Activities for Kids with Autism: LA Walk Now for Autism Speaks – Los Angeles

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 One of the Most Inspiring Activities for Kids with Autism!

We were so excited to spend Saturday, April 21, 2012 with the Autism Speaks – Los Angeles community. The LA Walk Now for Autism Speaks took place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

We’ve attended many activities for kids with autism over the years. The 10th annual LA Walk Now for Autism Speaks event was one of the most inspiring! Families, teams of walkers, and kids—everyone had an awesome time for a wonderful cause.

There were so many heartwarming moments at the LA Walk Now for Autism Speaks. As a parent of kids with autism, or an educator working with families of kids with autism, you can imagine. So many people coming together for such a worthy cause. And such a safe environment for all of the kids!

The day was so beautiful! Thanks to the warm Los Angeles weather.

The number of attendees was very impressive. And the fact that so many different teams came together as one community was truly heartwarming. According to the local KABC7 news station, this Walk is the largest in the country.

We loved introducing our new social learning software to new friends all day! Parents and teachers tell us that The Social Express is one of the best learning activities for kids with autism.

We displayed The Social Express on our iPads to new friends that came to our booth. It was so inspiring to watch kids and parents interact with the characters.

Jon Cornick, our President, who brought along his daughter, Sammy, said,

“Watching new friends, the kids and parents that visited our booth, using our social learning software was one of the proudest moments in my life!”

 

You can see lots of photos of the Walk on the Facebook page of Autism Speaks, Los Angeles. Click here: http://www.facebook.com/AutismSpeaks.LosAngeles

Also according to KABC7, the Walk Now for Autism Speaks event in Pasadena is the largest of its kind in the country. Saturday’s walk raised more than $1.5 million.

Also reported, the funds raised by the Walk are going to be used to fund research at UCLA, USC, Children’s Hospital and other Los Angeles based research organizations.  You can find the complete news report by clicking here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Join Us at LA Walk Now for Autism Speaks!

Join The Social Express team and 28,000 autism supporters at the LA Walk Now for Autism Speaks! We’re so excited to spend the day with at the Autism Speaks LA Walk Now event this Saturday, April 21 in Los Angeles.

LA Walk Now for Autism Speaks

This event for autism is a fun, family friendly event and 5K (3 mile) walk. The event raises funds to contribute to the vital research we need to help the families with children or other family members on the autism spectrum. Find out more about LA Walk Now for Autism Speaks by clicking here.

According to Autism Speaks,

Every 11 minutes, another family receives the devastating news that their child has an autism spectrum disorder.

This is the 10-year anniversary of this popular, people-powered event.  We’re a sponsor and have our own booth, like this one…only outside!

If you’re in Los Angeles, stop by and find us at The Social Express booth!

Autism Speaks asks us, “…Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disorder in the U.S. – we need more volunteers to join our fight. Whether this is your first walk or the 10th, take the first step and register today. You will not only raise funds, but you will become a part of a fun and supportive family-focused community.”

We hope to meet you on April 21st! Stop by to say hello.  We’ll share our pictures next week of the wonderful families we meet.

We’re working every day to improve the lives of kids with autism and their families. It’s going to be so inspiring to meet some of them!

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Autism Education Resources & Tons of Inspiration at 2012 CEC Convention

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We were so inspired by the special education teachers and educators we met during the CEC (Council for Exceptional Children) Convention this weekend! We had so many great conversations about autism education resources and our social learning program, The Social Express. It was great talking to all of the special education teachers about social learning at our booth!

CEC stands for the Council for Exceptional Children, the voice and vision of special education. The Convention took place held in Denver, Colorado, April 11th  through 14th.  It was packed with exciting special education resources, sessions, speakers, workshops, ideas, and energy.

Trying Out New Autism Education Resources

Most of the attendees we met had never heard of our new contribution to autism education resources: The Social Express. How cool to introduce them to our approach to teaching children with autism, ADHD and Asperger’s about how to manage interacting with others and other social skills.

We were able to walk them thru our autism education resource program for social learning. And we got some great feedback.

We handed each person an iPad with The Social Express learning software to try it out. When they put on the headsets, and they heard the characters speaking—like Emma. Their reactions were so exciting for us! Then, a few times as we were talking with our booth visitors, we’d hear someone say:

 

“Oh my gosh! The Social Express! I love you guys!  I use The Social Express in my classroom!”

 

The energy we felt from everyone we talked with at the event was fantastic. Several teachers told us they have The Social Express use it in the classroom.  Many asked us, “What are you guys doing next?”

