[David Chan]

Hi everyone, As you all know there is an upcoming workshop at Simon Fraser University. If you would like to contact your schools and let them know about this event. I have appended the information with this post. I would also be a great idea to inform others in the community by faxing the registration information to your community newspaper.

Thanx

Dave, See you all at the conference

Attention: Public Service Announcements / Community News

Families for Early Autism Treatment of British Columbia (F.E.A.T. of B.C.) is sponsoring a one-day workshop on the fundamentals of behavioural treatment of children with autism, derived from the principles of Lovaas Autism Treatment. The workshop will include theoretical background as well as many aspects of the practical implementation of the behavioural treatment method.

This one-day workshop will be held on October 6, 2001 from 9:00 am to 4:00pm
at Simon Fraser University, Theater room 9200 Schrum Science Centre.

Registration information and forms can be obtained by contacting F.E.A.T. of BC at
604-534-6956 or downloaded from the web, at http://www.featbc.org

This workshop will be tremendously beneficial to parents of children with autism,
teachers, school aides, resource specialists, and anyone who has more than casual interaction with children with autism.

[David Chan]

Yes folks, The playdate season is starting already. Kids are asking to play with my kid. Believe it. Children have no concept of Applied Behavioural analysis, and none of them have attended any workshops or as all of us parents understand all too well "The Meetings". They just know, You just gotta get into his face, and it's just really cool to hang here. When peers are exposed to a treated child they understand that their friend is different, but hey they are fun to be with. Building these friendships and relationships is so important. Without friendships and relationships, it don't matter what skills he's going to learn.
The point of this post. If you don't treat a child with approriate science based treatment i.e. Lovaas, then you're not even going to get to first base; heck, you won't even be playing in the game.

[David Chan]

The first thing I saw this morning, even before breakfast was the front page of the Vancouver Sun story on Individualized funding. I gotta tell you, it was just awesome that someone is finally listening. More Rock and less TALK The new families that are starting now will have such a leg up on all of us in that they WILL be getting started right away with an appropriate course of treatment (i.e. Lovaas). The government at least appears to be making some effort to understand our plight; and that as they say is a good thing.

Alas, every silver lining has a dark cloud attached. I still don't think that they know what to do with children that have been in programs and making tremdous gains by staying on a program that they started when they were four or five and are now way over the mystical age of SIX.

There are 7,8,9,10,11,12,and 13 year olds that are working everyday with their therpist teams that are making measureable gains with their programs. The folks in Victoria has to see to their needs too. These are the children to forge the way for the younger kids that are starting now.
We talk about teams, and consultants working with the kids. What I have observed is that the KIDS themselves work their little fannies off everyday just to be part of our world. These are some of the hardest trying kids in the province.

PLEASE DON'T FORGET ABOUT THEM !!

Dave, 9 year old Pearson's Dad

[David Chan]

Hi
This is a reply for the post on schools. Yes I think a private school would not be a bad choice. We are in one right now. Last year went quite well. That is not to say that this year is a done deal, we will see and keep all of you posted.
I think that one of the things that you can "sell" your child to the administrator and teacher on is that your child will be different than the other children but not to the extent that the teacher will have to do extraordinary things to accomodate her.
Be sure that your child is as school compatible as possible. If she can only be successful at being in the school for 1 hour a day then let it be. Build up to a longer day gradually.
Be warm and fuzzy with the other kids. You are your kid's ambassador in the school.
Do Volunteer work that serves the entire school but does not pertain to your child. You want to show that you are just another parent of a kid in the school, and hence you do everything that the other parents do. In a private school you will stand a much greater chance of participation because usually they are understaffed and love parent volunteers.
N.B. PLEASE ensure that the aide is HIGHLY SKILLED with your child and has good interpersonal skills so that they get along with the other staff as well.
Make your kid look good. Keep it short and sweet, you don't need to go into great details about Lovaas therapy only that it is works very successfully with your child and it helps her in every aspect of her current daily life.
It's all very delicate, it's a balancing act, but if all the pieces fit, then she could have an awesome time at school. We are in a religous school, and we feel that they understand the morality of treating your child in a fair, kind and equitable way. Well, that's all for now, I'll keep everyone posted, and say a prayer if you have the time.

Been there and still doin' it

Dave

[David Chan]

Correction, it was a hard working MUM that
found the piece from the liberals, I just
faxed it ! Never forget!, she is the brains of the
operation, and I am only the muscle.

Ta

[David Chan]

Once again the boy has outdone himself. I
discovered that as part of the primary
curriculum you have to recite a poem of 16
lines or more. Well 19 children in his grade 3
class, 6 students are picked from each class
to represent the class in the school
competition. Well lo and behold the boy is
one of the six. Thank God no stage fright. This
kid, what can I say. Still livin' la vida Lovaas.

Dave.

[David Chan]

Hi everyone,

Like they say, read 'em and weep. My kid's
teacher administered a standardized
vocabulary test to the enitre grade 3 class,
well the boy scored in the 68th percentile, and
his vocabulary is at approximately grade 3.5
yup, to think… we could have swam with
dolphins(like we ever considered it…not !)
Everyone keep your chins up and hang in.
Keep you all posted

Dave

[David Chan]

Hi everyone,
Is anyone currently using W.E.A.P. and have
had a workshop already, and some
programming done by them. There is a new
family who is in the process of getting started
and would like to hear some feedback from
families who have had a workshop with them
already. If anyone gets a chance, contact
them at
tao@infinet.com . The
mum's name
is Jen. Thanks a lot guys

Dave

[David Chan]

Did any one listen to the bill good's show this
afternoon? Like it was some kinda
REVALATION that the CUPE agreement
comes before special needs kids or any kid
for that matter. Puleeease, dosen't everyone
realize that the schools only exsist to provide
consistent unstressful positive work
enviornments. Look, we live with those
SPECIAL kids 24/7 Where's our collective
agreement. Kids? Oh, those guys? Yes,
they happen to be in the building too. If only
we could reduce THEIR numbers in the
collective agreement ! Oh yes, class sizes got
to get them smaller, fewer bodies to deal with.
Darn.

P.S. Ranting is one thing, but all the caring
and conscientious educators and
para-educators, don't you guys get tired of
being tarred with the same brush, give us the
inside scoop, cause we sure would like to be
enlighten.

[David Chan]

All I GOTTA SAY IS THAT THE BOY KICK BUTT
AT HIS CHRISTMAS CONCERT ON MONDAY
NIGHT. GOT HIS LINES RIGHT, AND THERE
WAS A CONDITIONAL STATEMENT
INVOLOVED.
SANG IN THE FINALE WITH OVER THREE
HUNDRED CHILDREN, INDEPENDANTLY,
ANY ADULT WAS MORE THAN 10 FEET
AWAY, THAT'S PRETTY DARN
INDEPENDENT IN MY BOOK. THOUGHT I
WOULD SHARE WITH EVERYONE. YES, IT'S
ALL CAPS I WANT EVERYONE TO HEAR.

MR. P'S DAD

[Author]

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