* Spoiler Alert *   Did you see last night’s Parenthood?  I loved the moment where Amber finally “gets it” that Max simply cannot tell the difference between a sincere and a false apology through facial expressions and voice – the nonverbal cues.   Her  idea to help him learn the difference by watching YouTube videos of public apologies (Bill Clinton) and parsing out the eye contact, the smile or frown, the tone of voice, etc. was creative, clever and most of all, simple.  It didn’t require a fancy curriculum, or post graduate training.  It didn’t require specialized equipment (note the old Mac they were using!) or expensive training materials.  It required creative thinking, patience and a willingness to take the time necessary to teach the subject matter.   I’ve used this sort of thing many times and I know many parents who have done the same.  You can do it “old school” and create a social story using family photos and handwritten notes, you can go high tech and use your Iphone.  You can rent the Brady Bunch episode where Peter’s voice changes (thank you Netflix!) and explain the maturation process while singing “It’s time to change”.   Sometimes the most important skill that we need to have in working with our loved ones with ASD is creativity.

Speaking of creativity – did you catch the news?  Carol Grey is finally coming back to Connecticut!  Creator of Social Stories™ and comic strip conversations, Carol is a dynamic presenter with lots of information and hands on tools you can use in school, at home, in the community and in the workplace to help teach social skills to our kids and adults with ASD.  Save the date, Saturday, April 28, 2012 for the 22nd Annual Statewide Conference on Autism.  Lots more information on our website.  See you there!

Brrr.  I had to turn on the heat in my car this morning.  Got me to thinking that winter is coming.  With the high cost of heating, whether it is oil, gas, electric or whatever, we get lots of phone calls here at the office from parents looking for assistance with their energy costs.  Unfortunately, ASCONN does not have funding to help parents pay for heat.  There are no special programs for persons on the spectrum.  But, Connecticut DOES have an energy assistance program, although my understanding is that there are fewer dollars this year (so what else is new?).  Go to the Department of Social Services website to find out about the program, what the eligibility requirements are and how to apply.  Applications are being accepted NOW, so make sure you get yours in early, especially if there is less funding than in years past.

If you heat with electricity or gas, the utility company cannot turn off your heat starting November 1 if you apply for a “hardship”.  The rule are complicated and depend upon whether you use gas or electricity and whether yours is a public utility or a municipal utility.  A good resource is located here at the CT Network for Legal Aid website.

The best path is to call your utility NOW before the winter months and get on a payment plan that you can afford.  Remember, though, that a plan only spreads the cost out over a period of time, it does not reduce the cost of your heating bill overall.   Some of the utilities have plans that will also help defray the costs and lower your overall bill.

If you heat with electricity like I do, don’t forget to save money by choosing an electric supplier that may provide your energy at a lower cost than your utility.  You won’t notice any difference in your service or your bill, just lower rates!  You can also get an energy audit (mine was free!) where a certified person will come to your house and check your doors and windows for leaks, provide caulk and weather stripping, retrofit you with energy efficient light bulbs and give you lots of tips on how to save energy.  More information at CL&P or United Illuminating.

Every 5 years, the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) conducts a monitoring visit called a Continuous Improvement Visit.   During the visit, OSEP assesses and/or verifies that key requirements of IDEA (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) are being followed and implemented.    As part of the process, OSEP is looking for input from stakeholders.  PARENTS ARE KEY STAKEHOLDERS in this process.   A survey has been created to enable parents to provide input about their experiences.  So here is your chance to make your voice heard.  The survey is brief and your answers are confidential.  Follow the links below, of if you prefer, call CPAC (CT Parent Advocacy Center) at 800-445-2722 and answer the questions over the telephone.

Survey for parents with children under the age of 3.

Survey for parents with children between the ages of 3-21.

You know that phenomenon where you happen upon some piece of information and soon afterwards you encounter it again?  It’s called Baader-Meinhof and I had it again today.   I was reading a really interesting article in USA Today on the use of IPads in special education and lo and behold, what comes across my desk this morning?  Information on an “APP-Tastic” conference right here in Mystic about how the IPad and apps can help special needs students, particularly those on the spectrum.  Presented by Lighthouse  Voc-Ed Center and the NEAT Center (New England Assistive Technology), it’s cheap, it’s local and it sounds really useful for parents and school staff.    I know many families have used this technology for their kids.  Do you have a favorite app or way to use your technology to help your kid?  Let’s share!

