Apparently there will be a character on PBS's Arthur with Asperger's Syndrome.
Here's one character explaining it to another
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0TyHLWEhII
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
eSpecialMatch.com – A Social Network for Special Needs!
What is eSpecialMatch.com?
eSpecialMatch.com is a social networking site dedicated to connecting the families of children with special needs and the professionals that serve them. The goals of eSpecialMatch.com are to:
1. Create a community where families can find information, support, friendship, and appropriate peers for their children
2. Connect families with service providers (therapists, doctors, etc.)
3. Help service providers connect with others in their field and across fields for professional development
About eSpecialMatch.com
Mike Radicone, founder and creator of eSpecialMatch.com; A social network dedicated to families with special needs children and the professionals who serve them. But before we get into the wide range of resources this website can offer, here is a brief bio of the founder and creator, Mike Radicone.
After earning a Masters in Special Education, he began working as an Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapist in private home sessions. Throughout his career as an ABA therapist, he serviced preschool and school-aged children with a wide variety of special needs including Autism, Aspergers, Down Syndrome, Speech/Language disorders, ADD/ADHD and Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD), to name a few. His background consists of extensive private school and public school teaching (mainly in a self-contained capacity) where parent interaction and training are at the forefront of responsibilities. In addition to teaching, he currently speaks at educational conferences, provides training to parents and teachers, facilitates social groups and transition special needs students to new schools.
Over time he has met many amazing families who have put a great deal of time, money, and effort into providing the best experiences they can for their children. Several families expressed the challenges they faced in finding other families that have children with similar needs to their own, and specifically in locating social peers, therapists, and information. One day it clicked and he decided to introduce two of these families to each other and, in a short period of time, noticed some very positive results. The children, with different degrees of disabilities, were able to interact with each other and the adults had an opportunity to share information, experiences, and ideas. They continued to keep in touch and set up play dates, no longer needing me to facilitate the meetings. This sharing of information and bringing people together through their personal experiences is the premise behind eSpecialMatch.com.
Please review the website and take a few minutes to create a profile and join the eSpecialMatch.com community! Connect with other families, share stories, blog with a therapist and take advantage of the many other resources that eSpecialMatch.com has to offer. Your feedback is valuable so please contact info@especialmatch.com with your comments/questions.
eSpecialMatch.com – A Social Network for Special Needs!
eSpecialMatch.com is a social networking site dedicated to connecting the families of children with special needs and the professionals that serve them. The goals of eSpecialMatch.com are to:
1. Create a community where families can find information, support, friendship, and appropriate peers for their children
2. Connect families with service providers (therapists, doctors, etc.)
3. Help service providers connect with others in their field and across fields for professional development
About eSpecialMatch.com
Mike Radicone, founder and creator of eSpecialMatch.com; A social network dedicated to families with special needs children and the professionals who serve them. But before we get into the wide range of resources this website can offer, here is a brief bio of the founder and creator, Mike Radicone.
After earning a Masters in Special Education, he began working as an Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapist in private home sessions. Throughout his career as an ABA therapist, he serviced preschool and school-aged children with a wide variety of special needs including Autism, Aspergers, Down Syndrome, Speech/Language disorders, ADD/ADHD and Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD), to name a few. His background consists of extensive private school and public school teaching (mainly in a self-contained capacity) where parent interaction and training are at the forefront of responsibilities. In addition to teaching, he currently speaks at educational conferences, provides training to parents and teachers, facilitates social groups and transition special needs students to new schools.
Over time he has met many amazing families who have put a great deal of time, money, and effort into providing the best experiences they can for their children. Several families expressed the challenges they faced in finding other families that have children with similar needs to their own, and specifically in locating social peers, therapists, and information. One day it clicked and he decided to introduce two of these families to each other and, in a short period of time, noticed some very positive results. The children, with different degrees of disabilities, were able to interact with each other and the adults had an opportunity to share information, experiences, and ideas. They continued to keep in touch and set up play dates, no longer needing me to facilitate the meetings. This sharing of information and bringing people together through their personal experiences is the premise behind eSpecialMatch.com.
