Daily Autism Blog

Hello all. We have an upcoming webinar Monday September 14th. We have a unique webinar coming up. For the first time we have a young man who grew up with aspergers and he will share with his mom his experiences. So far the questions coming up have been really good. Here are a couple that have been posted so far. I hope you can join us.

Date: Monday, September 14, 2009
Time: 6pm Pacific
http://www.momsfightingautism.com/teleseminar

Question 1

Hi Blaze and Debra. I was very excited to hear that we’d be hearing about AS through a young person’s perspective. I have a high functioning 7-year-old boy with AS who, at times, struggles in social situations. He knows that he sometimes struggles with friendships and that’s why we see an OT. We haven’t told our son that he has AS, but we know there will be a time when we need to. Will you share with us at what age you learned you have AS, how you felt, if you shared your diagnosis with others, and maybe how other’s perceived you, if applicable?

Question 2

I have a 5 year old that we believe has Aspergers. What can I do as a parent to insure that he will be happy and accepted into society (ie - playdates, working on social skills, computer programs helping him reference other’s feelings, how to help him identify other’s motives - good or bad, how to succeed in school, etc.) Thank you!

Question 3

How were you able to socialize with other children, particularly in your class? Any tips on how to encourage a school district/teachers to include a child with autism in the social fabric of a class?

Question 4

Thus far at what point/points in life have you found to be the most difficult? And does it usually revolve around social and shool scenerios, home stresses or a combination of the two? Do your fellow students in school know about your Autism and do you think there awareness has helped them gain understanding of who you are?

These are just a few of the 40 plus questions we have received so far. I hope you can attend and listen to the answers and participate.  Please feel free to leave your comments below.

I hope you plan to attend our webinar on the Monday the 18th on Communication Skills for children and adults who have little or no communication skills. Questions have been pouring in and I wanted you to see a couple that we are going to answer.  Here are a few below:

Terry-Stewartsville,NJ
How do I get my son to communicate what he wants without screaming?

Bonnie- Los Angeles
Any tips on how to work on speech skills over the summer when school is off for many weeks?

Deanna- Greer, South Carolina
My son is almost 4 with mild autism and a severe language disorder. What are some things we can do at home to get him to where he needs to be. Does that go along as well with the auditory processing issues?

To hear the answers to these questions or to submit your own go click the the link below to register for this free webinar on autism.

http://www.momsfightingautism.com/teleseminar

Regards,

Ernest

Communication and Behavior : How to help children, teens, and adults who have little verbal communication skills

Date: Monday, May 18, 2009

Time: 6pm-8pm Pacific Standard Time

Darlene will discuss the connection between behavior and communication; how to help someone develop appropriate communication skills; how to encourage verbal skills, assistive technology and augmentative communication : what they are and how they can help.

I’m Ready To Register Free Now

Speaker: Darlene Hanson, MA, CCC

Darlene Hanson, MA, CCC has been a Speech and Language Pathologist for 20 years, working with individuals with severe communication impairments. Her expertise in working with individuals who are “non verbal” and use alternate modes of communication, as well as in the area of speech development for persons with severe motor apraxia as it relates to autism. She worked in the public school setting as a school based clinician and program specialist, taught university level courses at Chapman University. She currently provides training on autism, full inclusion, creating a communicative environment and Facilitated Communication. Her mission is to provide quality training and support to individuals with severe communication impairments so that their lives are enhanced by communication and they have a means of communication to actively participate in their lives, and community. www.darlenehanson.com

Happy mothers day. I hope you are enjoying this day. If you get a chance please share with us what happened on your day.

Kindest Regards,

Ernest

Autism: Many Causes, Many Treatments : A multi-treatment approach to the diagnosis and treatment of autism

Date: Monday, April 20, 2009

Time: 6pm-9pm Pacific Standard Time

Today in the field of autism there are hundreds of treatment options, dozens of different theories, and thousands of organizations, centers, and professionals offering to help. While there is more hope than ever, families and professionals are faced with an overwhelming number of options which are often diametrically opposed. Which treatments are best for a particular child? How can you begin to sort through the choices? Jonathan Alderson specializes in merging best-practice strategies and techniques into cohesive customized Multi-Treatment Interventions. In this brief presentation he will share his insights into how to effectively combine treatments paying specific attention to phases of development, the order and timing of treatments.

I’m Ready To Register Free Now

Speaker: Jonathan Alderson

Jonathan Alderson is an autism treatment specialist working in private practice in Toronto. He specializes in merging educational and biomedical treatments through an integrated model he has developed called Intensive Multi-Treatment Intervention (IMTI). Alderson holds a Masters degree in Education from Harvard University and completed an Honours BA in developmental and educational psychology at the University of Western Ontario. He spent a year at the Sorbonne in Paris. Alderson worked for eight years at the Son-Rise Program in Massachussetts, completing over 1500 hours of one-on-one floor time as well as acting as Administrator and directing staff training. He has worked with over 2000 families, supervising home based intervention in the UK, Ireland, Holland, Spain, Australia, Israel and Mexico. Alderson has spoken at several international venues, including the Royal College of Pediatricians, University of Nottingham and is a guest speaker for the Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation. Please find more information at www.IMTI.com

Mary Lynch Barbera, RN, MSN, BCBA

Hello Everyone we have our 15th webinar!

