Reporter ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
Friday, June 7, 2013
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Water woes Issaquah mayor says water district is using fear tactics BY LINDA BALL LBALL@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
Seven-yearold Roman Allen, who has autism, peeks from inside the trampoline at Lakeside Center for Autism.
LINDA BALL, Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter
A JUMP ON AUTISM Issaquah’s Lakeside Center uses trampoline as a form of therapy for children
LBALL@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
T
here are many different manifestations of autism spectrum disorder, but therapists at Lakeside Center for Autism in Issaquah have found jumping on a trampoline is an activity all of the kids at the facility enjoy and benefit from.
About three years ago, Springfree Trampoline donated a trampoline to the center. It is completely spring-free with no holes to fall into on the sides, and it’s completely enclosed with a strong tension net. “From a physical therapy standpoint, for motor delay, if they’re motivated by something – jumping – they’ll do it,” said Carrie Hoyt, a physical therapist at the center. “They love it, and it makes them stronger and helps with balance and motor skills.” Roman Allen, 7, is motivated to get his work done because his reward is to jump on the
trampoline. “It’s currency for him,” said his mom, Amy Allen. Roman was diagnosed with pervasive development disorder – not otherwise specified, or PDD-NOS at age 4. Amy and her husband, Zach, knew something was wrong at 19-months, because Roman wasn’t walking and his ankles turned inward. Roman also had large motor skills delay, called hypotonia, which means his muscles don’t rest in the same position as everyone else. “He’s hyper-flexible,” Amy said. “He didn’t walk until he was 23-months old, and potty training took longer.” Lacking the endurance of most children, Roman’s condition also delays learning. Roman needed occupational therapy for fine motor skills, as well as speech therapy. By age 3 he was in all three types of therapy – physical, occupational and speech. “He likes things a certain way,” Amy said. “When they focus on things being a certain way and it’s not, the world falls apart.” Roman is just one example of autism spectrum disorder. There are non-verbal children, savants and children who don’t 799303
BY LINDA BALL
potty train until they are 5-years-old. But the trampoline provides benefits for all of them. Occupational therapist Erica Bigler uses the trampoline for sensory input. “A lot of times children on the spectrum are under-responsive to knowing where their body is in space,” Bigler said. “This sends more intense input – deep pressure input which increases their body awareness.” The trampoline also sends input to the child’s brain to help them understand where they are in space, and increases alertness, Bigler said. Hoyt said one of her students has frequent seizures, so he has to wear a helmet at all times to avoid head injury, but on the trampoline he doesn’t have to wear it. SEE TRAMPOLINE, 3 CONTEMPORARY MEXICAN CUISINE
PPY HOUER! BEST HAE SID ON THE AST WEEKEND BRUNCH: $4 Mimosas $5 Marys.
Issaquah Mayor Ava Frisinger took to the mic Monday night to assure residents of Issaquah and Sammamish that the city would never hurt its own water source. In what is turning out to be an extremely contentious issue, Frisinger said a letter sent out by the Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District, dated May 20, “misstated facts about water quality and attempted to use scare tactics to further the agency’s own political agenda. Most of the letter was simply not true.” The letter from the district speaks to the threat posed by the city of Issaquah to inject untreated storm water into the ground above an aquifer a short distance from well number nine. The well is one of several that provides water to residents in Sammamish and Issaquah. The district says that the storm water carries serious pollutants, including fecal coliform, which by state law does not belong in a groundwater aquifer. The Washington State Department of Ecology is poised to issue a permit to Issaquah to allow the process. Frisinger said the state would never issue such a permit if it wasn’t safe. Infiltration is “nothing new,” Frisinger said, stating that 430 storm water injection systems SEE WATER, 5 lands
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