Autism and parenting: Bay Area fathers share their perspective
SFGate recently asked fathers of children with autism to answer this question: What advice would you offer to new autism dads?
Here is what they had to say.
On January 29th, you have an opportunity to hear more from fathers–and grandfathers–of children on the autism spectrum as part of the Marin and North Bay Autism Lecture Series presented by Karen Kaplan. (Down load a flyer for the entire series HERE)
Dads: The Wisdom of Our Voices features:
Dr. Richard Oken, a pediatric doctor practicing in Berkeley and Orinda, and was the pediatrician for my children. He is also a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at UCSF and has taught pediatrics at that institution and Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland for over 35 years. He has 5 grandchildren and one has autism. He is the best pediatrician in the whole world, my sons tell me, and I agree.
Mark Jackson, General Partner of Atlas, LLC, a company dedicated to creating high-quality, comprehensive living solutions for adults with disabilities in small, integrated shared housing settings. Mark serves on the coordinating council of the CA Senate Select Committee on Autism, the board of the Cedars, the transition committee of the Marin Autism Collaborative. He and his wife are the parents of a 21 year old son with autism
Fearon Scott has his MBA from Northwestern, is one of the founders of Oak Hill School a school for children with autism in Marin County, sat on Oak Hill’s Board of Directors for 8 years. His 19 year old son has cystic fibrosis, autism and for the past three years a seizure disorder.
Thomas Dryer is the father of Ian, a 19 year old with autism. Tom graduated from U.C Berkeley and maintains a real estate practice in Marin County. He loves mountain biking, classical and jazz music and plays jazz guitar around Marin with friends. He believes it is incredible important to create a team approach to meet the needs of his son. His wish is that he would have met other parents who had been through the perplexing maze of treatment modalities that were recommended. He feels it could have helped him cope with the challenges of raising Ian.