Tag Archive for: kids with autism

Boy With Autism Helps Rescue Dogs Get Socialized By Reading To Them

Recently, a story appeared on The Huffington Post about a six-year old boy with autism that has formed a love for dogs. Jacob Tumalan, a resident of Gardena, California, visits a nearby animal shelter and reads to dogs that have been abandoned.

According to the article, Jacob believes that by reading to these dogs, and by showing them a little bit of extra love, that they will have better chances of getting adopted and finding a new home. Jacob’s routine includes stopping by the shelter every Thursday after school ends, and he even brings along a set of books specifically tailored to certain dogs.For example, Jacob discovered that one dog in particular has an aversion to cats. In order to fix this issue Jacob reads books that involve lots of cats in order to condition him to be friendlier to cats.

This is so cool to see Jacob’s selfless perspective, as he dedicates time to help socialize the lonely dogs, and his efforts have actually managed to help a few of the dogs grow friendlier towards people. Not only that, but by reading to the dogs on a regular basis, Jacob has managed to improve his own reading ability to that of a third grade level.

The loud sounds that come from the animals in the shelter also help Jacob deal with the stress that comes with loud environments, as he focuses on reading the books to work through it. This type of progress had been avoiding Jacob for a while, but it appears that he has finally found a new activity that allows him to learn and help others simultaneously. Jacob appears to have formed a connection with these dogs, as he is set on helping the loneliest of canine hearts find a better place to call home.

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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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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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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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Social Express App Review & PC/MAC Giveaway!

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Thank you so much to Jenna Rayburn from Speech Room News  for this great review.

Social Express App Review & PC/MAC Giveaway!

Social communication is a critical area of need for many children. Social skills are often difficult to teach, and even harder for students to initiate and follow through. I’m always on the lookout for another tool to add in my ‘social skills toolbox.’ One app people have been requesting to see a review of is The Social Express. The developers gave me a copy of the app to test it out for you! The Social Express is software designed to teach management of social situations using video models and interactive choices. It’s available as an app and also for Macs/PCs, meaning it works for all SLP’s!

You open the Social Express and meet the main characters. Max is the driver who leads you through the app. He introduced some sweet characters, including my favorite, Sunny, the pup!

You can add multiple users – which is great! First, students work through each lesson to ‘unlock’ them.  Once you have passed the lessons the first time, you can go back to individual lessons as needed for review and instruction. There are 2 levels of instruction, based on similar skills with increased difficulty at level 2.

At the introduction of a skill the ‘Hidden Social Key’ is explicitly stated. There are teaching tips that you can turn on or off throughout the lessons. Social concepts targeted include: proximity and body language, eye contact, identifying feelings, coping strategies, conversational skills and figurative language.

My favorite part of the program is the part of the program where students answer questions to unlock the clubhouse! Student are presented with two video sessions and then they choose the one that demonstrates the skill.  I love it as a wrap up for the lessons to check comprehension of the skills.

One of the things I love about the app is that the carryover and generalization activities are included! I especially loved these coping strategies! If you have a printer set up, you just print and go!

**Update: I spoke with Mary Anne, the SLP who developed the app. I asked her if there was anything else she’s like to point out to SLP’s considering purchasing the software/app. Mary Anne said,” An added bonus, in my opinion is the shots of the locations at the beginning of each of the activities, they are still shots of the locations which provide an opportunity to discuss the context….the who what when and other aspects of the location. It is based on Carol Gray’s social context concepts. Also I use it as a a supplement to the other materials/curriculm that I use when working with kids with social learning challenges.”

Pros:
-Video modeling is engaging to students.
-Two skill levels are included, making the app appropriate for children k-5
-Provides modeling of both positive and negative outcomes.
-It allows for multiple answer choices – providing opportunity to let students choose the correct response as well as the incorrect response to work through.
-Allows for pausing to give the therapist time to give instruction
-Available for the ipad, PC computers, MAC computers

-Printables are included!

Cons:
-The price tag hurts, meaning it may be out of reach for many therapist! I imagine it cost a lot to develop the app with animation, and you can tell a lot of work went into it!
-It includes a limited set of lessons, and I hope they will expand with updates!

Checkout the Lite version of the app for free here. The full version is here.

Through the end of March you can now purchase The Social Express  full version for $44.99 which is 50% off our introductory price of $89.99


The founder of The Social Express, Marc, has generously offered 2 giveaways for Speech Room News followers! He is going to give away one copy of the program for PC computer and one copy for Mac users. These versions are good for computers only – not the ipad version!

To enter the giveaway:
1. Like Speech Room News on Facebook
2. Like The Social Express Interactive Software on Facebook
3. Comment on the SRN thread on facebook with your name, email and preference for mac/pc

Goodluck! Contest ends on Saturday![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Paul Ciminis of Autismradio.org Podcast with Marc Zimmerman

 

Monday I had a great time speaking with Paul Cimins the founder of Autism Radio, Inc.  We discussed our kids with autism and the Social Express.

Thank you Paul!

Here is the link to listen.

http://www.autismradio.org/podcasts/2012/3/4/show-108-interview-with-marc-zimmerman-founder-of-the-social.html

 

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Top Tech Blogger,Robert Scoble, Interviews The Social Express CEO Marc Zimmerman & President Jon Cornick

When I first heard that Robert Scoble had a child with Autism, I immediately reached out to him for an interview. One problem, we didn’t have the program finished yet, in fact, if my memory serves me correctly we didn’t even have our demo done.

However, Robert took my call and heard my pitch. He was very kind and told me he would be happy to help support our product when we finished and in the market. As soon as we launched he was notified and kept good on his word.

Robert was very generous with his time and allowed us to discuss every detail about The Social Express. Thanks again Rob for giving parents who may have a kid with autism or any other social-emotional learning challenge a way of hearing about new products like ours!

What bloggers do you like to follow for your kids with autism?

Here is the video

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Stephen Volan Diagnosed with Aspergers at 37 Years Old Uses His Theatre Skills To Help With Social Skills

I woke up this morning with this great video clip in my inbox.  This is a great, here is a guy who was diagnosed with Aspergers at 37 years old! He had gone through his entire childhood, teens and early adulthood with probably thinking why am I different then everyone else?

What he has accomplished is nothing more than amazing, a city council member, a professor at Indiana University, a radio show host and a successful businessman. He describes his personal battle with Aspergers with incredible clarity. He explains to his audience that he is more comfortable speaking to a large  crowd then one on one.  Stage fright is a common feeling for anyone who is not used to being on stage. Public speaking is actually extremely scary for most everyone with or with out autism.  He says every day social situations make him feel that “stage fright” feeling.” He talks about several occasions where he would rather stay home all day then risk meeting someone new which would require social interaction.

The way he has overcome this is absolutely the best part of this clip.  He embraced the arts, actually comedy improvisation is what worked best for him. He learned all the nuances of improv and how you work with a partner.  He learned that you stay on topic when improvising, something all kids with autism have difficulty with.  Comedy is so social and this is what he used to help him navigate our very complicated social world.

I am definitely going to look for more theater activities for my kids with autism to participate in.

How do you think your kids with autism would do in a theater class?

Enjoy the clip

 

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