{"author_link":"\/users\/nazriel","author_name":"nazriel","author_uid":"nazriel","comments":[],"epoch":1675589274,"event":"LD52","format":"md","ldjam_node_id":323876,"likes":0,"metadata":{"p_key":"172033","p_author":"nazriel","p_authorkey":"1235492","p_urlkey":"401345","p_title":"Helping Community Members Impacted by Autism through Fitness","p_cat":"LDJam ","p_event":"LD52","p_time":"1675589274","p_likes":"0","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":"1235492","us_name":"nazriel","us_username":"nazriel","event_start":"1672963200","event_key":"116","event_name":"Ludum Dare 52"},"node":{"_collation":{"body_sanitizer":"TextUtils::SanitizeHTML via existing importer","event":"LD52","removed_author":false},"_superparent":313060,"_trust":-1000,"author":235492,"body":"On November 17th, 2009, parents Rudy and Becky Thoms\u2019 world changed when their son, Landon, one of three kids in the family, was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In the years following, the family endured many obstacles together before being able to enroll Landon in Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), which is incredibly expensive, time consuming and challenging to get covered by insurance. \n\nFrom Our Sponsor Continue for More Content\n\nInspired by their son who is non-verbal, the North Carolina couple co-founded AMRAP 4 Autism in 2013, a community fitness event that generates awareness and proceeds for the Autism Strong Foundation \u2014 directly providing therapy to those who need it to work on communicating, learning and even speaking. To date, the nationwide organization has raised over two million dollars.\n\n\u201c14,000 hours of therapy were paid for by our organization in 2022 and we\u2019ve allotted 41,500 hours for 2023,\u201d said Steve Hartle, National Brand Ambassador for Autism Strong, 10-year affiliate owner and CrossFit Games athlete. \u201cAs a little tiny foundation, we\u2019ve been extremely powerful in this area, and we know we can make a huge difference everywhere.\u201d \n\n\nPhoto Credit: Preslie Hirsch\nEverywhere is right, as the mission continues to expand \u2014 reaching the southwest for the first time on January 28th. CrossFit Magna in Phoenix, Arizona was the first gym in the desert state to host the charity workout. When a gym signs on to run the event, AMRAP 4 Autism provides the affiliate with the programming (and scaling options), as well as banners, coach t-shirts, digital marketing materials, a custom fundraising website and even email copy to send to members; making the process as easy and effective as possible. \n\n\u201cLandon was born at 32 weeks, our founder\u2019s son, and so 32-minute AMRAP has always been the constant. Outside of that, the movements have changed, the numbers and reps schemes have changed,\u201d Hartle said. \u201cThis year, 44 is a big number because based on (recent) CDC stats, it\u2019s one in 44 children that are impacted by autism in some capacity.\u201d\n\nCrossFit Magna member Alexis Whittington participated in the workout last weekend, as the cause hits incredibly close to home. \n\n\u201cOur journey with (daughter) Charlotte has been a long one. Ever since she was probably about 18 months, I started kind of having those feelings of like, something is going on here, something\u2019s not quite right, and feeling pretty devastated in those moments,\u201d she explained. \u201cI\u2019ve had so many sleepless nights and shed so many tears over the fear of this, and I don\u2019t have many of those anymore, which is great. I think a lot of that comes from gaining information over the years, which I really had to fight for so early on.\u201d\n\nIt took years of tests, trial and error before Charlotte, now 10-years-old, was diagnosed with autism.\n\n\u201cI think they call it masking, when you\u2019re hiding your autism, trying to fit in. She masked really, really well, and she could hold it together for like an hour or two hours while she\u2019s being technically evaluated so she just wasn\u2019t ever diagnosed,\u201d Whittington said. \u201c\u2026I did cry (once finally diagnosed), but it was out of relief.\u201d \n\n\u201cIt was like, finally. I have been wondering and looking. It\u2019s not necessarily that I need or want or enforcing a diagnosis, but I needed and I wanted a pathway, a pathway to help my child be as successful as she can be and to help her understand what she\u2019s feeling and what she\u2019s going through in a much more clear way.