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Note:
We
received a great deal of positive response for our last issue.
We had included our version of the DSM-IV criteria for
autism, minus the psychobabble. I have since received input from a wonderful professional
who’s helped to refine this for us.
We are reprinting it with these changes in this issue. Many thanks go to R.C. for your help. You can read
the slightly revised version here:
http://www.bbbautism.com/diagnostics_psychobabble.htm
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WELCOME
TO THE ZOO
By: Michelle E
How I spent the first half of my Summer Vacation
My
children have been keeping me extra busy this July but it has been going
better than in past years. I still have not started counting the days
before school starts. As much as I dread the days that they are home
(bless their cute little souls) I think I dread going back to school
even more - I will let you know in August if I still feel this way when
they are all home and making my hair stand on end.
R and B started July off in Summer Recreation. It is a 4 week - 3 hour a
day program that gets the kids together for sporty activities, pool once
a week and other stuff like arts and crafts and putting on shows.
We are making progress - B didn't drop out of camp until the beginning
of the 4th week this year. YEAHHHHHHH. This is progress because the year
before he only made it 2 weeks at the most.
I sent him there for socialization reasons - knowing that he
would be sitting the sports out because he hates sports and his
coordination is not good and he is fearful of either losing or being
teased (not sure).
Well, B found out the first day of camp that none of the children from
his class were in Summer Recreation - and was very disappointed. (As was
I) He decided that during the times when he didn't want to participate -
he would play the Game Boy Advance. I was against this idea and told him
that he was supposed to be making friends - not playing Game Boy.
Well, B took this to mean that if he needed to make friends - he would
bring his brother D's Game Boy Advance too and a game link - so that he
could invite the other children to play along with him. I said no way -
he begged and pleaded and I gave in.
He actually made friends doing this and he only played it during the
times that he was not participating in the sports - I warned him that if
he lost the game boy --- he would be giving D his game boy.
Well you can guess what happens next...
That's right folks; he loses his game boy the last week of camp. I got a
call from the director telling me he was extremely upset and to please
come pick him up. Luckily my A.D.D brain forgot to put the cell phone on
and I missed his call. I found out about this 2 seconds before I arrived
at the school and they had found the game boy and the director of the
program looked like he wanted to kill me and B was apologizing left and
right. He has decided that
he has had enough of camp and is hanging out with me instead.
Meanwhile - 45 minutes away from Summer Recreation, I am driving R to
acting school because he wants to be an actor when he grows up. So I
sign him up for a 2-week program, which costs almost 500 dollars, and
expect him to come out with a TV contract or something. It is a full day
camp and they learn all about the theater and scenery and acting. He was
not too thrilled when he first got there and there were only 3 girls and
he. He told me later that he wanted to turn around as soon as he got
there and leave and he sat in the back by himself. Then the other 42
kids showed up and he ended up making 8 friends.
So, I am really excited about his show, which is August 2nd, and then he
gets to go to a cast party. He is having a great time. I have invited
our whole family to come see R in his first acting career and he has his
first big part. He is going to be a COCKROACH.
That's right -- a cockroach folks -- and not only that -- he is one of 4
cockroaches: Singing and fighting cockroaches.
I must tell you all - I am bursting with pride!!!! My first born in his
debut role as a cockroach. :)
There is so much more to tell but not enough space to write it --- I
will let you all know how the musical goes and how the Star does.
B has been home for 1 day and is already bored and D (notice I haven't
complained about him) has been in school full time. The complaints will
start coming in on or around the first of August. And then the
count down will begin :)
HAPPY SUMMER!!!!! Michelle |
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******
ENEWS
BITES:
1.
“AUTISM
FRIENDS:
Come check out our 800+ links, Shopping section fundraisers
for parent run sites coming soon!)
Family pages and our Community section for chats 5 days a week!
Coming
soon to Autism Friends! Parent tips, ponderings and wisdom!
Autism
Friends is a Member supported website run by a parent. We are always looking for
parent contributions! Book recommendations, photos,
best links, personal stories, poems & artwork by our creative geniuses.
Contact Tina at: founder@autismfriends.com. Tina”
- THE
GENEVA CENTRE announces: a)
Summer Training Institute is scheduled for August 19-23, 2002 in
Toronto and August 19-20, 2002 in Halifax. Brochure may be viewed in PDF
format at our website. b)
Geneva Centre International Symposium is scheduled for October 23, 24,
25, 2002 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The Symposium 2002 brochure
has been mailed out and is available on our
website. This year you have the option to register on-line; major
discounts for early bird registrations. Also, for the first time, delegates
from around the world can access 8 presentations of the International
Symposium 2002 live through the Internet. Some presentations have special
interest for adults on the autism spectrum.
