Helping ASD youth become independent adults.
At Autistry Studios we help teens and adults with Autism, Asperger's and other learning differences become successfully independent by leveraging their interests and talents while creating a community.
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Aug | ||||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 | |||||
Posted By Dan Swearingen on September 12, 2009
I’m beat! The presentation and the Resource Fair went very well. I’ll post more about the fair and our presentation later but we had some requests for a copy of the slides we used.
Here it is in PDF (Acrobat Reader): Preparing our Teens to Work
Posted By Dan Swearingen on September 11, 2009
Janet and I are presenting a mini workshop “Preparing our Teens to Work” this weekend at the CONNECTING PEOPLE TO RESOURCES resource fair tomorrow at Dominican University in San Rafael.
Besides the mini workshop we will be manning a table displaying some student projects and information about Autistry Studios. Several Autistry Studios parents and students have volunteered to man the table when Janet and I can’t be there.
Hope to see you there and we’ll take lots of pictures and post a report later this weekend.
Posted By Janet Lawson, MFT on September 9, 2009
I just found a great online booklist at this Canadian site: Parentbooks
Of that list here are my favorites:
|
|
A ‘5’ Is Against the Law! Social Boundaries Straight Up: an Honest Guide for Teens and Young Adults. Kari Dunn Buron
“Building on her popular 5-Point Scale, Kari Dunn Buron takes a narrower look at challenging behavior with a particular focus on behaviors that can spell trouble for adolescents and young adults who have difficulty understanding and maintaining social boundaries. Using a direct and simple style with lots of examples and hands-on activities, A ‘5’ Is Against the Law speaks directly to adolescents and young adults.” |
|
|
Preparing for Life: The Complete Guide for Transitioning to Adulthood for those with Autism/Asperger’s Syndrome. Jed Baker
“The author of the best-selling Social Skills Picture Book now speaks to the growing challenge of social skills in young, and-not-so-young, adults with autism/Asperger’s Syndrome. This easy-to-follow resource provides a complete toolbox of skills that can open doors to opportunities. Includes sections on perspective taking, non-verbal communication, conversational skills, goal setting, and stress management.” |
|
|
Ready or Not, Here Life Comes. Mel Levine
“Dr. Mel Levine addresses the question of why some youngsters make a successful transition into adulthood while others do not. Instead of making a smooth transition into adulthood, many youngsters find themselves trapped in their teenage years, traveling down the wrong career road, unable to function in the world of work. These young people have failed, says Dr. Levine, to properly assess their strengths and weaknesses and have never learned the basics of choosing and advancing through the stages of a career. Ready or Not, Here Life Comes is a powerful commentary on our times and a book that can help adolescents and startup adults — with an assist from parents and educators — to spring from the starting gate of adulthood.” |
|
|
Asperger Syndrome and Adolescence: Helping Preteens and Teens Get Ready for the Real World. Teresa Bolick
With anecdotes from dozens of teens with AS and practical, easy-follow advice, this books helps teens and parents navigate the confusion of the teen years with grace and optimism. |
|
|
Developing Talents: Careers for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism, Revised Edition. Temple Grandin & Kate Duffy
This career planning guide is written specifically for high-functioning adolescents and young adults on the autism spectrum, their families, teachers, and counselors. The two authors weave together a unique blend of information and advice based on personal experiences. Temple Grandin draws from her own experience with autism spectrum disorders and her professional career, and Kate Duffy uses her expertise on employment issues and the mother of two teenagers with autistic-like behaviors. First-hand accounts of job experiences and advice from individuals representing a broad range of careers particularly suited for high-functioning individuals on the autism spectrum round off this exciting new resource. |
|
|
How to Find Work that Works for People with Asperger Syndrome. Gail Hawkins
A great guide for helping people with Asperger syndrome get into the workplace and keeping them there. |
Posted By Janet Lawson, MFT on September 2, 2009
This summer just flew by and the new Fall Workshop season is almost here. We had a good August break though we still worked on the programs! We created an Autistry Studios Brochure. Big thank you’s to Suzi Musgrove of SLM Creative for her wonderful design, to Kitty Edwinson for lending her copyediting expertise and to Bob Gerke for creating our tagline: create, connect, achieve. And, of course, a thank you to all our Autistry Studios participants for being so exquisitely photogenic!
We installed the new big screen monitor and computer in the living room and held our first Movie Night. That was lots of fun and it’s time to start planning the next one. So send in your movie ideas and let’s get a discussion going on what to present. This time we will choose the film in advance and send out a notice so you can decide if this is one you want to watch.
We started the College Support Group which meets on Friday afternoons to help students who are going to College of Marin. In the process Dan and Janet are learning a lot about the criminal justice system, early civilizations, and the latest theories on human sexuality. We are also becoming more familiar with the COM online systems and getting to know some of the faculty.
We would like to do another Costuming Workshop in October leading into Halloween. Jen and Janet are working on the schedule for that now so please contact us if you’re interested.
