECTS STRESS

Most people carry on silent conversations with themselves during much of the day. These internal dialogues influence our thoughts, emotions and behavior. Understanding self-talk and how it affects you is the first step in learning how to rewrite your self-talk “script” resulting in a less stressful way of life.

Thoughts and Behaviors
Self-talk can be a self-fulfilling prophecy, something you think
about so much that you make it happen. When your self-talk is
positive, “I can address these problems one at a time,” or, ”I
can handle wearing a gas mask,” you are giving yourself permission
to succeed and chances are you will. When your self-talk is negative,
“I know I will have a hard time keeping my gas mask on,” or “I
know I will lose my balance when I get on the beam,” or “I am not
smart enough to do this,” you are giving up on yourself and chances
are you will not even try to succeed. Often your self-talk reflects
the values and behaviors you learned as a child and the self-esteem
you now have as an adult.

Positive or Negative?
Negative self-talk can cause or increase your distress and make
effects such as headaches or stomach pain worse. Self-talk can also
encourage you to behave in destructive ways, which further stresses
your body. Fortunately, positive self-talk can have the opposite
effect, leading to lower stress levels.

How to rewrite Your Script
Learn to listen to your own self-talk. Draw three columns on a sheet
of paper. In the first column write several things you would like to
happen in your life: “I’d like a new car,” “I’d like to lose 10 pounds.”
Then close your eyes and listen to how you respond
to each item. Write your self-talk in the second column: “We cannot
afford it,” “I can probably do it, I’ve done it before.” In
the third column write down a thought that is opposite the statement
in column two. Look over your list. If column two is more positive
than column three you are already on your way to thinking positively.
But, if column two is more negative, look at column three for a more
helpful, healthier response. Practice choosing positive self-talk.
You will feel happier, more confident, and less stressed.
There is a saying: “You are what you eat.” An even truer
statement is: “YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK.” It is your way of
“being.” It is not so much the events that occur in your life,
but how you respond to them.

BIOGRAPHY-UNITED STATES AIR FORCE RETIRED
LT COL (Colonel Select) J. CHARLES LINN

Lt Col James “JC” Linn was Director, Joint Regional Medical
Planning Office, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. Tasked by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to plan, integrate, and execute regional response in the United States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) area of responsibility for wartime contingencies, domestic, and national security emergencies. This mission is accomplished by formulating, developing and coordinating many of the medical plans and operations affecting a great part of Eastern United States. Colonel Linn maintained medical readiness for worldwide contingencies with 1,500 staff members, a resource allocation of $113 million and 60-bed inpatient service. Hand selected by HQ USAF Surgeon General for Russian language skills training in St Petersburg, Russia, Col Linn was then slated as the AF only Russian Medical Liaison to the Pacific Air Command AF Surgeon General (PACAF/SG). Nominated as the White House Presidential Physician Associate, Linn medically supported the Presidential and Congressional special airlift missions as well as global aeromedical evacuation. Lt Col Linn was born in Newark, Ohio, 23 January 1951. He received a Bachelor of Science in Medicine from the University of Oklahoma, College of Medicine, a Masters of the Arts in Journalism degree, and his doctorate in Theocentric Psychology. He is ATLS, ACLS, ABLS, and PALS trained. He was pinned 1st Lieutenant in 1981, and Captain in 1983. In 2000, he was selected for Colonel. After 27 years of an Air Force career, and 23 years of medical practice, he was line of duty medically retired following a traumatic brain injury.

He thoroughly enjoys his coaching and leadership skills training at
Legacy Center in Morrisville, North Carolina and participates at
every opportunity. Dr. Linn was in the NC115 Legacy Center Leadership Program at Legacy Center. His hobbies include antique classic automobiles, woodworking, philately, antiquing, writing poetry, singing professionally, and contributing medical “pearls” on his website. (http://www.ImproveLife2theMax.com) Dr Linn is married to the former Leyla Ann Sheahin of Washington, DC. Together, they have seven children; Jeffrey, Gary, Lisa, Rick, Jason, Åndria, and Allison; eleven grandchildren and four great-children.