Many of the seminar attendees that are teachers and educators are also parents of special needs children.  They shared with us that they’re excited about using The Social Express. The explained that they like it so much because it’s a well-done program. And it’s focused on teaching social skills.

They think that their kids will be very engaged with our social learning program. They said it’s because our animation has a movie-like quality and it’s fun for the kids.

 

Music to Our Ears from Parents Using The Social Express

We also heard this from a couple of parents who use The Social Express with their autistic children at home:

“My kids don’t want to put The Social Express down. It’s first thing they want to do in the morning when they get up!”

It’s clear that these special education women and men we met at  CEC have such a special commitment. We felt it was truly a privilege to meet and talk with them. We hope that The Social Express becomes a valuable program in their toolkit of autism education resources.

Thanks to everyone we met. We hope you had a wonderful experience and have lots of new ideas to put to work with your students back at home. See you next year!

– Marc and Jon

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Healing Thresholds Autism Therapy Has Helpful Resources

The-Social-Express-and-Healing-Thresholds-Autism

 

Healing Thresholds Autism Therapy is a free website and email newsletter dedicated to healing the lives of families touched by autism. They provide comprehensive therapy fact sheets, daily updates of autism therapy research and news, and a global directory of autism-related therapists and services.

We like using the information resources provided by Autism Healing Thresholds. We’ve certainly learned so much since our twins were diagnosed on the autism spectrum eight years ago. Occasionally though, we need to clarify a term or read more on a kids with autism topic and we check out Healing Thresholds. Check out the website if you’re looking for help with terminology or updates on research about therapies for your child with autism.

Image: Courtesy of Healing Thresholds Autism Therapy

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How to Talk to Parents of Kids with Autism

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Along with (at least) 10,000 other parents of kids with autism, we were blown away by a recent blog post on Autism-Island.com. The post was titled, 50 Things You Should Say to Autism Parents. Caroline Passey and her “Facebook Friends” created a wonderful list of things all parents of kids with autism would love to hear more often.

As parents of two kids with autism, we love the idea of increasing autism awareness. Lists like this one are easy to share. They’re bound to help people who don’t understand what it’s like to have (or be around) kids with autism.

We feel many people want to help or, at least, say the right thing. They just don’t know what that “right thing to say to parents of kids with autism” is.

We know this because a few brave, honest people have admitted it to us. Now we have a wonderful list to share with them!

 

Here are a few things we’d love to hear from people when we’re out with our kids with autism.

Our favorites from the list of the 50 Things You Should Say to Autism Parents

 

1.    How can I help?

2.   What’s the best way for my child to play with yours?  I’m sure they will be great friends once they get to know each other.

3.   How should I explain autism to my kids?

 4.   I don’t care if your kid turns the lights on and off a billion times, is obsessed with our washing machine, or ________ (insert random behavior here), he is welcome here any day.

5.   Hey, I think clothes are annoying too.

6.   Tell me about autism.

7.   Who cares if she has a pacifier/blanket/stuffed animal/etc.  It makes her feel more comfortable.  That’s all that matters.

8.   I know that every child with autism is different, tell me about yours.

9.   I think __________ (insert child’s obsession here) is pretty cool too.

 

You can read the entire list by clicking here to visit the complete article on Autism-Island.com.

Also, take time to read the comments on 50 Things You Should Say to Autism Parents. The commenters are all insightful and some are downright sobering.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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The Social Express Is Top Education App on Autism Awareness Day

 

A big thank you to the community of kids with autism and the AutismSpeaks, Autism Awareness Campaign!

The Social Express learning app for kids with autism was number 1 yesterday at the iTunes app store.

We loved being a part of the Light It Up Blue program.

Helping Your Kids with Social Awareness

We realized early that our twins with autism needed help learning social awareness. From the first time a therapist used her laptop in a session, we saw our sons’ interest in using technology to learn.

 

The problem was that the content of the programs didn’t hold our boys’ interest. Have you ever experienced that feeling? When you know your kids with autism could really benefit from a learning tool, but they’re just not into it?

That’s the day we began to talk about developing a learning program that kids on the autism spectrum would relate to. Kids like ours.

 

Social Skills Help Between Therapy Sessions

Our goal was to create a learning program that we could use with our kids after sessions with their therapist.  A program that our kids would enjoy. One that would grab their attention.

And keep them engaged long enough to learn the all-important social interaction lessons. The lessons we knew they really needed in order to get along better with other children.

