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Virtual National Town Hall on Autism - Webconference - Nov. 13, 2009

Download Rethink Autism Flyer-Registration

The National Town Hall is taking place in multiple cities across the United States on November 13. Satellite and Virtual sites will be linked via technology and live webcast. The meeting will consist of small group discussions providing each participant with the opportunity to give direct, meaningful feedback. As a Virtual Town Hall participant you will be able to fully participate. You will chat with our local group throughout the meeting as well as vote on issues along with all the other participants around the country. This will be a highly engaging and interactive experience. You may register by phone, mail, fax, or online through the link below.

When:

Friday, November 13th, 2009
9:00 am to 3:30 pm

Register Online:
http://shortlinks.pluk.org/autism-forum

Where:
MSU-Billings, Downtown
208 North Broadway Ave, Billings, MT

For more Information:
Connie VonBergen: 406- 672-0912, connievb@bresnan.net
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PLUK: 255-0540, info@pluk.org

You may also register by calling Connie or PLUK.

Autism Spectrum Disorder Conference- Missoula & Kalispell - Nov. 17-18 & 18-19, 2009

ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders) for the Classroom Teacher (and those who support them)

Where:

Kalispell—November 17-18, 2009

Kalispell Red Lion

Missoula—November 18-19, 2009

Holiday Inn Downtown at the Park

This two day conference will provide both an INTRODUCTORY and INTERMEDIATE strands offering a wide range of strategies for supporting students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in the General Education Classroom. Guest presenters include Shawna Heiser, Toni Dunbar, and Rebecca Klaw, all recognized in the field of ASD. This conference will focus on strategies to support the classroom teacher as well as those who support them (parents, special educators, paraeducators, and related service personnel).

Come as a team to develop strategies to implement in your school!

Click here to view the flyer (PDF)

Register now at www.cspd.net to attend and more information about breakouts will be sent to registrations as soon as they are confirmed!

Autism & Asperger Syndrome Conference - Billings - November 2nd

Improving the Behavior and Academic Success of Students with High-Functioning Autism and Asperger Syndrome: Strategies that Work - Presented by Kandis LighthallSpecifically

Designed for Special Education Teachers, General Education Teachers, School Psychologists, Speech‑Language Pathologists, Paraeducators, and Administrators Serving Students with High‑Functioning Autism or Asperger Syndrome in Grades K-12

The price for this seminar is $215.00 per person and Seminar hours are 8:30am - 3:15pm at the Hampton Inn & Suites.

Montana Renewal Units Are Available

For More Information or To Register, Click HERE

Tuscaloosa Teacher Values Autistic Students

Link: Teacher  At the start of her day at Sprayberry Education Center, Pam Miller pulls out picture cue cards for her students. Because seven of her eight students can't communicate verbally, Miller, the autism K-5 teacher at Sprayberry, relies on the picture cards and sign language to interpret her students' needs. This is Miller's second year at Sprayberry, but throughout her 18 years in teaching-previously she worked with special education students at Holt Elementary School-she has worked with a number of autistic children. "I love working with children with autism because everyone is so different," Miller said. "They all have such unique and wonderful personalities. There are no two that are the same. They're each a mystery, and you have to figure out what makes each one work." In teaching children with severe autism, Miller deals with students who may experience difficulty communicating, often exhibit repetitive behavior and can be easily upset by small changes in their environment. So, before she can teach her students their ABCs and 123s, Miller has to first learn about her students' lives and what makes them tick.

UT Grad Overcomes Substantial Learning Disabilities To Get Degree

Link: UT Grad  History major Clayton Tauscher is achieving his goal of getting a college degree, but he's had a long list of hurdles to overcome. Clayton was diagnosed with autism at 3 years old, then later ADHD, as well as other learning and speech disorders. "All the specialists and the people that we encountered said that Clayton would never get this far, and he's gotten this far, and I'm just incredibly proud of him," Clayton's father Karl Tauscher said. Clayton started going to the Pediatric Language Clinic on the UT campus, then worked his way through several different schools. He was among the first graduates at Grace Christian Academy in 2005. Clayton is now among GCA's first students to achieve a college degree.

Finding Mental Health Services a Frustrating Process For Families

Link: Full Article  Floods, tornadoes and his mother being killed in a car wreck. Those were the fears Carter Timmons recited when his doctor asked him what scared him. He was 7, an age when most little boys are more worried about the bogeyman than natural disasters or highway accidents. The incident was one of many that convinced Michelle and Curtis Timmons that something about their younger son was different. "We realized it was probably more than ADD," Michelle Timmons said. "There were little things that didn't make sense." Several years and medications later, Carter was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism characterized by social awkwardness and obsessions with specific topics.

Autism Training DVD for Police Officers

Link: FREE DVD This year SaharaCares produced a DVD that will be used to train police officers at training facilities and in regular pre-duty training sessions. The purpose of the DVD was to raise awareness of the rising prevalence of autism in our communities. It discusses ways to recognize the disability and gives constructive suggestions for dealing with people with autism. The DVD is being offer for free to any organization that can benefit from it.

"Brandon's Mom" - Autism Law Shows How Citizens, Legislators Can Work Together

Link: Autism Law  Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that my life would take me down this path. Growing up, I always dreamed that I would get married, career, two kids, dogs, the whole package. I was certainly not overly interested in politics. Everything changed the minute I had a child with autism. I have always been a fighter, and now I was fighting for something the meant more to me than words could ever describe, our son's future. Our oldest son, Brandon, was diagnosed with autism two years ago at age 3. We have seen firsthand the amazing progress he has made with appropriate therapies. We were fortunate in that we could pay for his therapies out of pocket because our insurance did not. Unfortunately, this is not the case for most Montana families. It seemed so fundamentally wrong that hard working Montanans who pay insurance premiums still could not help their children. I was determined to do something about it.

Senate Bill 234,"Brandon's Bill," which requires insurance companies to cover medically necessary therapies for children with autism passed the 61st Montana Legislature.

Autism Web Resource

Link: Neurodiversity.com   My name is Kathleen, and I live in northern New England. I've been married to my companion Dave for almost twenty-four years now; we're the parents of two teenagers, one with an autistic spectrum diagnosis, and also have other family members on the spectrum. My goal in developing this website is to increase goodwill and compassion in the world, and to help reduce suffering. I [also] seek to help increase the capability of educators and service providers to provide effective, respectful support for those on the autistic spectrum.

Neurodiversity's resource pages index material from a vast number of websites on autism, reflecting a wide range of information and perspectives. Visitors will also find links to many one-off articles with interesting and innovative content that you only find if you do deep searches.

Inside the Vaccine-and-Autism Scare

Link: Full Article  Early in Dr. Paul A. Offit's new book, "Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure," he describes a threatening letter he received from a man in Seattle. "I will hang you by you neck until you are dead!" it read. The FBI deemed the threat credible, assigning Offit a protective officer who, for the next few months, followed him "to and from lunch, a gun hanging at his side." He then recalls a suspicious phone call from a man who recited the names of Offit's two children and where they went to school: "His implication was clear. He knew where my children went to school." These days, the hospital he works in regularly screens his mail for suspicious packages. Offit is a baby doctor -- the chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The threats against him and his family have come from anti-vaccine crusaders who believe that vaccines cause autism. Offit has been targeted by them because he helped to develop a vaccine that prevents rotavirus, a serious gastrointestinal infection in children, and because he has been staunchly pro-vaccine in a time when there are many doubts about their safety. His book investigates the anti-vaccine movement and is a tough rebuttal against his critics, who call him "For Profit Offit" because he worked with drug companies to develop the rotavirus vaccine.