New Group Project Idea: We would like to create an Autistry Studios 2010 Calendar. We are thinking that each of us could design the illustration for one month. It could be an original drawing or a photo of a project. If we have more than 12 submissions we can do split screens! Send us your thoughts on this. Do you think we should have a drawing to see who gets which month?
REMINDER: Autistry Studios will have a table at the Marin Autism Resource Fair on Saturday, Sept. 12th at Dominican University. The Fair is from 8:30am – 1:30pm. Several of you have offered to join us at the table to answer questions about the program. Please let us know what times work best for you. Dan and Janet will be doing a presentation from 11:15 – 12:45 on Preparing Teens for Work. That presentation will be in the Meadowlands Assembly Hall – directions to the Hall will be at our table.
2nd REMINDER: It is time to confirm your place in the Fall workshops. Just email us a note and we can discuss the best placement. Below are the dates for the Filmmaking Workshop and the Build Stuff Workshop:
SATURDAYS: September 19TH – December 12TH 10am – 2pm
September 19, 26, October 3, 10 (4 classes)
No Class October 17
October 24, 31, November 7, 14, 21 (5 classes)
No Class November 28
December 5, 12 (2 classes)
SUNDAYS: September 20th – December 13th 12 – 4pm
September 20, 27, October 4, 11 (4 classes)
No Class October 18
October 25, November 1, 8, 15, 22 (5 classes)
No Class November 29
December 6, 13 (2 classes)
We look forward to seeing you all soon!
Best, Janet, Dan, Nate and Jen
Posted By Dan Swearingen on August 24, 2009
It’s also a great tribute to 8-bit video games.
Sorry Steven, I think you’re pwned. Awesome. The comment says “1500 hours of moving legobricks and taking photos of them.”
Posted By Dan Swearingen on August 23, 2009
At one point we considered a service dog for Ian. Mainly, we saw a dog as a way to facilitate Ian interacting with peers. The idea is that kids are attracted to the dog and talk to Ian while petting the dog. As Ian spent more time in mainstream classrooms we saw that he gets pretty good social traction on his own so we ended up not getting the dog. With the late-teen years looming we may revisit this decision.
Schools vary on their policies around service dogs. Since they are sometimes seen as merely a “comfort” and not an essential like a seeing-eye dog for the blind some schools forbid service dogs and some parents have had to take their schools to court.
See Schools fight families over autism service dogs
Posted By Dan Swearingen on August 21, 2009
While being introverted and liking time alone is very common for people with ASD that does not mean they have no desire for friends or social interaction. When they do actually want social time with peers they can find it particularly awkward and stressful.
AP Science Writer Alicia Chang has posted a great article today: Autistic teens master social cues, find friends about a program that focuses on teaching autistic teenagers “social scripts” they can follow to interact more effectively with peers.
For Andrea, this pizza date is the ultimate test.
The bell rings. The door opens. Can she remember what she needs to do?
More important, will she make a friend?
Even for socially adept kids, the teen years, full of angst and peer pressure, can be a challenge.“A lot of our kids need a tune-up. They need new skills to help them survive in their new social world,” said clinical psychologist Elizabeth Laugeson of the University of California, Los Angeles, who runs a 3 1/2-month friendship program for high-functioning autistic teens like Andrea.
In our work at Autistry Studios our approach is to start with each student’s creative interests and launch appropriate independent projects with groups of no more than four students. Over time the students learn about what the other students are doing, talk and help each other with the instructors only facilitating and modeling appropriate interactions and providing hints when the students are suffering any form of miscommunication.
The students become extremely comfortable with the format and while a student certainly could work an entire session without talking to anyone but an instructor — they ALWAYS gravitate to each other and talk about their interests and show each other what they are doing.
Through successful experience with more “adult” work-like, college-like situations we see the students gain the confidence to apply for jobs, try out some college courses, and also be more handy around the house.
Posted By Dan Swearingen on August 20, 2009
There is a really good, huge article by Cintra Wilson in the September 2009 issue of O, The Oprah magazine titled An Inconvenient Youth: Raising Children with Autism
“I used to eat myself alive about how much money or time I was spending with Padraic,” says Heather, who has three other children. “You know that if you spend 24 hours a day with this kid, drawing him out of his inwardness, you’re going to make a difference. Ninety percent of my self-torture has come from not doing floor time with him because I’m making dinner. I’ve spent most evenings on the floor of my kitchen in tears.… There’s never enough you can do. Ever.
“It’s the old proverbial story,” she continues. “If a car fell on top of your kid, a mom would be able to lift it off.”
“The superhuman kicks in,” Erin agrees. “But it’s years of trying to lift that car.”
“And you can’t,” says Heather. “And everyone’s sitting on top of the car trying to hold it down. That’s the way it feels.”
“And you get tired,” says Corinda.
“Pretty soon you realize the car is on top of you,” says Erin.
Posted By Dan Swearingen on August 18, 2009
Posted By Dan Swearingen on August 9, 2009
Carissa mentioned that she was thinking of making some sort of rubber band gun next.
I found this great video at YouTube blogged about at Japanator.
