Autism

April is Autism Awareness Month!  This month holds a special place in my heart and in light of the occasion I had the opportunity to attend the Midsouth Autism Conference in Tunica, Mississippi.  I am so blessed that I got to attend the conference and I am so excited about the information and material that I have come away from the conference with.  The conference was unlike any I have ever attended because it had big name people speaking and I am not just referring to the opening speaker Ms. Temple Grandin.  Yes, Temple delivered an amazing yet funny and sometimes awkward message, but all of the other speakers were just as phenomenal.  Most of the speakers were so called "Gurus" in the Autism community.  My personal favorite was Dr. James Partington, PhD, BCBA-D author of Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Delays and author of the ABLLS Assessment (The Assessment of Language and Learning Skills).  This man has been practicing ABA and working with students with Autism spectrum disorders since 1987 (the year I was born).  As I sat and listened to his lecture from 9-4:30 I just filled with excitement because I could not wait to get back to school and use some of his techniques.  Today, I heard a speech pathologist and founder of the ACCESS Group speak on language and the use of visuals.  She was amazing and showed so many examples.  I came away from the conference with so much but it also made me realize the public school needs to be doing so much more for these kids.  According to the Autism experts, children on the spectrum need 10 hours of speech a week!!  We need to be really focusing on increasing language and this should be a primary concern.  A great point addressed by both Temple and Dr. Partington was why spend time teaching a kid what a zebra or a bear is if they are not going to come in contact with it in every day life.  Why focus on theme based vocabulary if the child can not even tell you and describe his or her back pack, folder, house, family, school, self, etc.  They also stressed having children on the spectrum do more than just produce answers to questions.  It is great if a student can answer a question, but if the conversation can not go any deeper what good have we done.  Another thing that stuck out was using multiple words the have the same meaning when giving directions or having conversations with these students to increase vocabulary knowledge.  I am so thrilled about the knowledge I gained, but a little saddened by how far public schools are from adequately service children on the spectrum.  Public schools need so many more resources that there is not funding for.  The conference opened my eyes to many things  which I can include in my teaching to help these kidos better succeed.  I wish I could have gone to this at the beginning of the year because I think my kids would have made even more progress that they have this year.  The other thing that I took away from the conference was an added eagerness to go back to school.  I am so interested in the behavior analyst side of working with students on the spectrum and want to start school to become a BCBA.  Yes, I have been accepted to Penn State to start in the fall doing there online program, but everything with my job has to work out for that to happen.  The conference solidified my passion for working with kids on the spectrum and I really do not think that would be happy doing any other job. 

Chad and I continue to pray about our future as a family and where we will be living.  We pray I will have a job and the Skier's Marine will continue to succeed.  Furthermore, we pray for a place we can call home and an actual house.  The unknown is killing me, but I know God has a plan.

In other news it is my cousin Travis's birthday...Happy Birthday! He is my inspiration for me becoming a special education teacher and I am so thankful God put him in my life.