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JOIN US FOR THE MOST AMAZING DAY YOU'VE EVER EXPERIENCED.

The Community Walk for Autism Awareness 2011 - Sunday, May 1 beginning at 1:00pm

It is so simple, yet so much fun.  Jumping is a great way for your child to have fun, do something healthy and gain confidence.

Finding activities that children enjoy can often be a challenge.  Often children with Autism may struggle with co-ordination or other physical challenges that make it hard for them to participate in sports.  This often causes them to loose interest in sport related activities and can lower self esteem.

Consider Jumping!  The physical act of jumping for most children is simple and individual enough that they are able to excel and in turn gain new physical capabilities and confidence. So how do you turn a simple jump in to an activity?  Use your imagination.  Invent games or imaginary worlds. 

Most autistic children have great imaginations and enjoy inventing stories or worlds.  Imagine walking through a magical forest, having to jump over logs or to enter the castle.   Possibly a game to see who can jump the fastest in 10 seconds or who can jump the furthest or highest.

The most important key is to be sure to make it FUN.  If you are competing in any way, let the child win most of the time!  Be aware of the child's feelings and what they want to do.  Try to adapt the activity to what they are interested in, not dictating the entire exercise having to happen a certain way. 

Over time, the child will develop greater interest, confidence and you can start to shape the activities to further improve the child's skill.' It is also important to regularly participate to keep the child interested, but not too often as this may be overwhelming. 

Should children with Autism or Aspergers Syndrome (or other related disorders) be suspended from school?

If the child is in a regular public/private school and is overly aggressive toward other students or teachers, what to do?   What if they are on an IEP at this school?

If the child is attending a special school due to their condition, does it make sense that the child be suspended?

What about the age of the child?  Should a child of 5 or 8 years old be suspended?  What about a child of 12 or 13?   Any difference if the child is 16 with a disorder?

My personal opinion is certainly if the child is on an IEP that recognizes their disorder or they are attending a special school that claims to be able to help children with the child's disorder, then NO, they should NOT suspend the child. 

I might agree that in certain cases the age may play a role.  HOWEVER, I think it is important to recognize every child is different.   When it comes to these disorders, they are all different and two children with the same exact disorders, same age, similar backgrounds can have very different views and understanding of the world around them.  It might be appropriate to suspend one child, but the other may simply not fully understand the seriousness.  The point simply does not get through.

While it may be possible that the child will get the message, will understand the seriousness, I think it is important to be sure this really is the case.  Often these children will learn to say what the adults around them want to hear.  For example, when asked "Do you want to be suspended?" or "Do you understand that this is a really big deal (or problem)?"  the child will most certainly respond with "Yes.", even if they enjoyed their suspension or maybe they enjoy the excitement and attention or change.

I received the book School Success For Kids With Aspergers Syndrome from a relative as a thoughtful gift.

The book itself is a resonable read - not too time consuming - about 175 pages of actual content.  Good layout, easy to read text.

For someone (parent or teacher) just starting to learn about Aspergers, this is a decent choice.  It gives some basic information on what aspergers IS, and how to recognize it. 

It also has a chapter on actually diagnosing aspergers (though I would suggest leaving the ACTUAL diagnosis to a professional).

It has some good information on parent / teacher / school interactions and communications.  Very important for the success of your child!

I would recommend this book for someone starting out as I like the fact that it is a reasonably easy read, but also offers useful and in some areas good detail.  If you find that you need additional information in a topic area, there are other books (tomes?) that you can refer to later.

Let me know what YOU think!

The parent organization for Summit Academy School in Worcester, MA is hosting a "Fund In The Sun" fundraising event to benefit the special activities program at the school.

Summit Academy is a non-profit school in Worcester, Massachusetts that specializes in serving the needs of children with Aspergers, ADHD, PDD-NOS and high functioning autism.  If you would like a non-profit letter for tax purposes, please call Summit Academy at 508-751-8500.

There are several opportunties to support this program:

• Attend the fun filled tropical escape at Leo's resturant, the evening of Saturday, May 15th.   Great music (live band) and raffles.   Tickets are $20.00 per person (adults only).  Use the donate button below and be sure to note your name, and how many people are attending.   Tickets are LIMITED, if you plan on attending, be sure to purchase soon.
   
• Donate to the cause -  even if you are not attending, you may donate via paypal:
   
  

  

If you have services or products you wish to donate to the cause (to be raffled at the event), please call 508-751-8500 to arrange.

Thank You.

For parents suspecting or dealing with a diagnosis of their baby, toddler or child, this is a good book to start with.

Please note that this autism book is an 'eBook', which means you read the book on your computer or laptop.  There are many benefits of this format over a normal book, including the ability to search the content.  If you really want to print the content you may do so.

The book is intended to give advice and direction to parents with autistic children, or adults with autism - or autism spectrum (aspergers, pdd-nos).

I know it can be over wealming and frustrating to understand what is going on, what you should do about it, and there is a LOT of information out there.   Just look at the statistics, depression is very common in ASD people.   Information can be hard to find and confusing.   I like this book, because it is a good starting point for learning various aspects of autism/ASD.

 This autism book includes information on clinical definitions and advice on how to talk to doctors, and other professionals you will encounter on your life journey with autism.

There are sections discussing treatment options, medication, how to help your child have a happy life and direction on finding additional resources if needed.  There are additional eBooks and resources included for screening your toddler (CHAT), NIMH book on autism, and a book specific to military families.  These are included at no additional cost.

Hot topics like television, video games and appropriate school settings are covered.   Very important topics!

This autism book is well written by an author that is experienced and has written other autism related titles.

Reminder - if you are able to get to Northboro MA, there is a great BBQ for Autism at Romaines restaurant.

Event: Barbecue for Autism

Date: Sunday April 11th rain date for Barbecue Sunday May 2nd 12:00-5:00

Time: 5k Race 10:30 Start time Barbecue Festival 12:00-5:00 pm

Location: 299 West Main Street, Northborough, MA 01532

MORE HERE
 

DSM-5 Action Alert
Asperger's Associationof New England

A Bean Bag Chair

is a useful tool to help regulate an autistic child's mood and behavior.   There are a number of styles of bean bag chairs, some which provide deep pressure to the nervous system equally and others that provide pressure in specific areas. 

The general idea here is that the unique physical stimulation and pressure bean bag chairs provide can help autistic children calm down during  a tantrum and ideally play a role in helping them learn to self regulate future stress and return to focus.

Check out this audio of Curt Schilling talking about Aspergers / Autism - via NPR.