Basic EADLs - Still a Role in the iPad World?

June 17, 2014 10:00am CDT - 60 minutes 
Title: Basic EADLs - Still a Role in the iPad World? 
Description: Electronic Aids to Daily Living provide alternative control of devices within the environment. Basic EADLs can be used in the home or classroom to develop cognitive skills, provide independent play, socialization and participation, provide object manipulation, meet therapy goals and prepare clients for future, more sophisticated assistive technology use. As Tablets are becoming such a key tool in the classroom and therapy, is there still a role for this technology? This webinar will present product options, modes of control and application ideas of both Basic EADLs and Tablets to meet these goals. 
Category: Assistive Technology
Presenter: Michelle Lange, OTR, ABDA, ATP/SMS 
Cost: FREE
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Mobile Technologies for Educating Students with Low-Incidence Disabilities

June 10, 2014 11:00am CDT - 45 minutes 
Title: Mobile Technologies for Educating Students with Low-Incidence Disabilities 
Description: Education is changing and educators, including related services professionals need to change with it! The potential of wireless and mobile technology to enhance teaching and learning is so great that it is currently at the forefront of technological advancements in education. Mobile learning is here and it is impacting how students learn and how educators teach. Research and anecdotal studies suggest mobile technologies are suitable for learning purposes with the possibilities of enhancing the quality of life for students with disabilities. Mobile and electronic devices and multimedia contents increase student’s interest in learning and attention. These devices can be viewed as a communication device in the pocket, a learning device “on the go” and a lifesaver for some. Features of these technologies, which will be described discussed, include flexible multimedia content and storage, portability, mobility and affordability.
Category: Assistive Technology
Presenter: Patricia R. Ourand, MS, CCC-SLP 
Cost: FREE

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Greenville Library to Receive National Award

Greenville Library to Receive National Award

Columbia, SC – The Greenville County Library System is the winner of the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Agencies (ASCLA)/Keystone Library Automation System (KLAS) & National Organization on Disability (NOD) Award.

Greenville County Library System was selected for its extensive work in creating “Intentional Strides," which increased programs, library services and staff awareness of serving individuals with disabilities and special needs in Greenville County. The library also dedicated funds from its operating budget specifically to enhance and improve library programs, services and staff awareness with regard to patrons with disabilities.

The award consists of $1,000 and a citation supported by Kay and David Holloman of Keystone Systems, developer of the Keystone Library Automation System (KLAS), and the National Organization on Disability.

The Greenville County Library System will be recognized at the American Library Association’s annual conference in Las Vegas on Saturday, June 28.

For more information, please contact the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Agencies at ascla@ala.org. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:                                                                    

Dr. Curtis R. Rogers                                                                                                                      

May 22, 2014

803-734-8928

crogers@statelibrary.sc.gov

Autism 101

DoE and Autism Society Autism Trainings

Please register for workshops at the SC Autism Society Webpage

Location: 806 12th Street
West Columbia, SC 29169
(800) 438-4790

Autism 101

June 4 , 2014
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Introduction to Autism Spectrum Disorder

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CAMP P.A.L.S. Fostering Physical Activity and Life Skills for Youth

Lake Psychological Services presents

CAMP P.A.L.S.

Fostering Physical Activity and Life Skills for Youth

A summer camp for children and adolescents with social skills deficits, which incorporates physical activity and social skills support using a variety of theory driven practices.

Tuesday & Thursday

June 24 – August 7

9:00 am – 1:30 pm

Held in the upstairs portion of the Autism Academy building on Blanding and Bull St in downtown Columbia.

 Registration is due by June 3 and space is very limited.

For volunteering or registration information, please contact:

camppalsinfo@gmail.com

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QIAT Session 10: Using QIAT Resources

June 4, 2014 11:30am CDT - 60 minutes 
Title: QIAT Session 10: Using QIAT Resources 
Description: Since the summer of 1998, the Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology (QIAT) Community has focused its efforts on defining and using a set of descriptors that serve as over-arching guidelines for high quality AT services. The Community has developed descriptors that are applicable regardless of service delivery models. They have been used to guide:
1. School districts in the development and provision of quality AT services which are aligned to federal, state and local mandates;
2. AT service providers in the evaluation and improvement of their services;
3. Consumers of AT services in the selection of adequate AT services;
4. University faculty and professional development providers in the delivery of programs that develop knowledge and skills needed to offer quality AT services;
5. Leaders in the development of regulations and policies related to the use of AT in education.

If you are looking for strategies to improve AT practices and services at, or if you are not sure about ways you can use the QIAT indicators in your setting, this session will be of value. The QIAT Leadership Team will share ways that the Quality Indicators for AT have been used in a wide range of settings.
Category: Assistive Technology
Presenter: Joy Zabala & Scott Marfilius of QIAT.org 
Cost: FREE
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AAC Treatment and Data Collection

May 28, 2014 11:00am CDT - 45 minutes Title: AAC Treatment and Data Collection 
Description: Many of the applications and software programs currently utilized for communication highlight and/or combine numerous linguistic features. But, what works optimally for your student/client/patient: common or core vocabulary (icons and/or text); spelling (letter-by-letter and/or with abbreviations); OR combinations of character/word/phrase and/or grammar prediction, which is static or dynamic and can be based on factors such as frequency or recency?
Category: Assistive Technology
Presenter: Patricia R. Ourand, MS, CCC-SLP 
Cost: FREE
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Creating Social Stories with Digital Supports

DoE and Autism Society Autism Trainings

Please register for workshops at the SC Autism Society Webpage

Location: 806 12th Street
West Columbia, SC 29169
(800) 438-4790

Creating Social Stories with Digital Supports

May 28, 2014
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Learn how to create social stories and use them with PowerPoint and other digital supports.

