Positively Autism April 2011 Newsletter

Here's the final part of our series on telling your child about his or her autism spectrum diagnosis.

Telling Children They Have Autism or Asperger's Syndrome Video - http://positively-autism.blogspot.com/2011/04/telling-children-they-have-autism-or.html

How to Tell Your Child About Their Autism - http://positively-autism.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-tell-your-child-about-their.html

Telling Your Child about Asperger's - http://positively-autism.blogspot.com/2011/04/telling-your-child-about-aspergers.html

Video: Should you tell your child about his/her autism diagnosis? - http://positively-autism.blogspot.com/2011/04/video-should-you-tell-your-child-about.html

New Free Downloads:
- Pick-up/Drop Off Transition Schedule: http://positively-autism.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-free-download-pick-updrop-off.html
- "Line Up Balls" (a strategy for encouraging childre to line up): http://positively-autism.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-free-download-line-up-balls.html

April 2011 Positive Autism News - http://positively-autism.blogspot.com/2011/04/april-2011-positive-autism-news.html

April 2011 Positive Autism News

For 12-year old astrophysics prodigy, the sky’s the limit
Yahoo News
March 29, 2011
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110329/ts_yblog_thelookout/for-12-year-old-astrophysics-prodigy-the-skys-the-limit

Asperger’s documentary draws attention
Hudson Valley Press
March 30th, 2011
http://www.hvpress.net/news/123/ARTICLE/10155/2011-03-30.html

Film gives voice to autism's silent minority
USA Today
April 8, 2011
http://yourlife.usatoday.com/mind-soul/story/2011/04/Film-gives-voice-to-autisms-silent-minority/45857486/1

Autistic Kids Learn To Survive, And Thrive, In College
NPR
April 13, 2011
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/13/135345982/colleges-address-autistic-students-struggles

Hickory Creek student presents her perspectives on Autism to School Board
Chicago Tribune
April 27, 2011
http://triblocal.com/frankfort/community/stories/2011/04/hickory-creek-student-presents-her-perspectives-on-autism-to-school-board/

Video: Should you tell your child about his/her autism diagnosis?

A video interview with Stephen Shore, an adult with autism and well-known professional in the field of autism. The video addresses topics such as when a child is ready to learn about his or her diagnosis,  how to present and discuss the diagnosis, explaining a diagnosis to siblings, and children using their diagnosis as an "excuse."


From Natural Learning Concepts: http://www.nlconcepts.com/

New Free Download - "Line Up Balls"

I've just added a new free download to our Free Stuff page at http://www.positivelyautism.com/free/. The new download is a tip sheet about "Line Up Balls" - a strategy I've been using to encourage my students to line up the first time they are asked.

You can access the tip sheet here: http://www.positivelyautism.com/downloads/LineUpStrategy.pdf

Telling Your Child about Asperger's

Perspectives and tips from parents on telling your child about his or her diagnosis, in the context of a recent episode of NBC's Parenthood. From Thinking Person's Guide to Autism.

http://thinkingautismguide.blogspot.com/2011/03/parenthood-telling-your-child-about.html

How to Tell Your Child About Their Autism

Another parent perspective on this topic with a sample script for telling your child about his or her diagnosis in a very positive way. From Autisable.com.

http://www.autisable.com/742787896/how-to-tell-your-child-about-their-autism-/

Telling Children They Have Autism or Asperger's Syndrome Video

An informative and positive video from http://www.aspergerssociety.org/

New Free Download - Pick-up/Drop Off Transition Schedule

I made the schedule pictured above for a student who was having difficulty transitioning to school with different people on different days. This could also be used if different people pick up a student from school on different days to provide a visual reminder of who will be there on which days of the week. The circles next to each day could be used to attach a sticker or other token as a reward for a good transition.

You can access the file here under "visual supports for the classroom:" http://www.positivelyautism.com/free/07visuals.html