We believed that if we had this problem other parents of kids with autism did too.

So The Social Express was born. We’re so happy that other parents and kids with autism can improve their lives after using The Social Express.

That’s also why we’re thrilled that The Social Express was Number 1 on iTunes on Light It Up Blue day! It means so many more kids with autism will enjoy learning social skills with The Social Express.

We’d love to hear your comments! What works for you when helping your kids with autism learn social skills?

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Program Helping Kids with Autism Improve Social Skills

Here is a great video interview about The Social Express done a few days ago with a mom with three kids with autism. Click this link to view the video. The mom likes how her daughters ask to work with the social learning program. The family lives in North Carolina and the busy mom shares how much energy her five kids have. Sound familiar? It does to us!

According to Holler, iPad apps are are beneficial because children enjoy them and it keeps them focused.

This is what the mom of kids with autism had to say about The Social Express:

“The fact that they’re asking for it and enjoy playing on it, to me, is a positive and it’s showing that it’s effective,” said Holler.

I’m also interviewed briefly here. Check it out and let us know what you think. We’re so happy when other parents find that their kids with autism are asking to work with The Social Express. As a social learning program, it’s great for working with your kids with autism in between therapy sessions.

Here’s the link to view the video. (There’s a short commercial in front of it.)

 

 

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Help Kids with Autism on Light It Up Blue Day with Autism Speaks


Today my family and The Social Express team is excited to be a partner in the Light It Up Blue campaign hosted by Autism Speaks. We join the over 26,000 people who have pledged to shine a light on #autism by raising awareness.

For the last few years we’ve been waking up every day focused on helping our kids with autism and your kids with autism. Our specific goal is to help kids and young adults on the autism spectrum to improve their social skills.

That’s why we’ve invested so much time and resource to develop our 16-lesson interactive program, TheSocialExpress. The program helps children with autism, Asperger’s and ADHD to think about and manage social situations.

The Social Express is offering a special discount, only for today, April 2, 2012 in honor of the global, Light It Up Blue campaign.

Please join us to help kids with autism worldwide and pledge your support to the Light It Up Blue campaign. Find more information by clicking here,

To see how The Social Express helps kids with autism, visit this link for an interview with a family using The Social Express. Click here for interview.

 

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Flawless Foundation and The Social Express Working Together to Make A Difference

The Flawless Foundation takes a stand for children living with brain-based, behavioral challenges by promoting educated awareness about neurodevelopment, providing evidence-based, holistic treatment programs and by advancing environmental and prevention focused research.

We envision a world where every child living with behavioral challenges feels flawless and is understood and embraced by society.

Thanks again to our amazing colleagues The Social Express Interactive Software for donating their software to us. At our conference in NYC, they were a hot ticket – school administrators, physicians, parents were so grateful to receive this awesome tool for helping children with social learning.

 

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Apptudes.com Review of The Social Express

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Thank you to Hillary Brumer for writing a great review.

The Social Express Teaches Special Needs Children Valuable Social Skills – Win Mac Copy From Developer

The Social Express, (iPad only. Mac and PC versions available) by Brighten Learning, Inc.  is an educational app that is designed to teach children with Autism, Aspergers Syndrome, and ADHD social skills. While the app is geared for certain populations, it does have practical application for children up to Middle School.

There are many apps in the App Store that teach emotions. The Social Express is not like any of these apps. In fact, it blows the competition out of the water.

Learning something one is not good at is hard. Imagine spending all day being forced to work on that one thing. The Social Express makes working on skills that are difficult for many children with Autism – social skills – easily understood. By employing concepts in Social Thinking, self-regulation, and problem solving skills in a video modeling way of teaching.

The app is well-designed. I was immediately blown away by the beautiful graphics. The UI  was not cumbersome during testing. The app is a simple bus that takes the main characters, Zack, Emma, and their dog Sunny into town.  From there, various social scenarios are played out. The child selects the appropriate answer. By using specific language, video modeling, and error-free learning that allows children to think, The Social Express  has it all.

The Social Express is a rather large download, so make sure to have enough space to use it. Printable materials are also available, however unless an iPad user has access to a wireless printer, they are not of much use. It would be nice to see printables sent to an annotation app or PDF form for ease of customizing for learners.

Our children are asking to be taught in a different way than we were taught. Many debates have been waged over the use of technology to teach specific skills. However, regardless of one’s viewpoint, we can agree that using apps such as The Social Express only help to make children’s learning success in a way that makes sense for them.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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