Children with and without ASD can be equally shaken by the tragic events that appear in the news, such as school shootings. Autism Speaks has posted some suggestions for talking to your child about tragedy as well as understanding their potential reactions. The tips are provided by Dr. Peter Faustino, a delegate of the National Association of School Psychologists. Click here to read these helpful suggestions!

 

Stuart Duncan and his son share the love of playing Minecraft, an online adventure game. While this may sound like a common father-son activity, both Stuart and his son are diagnosed with autism. Stuart noticed that the internet can be an unfriendly, and sometimes terrifying, place for children with autism – so he created a Minecraft server called Autcraft that provides a safe and compassionate game space. In Autcraft, children earn rewards for being helpful and friendly toward other players, rather than competitive. He monitors the server carefully, and now 8,000 people around the world are on his white list, waiting to be approved to join. To listen to his TEDx talk to learn more about the server and his story, click here. You can also visit the Autcraft website by clicking here.

We are recruiting our second round of focus groups for parents with a young child with ASD.  We are conducting separate focus groups for families who speak English and those who are Spanish-speaking only.  The focus group will last about 2 hours, and participating families will be compensated $100 for their time. Click here for more information!

The Audubon Nature Institute’s Aquarium of the Americas, based in New Orleans, has become the first aquarium to be certified as sensory inclusive. The Nature Institute worked with KultureCity, a nonprofit organization that helps effect change in the community for those with sensory differences, to ensure that their programs are inclusive and can address each visitor’s unique needs. As a result, they now offer “sensory bags” that include items such as “VIP” lanyards and noise-cancelling headphones, have created “quiet zones” for people who need a place to calm down, and have provided professional development training to their staff to better assist visitors. In addition, they’ve created social stories to help visitors know what to expect during their visit to their Aquarium and Zoo, which can be downloaded from their website. To learn more about the program, click here.

Want to share your thoughts about how individuals with autism can be successful in the workplace? Researchers at Stony Brook University have teamed up with the Autism Science Foundation to create this survey to identify the factors that contribute to the employment success for individuals with ASD. The survey takes 10-15 minutes to complete, and is designed for adults with ASD (18+ years old), parents of children with ASD (13+ years old), and clinicians, employers, and researchers who work with individuals with ASD. The goal of this project is to enable communities to better support people with ASD, as well as the employers and healthcare professionals who help people with ASD obtain and keep employment. To take the survey, click here!

Thanks to supplemental funding from NIMH for the SRT grant, the READi Lab held an ADOS-2 training workshop last week for early intervention providers in Yakima and Spokane counties. The ADOS-2 is a standardized diagnostic assessment tool that can provide useful information to Autism Centers of Excellence (COEs) and other diagnosticians for determining a child’s eligibility for Medicaid-funded ABA services.

The 2-day training workshop was conducted by Susan Hepburn, PhD, a clinical psychologist and professor at Colorado State University. The trainees were participants in our Screen-Refer-Treat study from Guilds School and Northwest Autism Center (in Spokane) and Children’s Village (in Yakima).  The providers spent time learning ADOS-2 tips and tricks from Susan Hepburn, engaged in role-play assessments with each other, and had some hands on experience with children. A special thank you to the Spokane Guilds School for hosting the workshop!

FUN FACT: Dr. Hepburn is one of Dr. Stone’s former graduate students from her Vanderbilt years.

DJ Savarese is the first nonspeaking student with autism to live on campus and graduate from Oberlin College. Despite facing many challenges, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a double major in Anthropology and Creative Writing. This documentary, “Deej,” chronicles his journey through high school and college and depicts his family’s tireless fight for his inclusion in the education system. DJ is a successful poet and prose writer, and the film uses mostly his own words. The film was shown on PBS last fall and continues to be screened around the country at schools and other community spaces. To learn more about Deej and to find a screening near you, click here!

Reece Arnold is a musician, writer, and game inventor who happens to have autism. He serves as an inspiration to others through his music and his game company, which is called Reece-Cycled Fun! Reece describes how he discovered his talents in a fascinating blog post on the Autism Speaks website (click here). In this blog, Reece also discusses his early challenges with verbal communication and how he adapted using music. He has since earned a Master Certificate for Orchestration for Film and TV from Berklee College of Music and provides music therapy for various day habilitation programs—impressive! To find out more about Reece and his game company, visit his website!

Subway Sleuths is an after-school program run by the New York Subway Museum for children with autism who share a passion for trains. Participants meet weekly and complete various train-related activities led by a speech-language pathologist and a special education teacher. The program unites children with autism who share the love of trains while helping them develop social skills and leadership abilities through games that require them to communicate and problem-solve with peers. This article from Spectrum News follows a boy named Alistair, who was shy and timid before joining the Subway Sleuths. However, after only three sessions, Alistair took on a leadership role for the first time and now uses his newfound confidence to tutor his peers in math. What an excellent way to use a child’s passion to expand social skills! To read the full article, click here.

Spectrum News reporters asked several researchers to share memorable stories about what they learned from a person with autism. Some of them were funny, others were surprising, but they all share very inspiring experiences about their encounters. They learned about how motivation matters, received fresh perspectives, and got to know a lot more about what’s going on inside a person’s head. Check out the full article (click here) and read their heartwarming stories!

The Exceptional Minds Studio is a non-profit animation and visual effects vocational school and studio for young adults on the autism spectrum. Since opening in Sherman Oaks, CA four years ago, the studio has created visual effects and animations for over 50 titles. Credited for movies such as ‘Thor: Ragnarok,’ ‘Doctor Strange,’ and most recently, ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi,’ the artists at Exceptional Minds Studio describe this work as being something that they “never thought [they] would get a chance to work on.” Exceptional Minds offers a three-year program with a curriculum that focuses on technical training, job readiness, teamwork, and acquiring paid projects. Exceptional Minds’ vision is to help people on the spectrum achieve their full potential in the work force and become leaders in transforming public awareness of their capabilities. For more information about their recent work on the latest Star Wars movie, click here! To check out the Exceptional Minds Studio, click here!