For paraeducators who wish to learn more, here are the classes and workshops offered in this conference: members.csea.com/cseaMail/attmentuploads/cml_1212_1.pdf The 16th Annual Paraeducator Conference is coming up April 10-12, 2013 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California. Attached is a registration brochure offering a tentative list of classes available to attendees. While this cutting-edge conference has always

It might seem to be a simple request to ask a child with autism to write down a paragraph or even a sentence or two. According to Kathy Oehler, a Speech and Language Pathologist, the process of writing is a very complex task. It engages and sollicits several parts of the brain to work simultaniously in

Three Valuable Things I Have Learned at The Morgan Autism Conference I was invited to attend the 11th Morgan Autism Center Conference, www.morgancenter.org, which took place on the 22nd of September. This conference focuses on social cognition, communication, and transitions from childhood to adulthood and is attended by parents, educators and professionals dealing with autism.

The article: “Is Your Child with ASD Ready for a New School Year” was published in the San Jose Mercury News online and the Cupertino Courier community newspaper. Please find the article below. bit.ly/SbrYa

I simply call this tool “the cards system”. It is a disciplinary tool that can be made at home and it doesn’t cost a penny. I spend maximum 10 minutes to make it. For consistency reasons, it would be great if both, parents and school used the same tool. Parents, who implemented the idea and applied it

As a child, I always loved this time of the year. Nevertheless, it always came with some apprehension and some stress. The idea of being in a new class, having new teachers, new classmates, or even going to a new school, was a little bit unsettling. I didn’t know what to expect. In particular, the

What is temper tantrum? It is a negative attention seeking that the child resorts to, in order to communicate his frustration in a socially inappropriate way. Usually the child’s frustration arises when a need or a desire hasn’t been met. Temper tantrum is a form of meltdown among many, like aggression, running off, screaming, and

In previous articles I talked about the effectiveness of the reward system. First, I prefer to be positive and apply the reward (positive reinforcement) system as much as I can, and seize every opportunity to praise and encourage the children. Most kids work for rewards, and love to be praised and encouraged. But sometimes, the reward

This is a technique that I learned about just by trying. A student with very little speech demonstrated a very short attention span for regular work (Math and Language Arts). But I noticed that he showed a lot of interest in the Music class, and was able to focus and stay on task for almost the

One of the most characteristic traits of autism is rigidity, inflexibility, love for sameness and repetitive behavior. Why? Because it is easier to redo something than do something new. Even neurotypical people have a hard time making changes in their lives. It is easier to keep a routine. Change always comes with some effort. Tips