Summer is around the corner. Many parents are wondering what to do with their children’s day once school is out? Should they just take it easy and have children enjoy a non-scheduled routine? Or should they send them to summer school or summer camps and keep them busy? In the US the number of days

The Early Start Denver Model (DSDM) is a comprehensive behavioral program that reduces cost of special education services throughout the schooling years. When joining this program many services and therapies will be reduced. The program is clinically controlled. Social skills and interaction showed great improvement following this program. Even if the first two years in

It is a dilemma for most parents whether they should give their child diagnosed with ADHD medicine or not. Ritalin is one of the most administrated drug to treat ADHD. Is it true that ADHD is a disease in the first place? Most importantly, how does a drug affect your child development in the short

What an amazing news for the autism community! SAP the German software company is running this project and intends to expand hiring in the US, Canada, Ireland, and Germany. The plan is to have 1% of the employees with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). IT people have now recognized the talents and uniqueness of people with

Anecdote A student with ASD told me “Let me tell you a joke!” I gave her my 200% attention and said: “Go ahead!” But deep inside I thought that it will definitely sound like anything but a joke. Here is what she said: “A student went to school without doing his homework. When the teacher

Why doesn’t the grapefruit have any grapes inside? I was taken aback and shocked when a HF (high-functioning) student asked me this question. I had never thought about it before. I had never asked myself the same question. Don’t you think that the question really makes sense? How is the grapefruit related to grapes, apart

You may have watched the video about the autistic basketball hero, Jason McElwain. Jason is a special ed. student who used to be the team manager, helping the coach and the team with all they need. On the final game of the season, the coach decided to let Jason play the last 5 minutes of

Jason used to help the coach and the team with some chores, hand them water, and towel off their sweat. The coach has recently decided to have Jason wear the jersey just let him feel how it is like, and let him paticipate in a real game. Look what Jason has achieved. Amazing! Unbelievable! Must-see

The new DSM 5 is due this month (May 2013). It is published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Three diagnosis will be removed: Aspergers Syndrome, PDD-NOS, and CDD. They will go under one diagnosis, autism. How is that going to affect parents, cliniacians, educators, advocates, and the children themselves with these conditions? Read the

As an educator, I try to keep the following two main goals as a top priority when working with spectrum kids. 1-TEACHING  INDEPENDENCE 2- DEVELOPING/ IMPROVING SOCIAL SKILLS Academics are very important to be taught. But life skills are most important. Children grow up very quickly. Time flies, and soon the elementary grader becomes a