Please review the website and take a few minutes to create a profile and join the eSpecialMatch.com community! Connect with other families, share stories, blog with a therapist and take advantage of the many other resources that eSpecialMatch.com has to offer. Your feedback is valuable so please contact info@especialmatch.com with your comments/questions.
eSpecialMatch.com – A Social Network for Special Needs!
Weekly Art Projects for kids with Autism, Special Needs
Sometimes a little bit of inspiration and creativity can create awesome moments to share with your child with special needs. Some days you just need a little lift and a guiding push. Weekly Art Projects is an email delivered to you once a week with quick ideas to get your creativity rolling.
After completing a project, you can email us the results and we'll post to our blog for everyone to see and share inspiration.
Join the Weekly Art Projects list by signing up for our email newsletter. A weekly email encouraging creativity and inspiration. A new art project via email every week
Weekly Projects will:
* stir creativity for both you and your child
* bring inspiration as you both enjoy the activities together
* solve boredom
* give you somewhere to "start"
Our hope is that with a weekly jolt of ideas we can individually inspire our kids. Together we can enjoy being creative while inspiring them to come up with great ideas on their own. Some ideas will be an exercise in being silly, a new perspective and others will be works of art!
We will post the Weekly Art Project to this blog as well as email out the Weekly Project. Simply sign up and enjoy!
After completing a project, you can email us the results and we'll post to our blog for everyone to see and share inspiration.
Join the Weekly Art Projects list by signing up for our email newsletter. A weekly email encouraging creativity and inspiration. A new art project via email every week
Weekly Projects will:
* stir creativity for both you and your child
* bring inspiration as you both enjoy the activities together
* solve boredom
* give you somewhere to "start"
Our hope is that with a weekly jolt of ideas we can individually inspire our kids. Together we can enjoy being creative while inspiring them to come up with great ideas on their own. Some ideas will be an exercise in being silly, a new perspective and others will be works of art!
We will post the Weekly Art Project to this blog as well as email out the Weekly Project. Simply sign up and enjoy!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Causes of Autism Survey
Causes of Autism Survey
by Autism Coach
We invite you to complete our brief survey on what you believe caused your child or you to be diagnosed within the autism spectrum.
In 2004, I surveyed Autism Coach customers to determine what customers believed was the cause of their child's autism.
Five years later, in 2009, we now have 1 in 91 children diagnosed between the ages of 3 and 17 diagnosed within the autism spectrum. We need to know more than ever what is causing this high incidence of autism.
If you could email back your responses to autismcoach@comcast.net, you can help others by sharing your history and story.
Because everyone these days is strapped for time, I'm keeping it short:
1. I believe my child's autism diagnosis or my own diagnosis was caused by (if you select more than one, please list in order of priority):
A. Immunization of child, if yes, please specify which immunization(s)
B. Genetic condition
C. Environmental toxins (downwind from a coal fire power plant, living in a heavily polluted area, etc.)
D. Immunization of parent (during pregnancy or in the military, for example)
E. Illness (of child or parent during pregnancy)
F. Other (if other, please specify)
Please feel free to share your story, as this information can help other parents make decisions concerning their children.
Optional questions for parents, if you have time:
2. What year was your child diagnosed? At what age?
3. When did symptoms first appear?
4. How old is your child now?
5. What diagnosis does do they currently have?
6. How are they doing in school, home, and/or work?
7. What therapies, supplements, other strategies do you feel were most helpful?
8. What therapies, supplements do you feel did not make a positive difference or were harmful?
9. If you are a parent or guardian and had one piece of advice to give a parent or guardian whose child was just diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, what would it be?
Optional questions for adolescents and adults diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder:
2. What year were you diagnosed? At what age?
3. When did symptoms first appear?
4. How old is you now?
5. What diagnosis does do you currently have?
6. How are you doing in school, home, and/or work?
7. What therapies, supplements, other strategies do you feel were most helpful?
8. What therapies, supplements do you feel did not make a positive difference or were harmful?
9. If you had one piece of advice to give to another person on the autism spectrum and one piece of advice to a parent whose child had just been diagnosed on the autism spectrum, what would you pieces of advice be?