First an earthquake, then a hurricane?  What’s next? Pestilence? Plague? Frogs?    For most of us, what’s next is something even more terrifying – the first day of school!  A new teacher, a new classroom, perhaps even a new building – talk about anxiety, not just for our kids on the spectrum, but also for us parents.  A whole new team.  Will they have even read the IEP that we put together last year?  Does it still make sense after the summer?  What new skills did our kids learn, and which did they lose?  What new areas for improvement did we see as we spent unstructured time together over the summer vacation?  Maybe our kids are off transitioning to the adult world, whether that is higher education, vocational training, transition programming, a job.    You have questions, you need resources, ASCONN has answers.  Join a support group – many are picking up again after a summer hiatus, check out our listings here and please call before you attend.   Sign up for a parent advocacy training program to help you learn more about the IEP process and effective techniques for advocacy.   Schedule an Autism 101 Workshop for the new classroom, girl or boy scout troop, after school program or other community provider.  Mostly – bookmark this site!  We have lots of plans for the fall and we hope to be posting more and starting the conversation.  So join in!  Got something you want more information about?  Send us an e-mail or comment and we will do our best to get some answers or at least point you in the right direction.  Have some information to share?  Send us a listing for our community announcements section, calendar of events or write up a blog post about some great achievement for YOUR child, a wonderful teacher or therapist or program, a great book or other resource you’ve found.   Let the sharing begin.

I’m teaching a Parent Advocacy class this month and this week’s session was a review of the IEP document.  We took a blank IEP and went through it, page by page, discussing what belongs where and how the document gets put together.  As we were working our way through, I kept hearing the same thing “Hey, I’ve never seen this page!”.

Hello?! What?! Are you kidding me?! These are not “newbie” parents, many have children in later elementary or middle school and there are pages to the IEP that THEY HAVE NEVER SEEN? What’s up with that?

So, today’s challenge for my Connecticut families. Go find your last IEP. Check two things. Look at the bottom of the first page. Note the revision date. It should be “Revised Feb 2009a”. Now look over to the far left bottom corner  where there is a little, tiny page number. It should start with 1 and go up to 12 inclusive. There may be more than one of some of the pages, but there should AT LEAST be one each of the 12 pages.

If there isn’t? Gather up your IEP and march on down to your school. Talk to the Director of Special Education or the Coordinator. Ask why you don’t have a COMPLETE IEP document. Remind them that this is a legal document and they are required to fill it out completely and to give you a COMPLETE COPY. Then call the Bureau of Special Education at the CT State Department of Education and file a complaint.

For more information about IEP forms and what they should look like, click here.

I found this great piece on Slate.com creating two new basketball brackets for the tournament. One was team colors, the other, mascots. (My pick?  The Akron Zips.  Zippy the Kangaroo all the way.) What an interesting way to view the brackets!

Think about it. In order to actually win the office pool you have to pick a team to go to the final four that the rest of the pool has not chosen. If everyone picks the same final four teams, then no one person can win the pool. You have to go against the group consensus. You have to take a chance on a long shot. You may go down in flames, but it is your only chance of winning. We call this “out of the box” thinking.

In order to do that, you have to think about the bracket differently than everyone else.

That’s what our loved ones with autism do every day.

One of the most interesting and frustrating issues when working with people with autism is often the fact that they often don’t get the group consensus. What is important to the rest of us neurotypicals may just not be the important detail to our kid. Whether it is a focus on the “wrong” detail (like the fact that the book store downtown is the one with the blue door, as opposed to the store that sells books) or the inability to focus on the teacher’s voice when there is a fan spinning in the room, as parents and teachers we are often frustrated by what seems to us to be an inability to focus on the important.

Don’t get me wrong, focusing on the teacher’s voice vs the fan is probably useful. But you know, sometimes looking at the world through a slightly different prism is also useful. It is this different viewpoint that enables someone like Temple Grandin to understand cattle and design better cattle handling systems. It is this different viewpoint that discovers new cures for diseases, solves math problems, creates better video games and computer programs, paints better pictures, tells stories, expresses itself in music. It is this viewpoint that picks the long shot and wins the pool.

So, let’s remember that while it is important to help our kids navigate our world successfully, sometimes we should try to enter their world. We should try to respect their way of thinking and not always dismiss a thought process that focuses on the “unimportant”. Let’s not be rigid ourselves. Go Zips!

Here’s Chelsea getting a fist bump from ASCONN for raising over $500 at her school on “Hat Day for Autism”.  Chelsea’s mom received one of our “Help Now” mini-grants a few years ago to purchase a special car seat. Now 10 years old and a happy fourth grader at the public school, Chelsea wanted to give back. Her idea?

Let kids pay $1 and wear a hat to school. Obviously, the kids at her school like to wear hats. Check out the posters Chelsea and her friends made to advertise the day.    Great idea, Chelsea!

Reading the NYTimes this morning, I came across this article about kids in an autism program at a NJ middle school running a coffee shop as part of their curriculum.  Why doesn’t every school have this?  I know one district that does this with kids in an ED special ed classroom – why not all kids?   Pass it on to YOUR district.

Autistic Children Help at Coffee Shop in N.J. School – NYTimes.com.