The Rain Deer Orchestra

           

   To play click on the link below:

    

  http://dingo.care2.com/cards/new/0422/Do-a-rain-deer.swf

Compose your own music by squashing the reindeer noses. Compose your own tune or let the computer guide you by clicking on the song you wish to play.

In The News:   "Cyber Bullying"

The issue of bullying has been thrust back into the spotlight by Port Coquitlam, B.C., teen Amanda Todd who took her own life Wednesday, weeks after posting a YouTube video... Read more of this article with the link below.....

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/10/12/bullying-prevention-funding.html

What can parents do to stop Cyber Bullying?

• Ask open-ended questions; let children tell you about the harassment.
• Watch for a loss of excitement in technological gadgets.
• Advise kids to choose their online buddies wisely.
• Read more tips here.

           
          Bullyproof: Teens share bullying stories in video booth

            BullyingCanada website
            Kids Help Phone

             Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention

Youth Speak Up

 

 

 

 

  

 

Bullyproof project sparks emotional confessions

                   

 

http://www.cbc.ca/connect/bullyproof.html

 

Combating Bullying  

It seems we can never learn too much to help our children to be aware of and learn about bullying. However when your child has autism or any learning exceptionality it can be even more challenging.

Autism Speaks is always a reliable resource and again is providing some great information regarding bullying.  

Read about: Top Ten Facts Parents, Educators and Students Need to Know

     Taking Action

      "Bully" a powerful documentary (see the trailer)

       Bullying and Autism Resources

Read "Combating Bullying" article here:

http://www.autismspeaks.org/family-services/bullying?utm_source=social-media&utm_medium=text-link&utm_campaign=espeaks


     
            


Other Websites

Bullying and Autism: Helping Kids Cope with Getting Excluded
www.education.com
Face Bullying with Confidence – 8 Skills Kids Can Use Right Away
www.kidpower.org
Teach Antibullying, Inc.
www.teachantibullying.com
The National Autistic Society: Bullying and Autism Spectrum Disorders – A Guide for School Staff
www.autism.org.uk
Amaze Information Fact Sheet: Bullying and Autism Spectrum Disorders
www.amaze.org.au
StopBullying.gov
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Interactive Autism Network: Bullying and ASD
www.iancommunity.org
Autism NOW: Bullying and Autism Spectrum Disorders
autismnow.org

The Incredible 5 Point Scale

The Incredible 5 Point Scale was developed to share information about the use of the 5-point scale and other systems to teach social and emotional concepts to individuals on the autism spectrum. 

Kari Dunn Buron is the co-author of The Incredible 5-Point Scale, and the author of When My Worries Get Too Big, A 5 Could Make Me Lose Control and A 5 is Against the Law! (2008 ASA literary award winner). Kari is the co-editor of a textbook for educators titled Learners on the Autism Spectrum: Preparing Highly Qualified Educators (2009 ASA literary award winner) and is the creator of an original social skills magazine designed for students with Asperger Syndrome called The Social Times (2010 Gold Winner, National Patenting Publications Award and Gold Medal Winner - Moonbeam Children's Book Awards).

Home Page: www.5pointscale.com

Other Projects: http://www.5pointscale.com/other_projects.htm

See this PDF at:
http://seasdnetwork.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/incredible-5-point-scale-asd-conference.pdf

The 5 Point Scale APP is available FREE from iTunes:   
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/autism-5-point-scale-ep/id467303313?mt=8 

1. 

          

New Free Resources: Halloween Social Skill Stories, Songs, Videos, Activities, and More!

New Free Resources: Halloween Social Skill Stories, Songs, Videos, Activities, and More!

View Positively Autism's page of Halloween tips, resources, and activities, here: http://www.positivelyautism.com/free/unit_halloween.html

Halloween Social Skill Stories

Here's a social skill story from Positively Autism about handing out candy to children from home on Halloween. http://www.positivelyautism.com/downloads/socialstory_trickortreat.pdf

Valerie Herskowitz has written a story about Trick-orTreating. http://www.valerieherskowitz.com/downloads/TT.ppt

Halloween Activities from TinSnips Special Education website: http://www.tinsnips.org/Pages/halloween.html

       2Learn.ca has a new website for
         Parents of Early Learners?

