Featuring:
- What is Your Child for Halloween by Ewa Sroslak
- Masquerade by Renee Salas
- Interview Caroline and Kyle Coleman by Leslie Burby
- social story examples about Trick-or-Treating by Leslie A. Burby
- Staying on Track at School by Brian Katkin of Uptospeedtutors.com
- Autism in the News by Leslie A. Burby
- Don’t Desensitize – Recognize by Jaclyn Hunt
- Book in the Spotlight: Editorial Review of Raising Cubby by John Elder Robison
- Q&A Section – How do I make activity schedules on iPads? by Ceymi Doenyas
- Tackling Tactile Dysfunction by Leslie A. Burby
- Autism’s First Child by Kimberlee McCafferty
- Happy Halloween Indeed! by Meghan Graham
- Seek-N-Find by McNall Mason
- Late Diagnosis by Cynthia Kim
Editor’s Letter
Dear Readers,
October is here and Halloween will soon be upon us. While thousands of people around the world will be eager to decorate and prepare for the ghoulish festivities, I know that it is not always a joyous occasion for children on the spectrum.
Unpredictable, spooky noises? Itchy costumes? Breaking the daily routine to dress up and go parading through the community for fun, right? Trying to explain how it is socially acceptable to run around the neighborhood banging on people’s doors collecting candy on this one night? I know all too well the issues that we face as parents to children on the spectrum, which is why this issue features articles about Halloween topics that only parents with ASD children can relate.
In this issue, we teamed up with Do2Learn to create a FREE 8-step social story about Trick-or-Treating. If you decide that Trick-or-Treating is something that you would like to do with your child, we hope that reviewing the social story during the weeks leading up to Halloween will make for a smooth and safe evening. I’d like to personally thank the Do2Learn company for letting us use their software to bring our readers free social stories. I highly recommend their software and programs for creating schedules, social stories, because their extensive premade templates and images make it fast and effortless for parents.
Besides the social story, we have tons of great articles such as: a cleverly written article by Kimberlee McCafferty about the first person diagnosed with autism; everything you need to know about getting a diagnosis as an adult by Cynthia Kim; a great article about how people with Asperger’s tend to mask their emotions and play the “appropriate” role; and an informative read by Life Coach Jacyln Hunt and her stance on not desensitizing people but instead teaching them recognizing techniques to aid in the relief of anxiety.
If all that wasn’t enough to get you reading, an editorial review of John Elder Robison’s new book Raising Cubby, and an in-depth Q&A section done by Ceymi Doenyas about the benefits of using iPad schedules and charts, as well as, a FREE guide to everything you need to know about iPad schedules will hopefully be two more enticing features.
Make sure you check out our interview this month. It was such a pleasure to speak with Caroline Coleman the mom of Kyle Coleman, a nonverbal autistic singer. They have had such an incredible and inspiring journey together.
I just want to say a special thank you to all of our writers, contributors, advertisers, Do2Learn, Max-n-Me Studios and Random House.
In closing I want to wish all the Canadians a Happy Thanksgiving and a Happy Halloween to all the world!
Best Regards,Leslie A. BurbyEditor-in-Chief
