Confused about where to start with looking for help for children with Autism?

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Check out ACT-BC

Need Information or Support?

ACT – Autism Community Training is an information and referral service that supports individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their families across British Columbia. We also welcome calls from community professionals. This website contains a wealth of information. If you need help finding resources relevant to your situation please call to speak with an ACT Information Officer for individualized support. 604-205-5467 – toll-free 1-866-939-5188or   email info@actcommunity.net

via ACT – Autism Community Training.

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• 10 Years of the Long, Long Fight for A REAL Canadian National Autism Strategy (autisminnb.blogspot.com)

Is your mind creating stress in your life?

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Sometimes we are our worst enemies.  In general we can be very efficacious, (able to complete many things with great skill) however at times some of us and our students, set ourselves up for failure.  If you are guilty of any of the following common thinking you may find it difficult occasionally to get the things done you need to. You might get STUCK.

If you work with children who easily get stuck encourage them to reflect on and identify the root cause.  Once they know the root cause then they need  to find a way to deal with it.

The following is list of Cognitive practices that cause anxiety comes from helpguide.org.  Eliminate your brain poison today.

All-or-nothing thinking

Looking at things in black-or-white categories, with no middle ground (“If I fall short of perfection, I’m a total failure.”)

Overgeneralization

Generalizing from a single negative experience, expecting it to hold true forever (“I didn’t get hired for the job; I’ll never get any job.”)

The mental filter

Focusing on the negatives while filtering out all the positives. Noticing the one thing that went wrong, rather than all the things that went right.

Diminishing the positive

Coming up with reasons why positive events don’t count (“I did well on the presentation, but that was just dumb luck.”)

Jumping to conclusions

Making negative interpretations without actual evidence. You act like a mind reader (“I can tell she secretly hates me.”) or a fortune teller (“I just know something terrible is going to happen.”)

Catastrophizing

Expecting the worst-case scenario to happen (“The pilot said we’re in for some turbulence. The plane’s going to crash!”)

Emotional reasoning

Believing that the way you feel reflects reality (“I feel frightened right now. That must mean I’m in real physical danger.”)

‘Shoulds’ and ‘should-nots’

Holding yourself to a strict list of what you should and shouldn’t do–and beating yourself up if you break any of the rules

Labeling

Labeling yourself based on mistakes and perceived shortcomings (“I’m a failure; an idiot; a loser.”)

Personalization

Assuming responsibility for things that are outside your control (“It’s my fault my son got in an accident. I should have warned him to drive carefully in the rain.”)

via How to Stop Worrying: Self-Help for Anxiety Relief.

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IPAD meeting needs, redefining accessibility

Only on Android?

Read more by following the link below, and watch a video on SWYPE, and app that could be a IPAD killer.   Apps that focus on accessibility change the way we define independence.

The IPad Rules At ATIA 2010

October 29, 2010, 11:47 am

[By Suzanne Robitaille]

“At the Assistive Technology Industry Association conference in Chicago this week, tablets and applications are taking the industry by storm. The iPad, iPhone and iTouch, for example, are three mainstream technologies that have access already built in. The bonus? Assistive technology vendors can now develop new specialized apps for people with disabilities that work seamlessly with these hot-off-the-shelf gadgets.

As more consumer products make headway in the assistive technology space, “buy-in” is on the rise — and is changing the field of rehabilitation, says Laura Plummer, a rehabilitation technologist and sensory specialist at Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Plummer says there’s a new way to weigh whether someone will fully use and interact with a device, or leave it in the desk drawer. It’s called the Acceptability Factor, and follows other, older criteria, like the Bootstrap Factor (“Well, might as well make do with this thing”), the Carrot Factor (“If you use this, you’ll be rewarded”) and the Compassion Factor (“This technology was made to help people like you”). There’s also, Plummer says, the Business Factor, which is simply: “Can I afford it?”

With the Acceptibility Factor, the emphasis is on coolness, portability and usability. The iPad, iPhone and iTouch, Plummer says, hit all the right notes. All three have universal access features, like built-in text-to-speech, voice command, auto text, video chat and magnification. And they function as multiple devices in one gadget for people with different disabilities, from aiding people who are deaf in communication, to providing people with developmental disorders help with tasks and scheduling, to assisting those with learning disabilities in reading and writing.

