Dad's Night Out (Mom's please read)

On Friday May 27th a group of Dad’s at the Autism One Conference got together for the first ever Dad’s Night Out.
The event was at Lucky Strike Lanes, where the Dad’s bowled, ate, relaxed and “talked” with other Dad’s. Yes, thats correct Mom’s and Dad’s reading this…they encouraged and inspired each other to help their children and families. It was exactly what we wanted to happen!
On Saturday at the Keynote presentation, by Jenny and Byron, a few mothers let their feelings go about their husbands lack of participation in their child’s life, their marriage and unwillingness to listen and understand. As these moms, thankfully, got their feelings off their chest, I wanted to stand up and yell, “You didn’t see what I saw last night!”
As males, we handle situations, relationships and many things differently. We all know this. In the autism community DAD is often not in the picture. But last Friday there were nearly 40 Dads there, 3 with their sons, who needed this opportunity that was long over due.
One Dad told me about his son, how he puts him on his shoulders during his transitions to calm maladaptive behaviors. His son gets another perspective and feeling from Dad’s shoulders…and you know what Mom said to Dad, positively, “you may need to stop this because I can’t put him on my shoulders, he keeps asking for shoulders!”
As we were leaving I talked with another group of Dad’s and they said that they were encouraging another Dad to keep going with Biomedical treatment. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in it. His wife is a nurse and she has mixed emotions…but these Dad’s kept motivating him, telling him he was doing the right thing!

Sometimes Dad’s just need the right environment in order to engage. That’s why we have our Man Cave. We need a special place, music, or show to watch for us to unwind and gather our thoughts. Sound familiar to our children?

To the Dad’s who are reading and are ready to engage there are is a troop of Dad’s out there ready to help. Adding you will help us create an army to recover more children.

Mom’s keep doing your thing and we will create more opportunities to help your husbands come out of there shell. And once they do….LOOK OUT!

See you next year!

Yours in Health,

David S. Geslak

Great Dad's Night Out

As a dad who also participated, I have to agree with all the other commenters that is was a great event. My wife thought that the PECS schedule distributed in advance

Dad's Night Out was an Awesome Idea....

and apparently well executed! I just have to give a shout out to David [even though I'm a mom and therefore "ineligible" to go bowling ;)].

David brought so much positive energy and enthusiasm to the conference. And, he seemed to be everywhere. I literally thought he was a twin because he truly appeared to be in several places at one time. Maybe next year you'll teach us how you do that one, David.

But, regardless of where I saw him, what I consistently observed was someone with a sincere interest in helping families dealing with autism. I think David is the real deal and I hope he's back again next year further supporting and encouraging all the dads who (despite what we moms sometimes may say about them) are trying their best.

Thank you, David, and please keep up the terrific work.

Take care,
Kelly Adams

I totally agree with Dave. I

I totally agree with Dave. I was one of the dads at the Dad's Night Out, and it was an absolutely great time. Yeah, we talked about our children, but it was more than that. There was a sense of camaraderie amongst us that didn't come in the form of spoken words. We understood each other and knew what we were going through. I had never been to something like this (Dad's Night Out), and I hope they do it again next year because they can already count me in!

Personal Relationship

David, thank you so much for all you did to help the conference, the families and the dads! The personal touch offered by the special events like Dad's Night gave these dads a chance to meet others walking the same road and connect. With much of the day to day community interaction happening on computers we all rarely get a chance to actually shake hands and even throw a few bowling balls, fun stuff.

Volunteering this year at the conference was a great experience and your positive energy was a big plus. I have talked to my wife many times about the little things the conference brought to the parents and families, it really was a fun, personal experience and not just an informative conference.

Over and over again we heard parents say that its just great to be around families who have the same trials and tribulations. Feeling they are not alone or crazy overall seems to be a huge part of everyone getting together at the AutismOne conference. We are already talking about how to make next year better! Already looking forward to working with you again.

Everyone if you don't know David was a presenter at the conference and is the driving force behind The Exercise Connection, checkout his presentation and program.

Hope you all can attend the conference next year!