Posted By Janet Lawson, MFT on August 6, 2009

There is a deafening silence around the house now. On Sunday we finished the Spring/Summer series of workshops. When we started the workshops last year we had 4 students – that number has now quadrupled.  And we are getting lots of inquiries from other teens and their families.  Our goal for this coming year is to match this year’s growth and to add new programs.  Not just any program – but the programs and services that you want and you feel you need.

We haven’t figured out the August Break Events but we will let you know soon.  We look forward to seeing you all this Fall.

One new idea: The College Support Group:

Many of you will be attending College of Marin this year and have asked for help with homework and general academic support.  We are offering a College Support Group on Friday afternoons starting August 21^st. We will meet from 2pm – 6pm.  We will also check in with you during the week to see if you need additional support. Please let us know soon if you would like to be a part of this group.

Nate’s Intensive Filmmaking Workshop

July was definitely an intense month for the filmmaking workshops at Autistry Studios. We learned that 8 sessions is a bit too short for filmmaking but that did not stop us of from creating some great projects.  Steven finished Bupim’s Quest and has already begun work on the sequel.  Devon, our editrice extraodinaire, finished KOKORO and several other editing projects.  Wesley helped Ian shoot more Kung Fu footage and he finished up Introducing Ray.  Sarah filmed a wonderful animated short, Termite. Her project just needs the soundtrack added and it will be ready to post. Lots of concentration, hard work, and group cooperation went into the making of these short films.

Photos for July Filmmaking Workshop

Dan’s Build Stuff Workshops

The projects in the build-stuff workshops were fabulous this series. Kris finished his replica of a World War II machine gun (w00t!).

A neighbor driving by did a serious double-take as Kris carried it to his car.

Phoebe’s Ramses II riding in his chariot is complete (still needs a bit of work on the background) and it looks great.

Corey is nearly finished with his diorama of the parade scene from MILK.  And Ross’ brass icosahedron and other shapes are amazing.  And that was just the Friday group!

Photos for Friday build-stuff group

Sundays Build Stuff folks did just as well.  Nick has designed a very large train layout with a hand built redwood trestle bridge.

This project will continue in the next series as it is large and complex and wonderful.

Carissa, our youngest Autistry Studios student, made an oversized sword out of aluminum.  This project, a first for us, turned out far better than any of us had expected.

When Carissa’s younger sister saw the sword she asked us to build her a suit of armor!  I vote for a locked display case.  Sarah is nearly finished with her custom dog bed – just a few pieces to sew for the canopy. She will have a very happy puppy. Breton returned to continue work on Elf World and created a magnificent tree house.

The clay diorama is too large to fit in our oven so one of the projects for the August break: build an oven.

Photos for Sunday build-stuff group

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Posted By Dan Swearingen on August 6, 2009

COLLEGE SUPPORT GROUP

FRIDAYS:    August 21^ST – December 11^TH 2 – 6pm

No Class November 27th

NATE’S FILMMAKING WORKSHOP

SATURDAYS:  September 19^TH – December 12^TH 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)

DAN’S BUILD STUFF WORKSHOP

SUNDAYS:  September 20^th – December 13^th 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 haven’t figured out the August Break Events but we will let you know soon.  We look forward to seeing you all this Fall.

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Posted By Dan Swearingen on August 6, 2009

Dan Dos Santos is an artist of many modern pulp novel covers. Here is a great time-lapse sequence of him painting a book cover.

More of his work may be seen here (Russian language website).

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Posted By Dan Swearingen on August 1, 2009

As a parent of an autistic child you find that you read reporting on autism at several levels.

On July 6, the LA Times reported on the case of Joshua Fry: Case of autistic Marine brings recruiting problems to the forefront

Lots of info and questions raised a relatively short story:

1. Are the Marine recruiters under such pressure that they’ll accept anyone?

2. Should autistics try living in the military?

3. The staff at the Recruit Depot worked with Joshua and he PASSED boot camp (no small accomplishment!).

4. Joshua completely failed subsequent training — ending up in the brig on various charges.

Nearly 30 years ago I passed through Marine Corps recruit training. I hated the structure (near as I can tell you’re supposed to) but I appreciated its predictability and the clear direction it allowed. Follow orders — you succeed. Do otherwise — you fail.

After boot camp, I was not a very successful Marine. People often ask what rank I attained. I usually answer “I made Lance Corporal a couple times.” People with service experience laugh and get it immediately: I was a f#@k-up who got rank but was busted to private for infractions and had to re-earn my rank.

I learned lots of useful skills in the Marines. The most important were that a group is more powerful than an individual, success comes from dogged persistence, and you are capable of far more than you can imagine if you just keep pushing (or are being pushed!).

Another lesson the article about Joshua reminded me of was that in highly structured situations, people with ASD do very well. Often indistinguishably from “normal” people.

The Marine Corps is able to impose structure on their recruits through a spectrum of incentives and controls: Group cohesion, logical argument, yelling, “incentive training” (punitive exercises like 100 push-ups), and the nearby brig.