3.
Autism
Children’s Intervention Services Inc. (http://www.aciscanada.com/) Grace
Damouni, Director/Founder - 8171 Yonge Street, Suite 226, Thornhill ON, L3T 2C6,
Tel 416. 219 2316, Fax 905. 832 3139 E-Mail: Grace@aciscanada.com
“Certified
in PECS, Sensory Integration (went to Florida and took the course/lab with Pat
Wilbarger), Greenspan’s Early Infancy and Childhood course (Floortime/DIR),
training in Lovaas, workshop in Handwriting Without Tears, degree in
psychology and most importantly, many, (9) years of clinical work with children
with PDD/Autism.
I work very
closely with Dr. James Bebko of York University and Dr. Carolyn Lennox who are
the consulting psychologists to ACIS.
I
am proud to say our IBI program is very comprehensive as it includes
collaboration with SLPs and OTs as well as the educational team. We help
develop IEPs and provide trained shadows for classroom integration.
We
do travel outside of the immediate catchments region (once every month or two
depending on the time of year) to administer staff training, consultations,
assessments and program development. We will travel to Guelph,
Hamilton, Cambridge (for example) but only during certain times of the
year. However, we do not provide ITs (mediators) to service this
region although we can train staff that the family has already recruited.
For parents who are not interested in hiring a "team" we can set
up the programs/binder.
We
do however, provide "teams" and oversee the program for our
catchment region, which is Markham, Pickering, Aurora, Richmond Hill, Thornhill,
North York, Maple, Woodbridge. If families live within this region we can
offer a "team" with full services (assessments, programs, supervision
etc) and this ranges in price from $20,000 and up depending on the
treatment plan the family has in mind (we offer different plans). In this
regard we are very flexible which I believe makes us unique-we customize plans
so that we are able to take into consideration the families
needs/expectations. Grace
Damouni, Director/Founder”
4.
Workshop
Emphasizes Teaching Verbal Communication Skills to Children with Autism and
Other Developmental Disabilities - Dr.
Vince Carbone is a Board-certified Behaviour Analyst with over 25 years of
experience designing learning environments for people with autism and
developmental disabilities. He
provides preparatory training and clinical consultation to certified behaviour
analysts, teaches university courses, and consults with schools, agencies, and
families. He is the developer and
presenter of a series of workshops on teaching verbal behaviour (verbal
communication skills) to children with autism.
Dr.
Carbone will be conducting a 3 day intensive workshop "Teaching
Communication Skills to Children with Autism and other Developmental
Disabilities: Introduction to
Verbal Behaviour" on October 28, 29 & 30, 2002 in Oakville, Ontario.
The cost of the workshop is $400.00 per person if registered prior to
August 15, 2002 and $425.00 per person after August 15, 2002.
The workshop is sponsored by Express Yourself Speech, Language and
Communication Services. For more
information please call 905-333-9730.
Participants
in Dr. Carbone's workshop will learn (1) to conduct a Behavioural Language
Assessment, (2) to select the most appropriate form of communication for a
child, and (3) to identify the communication responses and supporting skills
that should be taught first. He
shares a special emphasis on teaching verbal behaviour to the most difficult to
instruct learners.
Through
methods of errorless teaching, specific quick-transfer procedures, and the use
of discrete trial training Dr. Carbone has helped many children improve their
communication skills. The natural
environment and intensive teaching sessions are both employed during program
implementation. Dr. Carbone's
introductory workshop will provide parents, teachers, therapists, psychologists,
and speech-language pathologists with practical information for
program planning and implementation.
- “The
Spectrum Community Newsletter: The
Spectrum Community Newsletter is a new email newsletter containing news,
links, shared stories on the spectrum disorders. The idea is to allow each
subscriber the ability, if they have the desire, to be a voice heard.
To receive the first issue please send email address to communitynews@insightdirect.com. Thanks, Christopher Chapman, Chief Operating Officer,
Insight Direct, Inc
800-471-4200 x231, chris@insightdirect.com, www.insightdirect.com”
6.
“Our awareness campaign with the MPPs is having effects.
Please keep the letters to your MPPs coming, their addressed can be found
at http://www.ontla.on.ca/Members/mailing_addresses/index.htm.
Also remind all your contacts of the form letters to our target MPPs
available at http://www.ontariondp.on.ca/news/publish/issues_30.shtml.
The
community newspapers are responding well to us. Look for upcoming articles regarding our families, scheduled
for this week in the Mississauga News (mississauganews.com)
and hopefully in the next few weeks in the Vaughan Citizen (yorkregion.com).
