[Rachel Russell]

Autism Speaks Joins Florida State University and First Signs in Launching First-Ever Web-Based Autism Video Glossary
An Innovative New Tool to Help Parents Recognize the Early Signs of Autism Spectrum Disorders

http://www.autismspeaks.org/press/video_glossary_launches.php

these are a set of very useful introductory video clips showing children with typical development and children with autism performing the same tasks – shows common behaviors exhibited by children with autism that might be useful for parents or clinicians not familiar with autism spectrum disorders.

[Rachel Russell]

Here is the link to a recent article published in the US on the effectiveness of using eclectic therapies + ABA for treating children with autism vs. using ABA alone for treatment.

http://www.masslive.com/metroeastplus/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1139302850183400.xml&coll=1

[Rachel Russell]

A note about consultants charging GST.

Although the services provided by behavioural consultants supervising home treatment programs are medically necessary for children with autism, the BC government has decided (through a formal GST ruling and appeal decision given to the ABLE Developmental Clinic in August 2005) that the services of behavioural consultants are not GST exempt at this time.

The formal ruling states that speech pathologists, occupational therapists and registered BC psychologists are GST exempt because they have a BC licensing body for their individual disciplines. Behavioural consultants do not have such an organization at this time in BC (the GST office is not accepting the international BCBA licence in place of a provincial agency)- therefore, the services of a private practitioner behavioural consultant in BC are not GST exempt at this time.

Rachel Russell

[Rachel Russell]

Family Game Night Alert!!

To all the families who are having a family game night-(or who will now!) here is great news!

There is a great new game for sale at Toys R Us that I think many of our kids would adore. It is called Scene-it- Disney Version'. It is a Disney DVD for your TV with a board game component. Players move their pieces around a real game board and answer questions shown in the form of Disney movie clips on the TV (from the DVD) Hurrah! Make sure you get the 'Disney version' as there is another 'Scene it' version that you don't want. They also have a new Disney 'Sorry' game, Disney Charades,Disney trivia (with 'who is it' picture questions) and my personal fav. .. Disney Songs- where the kids just name the movie

There is a also a new set of Disney Sticker books that I haven't seen before- they are near the check-out stand at Toys R Us.

One more GREAT first board game for younger kids (3-5 years) who are not in love with board games. . is called Tonka Search and Rescue. Each child has a toy car with a pop-o-matic dice in the top. The dice has sides with 'stars' or 'blanks'. the child pops the dice in his playing piece, and if it is a star- he gets to move along the road. He has to help out 3 people in trouble (i.e, turtle on his back, child riding a bike without a helmet and a cat in a tree- when they help each person- they get a 'medal'. First person to get all 3 wins. No need to know numbers, matching or labels. Each car playing piece is a different type of car (fire engine, police car etc) Great first game! happy playing!

Rachel

[Rachel Russell]

Hi- parents have asked about an alarm to use in crowded public situations to signal that their child has wandered too far away from them. This alarm (as well as door and window alarms for the home) can be found at: http://www.parent-alert.com . There is one alarm that only allows the child a certain distance from the parent before it goes off- and another that the parent can activate if they feel that the child has gone too far or is out of view.
Rachel

[Rachel Russell]

Here is a web site that has great worksheets for children in ABA home programs.
www. worksheetbliss.com

Worksheets for different skills are available on seperate disks that you can order for under 10$ each. I haven't seen the worksheets myself- but I got the link from a friend at LIFE East Coast who uses them- Rachel

[Rachel Russell]

Hi! I just heard about an interesting OT-type company with all sorts of toys, it is called Pocket Full of Therapy (www.pfot.com). I checked out the website and it has all kinds of great toys for task completion and interactive games that work on grip, fine motor movements etc. Great site!~ Rachel Russell

[Rachel Russell]

Hi- I just heard about a web site that has free games designed for children with autism in ABA programs- great short games for colour identification, room labels, opposites, word games and how many- great for generalization!There is feedback or reinforcement for every trial- The site is http://www.do2learn.com

[Rachel Russell]

Hi- I think a person on the list was looking for info on melatonin to treat sleep problems in children with autism? Contact Dr. Jim Jan at Children's hospital at 875-2345 or at Sunnyhill at 434-1331 or Diane Fast at Childrens. Dr. Jan has done lots of research on this topic. Good Luck- also- I would love to recommend a great behavioral book for children with autism with sleep disorders- Sleep Better, A guide to Sleep Problems for Children with Special Needs by V.Mark Durand. Great ideas for a functional anlysis of sleep problems and how to design a behavioral intervention. Ordering from Chapters takes forever- I like Odin (Oden? check spelling!) books in Vancouver- Rachel Russell

[Rachel Russell]

Hi- I just heard from LIFE East Coast Office (Lovaas Institute for Early Intervention) that the new version of the Me-book, entitled "Teaching Individuals with Developmental Delays: Basics" is available for ordering now. Amazon.com says the books aren't due for 5-7 weeks, though, so they must not all be printed or shipped yet.

Rachel Russell

[Author]

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