To my surprise the 2004 survey ended up being included the Wikipedia Autism entry for several years. Evidently no-one had bothered to ask parents about their own observations concerning their children.
This is an opportunity for you to have a voice and share your story. It is intended to be filled out by parents or guardians of children diagnosed with the autism spectrum. It may also be filled out by adolescents or adults who are diagnosed within the autism spectrum.
For those of you who choose to respond, thank you for sharing your stories and by doing so helping others in the autism community. The responses will be made public on the Autism Coach web site. We will be accepting responses through November 30, 2009.
If you answered the 2004 survey, feel free to respond again - your contribution made a difference and will do so for 2009 survey!
Again, to complete it, just email your response to the above question or if you have time the additional questions to autism.coach@comcast.net.
Thank you again,
Sue Bennett
Autism Coach
by Autism Coach
We invite you to complete our brief survey on what you believe caused your child or you to be diagnosed within the autism spectrum.
In 2004, I surveyed Autism Coach customers to determine what customers believed was the cause of their child's autism.
Five years later, in 2009, we now have 1 in 91 children diagnosed between the ages of 3 and 17 diagnosed within the autism spectrum. We need to know more than ever what is causing this high incidence of autism.
If you could email back your responses to autismcoach@comcast.net, you can help others by sharing your history and story.
Because everyone these days is strapped for time, I'm keeping it short:
1. I believe my child's autism diagnosis or my own diagnosis was caused by (if you select more than one, please list in order of priority):
A. Immunization of child, if yes, please specify which immunization(s)
B. Genetic condition
C. Environmental toxins (downwind from a coal fire power plant, living in a heavily polluted area, etc.)
D. Immunization of parent (during pregnancy or in the military, for example)
E. Illness (of child or parent during pregnancy)
F. Other (if other, please specify)
Please feel free to share your story, as this information can help other parents make decisions concerning their children.
Optional questions for parents, if you have time:
2. What year was your child diagnosed? At what age?
3. When did symptoms first appear?
4. How old is your child now?
5. What diagnosis does do they currently have?
6. How are they doing in school, home, and/or work?
7. What therapies, supplements, other strategies do you feel were most helpful?
8. What therapies, supplements do you feel did not make a positive difference or were harmful?
9. If you are a parent or guardian and had one piece of advice to give a parent or guardian whose child was just diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, what would it be?
Optional questions for adolescents and adults diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder:
2. What year were you diagnosed? At what age?
3. When did symptoms first appear?
4. How old is you now?
5. What diagnosis does do you currently have?
6. How are you doing in school, home, and/or work?
7. What therapies, supplements, other strategies do you feel were most helpful?
8. What therapies, supplements do you feel did not make a positive difference or were harmful?
9. If you had one piece of advice to give to another person on the autism spectrum and one piece of advice to a parent whose child had just been diagnosed on the autism spectrum, what would you pieces of advice be?
To my surprise the 2004 survey ended up being included the Wikipedia Autism entry for several years. Evidently no-one had bothered to ask parents about their own observations concerning their children.
This is an opportunity for you to have a voice and share your story. It is intended to be filled out by parents or guardians of children diagnosed with the autism spectrum. It may also be filled out by adolescents or adults who are diagnosed within the autism spectrum.
For those of you who choose to respond, thank you for sharing your stories and by doing so helping others in the autism community. The responses will be made public on the Autism Coach web site. We will be accepting responses through November 30, 2009.
If you answered the 2004 survey, feel free to respond again - your contribution made a difference and will do so for 2009 survey!
Again, to complete it, just email your response to the above question or if you have time the additional questions to autism.coach@comcast.net.
Thank you again,
Sue Bennett
Autism Coach
Friday, July 17, 2009
Institute on Disability Seeks Artists for its 2010 Calendar
Institute on Disability Seeks Artists for its 2010 Calendar
Are you an artist looking for an opportunity to get your work noticed? Do you know someone who is an artist and might be interested in such an opportunity? Every year since 2000, the Institute on Disability <http://iod.unh.edu/> (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire has produced a calendar that features 13 original works of art. These highly anticipated calendars are distributed each year to thousands of people around the world who are connected to the IOD's mission of strengthening communities and ensuring full access, equal opportunities, and participation for all persons. The IOD is currently inviting artists to submit artwork to be considered for its 2010 Calendar.