Early Learning in a Digital World is to support parents of early learners aged 2 to 8 years in understanding the effective and appropriate use of technology, including safely navigating through the online landscape with their children.



http://www.schoolwires.com/cms/lib3/SW00000001/Centricity/Domain/36/Blended%20Learning%20Whitepaper-r3.pdf


Find out how Schoolwires® technologies support a blended learning environment.
Visit us at http://www.schoolwires.com/domain/32


Defining the Emerging Role of Social Learning Tools to Connect Students, Parents & Educators June 2012
http://www.schoolwires.com/cms/lib3/SW00000001/Centricity/Domain/36/schoolwires_
ProjectTomorrow_WhitePaper.pdf

Digital Learning Now!
http://digitallearningnow.com/

District Administration: Building a Blended Learning Program
http://www.districtadministration.com/article/building-blended-learning-program

INNOSIGHT INSTITUTE: Classifying K-12 Blended Learning
http://www.innosightinstitute.org/innosight/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Classifying-K-12-blendedlearning2.pdf

INNOSIGHT INSTITUTE: Rise of Blended Learning:
http://www.innosightinstitute.org/innosight/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/The-Rise-of-K-12-Blended-
Learning.pdf

International Association for K-12 Online Learning
http://www.inacol.org/

Project Tomorrow
http://www.tomorrow.org/

U.S. Distance Learning Association
http://www.usdla.org/

November Learning:
http://novemberlearning.com/

Reading Strategies

Get inspired to read every day with your kids using these expert strategies and book recommendations. Creative Ways to Get Your Child Reading

           Read the top 10 non-book ways to inspire your child to read.    

eReading & Learning Many of the same technology options that preschoolers love are just as appropriate for children up to third grade.

                   

Learning Activities
	These fun how-to’s will help your kids strengthen important skills.
			Easy as ABC Celebrate Dictionary Day with your child on 10/16 with these activities focusing on alphabetizing.
			Read, Write, Robot Motivate your child to write using this robot-inspired printable activity sheet.
			Family Reading Time Read 9 tips to inspire family reading with your child today.

Reading Bear

Reading Bear is a free website created by WatchKnowLearn.org with a large selection of phonics and vocabulary interactive activities to help beginning readers.

http://www.readingbear.org/

Fun and Learning with Online Interactives

 

 UpToTen: The Picture Dish  

 http://boowakwala.uptoten.com/kids/

boowakwala-family-cooking-picturedish.html

Drag and drop the food on the dish to create a face, a train, or a flower...or anything else you want.         

Make a Robot 

http://www.abcya.com/make_a_robot.htm

"Click and drag different parts from the parts bin to the construction area to create a robot. You can also click on robot parts on the stage to move them around, make them bigger or smaller, and even spin them around! No two robot creations will ever be the same!" [site]

IKEA Kids Room Planner

http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_CA/rooms_ideas/
planner_youth/index.html

To design your dream bedroom, you can either start from scratch, or start with a theme. Watch the quick video "Watch it Work" to get some ideas for using this tool.

ToonDoo

http://www.toondoo.com

ToonDoo is an online tool for creating and publishing your own comic strips. Check out the comics of other kids while you're there.

National Gallery of Art: Collage Machine II

 http://www.nga.gov/kids/zone/collagemachine2.htm

Use this online collage maker to layer images, shapes and set transparencies to develop your own pictures.

National Gallery of Art: Sea-Saws

http://www.nga.gov/kids/zone/seasaws.htm

"Select photographs of natural and man-made objects, then assemble the pieces to create a seascape or an abstract composition. The BUILD tool helps you construct animated characters. ADD them to your scene as still objects, movers, rockers, or rollers.