Usually the recruit finally learns “I will do what they tell me because I do not want to spend a week in the brig.” In my time something like 10-15% of recruits washed out. We had two suicide attempts in my platoon alone.

If ASD kids and people can succeed with the help of structure, how can we best add that to their civilian lives? What do we do when the “recruit” says “no?”

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Posted By Janet Lawson, MFT on July 14, 2009

Things are heating up around here and it’s not just the weather!  This is going to be a fairly long newsletter as there is a lot to tell you about.

Dan’s Build Stuff Workshops (Friday and Sunday):

There are some wonderful projects happening: Phoebe is finishing up her Ramses II figures; Kris is truly closing in on the machine gun; Corey’s Harvey Milk diorama is taking shape; Carissa’s sword will be done within the next 2 workshops; Ross finished a fabulous dodecahedron in brass (Ross, did I get that right?); Sarah has designed and is completing a custom dog bed; Nick has finished the initial superstructure on his layout and will begin working on the train bridge.

On Sunday, Kris finished the Scrap Wood Carrier! Now we have no excuse for a messy barn. There are just 3 weeks left for this series of Build Stuff workshops so we are all focusing on finishing our projects!

Photos:

Friday Build Stuff
Sunday Build Stuff

Nate’s July Intensive Filmmaking Workshop:
The new July film workshop started last week and it is lots of fun. Wesley finished up Introducing Ray. This was a very ambitious project.  Working with just our rudimentary filmmaking set up we managed to create a film in which Wesley played all the characters – no easy feat.  I think the visual aspect of the project was very successful.  But I think we need to work on our sound quality and dubbing techniques.  Here is a link to Nate’s blog post about the film (click on the arrow to start the film). Write your comments in the box at the end of the post!

Devon completed her KOKORO project (all original drawings!) and she wrote the first student blog for the Autistry Studios site.  Say hi to Devon by leaving a comment!

Steven is working on his next Bupim Films production – this time starring Bupim!  It is another ambitious project using animation, live action Popsicle stick figures and Steven’s unique voice over.

Sarah is creating a claymation film entitled Termite about a young dog with a nasty chewing habit!

Wesley is also helping Ian finish his Kung Fu movie.  Yesterday they shot a new scene to add to the sequence Ian created in the last workshop. Ian’s rough cut of Kung Fu Fighting can be found here.

Student Blogging:  We can set up blogs for the Autistry Studios students to write about their projects.  Devon jumped right in with a great first post.  I look forward to a lot more blogging from all of you!

Polaris Pilot: We have been asked to participate in a pre-pilot study being done by Polaris Health Directions in Pennsylvania.  Linda Toche-Manley is creating an online assessment and tracking system to support the treatment of adolescents and young adults with high functioning autism/Asperger’s (HFA/AS).  Basically her software program will help track the progress of students as they develop skills needed to be successful in college and in the workplace.  The process is that each student will fill out an online survey every month answering questions about themselves (the survey takes about 20 minutes to do).  Parents are also encouraged to fill out surveys to get their perspective on change.  How does this help us?  As we go grow the Autistry Studios program we will need to apply for large grants.  Most funding organizations ask for some proof that a program is successfully attaining its goals.  We have no tests or other measurements to show that what we are all doing here is beneficial. We do have anecdotal stories and wonderful letters of support from you all.  But for the big grants it would be good to show some ‘real’ data.  Linda’s pilot is for students between the ages of 13 and 21.  So, most of us fit in that category.  Please let me know if you would be willing to help with this study.  All data is strictly confidential.

About Grants:  We are working on our 501(c)(3) status – lots of dreaded paperwork!  In the mean time United Cerebral Palsy of the North Bay has very kindly agreed to be our fiscal sponsor.  That means that we can now accept donations and those donations will be tax deductible.  So, if you know of any organizations (foundations, family trusts, matching funds from employers, etc) who would like to contribute to Autistry Studios please let us know.  I will get the necessary information to them.  Our initial funding goals are for 1) Purchasing equipment and materials, 2) Opportunity Fund to offset fees for low income families, 3) Fund Autistry Studio internship positions for individuals who have participated in our workshops.

August Possibilities:  We will be taking August off – well, that means not having formal workshops. But we will be here so let’s think of dates/times to hold get-togethers.  We can also plan events – a film night, a field trip (there’s a great exhibit at the Asian Art Museum on Samurai stuff), or another activity of your choosing.  We look forward to hearing your ideas!

Stay cool,  Janet, Dan, Nate and Jen

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Posted By Dan Swearingen on July 11, 2009

The latest release from the Autistry Studios film collective comes from the mercurial mind of newcomer Wesley. The scenario he scripted for Introducing Ray got everyone involved; costume designing, set decorating, until our editing suite was transformed into a seedy bar interior (including a very detailed menu painstakingly hand crafted by Steven, creator of Larry Lysosome).

