Jessica writes about the strategies she uses in the classroom and with her own son to ensure all children have access to the understanding and sensory tools they need to succeed. This post was originally published on her blog Changed for Good and is re-posted with permission. I recently read a discussion post on a sensory…
OAR is currently accepting preproposal applications for its annual Applied Research Competition. Since 2002, OAR has funded 220 applied and graduate research studies totaling more than $3.6 million. OAR hopes to continue this success in 2017 by supporting research studies that provide practical and useful outcomes to individuals with autism and their families. Applied Research…
OAR will accept applications for the 2017 OAR Scholarship Program through Friday, May 5 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Applicants can apply to either the Schwallie Family Scholarship or the Lisa Higgins Hussman Scholarship. Each offers $3,000 scholarships to students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (DSM-IV or 5 criteria) pursuing full-time, post-secondary, undergraduate education or vocational-technical…
“Autism and the Family: Understanding and Supporting Parents and Siblings,” by Kate Fiske, Ph.D., BCBA-D, is a new release by the W.W. Norton & Company. The publisher describes the book as useful for therapists and educators in understanding “the experiences of parents and siblings of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from the time…
One afternoon I got a phone call from a woman living in another state hundreds of miles away from her childhood home, where her elderly mother and brother still lived. Her mom had just passed away, and she did not know what was going to happen to her brother, who was 60 years old and…
When my brother and I summited Mount Quandary, a 14,000-foot peak in Colorado, I was afraid the other hikers would think I had forced him into finishing the climb. He was fresh to Colorado from sea level. He was breathing in deep, heavy gasps and was dressed only in shorts and a T-shirt for the…
My daughter, Anna, is the youngest of three children and the one who helped me to understand how important community and support are for the siblings of people with autism. As the sister of an older brother on the spectrum, Anna has always identified with autism. What she lacked was a community of peers who…
This post originally appeared on It’s A Tink Thing and is re-posted with permission. A little girl, somewhere around Tink’s age, came up to us in the soft play centre. She asked why Tink has a dummy. I told her, “because she likes it. It makes her feel safe when she’s feeling a bit worried.”…
The late Maya Angelou, a great African-American poet and civil rights activist, once said, “It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” Besides birthdays and anniversaries, there are two months out of the calendar year that have extraordinary significance for me. In…
From ASAN’s website: “The Autistic Self Advocacy Network is now accepting applications for the 2017 Autism Campus Inclusion (ACI) Summer Leadership Academy! The ACI Summer Leadership Academy prepares autistic students to do disability advocacy at their colleges. Accepted students will travel to Washington, DC and participate in advocacy training from June 10th to June 17th,…