The Verbal Behavior Approach: Teaching Children with Autism

Date: Monday, March 16th

Time: 6pm - 8pm Pacific (9pm Eastern)

Speaker: Mary Lynch Barbera

Register Here Free

Webinar Description:

Drawing on her experience as both a parent of a son with autism as well as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), Mary Lynch Barbera will provide listeners with information to help children with autism learn language and other important skills.

Mary will highlight strategies from her book: The Verbal Behavior Approach: How to Teach Children with Autism and Related Disorders, and provide guidance using the scientifically proven strategies of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) specifically utilizing B.F. Skinner’s Analysis of Verbal Behavior. Parents and professionals will be empowered with information regarding ABA/VB programming for children with autism and other developmental disorders. For more information about Mary and/or her book, please go to www.vbapproach.com

Please comment below and join the discussion!

Hello everyone:

I want to let you know that we have another webinar coming up this month.

Title: Applied Behavior Analysis, It’s use at Home and at School

Date: February 12, 2009

Time: 6:00 - 8:00 PM

Speaker: Dr. Holman

Description:

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a proven and effective way of teaching children with ASDs. Specific skills are taught by breaking them into small steps, and different methods such as prompting, shaping, and rewarding are used to help the child learn. ABA can also be used to help decrease inappropriate behaviors and teach new alternative behaviors. The practical application of ABA at home and at school, and specific examples of how to use prompting, shaping and rewarding, as well as how to do a task analysis, will be discussed in this webinar.

Register for This Webinar

Helping Your Son/Daughter and Family Have a Happy Holidays: The Twelve Tips of Christmas

Contributed by Dr. Cathy Pratt, Ph.D.
www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/generalinfo/xmas12.html

Director, Indiana Resource Center for Autism While many happily anticipate the coming holiday season, families of sons/daughters on the autism spectrum also understand the special challenges that may occur when schedules are disrupted and routines broken. Our hope is that by following these few helpful tips, families may lessen the stress of the holiday season and make it a more enjoyable experience for everyone involved. The following tips were developed with input from the Autism Society of America, the Indiana Resource Center for Autism and the Indiana Autism Leadership Network.
• Preparation is crucial for many individuals. At the same time, it is important to determine how much preparation a specific person may need. For example, if your son or daughter has a tendency to become anxious when anticipating an event that is to occur in the future, you may want to adjust how many days in advance you prepare him or her. Preparation can occur in various ways by using a calendar and marking the date of various holiday events, or by creating a Social Story that highlights what will happen at a given event.

• Having decorations around the house may be disruptive for some. It may be helpful to revisit pictures from previous holidays that show decorations in the house. If such a book does not exist, use this holiday season to create a picture book. For some it may also be helpful to take them shopping with you for holiday decorations so that they are engaged in the process. Or involve them in the process of decorating the house. And once holiday decorations have been put up, you may need to create rules about those that can be touched and those that can not be touched. Be direct, specific and consistent.

• If your child has difficulty with change, you may want to gradually decorate the house. For example, on the first day put up the Christmas tree, then on the next day decorate the tree and so on. And again, engage them as much as possible in this process.

• If your child begins to obsess about a particular gift or toy they want, it may be helpful to be specific and direct about the number of times a child can mention the toy. One suggestion is to give your child 5 chips. They are allowed to exchange one chip for 5 minutes of talking about the desired gift. Also, if you have no intention of purchasing a specific toy, it serves no purpose to tell the child that maybe they will get the gift. This will only lead to problems in the future. Always choose to be direct specific about your intentions.

• Teach your child how to leave a situation and/or how to access support when an event becomes overwhelming. For example, rather then having a behavioral episode, the individual should be taught ahead of time that they should go to their room when feeling overwhelmed. This self-management tool will serve the individual into adulthood.

• If you are traveling for the holidays, make sure you have the child’s favorite foods or toys available. Having familiar items readily available can help to calm stressful situations. Also prepare them via social stories or other communication systems, for any unexpected delays in travel.

• Know your child and how much noise and activity they can tolerate. If you detect that a situation may be becoming overwhelming, help your child find a quiet area in which to regroup. And there may be some situations that you simply avoid (e.g., crowded shopping malls the day after Thanksgiving).

• Prepare a photo album in advance of the relatives and other guests who will be visiting during the holidays. Allow the child access to these photos at all time and also go through the photo album with your child while talking briefly about each family member.
• In preparation for the holiday season, you might want to practice opening gifts, taking turns and waiting for others, or giving gifts to others. You might also choose to practice certain religious rituals. Work with a speech language pathologists to construct pages of vocabulary or topic boards that relate to the holidays and family traditions.

• It may also be helpful to prepare family members for strategies to use to minimize anxiety or behavioral incidents, and to enhance participation. Help them to understand if your son/daughter prefers to be hugged or not, needs calm discussions, or provide other suggestions that will facilitate a smoother holiday season.

• If you child is on special diet, make sure there is food available that they can eat. And even if they are not on a special diet, be cautious of the amount of sugar consumed. And while we are talking about health, try to maintain a sleep and meal routine.

• Above all, know your child. Know how much noise and other sensory input they can take. Know their level of anxiety and the amount of preparation it may take. Know their fears and those things that will make the season more enjoyable for them.
Our hope above all is that you will have a wonderful holiday season!