By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized
“There’s no reason to miss out on holiday gatherings” Here are some tips to help parents of special needs kids to enjoy the holiday season and be part of their community and stay connected to their family and friends. Don’t turn down any invitations. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how interesting your experience was. Read the
Tags: ADHD, asperger's syndrome, autism, communication, flexibility, health, holidays, independence, organization, parenting, senses, sensory, social interaction, tips
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By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized
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
Tags: asperger's syndrome, autism, communication, discipline, flexibility, health, independence, organization, parenting, sensory, social interaction, tips
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By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized
It is never enough to emphasize the importance of being specific when interacting with individuals with autism to avoid any confusion. However, I’ve always found everything they say, and which may appear illogical to certain people, to be absolutely rational. Here are some examples: Example 1 We were reading a story and we came across
Tags: asperger's syndrome, autism, communication, flexibility, free thinkers, idioms, out of the box, parenting, senses, social interaction, tips, what's normal?
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By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized
A recent research by the Vanderbilt University, October 2013, has released a new intervention program to help improve the social deficits in adolesents with autism. Researchers used the theater to teach reciprocal communication skills. The program is called Social Emotional Neuroscience & Endocrinology (SENSE). Techniques used in this program are: role-play, improvisation, and it culminates in
Tags: acting, asperger's syndrome, autism, communication, early intervention, eye contact, flexibility, parenting, performing arts, research, social interaction, speech, techniques, theater, tips
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By Nadia Shanab | general advice, Uncategorized
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.
Tags: asperger's syndrome, autism, communication, consequences, discipline, early intervention, flexibility, health, independence, mental illness, organization, parenting, placement, positive psychology, research, schedule, senses, sensory, tips
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By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized
Watch an interview with Temple Grandin that inspires “hope”. She briefly touches on most aspects of autism. templegrandin.com/ nadia shanab
Tags: asperger's syndrome, autism, communication, diagnosis, discipline, early intervention, flexibility, health, independence, organization, parenting, placement, research, rewards, schedule, sensory, social interaction, speech, symptoms of autism, Temple Grandin, tips
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By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized
You may have noticed that most of my articles are about trying to help parents and educators raise and educate kids with autism. So, most of the tips I suggest are usually targeting the kids. But, how about parents and educators themselves? Can they always be in their greatest shape, best mood, and ready to provide
Tags: Abraham Lincoln, asperger's syndrome, autism, behavioral disorders, clinical psychology, communication, flexibility, happiness, health, independence, organization, parenting, positive psychology, research, social interaction, techniques
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By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized
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
Tags: ADHD, asperger's syndrome, autism, communication, consequences, discipline, early intervention, flexibility, health, independence, mainstream, occupational therapy, parenting, placement, schedule, senses, social interaction, speech, techniques, transition, visual aids
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By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized
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
Tags: aids, autism, communication, discipline, early intervention, flexibility, independence, organization, parenting, rewards, schedule, sensory, social interaction, speech, symptoms of autism, tips, visual aids
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By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized
In a child development class I learned that a newborn’s brain has a huge number of connections between the cells (neurons). Imagine these connections forming a network. If some connections are more used than others (due to a heavy traffic on these communication lines), these pathways become well-established. The connections that are less used, get
Tags: autism, communication, diagnosis, early intervention, flexibility, neuron, neuroscientist, organization, parenting, research, social interaction
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