First Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain Dealer
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerMarc and Sophia Augier have four children; Marcel, 5, fraternal twins Henri and Christophe, 3, and daughtger Margaux, 2. The three boys all suffer from autism. Beyond the emotional and physical struggles of raising three autistic children, the Augiers also face steep financial hurdles. They pay out-of-pocket more than $50,000 a year per child for speech and behavioral therapy at the Cleveland Clinic. Fraternal twins Henri, left, and Christophe, are carried down to breakfast by father, Marc Augier.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerMarc Augier coaches his son Marcel to get dressed in the morning. Marcel whined in frustration before his father slipped the sweatshirt over his head. Marc looked Marcel closely in the eye when he was done. "I'm ready," Marc said, looking for a response. "I'm ready," Marcel repeated.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerSophia dresses Henri before she takes the three boys to preschool at the autism center. Every day counts. The week before, the boys missed four days of therapy because of ear infections. "They lose (skills)," said Marc. "It's tough." Margaux is behind Sophia.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerMark Augier seats Henri, left, after Henri ran off instead of climbing into his mother's station wagon with brothers Marcel, middle, and Chritophe.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerJennifer Maenaka, a therapist at the autism center, attempts to prompt Christophe to imitate her. Imitation comes naturally for typical children, but not autistic children.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerMarcel draws on the sidewalk with chalk on his first day at Bainbridge Christian Preschool at Lord of Life Lutheran Church on his first day of regular preschool. He didn't interact with the other children.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerTherapists at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Autism stop in mid-sentence if a child loses focus, and redirect attention. Henri's therapist marks his every response on a data log. The center uses the information to chart his progress. Input Nov. 24, 2003.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerPlay time is part of the therapy for Christophe, left, and his twin Henri. Therapists taught the boys how to play with toys, an instinct lacking in many autistic children.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerMargaux plays in leaves with Henri. Margaux, 2, stands in front of her brothers when they ignore her and demands their response. "Answer me," she says. Margaux does not suffer from autism like her three older brothers.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerSophia Augier gets hugs from Marcel and Margaux. It is rare that Marcel, who suffers from autism, shows signs of affection.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain Dealer
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerRobert Beane, age 12, far right, is a child on the edge--on the path to adult prison, but still young enough to change his course. Parents and schools struggle to straighten out kids like Robert. He was arrested with his friends for disrupting traffic. Upon checking, police found he had an outstanding warrant for fighting. He was sent to the Lorain County Juvenile Detention Home. Juvenile courts, where kids often end up, usually have a range of options: diversion programs, home-monitoring ankle devices, detention cells. Sometimes, the kids still slip through the cracks. With a child like Robert, there are no easy answers.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerIn a baggy jumpsuit, Robert Beane lines up against the wall with others at the Lorain County Juvenile Detention Home. The boys line up in this manner every time they move from one part of the home to another. Most of the boys in the home are four or five years older than Robert.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerCharlita Anderson-White, a Lorain County magistrate, talks to Robert after he had been locked up for three weeks. He wanted to admit his wrongdoings and go home. White had to explain to Robert his rights to a lawyer and trial.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerWhile his mom is at work, Robert Beane, on bike, horses around with friends down the street from his home. He's not supposed to leave the house while on probation, but he often does.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerMichelle Noble, Robert's mom, listens as he calls to see if he can visit a cousin. Noble, stressed about losing her job and her house, wanted Robert out the way so she could pack. Robert was still under home detention.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerMichele Noble talks with Robert Kishman, prinicpal of Irving Elementary School, about her son's first few days in school after leaving the detention home. Noble thinks her son is frustrated because the school can call the probation department if he acts up, which could land him back in the detention home.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerMichele Noble, strolling home after school with Robert, often has mixed emotions about her son--infuriated with him on many occassions but still protective of the youngest of her three boys.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerRobert taunts his older brother, Rayon, 13, as the family gets ready to move from their single family house. Rayon is Noble's calmer, more patient son. She sometimes fears that he is ignored while she deals with bills and Robert's troubles.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerRobert takes a break on mom's lap as the family gets ready to move out of their home. The $600-a-month rent has become too expensive for Michele Noble, forcing her and her boys to leave the home.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Gregg Ruffing / Freelance
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Greg Ruffing / FreelanceThe years immediately following the fall of communism in Eastern Europe saw the forced closing of numerous asylums for children with mental and physical disabilities. Since then, however, the situation has reversed, as the number of institutionalized children has risen in every former Soviet Bloc country except Hungary. Carlo, age 9, is tied by his ankle to a table because of behavior problems. Studies have indicated that the longer children remain institutionalized, they are more likely to have emotional, behavioral and cognitive impairment.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Greg Ruffing / FreelanceKristina, age 15, squeezes between two cabinets trying to hide from nurses. Undereducated and short-staffed, nurses are often unable to provide quality care for the children.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Greg Ruffing / FreelanceSergei, age 16, sits on the cold, hard floor as a group of other children fill up a bench, many with arms interlocked, rocking back and forth as a therapeutic routine. While some institutions are state-funded, it is often only enough to provide half of all the medication that is needed.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Greg Ruffing / FreelanceRosa, age 16, inspects a Christmas tree she made. While some institutions attempt to convert from a traditionally punitive environment to a more educational setting, their progress is hampered by a severe shortage of resources.