\u201d\n\nWhittington expressed that parents should advocate for their child and listen to their gut instinct, because autism doesn\u2019t look the same on everyone. \n\n\nPhoto Credit: Preslie Hirsch\n\u201cI think something that I read a long time ago, and that really stuck with me, is if you meet one autistic person, you\u2019ve met one autistic person. It\u2019s a spectrum, it really is. It\u2019s not like your child is going to fit into some box now and you\u2019d be like, oh, so this is how they are. Your child doesn\u2019t change. You know your child the best. So don\u2019t feel like getting a diagnosis all of a sudden changes who they are,\u201d Whittington suggests. \u201cCharlotte hasn\u2019t changed since her diagnosis. She\u2019s the same kid as she\u2019s always been, and I think a lot of people just don\u2019t realize what autism can look like. I think we all have an idea in our head of what it looks like, which sometimes it is very specific. But like I said before, it\u2019s a spectrum.\u201d\n\nhttps:\/\/morningchalkup.com\/community\/2023\/02\/05\/watch-pathan-pathaan-fullmovie-free-online-on-123movies\/\nhttps:\/\/morningchalkup.com\/community\/2023\/02\/05\/watch-avatar-2-free-fullmovie-online\/\nhttps:\/\/morningchalkup.com\/community\/2023\/02\/05\/watch-puss-in-boots-the-last-wish-2023-fullmovie-free-online-on-123movies\/\nhttps:\/\/morningchalkup.com\/community\/2023\/02\/05\/watch-teen-wolf-the-movie-2023-fullmovie-free-online-stream-on-123movies-in-usa\/\nhttps:\/\/morningchalkup.com\/community\/2023\/02\/05\/%f0%9d%90%96%f0%9d%90%80%f0%9d%90%93%f0%9d%90%82%f0%9d%90%87-m3gan-2022-fullmovie-free-streaming-online-at-home\/\nhttps:\/\/morningchalkup.com\/community\/2023\/02\/05\/watch-pathaan-fullmovie-free-online-on-123movies\/\nhttps:\/\/morningchalkup.com\/community\/2023\/02\/05\/watch-avatar-2-free-fullmovie-online-free\/","comments":1,"comments-timestamp":"2023-02-05T10:30:01Z","created":"2023-02-05T09:25:29Z","files":[],"files-timestamp":0,"id":323876,"love":0,"meta":[],"modified":"2023-02-05T10:30:01Z","name":"Helping Community Members Impacted by Autism through Fitness","node-timestamp":"2023-02-05T09:27:54Z","parent":323744,"parents":[1,5,9,313060,323744],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/52\/$323744\/helping-community-members-impacted-by-autism-through-fitness","published":"2023-02-05T09:27:54Z","scope":"public","slug":"helping-community-members-impacted-by-autism-through-fitness","subsubtype":"","subtype":"","type":"post","version":1011077},"node_metadata":{"n_key":"323876","n_urlkey":"401345","n_parent":"323744","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/52\/$323744\/helping-community-members-impacted-by-autism-through-fitness","n_slug":"helping-community-members-impact","n_type":"post","n_subtype":"","n_subsubtype":"","n_author":"235492","n_created":"1675589129","n_modified":"1675593001","n_version":"1011077","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"source_url":"https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/52\/$323744\/helping-community-members-impacted-by-autism-through-fitness","text":"On November 17th, 2009, parents Rudy and Becky Thoms\u2019 world changed when their son, Landon, one of three kids in the family, was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In the years following, the family endured many obstacles together before being able to enroll Landon in Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), which is incredibly expensive, time consuming and challenging to get covered by insurance. \n\nFrom Our Sponsor Continue for More Content\n\nInspired by their son who is non-verbal, the North Carolina couple co-founded AMRAP 4 Autism in 2013, a community fitness event that generates awareness and proceeds for the Autism Strong Foundation \u2014 directly providing therapy to those who need it to work on communicating, learning and even speaking. To date, the nationwide organization has raised over two million dollars.\n\n\u201c14,000 hours of therapy were paid for by our organization in 2022 and we\u2019ve allotted 41,500 hours for 2023,\u201d said Steve Hartle, National Brand Ambassador for Autism Strong, 10-year affiliate owner and CrossFit Games athlete. \u201cAs a little tiny foundation, we\u2019ve been extremely powerful in this area, and we know we can make a huge difference everywhere.