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What NOT to Say…
It’s easy to say the wrong thing to someone, even when you have the best of intentions. Everyone has done it, and whether you realize it yourself or someone points it out to you, mistakes like these don’t feel good. All of us learn social and communication skills from many sources, including...
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Learning the Powerful Language of Inclusion: A Mother’s Journey to Acceptance and Hope
This article on inclusion was developed from three major strands. First, the document’s inception originated from the author’s experience as an early-childhood special educator, a parent, and an administrator working with families. Second, the background came from the writer’s qualitative...
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There’s More to Communication than Language, Grammar, and Vocabulary
Autism, in the general sense, is often defined as a disorder involving deficits of communication. This is certainly true for nonverbal autistics, as well as for those who cannot be “reached” even though they are capable of expressing speech. What about those autistics who are fully verbal and...
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Gift from Massachusetts Family Will Support Students with Diverse Learning Challenges
Lesley University’s Threshold Program has received a philanthropic gift of $1 million from donors Chris Gaffney and Karen Kames, of Newton, Massachusetts, which will provide scholarships for students and fund a new staff member in the Threshold Alumni Center. Their daughter, Olivia, is a...
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The Risks and Consequences of High or Low Functioning Autism Labels
People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience the world differently, not to a greater or lesser degree. The dynamic of one’s social abilities, expressive and receptive language development, intellectual skills, restrictive interests as well as repetitive behaviors all vary. Currently, the...
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Moving Forward with Will Power
My name is Will Peters, I am a recent graduate of AHRC New York City’s Melissa Riggio Higher Education Program (MRHEP) at the College of Staten Island. The College of Staten Island is one of the colleges of the City University of New York, which provides students with intellectual and other...
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The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Adds 5th Adult Autism Endowment Fund Assuring a Focus on Adult Autism Public Policy for Generations to Come
The collaborative vision of The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation (DJFF), the nation’s first not-for-profit organization to exclusively focus on adult autism, has been further enhanced by the establishment of a new endowment fund at Arizona State University, adding to DJFF’s existing endowed fund...
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NY State Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara’s Personal Mission of Advocacy on Behalf of New Yorkers with Disabilities
Life is almost never a straight path. If you try to make a plan, you will sometimes head in a direction you never could have imagined. For me, the journey has not been simple, and it is has not always gone as I expected. My parents are both Italian immigrants. They left their homes in...
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Autism Saved My Life
For 36 of my 40 years, I was disabled. I was cut off from the world but for the tiny bubble that was my bedroom. Barely able to care for myself, angry, scared and lonely, I felt hopeless and broken. Suicidal thoughts were a daily reminder of my inadequacies and failures. I was certain there had...
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Supporting Students on the Autism Spectrum: Many Things Need to Change
It has been a long time since I was a student. In fact, it would be many years before most people would even have heard the word autism, and decades before I was finally diagnosed on the spectrum. As such, I never received any supports or accommodations. Fortunately, I managed to succeed...
