Janet Lawson, MFT | October 18, 2009

The house seemed so quiet this weekend without the Saturday and Sunday workshops!

We spent Sunday morning at the new Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio. It is fabulous. But be prepared for sensory overload. There are several film exhibitions in each room all running simultaneously. This creates a cacophony of competing sounds that can be overwhelming. Add to that the myriad visuals and you get a real whirlwind experience. For those of us with sensory issues I recommend using earplugs and going early in the day when there are fewer people. We were there at 10am and practically had the place to ourselves. The exhibits are amazing and well worth the effort. We came away with lots of ideas!

We did have the College Support and Build Stuff Workshop on Friday. We had a practice Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, candied yams, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and apple/berry pie. We also got a lot of work done – how we did that on such full stomachs I don’t know.

The following people have volunteered to work the Autistry Studio table at the GGRC Resource Fair on Wednesday October 28th: Steven, Kris, Breton and Corey. Hey, about some girl power here? Sarah, Devon, Phoebe??? I’ll be contacting you all with a rough schedule. Dan and AJ will also be there to help out but you guys did such a wonderful job last time that they’ll probably just wander around!

We are looking forward to seeing everyone back here on the weekend!

-Janet, Dan, Nate and AJ

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Janet Lawson, MFT | October 18, 2009

People are always asking about the brownies that we serve here at Autistry Studios. They couldn’t be any easier to make!

Here is my secret: I use Pamela’s Wheat Free, Gluten Free Chocolate Brownie Mix. There are several recipes on the package. I use the the Original Oil Recipe.

But, and here is the secret: I substitute 1/4 cup of applesauce for the 1/4 cup of water. Everything else I leave the same.

The other trick with these brownies is to not overcook them. In my small convection oven it takes 11 minutes to bake a 8″ square pan of brownies.

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Janet Lawson, MFT | October 6, 2009

Full moon energy hit Autistry Studios this weekend! Everyone was going at hyper speed – lots of fun, lots of productivity, lots of chaos.

Be sure to check out the new photo gallery page.

The Friday College Support and Build Stuff Workshop: The Friday group has expanded to include building projects. We kicked off this week by testing the oven that Breton and Dan made. It worked!  Breton successfully baked Elf World and he has now added stepping stones and a bookcase (the elf is a lawyer!). This project is truly taking shape and promises to be amazing.

Kris is mastering the complex world of math for scientists. Note: never ask Dan a math question unless you really want to know the whole answer. Phoebe is creating large pillars as a backdrop for Ramses II and we had lots of fun fitting those into the oven.

Saturday Filmmaking with Nate: wow, that was a busy day. We are coming to the end of the pre-production phase of the projects. All the filmmakers have a very good start on their stories and their storyboards. After our break (no class on Oct 17th) we will be going into production. This coming Saturday we will put the finishing touches on the narratives and start working on the production schedules and the materials lists.

Sunday Build Stuff with Dan: I think Joseph will win the prize for being the first to finish a project! He built a display case for his sister’s karate belts. We had a great time staining it (I still have dark spots on my arms!). Joseph is already planning a new project: a train layout based on GeoTrack. Ian finished the cardboard mock up for his Matrix dojo and will start cutting the wood this Sunday. Corey painted the crowd for his MILK diorama and created some wonderful signs. We have new student joining us this week who will be making a train theme project. Kung Fu and transportation seem to be the trend for this Sunday group.

A few notes on upcoming happenings:

Wednesday, October 28th is the GGRC Resource Fair. The fair will be held at Marin County Office of Education in Hollis Hall. We will have a table with brochures, slideshows, and projects. The fair is from 3pm – 7pm.  Kris and Corey have already signed up to staff the table.  Who will join them? Let me know what times you are available and I will make a schedule. We will also be helping out with the general visitor registration, greeting folks and getting them to sign the registration sheet. If you would like to help with this let me know. Check out the flyer for more information. Support for Families will be giving a free workshop on IEP Transition Planning which I hear is very good.

Sunday, October 11th, Chelsea Mattoon will be visiting the Build Stuff Workshop. Chelsea has chosen Autistry Studios as her documentary film topic for her senior project. She will visit each workshop and get to know us before she starts filming. This is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to share our work, our thoughts and our plans with others. Let me know if you have any questions.

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Dan Swearingen | October 4, 2009

We’ve added a new permanent page under Programs / Photo Galleries where we will post links to the Flickr galleries of all the photos from the classes that we upload.

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