It has been suggested that we should all e-mail or snail mail copies of
these types of articles to our own local MPPs so that all our community
newspaper articles reach all our MPPs in every constituency.
Let's all follow through with that suggestion, and then all our stories
will be noted by MPPs across the province.
Sincerely, Nancy Morrison" MORRISONPN@aol.com
8.
Richmond Hill, Ontario: “A
family in Richmond Hill would like their 6 year old child with autism to join
a gymnastics class and/or dance lessons.
Following direction is a challenge at times, but she is very athletic
in this area. Does anyone know a
gym centre in the area that works well with ‘our kids’?” Contact Debbie at dbounds@alertcarecorp.com
9.
OVERVIEW OF NEW PROCEDURES AT PARAMOUNT
CANADA’S WONDERLAND
FOR GUESTS WITH DISABILITIES:
A
key part of the new program will include assigning specific ride boarding
times at certain park attractions for guests with disabilities.
Guests
with disabilities should stop by Guest Services to pick up a Guide for Guests
with Disabilities. This free guide explains the ride entry guidelines and
procedures, provides specific information related to each attraction, and
includes an Attraction Boarding Pass now required for the special access
accommodations. One Guide for Guests with Disabilities/Attraction Boarding
Pass is required for each guest with a disability and will cover his/her
accompanying friends/family members (up to maximum of three). Please note: you
will need to pick up the new Guide/Attraction Boarding Pass each time you
visit the Park.
Guests
should take the Guide (which includes the Attraction Boarding Pass) to the
ride exit and request a boarding time. A boarding time (based on the
approximate length of the line at the time of the request) will be assigned
and written into the Attraction Boarding Pass in the area designated for that
ride. The time will be authenticated with a special stamp when it is written
into the Boarding Pass. Guests with disabilities may not acquire a second or
subsequent boarding time until any previous time(s) have passed, but may take
advantage of other attractions that are not on the Attraction Boarding Pass.
Once
the party has been assigned a boarding time in their Attraction Boarding Pass,
they can wait in a comfortable location of their choice until it is time to
board.
When
the boarding time arrives, the guest with a disability can enter the ride
through its entrance/exit. Once in the station the party will load into the
next available ride vehicle.
Please
call
the Guest Services department (905-832-8131) at Paramount Canada's Wonderland
if you have questions about this new program.
Or
if you have any difficulties please direct them to the following.
Kris
Williams
Manager, Public Relations & Special Events
Paramount Canada's Wonderland, a division of Viacom Canada Inc.
9580 Jane Street, Vaughan, Ontario (Canada) L6A 1S6
(Phone) 905-832-7482 (Fax) 905-832-7419
(Media Pager) 416-484-5543
Email
Website
Media Centre
We
are a group of parents who first came together in March of 2002 with the hope of
advocating for ABA (Applied Behaviour Analysis) within the Ontario education
system. We are writing to ask
that all concerned parents take time out of their busy lives to become involved
in this important issue. Our
children will spend at least 12 years in the educational system and quality ABA
would benefit them greatly. Putting
ABA in the classroom would ease the strain we all feel over trying to help our
children learn.
If
you’re new to ABA here is a brief explanation;
·
ABA
is the most widely recognized and effective teaching method that allows autistic
children to develop academically and socially
·
It
involves breaking down a skill into smaller parts and teaching the child each
part in a consistent and repetitive way until the skill is mastered.
·
It
is a teaching method that is tailored to each individual child.
Not
only is ABA good for teaching children with autism it’s simply good teaching.
Thirty-five years of research and 550 published scientific studies
support the benefits of using ABA to teach autistic children.
We
strongly feel that now is the best time to act. The change in government
leadership and changes in many of the key ministries gives us an opportunity to
influence even more changes. So far
our group has been in contact with the Ministry of Education, the school boards,
and MPPs. We have made connections
with other parents throughout the province.
If we come together as one
united voice, ignoring us will be impossible.
One
way to become involved is to join our parents group (information about the next
meeting is at the bottom of the letter). Another way is to join the Autism Society of Ontario(ASO). The ASO is recognized as a voice for
autistic children and their families by government and the media.
Joining this organization would lend strength to our common cause.
Our
group is committed to exploring every option in order to achieve our goal.
Imagine what could be accomplished if all of us combined our efforts.
For the sake of all our children please get involved as their success
depends on it. Let’s believe that we can bring ABA to Ontario schools.
After all, we have nothing to lose yet our children have everything to
gain.
Our
next parents meeting is on , Thursday,
August 15, 2002 at 7:30 pm at Surrey Place
Centre
(2 Surrey Place-by Women’s College Hospital).
We hope that you will attend. Please
contact the following people for more information and to let us know if you are
coming;
