The State Department of Education, Special Education Division, puts out The Special EDge newsletter. The autumn 2010 issue focuses on effective communication between parents and schools and has some great ideas for IEP meetings. In addition, they offer this list of resources for parents:
1. Effective Parent-Teacher Communication, written by the Center for Effective Parenting, describes some of the common problems in parent-teacher communication and offers six suggestions to communicate effectively.
2. Written by the Child Development Institute, “Establishing a Parent-Teacher Relationship,” offers suggestions to parents on how to develop positive relationships with their children’s teachers and how to successfully navigate those relationships when problems develop.

The Autism Society has a great list of suggestions for making the holidays enjoyable.

The Center for the Dissemination of Information for Children with Disabilities has published an article in Spanish,“El Espectro del Autismo” with great information for parents about the autism spectrum.

HollyRod Foundation Announcement

The HollyRod Foundation is currently taking applications for children with autism to receive an Apple iPad along with specially designed software to give these children the ability to communicate. This offer is only available to individuals on the autism spectrum that are non-verbal or minimally verbal. Applications will be reviewed in the order received and iPads will be given to verified applicants in the order in which they were received. For more information and eligibility requirements visit their website.

Dear Aascend Community,

Those who attended the last Aascend meeting heard my announcement that we are working on setting up a company tailored to employ the unique skills and talents of individuals on the spectrum in the Bay area. Here is a short summary:
This (as yet unnamed) Social Enterprise will be modeled after the Danish company Specialisterne, and Aspiritech which is in the Chicago area.

Our focus will be to provide software and product testing services to tech companies in the Bay Area. We will be operating in the city of San Francisco or a nearby community. The specific business details are still under discussion, but we are hoping to launch the enterprise early next year.
In terms of employees, we will be looking for people who:
• are on the Aspergers or High-Functioning Autism spectrum
• are over the age of 18
• be willing to work for at least 4 hours a day, 5 days a week
• have facility using computers and the internet

Prior knowledge or job experience of software programming and/or testing is not required – training will be provided. At this point, it is important for us to understand the level of interest in the Bay Area Aspergers community. If you, or someone you know, meet the above criteria, and would like further details as we progress, please respond to the short survey below:
• Contact email address:
• Relationship to potential candidate (self, parent, etc.):
• The Bay Area community in which the candidate lives:

The information below is optional, but will help to tailor the business structure of the Enterprise.
• Does the candidate have any social services like SSI, SSDI or MediCal (please state which):

If you respond to the survey, you will be put on an email list for updates on the progress of this project. Send reply to: mickey@aczel.us.

Thank you!
Andy Aczel

This Autism Speaks blog post speaks addresses how to best streamline services to help those with ASD.

Pediatric Therapy Services in San Francisco is currently running three very successful social skills integrated play groups for children in the spectrum and we are about to start a 4th one. All programs are vendorized through GGRC. Here is a link to a site that links to the program’s website http://web.me.com/jazmin.elek/.

Check out this article from the San Francisco Chronicle about a new UCSF study to test if children with autism can benefit from regular doses of an enzyme.

A clinical research study is being conducted to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of an investigational medication for children with Autism between the ages of 3 and 6. For more information, visit the study’s website.

In this 16-week randomized, placebo-controlled clinical study, the Clinical Global Impression Scale and other measures are used to document any improvements in the core symptoms of Autistic Disorder. These core symptoms include impaired social interaction, impaired communication and restricted, repetitive behavior.

All clinical study-related care including physical exams, psychological testing and study medication will be provided at no cost.

Compensation may be available to eligible parents or guardians.

Health insurance is not needed to participate.

April Autism Youth Sub Committee Meeting Notes
* Our meeting was held on Wednesday April 27, 2010 at the California Auto Association Building on Smith Ranch Road in San Rafael
* Barry Benda from Lifehouse Agency was able to attend
• Karen reviewed the following: Karen had made connection with the Marin County Sheriffs Department, Sergeant Josh Todt and Sergeant Debra D. Barry
• Marin County Sheriff’s Office Professional Standards Unit, 3501 Civic Center Drive, Room 145
San Rafael, CA 94903, Desk 415.499.7836, Fax 415.507.4126
• In regards to the ASD training DVD. Debra shared that the DVD had arrived and was being shared with agencies throughout Marin. Karen asked Debra for more specific information on what agencies and when the DVD had been used for training. Debra will get back to Karen. Karen offered MAC support to attend trainings and answer officers’ questions on ASD.
• Karen shared with Barry that Mike Gardner reported that the MCOE teachers would be going through SCRETS training and at this time did not feel a need for additional training from MAC.
• Karen shared with Barry that the medical practitioner letter and flyer were complete and the next step was to send our resource list out to them. Katrina from MAC will be doing this next step.

The meeting was closed by 9:45 as no other committee members were able to attend this meeting.

Final Meeting of the year is schedule for May 25th at 9:30 am

Karen Kaplan
Autism Youth Sub Committee Chair
karensupportsu@comcast.net
415-497-3751