My first clinical use of EFT was with a Duke student in my stress
management class who had acute stress disorder and hives after
surviving a serious car accident. That first opportunity to test EFT
came in 2002 just after downloading a free manual from the Internet,
so if it worked for me that easily, you can learn it just as quickly.
The full story is published in the attached article from the May 2010
Energy Psychology Journal.
Let magic happen,
Larry Burk

Bio
Dr. Burk’s academic career in radiology focused on MRI of the knee and shoulder
from 1987 to 2004 including faculty positions at Jefferson Medical College,
Eastern Virginia Medical School and Duke University School of Medicine.
He took his first course in hypnosis in 1990 and completed the UCLA
Acupuncture Course for Physicians in 1998. That same year, he
co-founded the Duke Center for Integrative Medicine and acted as
Education Director until his departure from Duke in 2004 to set up
his consulting business, Healing Imager, Inc.

Dr. Burk learned EFT in 2002 and had multiple breakthroughs in 2003
at The Legacy Center during his NC59 Leadership program.
He has experienced many magical synchronicities in his career and life
that have guided him along his journey. Read the article: Larry Burk EFT

Osteoarthritis is a type of arthritis that is caused by the breakdown and eventual loss of the cartilage of one or more joints. Cartilage is a protein substance that serves as a “cushion” between the bones of the joints. Osteoarthritis is also known as degenerative arthritis. Among the over 100 different types of arthritis conditions, osteoarthritis is the most common, affecting over 20 million people in the United States. Osteoarthritis occurs more frequently as we age. Before age 45, osteoarthritis occurs more frequently in males. After 55 years of age, it occurs more frequently in females. In the United States, all races appear equally affected. A higher incidence of osteoarthritis exists in the Japanese population, while South-African blacks, East Indians, and Southern Chinese have lower rates.

Few alternative medicine therapies have been extensively studied in clinical trials so it is difficult to assess whether these treatments are helpful for osteoarthritis pain

Common alternative treatments that have shown some promise for osteoarthritis include: Acupuncture, ginger, glucosamine and chondroitin, avocado-soybean unsaponifiables (ASUs), Tai chi and yoga.

More about osteoarthritis.

Anyhow as a result of all these experiences and not to mention that every time one comes to Legacy Center, the first thing we do is DANCE!

I am now a ZUMBA dance instructor! I am also a certified nutrition consultant and holistic health practitioner. I have lost about 3 sizes and take ballroom dance lessons 3 times a week.

BIO
Kirsten Tan, RDMS,RVT-HHP offers advice in wellness, fitness and nutrition to manage medically related issues such as obesity, diabetes and other metabolic diseases. www.consaludnatural.com.
Kirsten is a graduate of Legacy Center’s NC90 Leadership Program.

As a licensed clinical social worker, I provide counseling to adolescents, adults, families, and couples. My work is focused on meeting an individual wherever he or she may be in life and assisting them through periods of change and growth in respect to his or her life experiences.  I believe in a collaborative approach to healing. My relationally focused psychodynamic style supports the idea that healing occurs through our connection with others. By providing a safe and solid therapeutic relationship to a person, that person begins to experience a greater range of perspective regarding their own life and the lives around them.

I believe that increased self-awareness enables individuals to recognize that they have more choices in their lives. Self-awareness also allows a person to gain ownership and empowerment in making these choices. As a result, a person can discover a new freedom in which to live life. I sometimes refer to therapy as mind yoga; the ability to have increased flexibility in how to think, perceive, and interpret the meaning of the events that take place in our lives. I believe our minds need exercise just like the body in order to stay fit and healthy.

