Family gatherings are around the corner! Most people love to celebrate traditions and keep cultures. Soon you’ll receive many invitations to join lunches, dinners, parties with your family and friends. Parents with kids on the autism spectrum, tend to decline these invitations and find an excuse to escape all kinds of gatherings. As much as

Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions. Dalai Lama Research shows that people are becoming less happy, less fulfilled and less satisfied over the last two generations. Fifty years ago depression was known to affect people over thirty; now even children in elementary schools and adolescents are suffering from depression.

Watch an interview with Temple Grandin that inspires “hope”. She briefly touches on most aspects of autism. templegrandin.com/ nadia shanab

The following tips can be applied in classrooms as well as at home. Be positive in scanning the environment for possible behavioral precipitants. Reduce or eleminate stressors, to the extent possible. Read the student’s cue and signals and react before inapporopriate behavior occurs. “Plug in” activities designed to reduce stress and anxiety before behavioral disruptions

The Instructional Assistant’s Mission Statement Know well both your students and the disabilities that they manifest. Learn to take your students’ perspectives, and realize that they have significant difficulty taking yours. Always look beyond your students’ behaviors to determine the functions that those behaviors serve. Be neither blinded by your students’ strengths, nor hold them

TOBY playpad: TOBY Playpad is a unique, therapist-and-parent designed Early Intervention application for children with Autism. TOBY’s iPad tasks co-ordinate with off-iPad tasks to help your child learn skills in the real world. TOBY stands for Therapy Outcomes By You, because it aims to empower parents to commence early intervention to maximize your child’s development.

Dear Parents, Here comes another school year along with lots of hopes and loads of goals for your child’s future! Over the summer break you have probably set some goals for your child and pictured her in a certain setting that would rather satisfy your dreams. Good job! This exactly what parents are here for.

It is an ongoing debate whether iPads and touch devices in general are benefitial or harmful for kids with autism. From my own experience working with children on the autism spectrum, whether with poor verbal skills or high-functioning, they all love the iPad. It is a magical device that we in schools now use it

A new school year is around the corner and about to emerge! Parents and educators are you ready? Here are some tips to help you get off on the right foot. Bear in mind, there are three main goals in raising and educating children with autism that we are working on: Independence Better Social Skills Stronger Communication

Keeping your child engaged in doing useful activities is vital for her developmental growth. Wasting time watching TV for hours or playing video games all day long is not the best investment of summer time. Here are some ideas for activities to spend time on: Enroll your child in an art & crafts class. Enroll