The Christmas season is upon us! We all like making and enjoying seasonal traditions, but sometimes things can be overwhelming for kids who have sensory differences. The following activities are autism-friendly, in the sense that it’s possible to find quiet spaces when you need one, or choose how much time you want to spend, or choose times when things are […]
Read moreEditor’s note: ASAN in Canada has rebranded to Autistics United Canada. You can find them at: Website: autisticsunitedca.org, Twitter: @AutisticsUnited, Facebook: @ManitobaAutistics, Tumblr: autisticsunitedca@tumblr.com April 2 is World Autism Awareness – or better yet, Autism Acceptance Day. Who could tell us more about autism than people who are autistic? So to mark the occasion, we met with members of Winnipeg’s […]
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One of ADAPT’s key beliefs is that people are the expert of their own experiences. We advocate to government for a range of autism therapy options because we believe that parents know more about what their kids need than a one size fits all program possibly can – parents have an expertise regarding their children that government officials just can’t […]
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Credit for these ideas goes to Marlaine Willborn, a speech therapist in Winnipeg. This post is based on ideas she had compiled and shared with me when I was trying to get better at engaging my children in play. Her resource came primarily from ‘Giggle Time: Establishing a social connection’ by Susan Aud Somers. One of the most daunting […]
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Interested in inclusive education? Here’s a unique opportunity for you this summer! The Manitoba Alliance for Universal Design for Learning (MAUDeL) is hosting its second conference to explore what inclusive education can look like, and to support teachers, educators, and other community members in their efforts to create inclusive schools. For teachers new to UDL, they are also offering a Summer Institute […]
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Everyone you know and everyone you will ever meet is special and different in some way. The world would be a boring place if people were all the same. It’s our differences that make us all unique and interesting. That’s the starting point of the Autism Acceptance Book by Ellen Sabin, written to help elementary school students look beyond the […]
Read moreBetween waiting lists and age cut-offs, it can be hard to find support for your child with autism. But one of the most helpful organizations in Winnipeg is the Rehabilitation Centre for Children. In addition to the Relate program (which does have a wait list and entry criteria), they offer some excellent short-term learning opportunities for families and caregivers of […]
Read moreOur family belongs to a church. And in all honesty, without the support of our church community, I don’t know how we would have survived the last five years. Having a community to stand alongside you is important for any family, and all the more so for a family of children with autism or other special needs. Last weekend I […]
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Something innovative is happening in Canadian schools – particularly in British Columbia, Ontario and Saskatchewan. It all has to do with self-regulation: the ability to remain calm, alert and ready to learn. The Canadian Self-Regulation Initiative is a project based on the research of Dr. Stuart Shanker of York University. The goal is to to coordinate and share the best […]
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This year my daughter started grade one. Through her Kindergarten year and now this fall, we’ve been working with our school to create a program that meets her needs. We are very fortunate to have a school that is happy to learn about autism, about DIR/Floortime, and how to put it all together, but it has certainly been a learning […]
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