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Greg Ruffing / FreelanceAlina, age 13, outside the facility where she stays. Many of the institutions across Ukraine are in dilapidated former military barracks or workers housings, often without reliable heating, water or electricity.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Greg Ruffing / FreelanceSome children essentially exist as ghosts, as personal and medical records are non-existent. Many of them have slipped through the cracks of the social support system.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Greg Ruffing / FreelanceChildren in these institutions suffer from a variety of conditions, such as mental illness, developmental disorders, physical handicaps, mental retardation or severe birth defects. Some of their problems may have been preventable if their families had access to affordable health care. Many children were simply abandoned by their parents upon learning of their diagnosis.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Greg Ruffing / FreelanceA traditional Ukrainian folk mural painted on a wall depicts a life that these children may never know. Instead, the cycle of institutionalization will likely continue into their adult lives.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Daniel Melograna / Thr News Journal
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Daniel Melograna / The News JournalThe Ervin Family huddle around Luke after he wakes up from his MRI Friday, May 16, 2003 at Children's Hospital in Columbus.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Daniel Melograna / The News JournalLuke Ervin, 2, listens as the choir signs Sunday, May 18, 2003 at Berean Baptist Church in Mansfield.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Daniel Melograna / The News JournalMonte leads the family in prayer Oct. 25 before dinner.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Daniel Melograna / The News JournalThe operation scare on the back of Luke's head.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Daniel Melograna / The News JournalLuke Ervin, 2, is in awe as he enters the Mickey Shop at Disney World in Orlando, Fl.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Daniel Melograna / The News JournalMonte Ervin makes faces at his son, Luke, during a cat scan Friday, Feb. 14 at Children's Hospital in Columbus.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Daniel Melograna / The News JournalIvy Ervin kisses the forehead of her son, Luke, 2, as she helps Vyas Kartha and Steve Campagna put Luke to sleep Friday, May 16, 2003 before his MRI at Children's Hospital in Columbus.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Daniel Melograna / The News JournalIvy Ervin leans back as she talks with Peggy Lintern Monday, July 15, 2003 while her son, Luke, sleeps on her chest at Children's Hospital in Columbus.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Daniel Melograna / The News JournalKari Heinrich holds up oxygen tubes Feb. 7 as Anesthesiologist Lami Dairo makes sure all is well after putting Luke Ervin, 2, under for his MRI at Children's Hospital in Columbus.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Daniel Melograna / The News JournalLuke Ervin, 3, sleeps while he waits for the medical staff at Children's Hospital to come for him Tuesday, July 15, 2003 as his mother, Ivy, leans against the doorway to his room.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Daniel Melograna / The News JournalIvy Ervin strokes the head of her son's, Luke, head shortly after his death Thursday, July 31, 2003 at her parent's, Jim and Judy Hahn.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Daniel Melograna / The News JournalLuke Ervin, 2, wraps himself in a towel Wednesday night as he takes a break from swimming at the Mansfield area YMCA.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Fred Squillante / The Columbus Dispatch
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Fred Squillante / The Columbus DispatchEleven students at Walnut Springs Middle School with social or emotional difficulties train service dogs for people who use wheelchairs. The program is called Kids and Canines. Training dogs is therapy for these students. In the dog-training room at Walnut Springs Middle School, student trainer Zach Farris practices a demonstration with Frasier that involves retrieving a dumbbell.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Fred Squillante / The Columbus DispatchStudent trainer Eddie Hicks teaches Fonzie to flip a light switch during training at Walnut Springs Middle School.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Fred Squillante / The Columbus DispatchEach day the dogs are at Walnut Springs Middle School, they are groomed by the students. Zach Farris brushes Fraizer's teeth.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Fred Squillante / The Columbus DispatchZach Farris, center foreground holding Frasier, joins other members of his class as they arrive at Westerville North High School. At right is one of his teachers, Amy DuBois, holding Falcon. This is one of their Friday excursions in which the Kids and Canines group take the dogs out in public. The kids made presentations to high school students.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Fred Squillante / The Columbus DispatchAndrea Arntz walks Gus through a classroom at Walnut Springs Middle School. 6th-grader Lexi Cavin, left, gives Gus a pat on the back.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Fred Squillante / The Columbus DispatchLea Ann Shearer of Golden Dogs Academy opens presents from Shelli Speakman's multiple handicaps class at Alcott Elementary School. The Kids and Canines participants visited the school and celebrated the two-year anniversary of Kids and Canines program. Lea Ann Shearer provides the dogs for the Kids and Canines program and teaches the students how to train the dogs.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Fred Squillante / The Columbus DispatchEven though Foreman got a special doggie treat earlier, he only could look on as Charlie Slane, right, and Walnut Springs Middle School teacher Amy DuBois, left, eat their birthday cake during a celebration of the two-year anniversary of the Kids and Canines program.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Fred Squillante / The Columbus DispatchMabel McDonald listens as Eddie Hicks, right, talks about training Fonzie. McDonald is a resident of Wesley Glen retirement community, where the students take their dogs once a month.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Fred Squillante / The Columbus DispatchTherapy dog Forrest has graduated from the Kids and Canines program and has been presented to Altercare of Westerville nursing center. At left is a photo of Forrest when he was 8 weeks old.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Fred Squillante / The Columbus DispatchLea Ann Shearer of Golden Dogs Academy, observes Elsie Danevich with her new service dog, Fonda. Fonda is a graduate of the Kids and Canines program. Later deciding she couldn't care for the animal, Danevich returned Fonda to the academy.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Fred Squillante / The Columbus DispatchDog recipient Elsie Danevich spends time talking to her new dog Fonda during camp in Westerville. Fonda, a graduate of the Kids and Canines program, was presented to Danevich. After a morning of training with Fonda, Danevich was given some time just to talk to the dog.
