Monthly Archives: January 2011

Peer Pals

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is a wonderful not-for-profit dedicated to building communities of inclusion for children with disabilities as they enter kindergarten. Peerpals.org matches preschool age children with typically developing children in their communities for one-on-one play dates. Peer Pals also facilitates group play dates in developmentally appropriate settings supervised by special education professionals.

This program strives to build local communities and give a child with a disability a support system of typically developing peers upon entering school.  Having a typically developing child as a friend, or even as a peer model, is a wonderful thing. You can sign your child up or if you’re a professional who would like to donate some of your time, you can become a volunteer.

Free Downloads

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I’ve never been busier during the start of a new year than I have been in 2011.  It seems like many of my students were off to an ambitious start this month as well.  Some students made such significant progress that the revisions seem to never end.  Other students have required a lot of creativity and extra effort in finding ways to reach them and facilitate learning.   I found myself re-evaluating many program books, behavior plans and strategies.  I won’t further bore you with my lengthy “To Do” list but I will share some of the rewards of my work.  The end result is that there are new and improved versions of the free DRL data sheets and graphs along with brief descriptions for each.  I hope you find them as useful as I have. You can find them under the “DRL Downloads” tab underneath the Different Roads to Learning banner.  Now off to work!

Help Line for Families with Special Needs Kids

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The Mom2Mom help line was recently launched by the autism center and behavioral health care unit of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The program seeks to offer caregiving moms peer counseling, clinical assessments and the resources and referrals they might need to locate services. Its founders recognize, however, that sometimes what a mother might need most is to talk to someone “who has walked a mile in their shoes,” said Cherie Castellano, program director for UMDNJ Behavioral Health Care.

This sounds like a great resource. With the preponderance of support available online, it’s nice to know there’s still a voice that understands a phone call away.

 

Autism, Vaccines and Andrew Wakefield

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The current media storm surrounding vaccinations and autism is one that, I’m sure, we’ve all been following with great interest. The initial study that linked autism with vaccinations has been dismissed and retracted by the majority of the original authors. Currently, there is speculation that Mr. Wakefield may have falsified data. Many parent advocates are claiming this is a smear campaign being conducted in the name of protecting pharmaceutical companies to the detriment of children.

We know that this is an incredibly sensitive issue with opinions strong on both sides of the fence. We do think it’s an important issue to discuss, respectfully, within our community. For parents, do you believe that the MMR vaccination contributed to your child’s autism? What is your opinion of Andrew Wakefield and his study?

Here’s some coverage of both sides of the issue from CNN, if you’d like to see more on the reporting.

New Social Skills Book from Autism Partnership!

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Crafting Connections: Contemporary Applied Behavior Analysis for Enriching the Social Lives of Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder is here! This new book – out today – is one of the most comprehensive and easy-to-use guides available for teaching social skills to children and youth with ASD. The book teaches critically important skills in social awareness, communication, interaction, learning and relatedness.

The sub-skills, prerequisites, and methods of instruction are outlined for each area, making it clear and easy for teachers, clinicians and families to use and implement. The book addresses real world, relevant issues such as bullying, conversational development and social comprehension.

In case you’re not familiar with Autism Partnership, they have been teaching  the technique of contemporary Applied Behavior Analysis for more than 20 years. They have also edited the bestselling book A Work In Progress as well as It’s Time for School: Building Quality ABA Educational Programs for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Sense and Nonsense in the Behavioral Treatment of Autism: It Has to Be Said.

More than 13 well-known and respected authors contributed to making Crafting Connections a major work that teaches authentic, appropriate social skills to students with autism as they navigate the social world.