The theme for the 2010 calendar is reflective of the quote:
“Disability is not a 'brave struggle' or 'courage in the face of adversity'... disability is an art. It's an ingenious way to live.” - Neil Marcus
If you would like to submit, here are some simple guidelines to follow:
All artwork must be 2-dimensional (i.e. drawings, paintings). Unfortunately, we are unable to accept photography and sculpture.
Artwork for submission may be created for the purpose of this calendar or may be selected from an existing portfolio of work.
Artwork should reflect the artist's interpretation of the quote above.
Artists are encouraged to submit artwork with vibrant colors (see links to past calendars below).
Artists are welcome to submit a maximum of three (3) works of art for consideration.
Submissions must include the artist's name, phone number, email address and title(s) of artwork.
If chosen, the original work submitted will be requested and will need to be sent to the IOD. All originals will be returned to the artists.
Here are links if you would like to see a PDF copy of the 2008 and 2009 calendars.
Digital copies (scanned or photographed artwork) for consideration should be sent as a JPG or PDF file to contact.iod@unh.edu with “2010 IOD Calendar Art” in the subject line. Please do not send original artwork at this time. If you would like to submit a printed copy of your artwork via snail mail, please mail it to:
INSTITUTE ON DISABILITY / UCED
Attn. Matthew Gianino
10 West Edge Drive, Suite 101
Durham , NH 03824
During the final selection process, the IOD may request the original artwork for further consideration in some cases. The 13 finalists will be asked to complete an Artwork Release Form <http://iod.unh.edu/pdf/Art_Release_2010.pdf> . Please be sure you are able to comply with the terms of the release form prior to submitting. The deadline for submissions is Friday, August 7, 2009. All artists whose work is chosen for the 2010 Calendar will be contacted by August 21st .
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact the IOD.
Good luck and we look forward to your submission!
The IOD Staff
Are you an artist looking for an opportunity to get your work noticed? Do you know someone who is an artist and might be interested in such an opportunity? Every year since 2000, the Institute on Disability <http://iod.unh.edu/> (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire has produced a calendar that features 13 original works of art. These highly anticipated calendars are distributed each year to thousands of people around the world who are connected to the IOD's mission of strengthening communities and ensuring full access, equal opportunities, and participation for all persons. The IOD is currently inviting artists to submit artwork to be considered for its 2010 Calendar.
The theme for the 2010 calendar is reflective of the quote:
“Disability is not a 'brave struggle' or 'courage in the face of adversity'... disability is an art. It's an ingenious way to live.” - Neil Marcus
If you would like to submit, here are some simple guidelines to follow:
All artwork must be 2-dimensional (i.e. drawings, paintings). Unfortunately, we are unable to accept photography and sculpture.
Artwork for submission may be created for the purpose of this calendar or may be selected from an existing portfolio of work.
Artwork should reflect the artist's interpretation of the quote above.
Artists are encouraged to submit artwork with vibrant colors (see links to past calendars below).
Artists are welcome to submit a maximum of three (3) works of art for consideration.
Submissions must include the artist's name, phone number, email address and title(s) of artwork.
If chosen, the original work submitted will be requested and will need to be sent to the IOD. All originals will be returned to the artists.
Here are links if you would like to see a PDF copy of the 2008
Digital copies (scanned or photographed artwork) for consideration should be sent as a JPG or PDF file to contact.iod@unh.edu
INSTITUTE ON DISABILITY / UCED
Attn. Matthew Gianino
10 West Edge Drive, Suite 101
Durham , NH 03824
During the final selection process, the IOD may request the original artwork for further consideration in some cases. The 13 finalists will be asked to complete an Artwork Release Form <http://iod.unh.edu/pdf/Art_Release_2010.pdf> . Please be sure you are able to comply with the terms of the release form prior to submitting. The deadline for submissions is Friday, August 7, 2009. All artists whose work is chosen for the 2010 Calendar will be contacted by August 21st .
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact the IOD.
Good luck and we look forward to your submission!
The IOD Staff
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