\u201d \n\n\nPhoto Credit: Preslie Hirsch\nEverywhere is right, as the mission continues to expand \u2014 reaching the southwest for the first time on January 28th. CrossFit Magna in Phoenix, Arizona was the first gym in the desert state to host the charity workout. When a gym signs on to run the event, AMRAP 4 Autism provides the affiliate with the programming (and scaling options), as well as banners, coach t-shirts, digital marketing materials, a custom fundraising website and even email copy to send to members; making the process as easy and effective as possible. \n\n\u201cLandon was born at 32 weeks, our founder\u2019s son, and so 32-minute AMRAP has always been the constant. Outside of that, the movements have changed, the numbers and reps schemes have changed,\u201d Hartle said. \u201cThis year, 44 is a big number because based on (recent) CDC stats, it\u2019s one in 44 children that are impacted by autism in some capacity.\u201d\n\nCrossFit Magna member Alexis Whittington participated in the workout last weekend, as the cause hits incredibly close to home. \n\n\u201cOur journey with (daughter) Charlotte has been a long one. Ever since she was probably about 18 months, I started kind of having those feelings of like, something is going on here, something\u2019s not quite right, and feeling pretty devastated in those moments,\u201d she explained. \u201cI\u2019ve had so many sleepless nights and shed so many tears over the fear of this, and I don\u2019t have many of those anymore, which is great. I think a lot of that comes from gaining information over the years, which I really had to fight for so early on.\u201d\n\nIt took years of tests, trial and error before Charlotte, now 10-years-old, was diagnosed with autism.\n\n\u201cI think they call it masking, when you\u2019re hiding your autism, trying to fit in. She masked really, really well, and she could hold it together for like an hour or two hours while she\u2019s being technically evaluated so she just wasn\u2019t ever diagnosed,\u201d Whittington said. \u201c\u2026I did cry (once finally diagnosed), but it was out of relief.\u201d \n\n\u201cIt was like, finally. I have been wondering and looking. It\u2019s not necessarily that I need or want or enforcing a diagnosis, but I needed and I wanted a pathway, a pathway to help my child be as successful as she can be and to help her understand what she\u2019s feeling and what she\u2019s going through in a much more clear way.\u201d\n\nWhittington expressed that parents should advocate for their child and listen to their gut instinct, because autism doesn\u2019t look the same on everyone. \n\n\nPhoto Credit: Preslie Hirsch\n\u201cI think something that I read a long time ago, and that really stuck with me, is if you meet one autistic person, you\u2019ve met one autistic person. It\u2019s a spectrum, it really is. It\u2019s not like your child is going to fit into some box now and you\u2019d be like, oh, so this is how they are. Your child doesn\u2019t change. You know your child the best. So don\u2019t feel like getting a diagnosis all of a sudden changes who they are,\u201d Whittington suggests. \u201cCharlotte hasn\u2019t changed since her diagnosis. She\u2019s the same kid as she\u2019s always been, and I think a lot of people just don\u2019t realize what autism can look like. I think we all have an idea in our head of what it looks like, which sometimes it is very specific. But like I said before, it\u2019s a spectrum.\u201d\n\nhttps:\/\/morningchalkup.com\/community\/2023\/02\/05\/watch-pathan-pathaan-fullmovie-free-online-on-123movies\/\nhttps:\/\/morningchalkup.com\/community\/2023\/02\/05\/watch-avatar-2-free-fullmovie-online\/\nhttps:\/\/morningchalkup.com\/community\/2023\/02\/05\/watch-puss-in-boots-the-last-wish-2023-fullmovie-free-online-on-123movies\/\nhttps:\/\/morningchalkup.com\/community\/2023\/02\/05\/watch-teen-wolf-the-movie-2023-fullmovie-free-online-stream-on-123movies-in-usa\/\nhttps:\/\/morningchalkup.com\/community\/2023\/02\/05\/%f0%9d%90%96%f0%9d%90%80%f0%9d%90%93%f0%9d%90%82%f0%9d%90%87-m3gan-2022-fullmovie-free-streaming-online-at-home\/\nhttps:\/\/morningchalkup.com\/community\/2023\/02\/05\/watch-pathaan-fullmovie-free-online-on-123movies\/\nhttps:\/\/morningchalkup.com\/community\/2023\/02\/05\/watch-avatar-2-free-fullmovie-online-free\/","title":"Helping Community Members Impacted by Autism through Fitness","wayback_source":[]}