RDI Connect offers a podcast series exploring aspects of parenting and teaching children with autism. The following is an excerpt from a reflection of what autism awareness really needs to be, by Dr. Steven Gutstein. “There’s a lot more awareness that there is such a thing called autism, but there is not a great deal of awareness of what […]
Read more
Just before April started, the website The Art of Autism posted a list of 84 or so favorite quotes about autism. Many of them were written by people with autism. It is a great list. I thought that in honor of autism acceptance, this might be an opportunity to play with one of the other things I’m interested in: sketchnoting. […]
Read more
Your child has just been diagnosed with autism. What does that mean? As parents who have walked the road awhile, here are some things we wish we could have known at the beginning: Your child is amazing. Your child loves you. Even if they don’t say it, they do. You’ll find your own unique ways to connect. Take a breath. […]
Read more
Often in the first years of parenting, childcare takes the centre stage. The things we liked to do before we had children can just fall away. Children (with and without autism) tend to like what’s familiar and don’t always behave the way we’d like when we take them out in new situations – so it’s easier to stay home and just stick with […]
Read more
Service dogs can be a great help to people with autism. In October of 2015 Jackie shared about her family’s reasons for getting a service dog for her daughter. Here’s a followup post on how things have gone, and how a service dog has helped Signey grow. So, when we decided to buy a service dog for our daughter, Signey, […]
Read more
More Than Words: Helping Parents Promote Communication and Social Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder by Fern Sussman Published by The Hanen Centre, 1999 After our first child was diagnosed with autism, I went on the hunt for resources that would explain to me what this diagnosis meant, and how I could help. I’ve now read dozens of books […]
Read more
One of the challenges of having a child with a disability is the extra expenses. In addition to increased child care needs (perhaps leading to a loss of income), we tend to have extra costs like therapies and diaper purchases longer than expected for a typical child. We also need to consider the future: will our children need help longer […]
Read more
From time to time, I read comments from parents who talk about combining therapies – they hope to be working with ABA and RDI clinicians, for example. Or they are doing ABA but are using developmental strategies to round things out. It’s a goal that seems reasonable, on the surface. Why not pull the best from each approach? There […]
Read more
Credit for this topic goes to Marlaine Willborn, a retired speech therapist in Winnipeg, who demonstrated the use of ideas from ‘Giggle Time: Establishing a social connection’ by Susan Aud Somers. Play is how children learn, and most adults want to play with their children. Sometimes we can feel that our children don’t really want to play with us. Many […]
Read more
Christopher Ulmer is a special education teacher. In his third year of working with the same class of students, he wanted to highlight what he saw in his students – their brilliance, humor, and beauty. His first idea was a book in which his students would explain life from their perspectives, but when that didn’t work out, he started videotaping and […]
Read more