Wikipedia defines psychotherapy as an intentional interpersonal relationship used by trained psychotherapists to aid a client or patient in problems of living. As a practitioner, I accept that problems, struggles, and even trauma are intrinsically connected to living. Because I see struggle as a given, I appreciate that problems provide opportunities to delve more deeply into who we are as human beings and find constructive meaning in our past and present day lives. In turn, we can gain greater power in writing the script for our future.

I participated in the Legacy Center Trainings beginning in January of 2000.  I had recently finished my graduate  school program and was working at my first clinical social work job.  My supervisor, Miki Jaeger, recommended I take part in this “workshop” which I readily enrolled.  All I really knew at the time was that I was embarking on some kind of leadership program. Four months later, I could not easily articulate the profound impact the experience of these trainings had on my life, both personally and professionally.  I noticed that I had gained a sense of self-esteem that gave me courage to believe more fully in myself and my capacity to make a difference in the world.  I started my private practice a year later at the age of 27 years old.  I also noticed an enhanced ability to connect and create relationship with others.  This made a noticeable difference in my personal life with family and friends as well as a much more meaningful connection with the many people I would treat as a psychotherapist.  One of the greatest gifts I received from volunteering as a coach and now working as a facilitator is going beyond creating tangible positive change in my own life, but being a person that supports and inspires others to do so as well.   Over ten years later, I am still practicing and grateful for the context of leadership in my life and the many possibilities it creates.

BIO
Ellen Pizer, LCSW
Ellen received her BA in French from Washington University in St. Louis and Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work from Smith College.  She has been in private practice since November of 2001.  Ellen completed Legacy Center’s NC30 Leadership Program in May of 2000.  She has worked as a consultant, co-facilitating experiential leadership trainings for teenagers and their parents for the Legacy Center Foundation since 2003 (Teen Leadership).

Bring Right sometimes is fleetingly satisfying.  However, being right is the booby prize.  I can be right or be healthy, be right or be in shape, be right or have the relationships, success and satisfaction we want.  Being a Legacy Center trainer I should know better than choosing to be right!.  Being right doesn’t improve my life.  I “should” know better.  But lately I haven’t.

I have been being right about personal trainers and health clubs.  My health club closed so I had to travel one hour round trip.  I traveled because my trainer of five years was at the new location;  and I had a great trainer.  Then my trainer got resigned about the training business and quit and left!
So I started to be right about the commute and stopped going to the club.
I was annoyed but I  finally bit the bullet and joined a new club near my house.  I still gave myself the right to be annoyed.
I looked for a new trainer, which annoyed me more.  “I shouldn’t have to, I had a great trainer and he should have stayed in the business.”
WA WA WA WA WA WA WA BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

Two trainers in a row missed their appointments with me.  Now I had more evidence  to be right.  So I stopped going to the club and complained about how people do not live their word.  I even thought, never another health club membership.  I even rationalized it by seeing all the money I was saving by not having a personal trainer.  I even thought of canceling my membership.
WA WA WA WA WA WA WA BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

I can be right or be in shape.  So this morning I went back to the gym, got on the equipment and worked out.  Tomorrow morning I get to do it again.
And then I will hire a new personal trainer.  And I am sure after awhile, I will say he or she is the best trainer I ever had.  If I am going to be right, it might as well be about some good stuff.

I knew this.  As a Legacy Center trainer and student of transformation, I of course should know better.  But then, being right is a cultural conversation.  It just doesn’t work.