For the deaf and hearing impaired, users can talk on the phone via Skype and lip-read, or use Facetime, a new video chat tool that lets users sign conversations to each other. People who have difficulty with memory and scheduling can use these devices to build to-do lists, create calendars, and use apps like Shopper to create daily lists, such as for food shopping.”

via Expert Views | disability news | assistive technology | disability employment.

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Apple Puts Spotlight On Disability Offerings In App Store – Disability Scoop

Apple Puts Spotlight On Disability Offerings In App Store

By SHAUN HEASLEY

October 26, 2010 Text Size  A  A

Ipads can fit in easily to a regular classroom.

Apple is highlighting a growing number of apps catering to individuals with special needs with a featured special education section in its App Store.

The section titled “Special Education” launched late last week and includes 72 applications for the iPhone and 13 applications for the iPad in 10 categories ranging from communication to emotional development and life skills, according to Trudy Muller, an Apple spokeswoman.

The special education category is currently showcased as one of four editorial features in the App Store.

Apps, which can be used on Apple’s iPhone, iPad or iPod devices, have become increasingly popular in the special needs community in recent years, serving as everything from assistive technology devices to organizational tools and teaching aids.

via Apple Puts Spotlight On Disability Offerings In App Store – Disability Scoop.

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Grant helps buy Apple iPod Touch devices for disabled children

Grants from Community Foundation helps Appleton Area School District buy Apple iPod Touch devices for disabled children

Grant used to buy iPod Touch devices to help autistic children

BY KATHY WALSH NUFER • POST-CRESCENT STAFF WRITER • OCTOBER 20, 2010

Last school year, Sarah Hall began a tiny experiment using iPod touch technology to help students with autism disorders gain greater independence, communicate more effectively and function better in school.

The Appleton Area School District speech and language pathologist used a $2,000 grant from the Wisconsin Branch of the King’s Daughters and Sons Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region to buy 7 iPod touch devices and the necessary software, including all sorts of learning and behavioral applications.

via Grants from Community Foundation helps Appleton Area School District buy Apple iPod Touch devices for disabled children | postcrescent.com | Appleton Post Crescent.

Sources BC – Behavioural Support Services

Are you a parent struggling with managing your son or daughters behavioural needs.  In BC help is available to families with children in need Behavioural Support Services who have ASD or other medical conditions.

Sources Behavioural Support Services offers positive, proactive behavioural support programs to children from the ages of 6 – 19 years with a diagnosis of Autism; Developmental Disability with Autistic Characteristics and/or Behavioural challenges; Asperger’s Syndrome; Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified; Fragile X Syndrome; Rett’s Syndrome; Mucopolysaccharidoses; Tuberous Sclerosis; Phenylketonuria; Congenital Rubella Syndrome; Cornelia de Lange Syndrome; and FASD and adults with PDD and FASDa who so not have intellectual disabilities. We provide consultation, training, functional assessments. We design, monitor and evaluate individualized program plans that are specific to each child and their family.

Our primary objective is to enhance the individual’s quality of life through communication training, sensory integration, skill training and the systematic use of positive behavioural intervention.  In order to achieve this goal, we focus on working directly with the parents/care givers to provide them with the skills they require to teach and enhance their child’s life.

Areas of assessment will include, but not limited to, general demographic information, medical/health background, strengths and weaknesses, personal areas of interest, learning style and teaching styles, environmental characteristics, sensory regulation, communication characteristics, social and support characteristics, life skills, safety skills, leisure skills, behaviour, emotional understanding and regulation, and the families goals. Depending on the family’s priorities, assessments may also include a thorough Functional Behaviour Assessment and Functional Skills Assessment.

We work collaboratively with all team members involved with the child and family. Team members may include school personnel, childcare workers, day cares, Ministry for Children and Family Development (MCFD), as well as other professionals and agencies.

Sources Behavioural Support Services reach all areas of the province. Our offices are located in the Lower Mainland and Prince George. We also have outreach offices in Terrace and Fort St. John which serve remote and isolated communities in B.C.  For more information on the Services in the Lower Mainland and Northern BC, click on the link

via Sources BC – Behavioural Support Services.