This guest post comes from a colleague who is a blast from my past! Adina Rich and I worked together in an Elementary School well over a decade ago, just as I was starting out in education, actually. While we lost touch for quite some time, we crossed paths again recently thanks to our shared interest in helping children with special needs. Adina is now the mother of three and is the Chief Education Officer at Rich Educational Consulting. I think you’re going to enjoy this post about school program options from Adina. And, I encourage you to watch for upcoming guest blog pieces from her as well; she is our newest Guest Blogger! After reading, I encourage you to leave a comment below or reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter with your thoughts. Thank you for helping me welcome Adina!
EXPLORING AUTISM PROGRAMMING OPTIONS FOR YOUR CHILD IN THE SCHOOL SETTING
By Adina Rich
My child is not like yours. There are probably similarities. My child has brown hair, hazel eyes, a wide toothed grin. However, there are probably differences as well. My child wears glasses, SMO leg braces, and was non-verbal until he was 4 ½. He does not always know how to ask to play with other children and does not always get social cues. But he has a wicked sense of humor and a heart so pure he will melt away anyone’s misgivings.

Last month when the folks at AutismSpot and SensorySpot met for some strategic planning sessions, we decided to work on updating our Contributor Guidelines and Submission Guidelines. We are excited to announce that we are interested in adding NEW content to both of our sites (AutismSpot and SensorySpot) and we are looking for NEW writers to help us do that! You may notice that some of the expectations are the same as they’ve always been, and some have changed. For instance, we now offer readers the opportunity to submit a one-time post about an event, book, product, resource or organization they are passionate about and want to share with all of our readers!
This also means that if you’ve noticed a “hole” in our content that you would like to see filled, we would love for you to submit a series of Guest Blog Posts on that topic or forward our new guidelines to an expert or writer you know who could address this topic for AutismSpot readers. We value your input and we are excited about opening the doors to new writers so that we can add additional content which will be valuable and beneficial to our community.

‘Tis the season for parent/teacher conferences…at least in our school district. We spent the morning meeting with the teachers most involved in Ethan’s education this year. More than once today we discussed issues (regarding things we’re working on socially or organizationally) that I didn’t have a good feel for how Ethan’s neurotypical peers respond in the school setting. Two times I was surprised to hear he’s not the only boy in the class struggling with certain issues. While it was a nice and welcome surprise, it made me realize that I’m a little disconnected.

Did you know that October is National Bullying Prevention Month in the US? Sad, really, that as a nation we have such a problem with bullying we have to designate one month a year as “prevention month.” The bottom line is that prevention needs to be occurring every single month, but if one month each year more people are focused on making that happen due to a distinction like this, I’ll take it; after all it gives me an excuse to share some tremendous resources on the topic.
Last spring I shared an interview series about bullying with Dr. Lisa Elliot called “Bullying is a BIG Deal.” Click to read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. Plus, we got such great responses to the series that Dr. Elliott agreed to address the topic of Adults Who Bully after it was brought up in the comments section by one of our readers. Very important because it isn’t always kids bullying kids we need to worry about in this world. Sadly, sometimes the bullies are indeed grownups who should know better.

Every now and then I appreciate a good surprise. Not a “Surprise! Happy Birthday!” with-20-of-your-closest-friends kind of surprise…I prefer more simple, organic surprises. This week I read a compelling chapter book written from the perspective of a girl with Asperger’s Syndrome. Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine is a refreshingly well-written and powerful award-winning book that caught me by surprise, simply because I had no idea it existed.
As a children’s book author I like to stay dialed in to what is happening in the children’s literature market, especially when it pertains to a topic so near and dear to my heart, but life has been so hectic over the past year that I haven’t stayed as closely tuned-in to the market as I like. So until I came across the title (and blurb) in Ethan’s Scholastic Book Order earlier this month, I didn’t know that this tremendous book…this character…this story...were all waiting patiently out there for me to find them. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Mockingbird.

