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koshermichigan.com
28 April 18 • 2013
0 0
Birdhouse For Autism
Online health management tool eases
record-keeping for frazzled parents.
Ronelle Grier
Contributing Writer
R
aising a child with autism
can be a daunting endeavor.
Besides the emotional and
behavioral issues, there is an abun-
dance of things to keep track of
— doctor visits, referrals, insurance
forms, treatment plans, medications,
side effects and behavioral changes.
Just ask Dani Gillman, the West
Bloomfield mother of an 8-year-old
daughter with autism. For years,
Gillman used thick, loose-leaf binders
crammed with handwritten pages to
store information about her daughter's
medical care, therapy and educational
programs. Maintaining and organiz-
ing all of those records was time-con-
suming and often overwhelming.
Now Gillman is part of a new
enterprise designed to help parents
struggling to keep up with the never-
ending glut of information: Birdhouse
for Autism, an online health manage-
ment tool for children with autism
and other disabilities. Birdhouse is
the creation of Gillman, 28, and two
partners, Ben Chutz, 28, of West
Bloomfield, and Adam Milgrom, 28,
of Detroit.
"When you first get a diagnosis,
you wonder 'What do I do now? You
expect me to deal with this child
and keep track of everything, too?"'
Gillman said. "Birdhouse helps par-
ents take control and reduces the
overwhelmed [feeling]:'
Chutz first recognized the need for
a software program like Birdhouse
when he and Gillman began dating,
and he realized how much time she
spent on her record-keeping system.
She also kept extensive notes about
what happened between each therapy
session or doctor visit because many
of her daughter's appointments con-
sisted of her reporting what happened
since the last time, what progress had
been made or whether a new medica-
tion had caused any side effects.
"It seemed very cumbersome
Chutz said, "and I wondered why she
wasn't using technology"
After some research, he learned
there were no suitable software
programs available for parents like
Gillman, so he decided to develop
one.
"I've always been passionate about
technology, questioning routines and
finding better ways of doing things:'
he said. "I saw an opportunity to help
these families. I had been using a
system to manage my own health care
records, and everything just came
together"
The group started with drawings
at the kitchen table, and then worked
with a local design and development
firm to develop a prototype. The
name came from Gillman's nickname
for her daughter, Little Bird, and also
from the concept of a birdhouse —
a place where families, albeit with
feathers, stop in to refresh, replen-
ish and spend a little time with each
other.
"We took a completely opposite
approach than other disability man-
agement programs, which are usually
geared toward medical practitioners.
Those systems are more tedious and