Kids with autism often find it hard to make friends. But that doesn’t mean they don’t want to. It’s also not unusual for autistic people to communicate more comfortably in writing than in conversation. One day, a boy with autism in Charlottetown was visiting the Facebook page of his favourite Canadian music duo, Splash ‘N Boots. He shared that he […]
Read more
Should your child’s peers know what autism is, and that your child has it? The answer depends on the child and the situation. Our family decided early on that it would be more helpful than harmful, and so every year, when our children enter school, we have made sure that there is an opportunity for our children’s new classmates to […]
Read more
Last May, I shared a list of books that our children have enjoyed. More than that, they were books that led to conversations or activities that we could do together. You can read Part 1 here, and here are some more! Once There Was a Raindrop by Judith Anderson This is one book in a series about science – other […]
Read more
We tell ourselves stories and live by the stories we tell ourselves. -Joan Didion Recently I had coffee with a friend. We talked about the trip he and his wife took to Vietnam. He told me about the beautiful places they saw, and also about the homeless woman he met outside his hotel. He talked about their friendly greetings every […]
Read more
This post is part of a series, taking a quick look at each developmental capacity according to the work of Stanley Greenspan and Serena Wieder in their DIR/Floortime framework. As a child grows, they add new skills to what they learned in the previous capacities. You can find the list of related posts here. After you and your child have […]
Read more
This post is part of a series, taking a quick look at each developmental capacity, according to the work of Stanley Greenspan and Serena Wieder in their DIR/Floortime framework. As a child grows, they add new skills to what they learned in the previous capacities. You can find the list of related posts here. Communication is so much more than […]
Read more
Canada Day, at the start of summer holidays, is a perfect opportunity to do something fun with the family. Often, though, our family has found Canada Day events to be too big of a commitment, and crowds can be overwhelming. But we can still enjoy the day! Our criteria for autism friendly means: easy to get there, park, and leave […]
Read more
Individual Education Plans (IEPs) usually focus on behaviour – what we want kids to be able to do. In order to know what a child has learned, they have to list goals that are specific and measurable. A Developmental perspective, on the other hand, thinks about how a child relates to others, and how they think. Developmental goals tend to […]
Read more
There are many reasons to read picture books with children. Exploring new ways to communicate, enjoying a shared joke, learning about feelings, learning about the world, and finding ideas to expand play are all wonderful reasons to read. Two excellent criteria for choosing books are: The following books might fit those criteria for your child! Pete’s a Pizza Pete’s a […]
Read more
“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.” -O. Fred Donaldson Many people have happy childhood memories of playing with friends, when they imagined being and doing all kinds of things. Play is an important part of how children develop and explore imagination, problem solving, communication and friendship. “Autistic play is authentic play.” Cari […]
Read more