A Message to Parents

Dear Parents, I am finally back after a long silence for almost two years. It is very hard to disengage myself from thinking and writing about...

Posts Tagged ‘visual timer’

Parents & Educators, Get Ready For A New School Year Now

By Nadia Shanab | autism, general advice, parenting, tips

A new school year is around the corner and about to start! 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 Improve Social Skills Improve Communication

How To Handle A Temper Tantrum

How To Handle A Temper Tantrum

By Nadia Shanab | autism, general advice, parenting, tips

What Is A Temper Tantrum It is a negative attention seeking that the child resorts to, in order to communicate her/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 others, like aggression, running off, and

High Perceptual Skill As Early Sign Of Autism

High Perceptual Skill As Early Sign Of Autism

By Nadia Shanab | autism, general advice, parenting, tips

One of the strengths that people with autism enjoy is their sharp visual skills. That’s why we call them “visual thinkers” versus “verbal thinkers” in the case of typically developed individuals. Consequently, one of the signs of autism to look for, is paying attention to small details. Read more about the signs of autism in

Guidelines To Plan For Your Child’s Future

By Nadia Shanab | autism, general advice, parenting, tips

In the previous post “A Parent Of A Child Recently Diagnosed With Autism?” we came to the conclusion that  the most powerful thing to do to help your child right after the diagnosis is to keep her mind and body busy, to engage her brain in a mental processing mode. We also agreed that the

10 Tips For An Enjoyable Summer Vacation

By Nadia Shanab | autism, general advice, parenting, tips

There are some important factors to be considered in order to assure a successful summer vaction for the entire family. Sensory integration issues can probably cause the most serious inconvenience. A sensory overload can needlessly ruin the vacation. Noises, smells/odors, incessent objects and people in motion, high temperature, brightness, lack of personal space, major change

Arianna and The “Broken Cheeseburger”

By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized

An amazing story of a seven-year-old autistic girl in a resaurant and her perception about a cheeseburger cut in two halves. Arianna called it the “broken cheeseburger” and couldn’t eat it. Why? She can only eat a “fixed cheeseburger”. My Expanation I guess Arianna had never seen a burger cut in half in her plate

The 16 th Annual Paraeducators Conference (April 10-12)

By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized

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

4 Factors Affect A Writing Assignment

By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized

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

A Useful Organizational Tool, “On-Task On-Time”

By Nadia Shanab | autism, general advice, parenting

A mother with four kids (a triplets plus one) came up with a great invention that helped her have a more peaceful and disciplined life. She created a special timer-like device with 3 different routines to keep the kids “on-task on-time”. She had several parents of children with autism who have had success with her

Back-to-School Preparation

By Nadia Shanab | autism, general advice, parenting

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