Being on a restricted diet, it isn’t often that my family and I have a great experience in a restaurant that meets all of our special dietary needs and has a staff that shows respect and dignity with my son, Ethan, who lives with Asperger’s Syndrome. But this past Friday – in honor of my husband’s 40th Birthday – we had a truly stellar restaurant experience at Zeppole (a beautiful Coastal Italian restaurant) located inside the Gaylord Texan Resort.
In the past – like most families raising a child with Autism – we’ve had our share of not-so-fantastic experiences in restaurants. On more than one occasion, we’ve left restaurants feeling less than satisfied, both with the service and with the food. In fact, you can read my previous post HERE about an experience this past summer with a judgmental and rude waitress. Many times we will simply avoid places we don’t get a good feel (or good food) from, but it is always nice to find a place to go for special occasions…that is what Zeppole has now become for us.

Over the last several days, Kent Potter (Founder/Owner of AutismSpot), Craig Gibson (Assistant Editor of SensorySpot and Featured Blogger for AutismSpot) and I have been meeting to strategically plan some exciting new things for the future of AutismSpot and SensorySpot. Craig flew in from Philly to participate in face-to-face meetings and has been staying with us. (Ethan loves to have company and has officially welcomed Craig to the family; Ethan will be sad to see “Uncle Craig” leave tomorrow.) But, during Craig’s stay, I wanted to make sure he got to meet Kent’s wife, Angie, and their amazing kids (Sam, Luke and Olivia) so we had a cookout on Saturday with both families. We had a great time grillin’ and chillin’ with everyone, and to be quite honest, the evening was rather lively!
When the Potters were running behind due to Luke’s afternoon football game, Ethan was anxious. He couldn’t settle down until I texted Angie to find out where they were, if they were okay and be able to offer him an anticipated arrival time.

How to explain the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center Twin Towers to an 8-year-old with Asperger’s Syndrome is something that has been on my mind for several weeks. I knew that they would be discussing the events, to some extent, in school and Ethan would likely hear his peers talking about it otherwise, too. Comprehending such atrocities is challenging for adults, so I have been very anxious about how this would affect my sweet, smart, impressionable young son with Autism.
Unless he specifically brought up the topic, I chose to wait until the 10th Anniversary to discuss the historical events with Ethan. I didn’t want to inadvertently instill a sense of dread or anxiety in him by bringing it up before he was ready or “needed” to know more. We purposefully didn’t expose Ethan to news footage with videos of the fateful day a decade ago; Ethan has such a visual memory (like so many other individuals with Autism); I have great concern about these images haunting him. As I waited and planned my talking points in my head, I wondered how he would react…

As a former teacher, I know first-hand that teaching is exhausting. Before Ethan was born, I taught public school for seven years and often stayed late, took work home with me and still felt like there weren’t enough hours in the day. (And, this was before I was a mother!) So, when Ethan started in PPCD (Public Preschool for Children with Disabilities) almost 5 years ago, I made it a point to help his teachers with as many tasks as they could/would delegate on a weekly basis. With each passing year, my volunteerism at Ethan’s school has fluctuated based on our family (and my work) schedule/responsibilities and on the teachers’ needs for assistance.

AutismSpot's own Kent Potter invites men in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to attend a special meeting tomorrow night (Sept. 6, 2011) at 7pm, which will be hosted by the National Autism Association of North Texas. For more details about the location, time and how to RSVP, click HERE or see below.
An Invitation From Kent:
As fathers we play a critical role in the development of our special children. As fathers, husbands, employees, friends, mentors, coaches and sons, we wear many different hats. When we face the autism journey alone it can often be confusing, frustrating, and disheartening to not have others around us who know exactly what we are going through. In addition, we sometimes are not interested in holding hands and trying to provide therapy for one another. The way we approach life as men is often very different than how our wives, sisters, and daughters tackle the challenges that rise up.