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Animating Owen

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ParaEducate Expressions of PosAutivity

ParaEducate Expressions of PosAutivity #AutismPositivity2014

For the second year in a row, ParaEducate is proud participate inAutismPostivity2014. This year’s blog request was to focus on positive stories about Autism. Renay H. Marquez, Co-Founder of ParaEducate and a paraeducator, has chosen to share a personal story of Autism.

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ChatAble: An Introduction to ChatAble

May 21, 2014 10:30am CDT - 30 minutes 
Title: ChatAble: An Introduction to ChatAble 
Description: During this webinar, we will be covering an overview of ChatAble, highlighting features in Therapy Box’s newest app. This will be a good introduction to the newest AAC app on the market. We will be showing you how to create grids, scenes and hybrids, showing you how to integrate social media and linking and finally taking you through some of the customisable settings. We will also be taking you through scenarios in which ChatAble would be ideal to use. This webinar is ideal for people who have never heard of ChatAble before, those who are familiar with the app or for those who have already purchased it. 
Category: Assistive Technology
Presenter: Rebecca Bright, BSpPath MRCSLT regHPC MASLTIP 
Cost: FREE
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1 in 68 Children Now Has a Diagnosis of Autism-Spectrum Disorder—Why?

1 in 68 Children Now Has a Diagnosis of Autism-Spectrum Disorder—Why?

With rates of the disorder yet again rising according to new CDC numbers, a look at how doctors are diagnosing autism spectrum disorder in children, and what might be done better

Rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are not creeping up so much as leaping up. New numbers just released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that one in 68 children now has a diagnosis of ASD—a 30 percent increase in just two years. In 2002, about one in 150 children was considered autistic and in 1991 the figure was one in 500.

The staggering increase in cases of ASD should raise more suspicion in the medical community about its misdiagnosis and overdiagnosis than it does. Promoting early screening for autism is imperative. But, is it possible that the younger in age a child is when professionals screen for ASD—especially its milder cases—the greater the risk that a slow-to-mature child will be misperceived as autistic, thus driving the numbers up?

The science stacks up in favor of catching and treating ASD earlier because it leads to better outcomes. Dr. Laura Schreibman, who directs the Autism Intervention Research Program at the University of California, San Diego embodies the perspective of most experts when she says, “Psychologists need to advise parents that the ‘wait-and-see’ approach is not appropriate when ASD is expected. Delaying a diagnosis can mean giving up significant gains of intervention that have been demonstrated before age six.”

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Catch Me If You Can

Catch Me If You Can

When Robert Wood Jr. disappeared in a densely forested Virginia park, searchers faced the challenge of a lifetime. The eight-year-old boy was autistic and nonverbal, and from his perspective the largest manhunt in state history probably looked like something else: the ultimate game of hide-and-seek.

By: DEAN KING

A BALL OF FIRE with twinkling blue eyes, Robert Arthur Wood Jr. is a four-foot-six, 70-pound eight-year-old who loves to swing. His doting grandmother, Norma Jean Williams, calls him Bud, and he gives as good as he gets when he and his brother, Ryan, a year younger, scrap over a toy. Robert can see and hear fine, but he can’t talk, swim, sit still for a movie, or use the bathroom by himself, because he is also severely autistic.

Ryan, a dark-haired version of Robert and also autistic, but less so, hugs and kisses his brother. Robert is not as affectionate. He is prone to repetitive motions, like hitting himself over and over with an empty plastic soft-drink bottle. But most of all he enjoys swinging. If you let him, he’ll do it until his hands blister and the skin on the back of his legs rubs raw. Even then he keeps swinging.

Robert and Ryan are both in constant motion, jumping, rocking, and pounding things. Like many children with autism, they are fearless. As a toddler, Robert liked to climb on top of the television and the refrigerator. He also likes to wander—or, as behavioral specialists call it, “to elope.” At Walmart, Robert’s mother, Barbara Locker, still puts him in the shopping cart. If you don’t hold him by the hand or by his shirt, he might run off.

That’s exactly what happened on October 23, 2011, a warm Sunday afternoon. After lunch, the boys’ father, Robert Wood Sr., 34, known as Robbie, and his girlfriend (Wood and Locker have been separated for six years) took Robert and Ryan for a walk at the rarely visited 80-acre North Anna Battlefield Park, in Virginia’s Hanover County, 15 minutes from the boys’ home in Ruther Glen. This was no ordinary walk in the park. The hilly green thickets of central Virginia, where Grant vied with Lee in an epic battle for nearby Richmond, are prickly and hardscrabble, with skin-ripping greenbrier and blackberry bushes, not to mention coyotes and bobcats. In this land of rivers, ravines, swamps, mosquitoes, and water moccasins, the Union general soon discovered, inhospitality was endemic.

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