Back to School: Articles of Interest

RESOURCES FROM NICHCY!

NICHCY's disability in your classroom blog series.

Looking for practical tips that you can use? NICHCY authors a series of specific disability blogs full of great tips and resources. Also explore their blog page, which features information and perspectives related to serving students with disabilities in schools.

 http://nichcy.org/blog

Back-to-school tips for parents of children with special needs.

Reading Rockets offers back-to-school tips for parents emphasizing communication, organization, and staying up-to-date on special education news.

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/38405/

Help children transition from one activity to another, and one place to another.

From the Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention for Young Children (TACSEI), Thoughtful Transitions Reduce Traffic Jams and Challenges gives tools and strategies to use when teaching children how to transition between activities and places within the early childhood environment.
http://www.challengingbehavior.org/communities/make_n_take/make_n_take_home.html

Teaching tools based on brain facts.

Looking for some strategies to better engage students and pique their interests? Brainfact.org has a collection of multimedia resources to develop engaging and interactive lessons.

http://www.brainfacts.org/educators/

Adventures in an autism classroom: On the value of token economies.

Token Economy Systems work for ALL types of students, no matter what their academic or communication level! Here is one example of how this system can be used.

http://classroominthecorner.blogspot.com/

 AUTISM SPEAKS has a multitude of resources!

 View the entire site at:    www.autismspeaks.org 

 AUTISM APPS:  

Autism Speaks has an easy to view growing list of recommended Apps.
See link below. Copy and paste in your browser.

http://www.autismspeaks.org/autism-apps?utm_source=social-media&utm_medium=text-link&utm_campaign=espeaks

Below are two articles I really found helpful and informative. 
Autism's Back-to-School Anxiety               
Videoblog: Managing Challenging Behaviors

                    
                          

AUTISM SPEAKS has a new app for mobile phones! Autism Speaks' official app provides free access to blogs, latest news and up to the minute content from www.autismspeaks.org. Integrated with your email and Facebook, share and comment on all the latest from Autism Speaks. Available in the iTunes store and on Google Play now. 
                                       

                 

         

       Cyberbullying: Informative Sites  

      Copy and Paste links in your browser to view                                              

Cyberbullying: StopBullying.gov www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/index.html What is Cyberbullying? http://teenadvice.about.com/od/schoolviolence/a/cyberbullying1.htm Four Types of Cyberbullying http://suite101.com/article/the-four-types-of-cyberbully-a239031 Types of Cyberbullying http://ehow.com/facts_5314126_types-cyberbullying.html Stop Cyberbullying Download the FREE Alex Wonder Kids Cyberdetective Agency Game http://www.stopcyberbullying.org Prevent Cyberbullying http://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/prevention/index.html BrainPop Cyberbullying http://www.brainpop.com/technology/computersandinternet/cyberbullying/ ATTENTION Parents/School Staff should view prior to viewing of children/teens! *Click on a topic in the word cloud below for additional info.

    
                    Some new articles that may be of interest:
               

• Brief report: feasibility of social cognition and interaction training for adults with high functioning autism.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18246419
• The Largest Search Engine for Cliff Notes, Summaries, Book Notes, and Study Guides Online.   http://www.freebooknotes.com/  
• Preventing Cyberbullying: A Guide to Safe and Responsible Internet Use in the Digital Age :  A new white paper from EdgeWave, “Preventing Cyberbullying: A Guide to Responsible Internet Use in the Digital Age” examines the challenge of cyberbullying for schools as they deal with the explosion of social media use by K-12 students.                    To view download Adobe Reader for free.   http://thejournal.com/whitepapers/2012/07/edgewave_preventing-cyberbullying-guide-safe-responsible-internet-use.aspx
• Psychological Abuse Just As Damaging As Physical Abuse  

http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/07/31/psychological-abuse-just-as-damaging-as-physical-abuse/42417.html 

OCALI - Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence 

This site has informative webinars, videos, resources and 
professional development opportunities.  

Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence (OCALI) serves families, educators, and professionals working with students with autism and low-incidence disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairments, other health impairments, and traumatic brain injuries.

              http://www.ocali.org/project/learn_about_OCALI

There are 6 main topics which are very informative!!

       ~Autism Center     

           http://www.ocali.org/center/autism                 

     

       ~Learning Disabilities Center    

           http://www.ocali.org/center/disabilities 

     

       ~Universal Design for Learning Center  

           http://www.ocali.org/center/udl  

     

       ~Assistive Technology Center    

           http://www.ocali.org/center/at

    

       ~Lifespan Transitions Center    

          http://www.ocali.org/center/transitions

    

       ~Family Center    

          http://www.ocali.org/center/family

The Center for Systems Change is another feature of this site which provides up to 

date news stories reflecting the topics included within this site.

                 

              http://www.centerforsystemschange.org/

There are 4 categories with articles and videos.

    ~Policy Perspectives  

          http://www.centerforsystemschange.org/view.php?nav_id=31

    

   ~Systems Integration  

          http://www.centerforsystemschange.org/view.php?nav_id=1                       

   

   ~Mental and Emotional Health 

         http://www.centerforsystemschange.org/view.php?nav_id=2 

    

  ~Employment

         http://www.centerforsystemschange.org/view.php?nav_id=3 
           
                    

Speech Teach provides Free Speech and Language Therapy Resources          

                                for Parents and Teachers

This is a great web site for parents and school staff supporting children with speech difficulties.

                       Topics are divided into specific speech categories 

    Speech Therapy               Stuttering/ Stammering          Special needs education 
     
     Parent's sites                    General educational                     Teaching reading                       


      Other Links                  

Helpful Ideas and Tools

WordTalk

WordTalk is a free text-to-speech add-in developed for use with all versions of Microsoft Word (from Word 97 up to Word 2010). It will speak the text of the document and will highlight it as it goes. It contains a talking dictionary to help decide which word spelling is most appropriate. [Site] This is an excellent tool for those students who may have difficulty reading.
http://www.wordtalk.org.uk/Home/

Thesaurus tool in Microsoft Word

Here is a keyboard shortcut to access the thesaurus tool in Microsoft Word. Click or highlight a word and press Shift+F7. The thesaurus tool will now open on the side of your screen. 

How To Clear Your Browser Cache

No matter what platform you use to browse the Internet, in order to speed up future visits, your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc) remembers pieces of information about what sites you visit . This is called a browser cache. If your browser is not set to update itself automatically, you may experience problems seeing curent information or changes to a web page. This WikiHow article discusses the methods required for the most popular browsers on how best to clear the browser cache.

http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browser's-Cache

  New Articles of Interest:

When Young Adults Need Help with Decisions: Guardianship and Other Approaches to Decision-making Support

This new Got Transition brief describes decision-making supports that may assist young adults with intellectual disabilities while ensuring independence and self-direction. This brief also provides links to 

important resources for more information about guardianship and other alternatives.

http://hosted-p0.vresp.com/330372/c41b470f62/ARCHIVE

Preparing Middle Schoolers to Enter High School

From the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools - Supporting Successful Transition to Ninth Grade.

http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/transitionsninthgrade.pdf

101 | UDL and Transition Planning for Youth with Disabilities

Developed by National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center, this resource focuses on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) application in secondary transition services. It also outlines the principles of UDL, provides evidence to support its use, describes examples of UDL application in various academic content areas, and provides links to additional resources.

http://tinyurl.com/6oczn8r

Yogic Breathing for Anxiety

by Kate Bowers, Certified HANDLE Screener and Yoga Instructor

Over the years I hear repeatedly from clients that learning to breathe efficiently is one of the greatest gifts to their sense of well being. I recommend different forms of pranayama, or yogic breathing to almost all of my HANDLE clients because it can be done anywhere and becomes especially useful in stressful moments at work, home, school or anywhere else. It is a beautiful complement to HANDLE's gentle approach.

READ MORE