Canada Day, at the start of summer holidays, is a perfect opportunity to do something fun with the family. Often, though, our family has found Canada Day events to be too big of a commitment, and crowds can be overwhelming. But we can still enjoy the day! Our criteria for autism friendly means: easy to get there, park, and leave […]
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Individual Education Plans (IEPs) usually focus on behaviour – what we want kids to be able to do. In order to know what a child has learned, they have to list goals that are specific and measurable. A Developmental perspective, on the other hand, thinks about how a child relates to others, and how they think. Developmental goals tend to […]
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Do you think that every child in Manitoba has access to an education that meets their needs and equips them for a satisfying and useful life in their community? As a result of a recent forum on accessible education in Manitoba, there was a call to action to draft a letter to go to Minister Scott Fielding and his colleagues […]
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Baden is the president of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network of Winnipeg, and writes from the perspective of a person with autism. This post provides advice that parents may find useful as the school year wraps up. In my time interacting with parents of autistic children, there is one question I have seen more than almost any other: parents panicked by […]
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Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism By Dr. Barry Prizant Published by Simon & Shuster When parents first hear their child has autism, they may experience grief, confusion, or fear. These emotions are accompanied by questions – about who their child will be, and how to parent them in a way that helps them be successful. What […]
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Emma was recently diagnosed with autism. Her mother likes the approach of Autism Outreach, but is concerned that the program is limited to ten visits and ends when Emma starts school. She’s uncertain how much help and guidance she will need, and feels pushed towards the ABA program, as it will follow children until they are adults. She likes the […]
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One day, our autism consultant gave us a piece of advice about books and reading. She recommended that we choose books that we could not only read, but that connect with what our child is interested in, and we could act out in some playful way. I realized that we already had several books that were a springboard to back-and-forth […]
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“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.” -O. Fred Donaldson What would you think if your school told you that they had a plan to help your child with autism make friends and enjoy playing with them? Most of us have fond memories of times we enjoyed stretching our imaginations with our friends. […]
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“Communication is life. It is the only vehicle we have for connecting meaningfully with others.” Joseph Grenny, author Our daughter began speaking with words when she was 3. When she was six, she spoke mostly with sentences that she’d memorized or with short words and phrases. She shared requests or comments about what she wanted or was doing in the […]
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RDI Connect offers a podcast series exploring aspects of parenting and teaching children with autism. The following is an excerpt from a reflection of what autism awareness really needs to be, by Dr. Steven Gutstein. “There’s a lot more awareness that there is such a thing called autism, but there is not a great deal of awareness of what […]
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