EdCeptional #041 - Welcome Back

It has been quite a while since we last recorded EdCeptional.  We are getting back on track and looking forward to continuing the conversation.  You can check out episode #41 - Welcome Back at EdReach.us/EdCeptionalshow or by subscribing in iTunes.

Patrick

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More About Traveling with Children with Special Needs: "Airlines and Autism" #specialneeds #tck #autism

Source:  worldtraveledfamily.com

Elaine Hall who is an author, advocate, and mother of a teen with autism posted an article about traveling (more specifically, flying) with children who have autism on the Huffington Post today.  Elaine begins the article by sharing one family's unfortunate travel experience in which they were asked to de-board a flight because their daughter who has autism could not fasten her seatbelt as a result of her heightened anxiety brought on by the experience of flying.  The airline's position, which seems to be somewhat exaggerated, was that the child was attempting to open the door of the plane while it was taxing for departure.  The airline did cite the safety of their passengers as a primary concern.  She also shares a not so positive experience she had while traveling with her husband and son, who also has autism.

 It's unfortunate that society (in this case, the flight attendants) does not have a better understanding of autism.  Greater awareness of autism and how the disability might present itself during such situations might prevent situations from escalating to the point of having a family de-board the airplane.  I know it might be a little much to ask airlines and other companies that provide such public services to train their employees on autism, but I feel society as a whole needs to try and be a little more understanding of the challenges these children and their families face on daily basis.  I commend those companies and organizations that are take a more proactive approach in providing training on autism for their employees.  I know in some areas first responders are trained in how to better handle individuals with disabilities like autism.

Now, on a more positive note, Elaine closes out the article by sharing strategies that she has found to be effective in making traveling a more positive experience for her son and family.  The strategies she mentions include many best practices for social skills instruction.  By going through such preparatory activities with children who have autism before such social situations, they will have a better understanding of what is going on and therefore experience greater success.


-  Jeremy

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Wall Street Journal: Using Multitouch Therapy To Reach Autistic Kids

Wow!! "Multitouch therapy" was featured on the Wall Street Journal yesterday. The fact that such technology for children with autism is being featured by the Wall Street Journal is amazing. Even more impressive, is the fact that it is both research-based and open source (FREE)!

Download the software activities here. Requires a Windows 7 tablet supporting multitouch and OpenGL 2.0.

- Jeremy


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Stephen Wiltshire's Draw! Test your skills

Draw! Test your skills is a FREE, online drawing app from Stephen Wiltshire, an artist with autism who creates detailed cityscapes. The app only works with certain browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari). However, it is compatible with interactive whiteboards as well as iPad, iPhone, and Android devices!


- Jeremy


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#AppMondayTAS - Kindergarten.com

Kindergarten.com has a set of 24 apps for the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad for free for the Month of April!  In honor of Autism Awareness month the ABA Flashcards are available to download for free from the iTunes store!  These apps include audio reinforcement, musical rewards, and will shuffle the decks for you.  The apps include games for which does not belong, which one rhymes, which goes together, as well as traditional flashcards.  To download all the apps, open iTunes, click on the iTunes store, search for Kindergarten.com and it will bring up all the apps!  Happy Downloading!




- Patrick


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The world needs all kinds of minds

Temple Grandin has long been someone I've admired, respected, and learned from.  As a person who has autism, an educator (not in the traditional sense), and designer she has made me understand people with Autism more.  This year she was given the opportunity to speak at the TED conference.  TED is basically a showcase of some of the smartest people in the world and they are given 18 min. to talk about whatever they like.  Temple chose to talk about how we need "all kinds of minds" in our world.  I happen to agree wholeheartedly with her.  If you have a chance you need to take 20 min. and watch this video!


The world needs all kinds of minds


Patrick


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30 days hath September...

So I'm an NPR junkie, it's on in my car almost all the time (I need my Car Talk and Wait Wait...Don't tell me! on Saturday's), and today was no exception. Today I was listening and they were talking to an author about his new book called Thirty Days Has September. It's a book about pneumonic devices, all those fun things we teach kids to remembers stuff - HOMES, Every Good Boy Does Fine, etc..., but it was the reason why he wrote the book that was interesting to me. The author described his son who has Autism and has difficulty understanding spoken language as well as using spoken language. The son had difficulty transitioning activities (not that unusual) and his father felt that since he didn't understand spoken language he was unable to understand what was happening next. That's when they hit upon his strength, the son had an amazing ability to recall music. They began using his strength to help him transition. As they would transition to an activity they would sing a little song to help him understand what would be happening - even something as simple as Splish, Splash, I was taking a bath - so he knew they were heading to the bath. Using this experience it helped the author decide to write his book.

The story just struck something with me. Sometimes it's the little things we take for granted that end up being life changing. Obviously for this child his love of music was many years just considered nothing more than a fascination, but all it took was one person to recognize the power of his gift and figure out a way to use it. This child's quality of life was increased because after hearing a song 1-2 times he was able to understand what was coming next, even using the tactic to tell others what he was doing (if you listen to the story on NPR you'll understand). Hopefully using this example we can all think about the little things that might completely change the life of a student.

Patrick

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ZAC Browser

There is a new browser out, designed for students with Autism in mind.  Here is a description from the website:

ZAC is the first web browser developed specifically for children with autism, and autism spectrum disorders such as Asperger syndrome, pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), and PDD-NOS. We have made this browser for the children - for their enjoyment, enrichment, and freedom. Children touch it, use it, play it, interact with it, and experience independence through ZAC.

ZAC is the zone that will permit your child to interact directly with games (a LOT of games) and activities (focused on MANY interests) that cater specifically to kids who display the characteristics of autism spectrum disorders, like impairments in social interaction, impairments in communication, restricted interests and repetitive behavior. ZAC has been an effective tool for kids with low, medium and high functioning autism.

ZAC focuses on the children and their interaction - But we also provide an excellent forum for parents, caretakers, teachers, and others to share their experiences, tools and resources and to unite as a caring, compassionate, and extremely knowledgeable community. It is said that "it takes a village to raise a child", and that is exponentially true for raising a child with autistic spectrum disorders. The power of your experience yesterday is going to be instrumental in helping someone successfully tackle the circumstances of today.

This browser allows a child to have access to the computer, but keeps them from going to harmful sites. It only allows them to access what is currently programmed into it. There are many learning games, videos, and audio clips programmed in. Take a look at the browser here: Zac Browswer