Lori Todd, PhD Dr. Lori Todd is the senior coach at Legacy Center and a Leadership and Advanced Trainer.  Lori has been coaching and leading transformational workshops since 1996, and leads trainings across the United States and Mexico.  She received a BS from Antioch College, MS from Cornell University, and a PhD in Environmental Sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  In 1990, she became an Assistant Professor at UNC and, in 1994, President Clinton awarded her a Presidential Faculty Fellow award for her teaching and research, one of thirteen scientists in the US.  In 1995, Lori was a finalist for the Discover Magazine Award for Technological Innovation for her research in mapping harmful chemicals in air.  In addition to being a scientist, trainer and coach, Lori is an artist and animal lover

Evening Primrose Oil
Evening primrose oil has been used since the 1930s for eczema (a condition in which the skin becomes inflamed, itchy, or scaly because of allergies or other irritation).  It has been used for other conditions involving inflammation, such as rheumatoid arthritis.  Evening primrose oil is used for conditions affecting women’s health, such as breast pain associated with the menstrual cycle, menopausal symptoms, and premenstrual syndrome (PMS).  Other conditions for which evening primrose oil is used include cancer and diabetes.

GINGER
Ginger is used in Oriental medicine to treat stomach aches, nausea, and diarrhea.  Many digestive, anti-nausea, and cold and flu dietary supplements sold in the United States contain ginger extract as an ingredient.  Ginger is used to alleviate post-surgery nausea as well as nausea caused by motion, chemotherapy, and pregnancy.  Ginger has been used for rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and joint and muscle pain.

Garlic
Garlic’s most common uses as a dietary supplement are for high cholesterol, heart disease, and high blood pressure.  Garlic is also used to prevent certain types of cancer, including stomach and colon cancers.  Some of the most popular traditional uses of garlic have been for colds, flu and other infections, earaches, vaginal yeast infections, and high blood pressure. Modern research has focused on four main areas: heart disease, cancer, infectious disease, and antioxidant effects.  Garlic reduces cholesterol levels and raises the level of healthy high-density lipoproteins.  Garlic also appears to lower blood pressure directly.

Green Tea
Green tea and green tea extracts, have been used to prevent and treat a variety of cancers, including breast, stomach, and skin cancers.  Green tea has also been used for improving mental alertness, aiding in weight loss, lowering cholesterol levels, and protecting skin from sun damage.

Peppermint oil
Peppermint oil has been used for a variety of health conditions, including nausea, indigestion, and cold symptoms.  Peppermint oil is also used for headaches, muscle and nerve pain, and stomach and bowel conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome.

By chance, I found a Dahn Yoga center near my office and walked in.  It was different than most yoga centers in that it is a Korean based form.  The word dahn in Korean means energy.  I began one-on-one sessions with the center master and noticed after three months, a significant improvement in my body’s condition.  I also discovered a form of T’ai Chi called Dahn Mu Do, which translates to “the way of limitless energy or power”.  I began to focus on Dahn Mu Do fully for my training and my healing.  I loved it so much that I became a Dahn Master and now teach energy yoga and healing T’ai Chi to others.  I am now on my way to living my dream and fulfilling my life’s purpose.

I discovered that this practice and the Legacy Center programs are so in tune with each other.  I discovered that I can push through my limitations and connect with my authentic true self simply by choosing to do so. I found a way to put into daily practice, the learning experiences from the Legacy Center programs.  The Legacy Center enabled me to be open to this training and to what has now become my way of living.  More about Yoga

Thank you Legacy Center.
John
Legacy Center Graduate of Legacy Center NC 88 Leadership Program

My approach to wellness for my clients is meta-physical.  All aspects of the person must be included.  We are creators and therefore not only manifest of our experiences but most importantly what we think (especially sub-consciously).  All of this has a direct affect on our health.

I have a client-friend who is in the process of healing Huntington’s Chorea. We worked together for approximately one year, doing Reiki, Massage, Energy Work and Journeying. During her healing process, she came to understand that hopelessness was the major emotional state affecting her life. She enrolled in the Legacy trainings, as I believed that this would be the technology that would give her the ability to breakthrough the hopelessness and have the life that has been waiting for her.

At her last doctor’s appointment, she was showing negligible signs of Huntington’s, whereas one year earlier, she was told that she was declining at a rapid rate and that she should set up a DNR and could no longer live alone.

Namaste
Jeannine Vautrin Legacy Center NC 96 Leadership Program