When it came time to cast the characters, it was agreed that Wesley should play all of them. This proved to be a creative challenge for Wesley as an actor and a technical challenge for us during filming and assisting Wesley in post-production. Keeping the camera stationary, we shot footage of Wesley in his various guises, and then using masking, merged these clips so that Wesley’s characters occupied the same space at the same time onscreen. (This required a fair amount of tech support from Dan and a software upgrade.)

Wesley dubbed his dialogue over the video, voicing each of his characters, and cut it together adding his titles, stills and video clips pilfered from the internet and voila! It was a group effort hatched from the imaginings of wizard Wesley.

Stay tuned for “Kokoro”, Devon’s latest Anime Music Video with original drawings!

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Posted By Dan Swearingen on July 7, 2009

One of the core values of Autistry Studios is that the students’ interests are the key to their growth and the foundation of our work.

People with ASD can have extremely intense interests — so intense and obsessive that parents and caregivers can feel they need to treat them as perseveration. However, those compelling, obsessive interests are places you can reach and teach your children.

Our son Ian loved Thomas the Tank Engine wooden trains. Shortly after Ian was diagnosed low-functioning Autistic (he was three years old) we went out and bought a set of the wooden Thomas trains.

Everything.
All of it.
Name it — we had it. Probably thousands of dollars worth.

I know I was so upset and frantic to DO SOMETHING that buying felt like doing. We set up the special table in the living room where you’d normally have a coffee table and I glued down a loop of track so he would not get frustrated when the track would move and Ian started to play with it.
Round and round.
Different trains, different cars.
For hours…

… and hours.
Hour after hour.

No eating.

No sleeping.

Had we done the right thing? Should we stop him? How would we take it away? Was he going to starve?

To our immense relief, he finally stopped. The play got calmer. He took his meals sitting on the couch — near the trains. He would watch Thomas videos on the TV nearby and he started acting out the shows with his corresponding toy trains.

Despite being largely non-verbal, Ian started to talk and reenact the conversations between the trains. At night he would set out the trains on the dresser near his bed facing him and in the morning he’d carry them in to the train table and continue their adventures.

Over time Ian played with the trains less but he started to build huge networks with the train track all over the living-room which evolved to being local roads and freeways — not tracks (there are not many real trains around where we live). We bought those trains eleven years ago. Ian is now very verbal and has far outgrown his original diagnosis.

Janet and I are strongly convinced that the right move was to engage Ian’s obsession — not to fear or avoid it but rather enjoy and admire it. We continue this approach today with Ian and with the students we work with.

Lisa Jo Rudy has a similar discussion at her About.com column in Harness Autistic Special Interests for Success

Boing Boing article Do autistic kids especially like Thomas Tank Engine?

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Posted By Janet Lawson, MFT on July 4, 2009

Our family has been on a Gluten Free / Dairy (casein) Free (GFCF) diet for over 10 years. In the beginning it was very difficult. There were few products available for home cooking and eating out was just not an option.

In the last few years this has changed dramatically. Pamela’s Products baking mixes have become staple at our house. One of the first places to offer GFCF items on their menu was Disneyland. For our family this truly became the Happiest Place on Earth.

This morning I found an email in my Inbox from Amazon announcing that Betty Crocker has a new line of Gluten Free dessert mixes. I haven’t tried them yet but I will order them and report back.

A section of Betty Crocker’s site is now devoted to their Gluten Free products.

Enjoy!

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Posted By Janet Lawson, MFT on June 29, 2009

We will not have workshops over the July 4th weekend but … as so many of you have asked if you could come over we will be having a Drop In Session on Sunday July 5th from 12 – 2pm. Please let us know if you are coming so we can have plenty of cold drinks in the fridge and enough cookies to go around!

Dan’s Build Stuff Workshops are going great. All the projects are moving toward completion – a ways to go yet but well on their way!

We are thinking about having a small gathering at the end of the summer to showcase all the projects to friends and family. We may do it here at the house. So think about how you would like to display your projects and who you might like to invite. We will be asking everyone to help organize this event. In September Autistry Studios (formerly known as The Barn Project) will be one year old so maybe we can think of the event as a birthday party!

Nate’s July Filmmaking Workshop will begin on Monday, July 6th. Classes will be Monday and Wednesday 10am to 2pm. This should be lots of fun!

We didn’t get enough folks signed up for Jen’s July Workshop so we’ll do another Fabric/Fine Arts Workshop in the fall. Maybe we’ll do a Costuming class leading into Halloween!

Dan has been thinking (a dangerous past time I know!) about new project ideas. To see some of the things he has in mind go to: Project Ideas . Click on the title of each blog post to read the full blog and to see the photos.

We have new photos:

Friday Build Stuff Workshop
Sunday Build Stuff Workshop

Have a great 4th of July! Janet, Dan, Nate and Jen

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Posted By Dan Swearingen on June 24, 2009

Puddle-Duck Racers (also PDRacers or just PDR) are a class of racing sailboat designed to be easy to build and sail.

Because they are required to be less than 8 feet in length and sail powered they do not require registration in California.

Official Site for the class
Puddle Duck Racer at Wikipedia
Free Boat Plans

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