Taking Learning Out of the Clinic and Into the Community

• By: Samara P. Tetenbaum, PhD Monica Arevalo, BS ASPIRE Center for Learning and Development
• July 1st, 2013
• community-based learning, executive functioning, independent living skills, life skills training, skill generalization, social skills development, youth and young adults
• 1847    0

When working with youth and young adults on the autism spectrum, professionals and parents are often faced with the daunting task of teaching life skills. These skills can include grocery shopping, stranger awareness, everyday cleaning, and self-care. Youth and young adults often need to be taught...

Summer Programs for Adolescents and Young Adults

• By: Alissa Daner, MSEd Marty McGreevy, MEd Samantha Curiale-Feinman, MSEd, TSHH New Frontiers in Learning
• April 1st, 2013
• college readiness, community engagement, executive functioning, independent living skills, self-advocacy, social skills, students, summer programs, transition skills
• 4843    0

Summer vacation is a time ripe with opportunities for growth – a time to catch-up on academic learning, strengthen executive functioning, and improve social and communication competence. Opportunities abound during the summer months to engage in learning outside of the traditional classroom by...

Using Summer Vacation to Build College Readiness Skills

• By: Ronni Aronow MA, MS Spectrum Services
• April 1st, 2013
• budgeting skills, college transition, communication skills, executive functioning, independent living skills, planning, self-advocacy, stress management, summer, time management, transition
• 1854    0

Heading to college in the fall? Summer vacation is the perfect opportunity to work on the skills you’ll need to succeed in college. Whether it’s understanding the way your disability affects you, navigating new environments, using an ATM machine, making your own doctor’s appointments, or...

Executive Functioning Enhancement for High School Students with ASD

• By: Dianne Zager, PhD Samantha Curiale-Feinman, MSEd, TSHH New Frontiers in Learning
• January 1st, 2013
• evidence-based practices, executive functioning, high school, positive behavior supports, secondary education, social competence, students, transition to adulthood, universal design for learning
• 5117    0

Educators have made great strides in integrating students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) into general education over the past several decades; however, at the secondary school level, these students still often experience serious difficulties. A major obstacle to success for adolescents on the...

Finding the Best Fit: Exploring College and Vocational Options

• By: Mary R. Cohen, PhD OASIS Program at Pace University Evan Oppenheimer, LMHC Jewish Child Care Association’s Compass Project
• January 1st, 2013
• career, college support programs, employment outcomes, executive functioning, postsecondary education, strengths-based approach, students, transition planning, vocational training
• 1875    0

In the last twenty years the growing awareness of autism, the reconceptualization of autism as a spectrum of characteristics, and improved diagnostic techniques have contributed to the increased demand for specialized educational programs in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary educational...

Sensory Scanning for Self-Advocacy

• By: Valerie Paradiz, PhD
• January 1st, 2013
• environmental accommodations, executive functioning, self-advocacy, sensory differences, sensory processing, sensory scan, sensory systems, supports, workplace and school challenges
• 4457    0

Many individuals with autism, like myself, have challenges with the sensory world. Sometimes these challenges are difficult for us to identify, and quite often it’s even harder for those around us to see or understand them. Our senses provide our brains with information about the environment,...

Supporting Students on the Autism Spectrum in Higher Education

• By: Mitchell Nagler, MA, LMHC Stephen M. Shore, EdD Adelphi University
• January 1st, 2013
• executive functioning, Higher education support, independent living skills, self-advocacy, social-communication challenges, students, transition to college, vocational support
• 3273    0

The continuing rise in prevalence of autism, now at 1 in 88 (Center for Disease Control, 2012), has engendered greater awareness of the condition, followed by increased research, and improved interventions and strategies for individuals with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and High Functioning Autism (HFA)....

Transforming Transitional Programs

• By: Mary Jane Burner, MA New York Institute of Technology Vocational Independence Program
• January 1st, 2013
• college readiness, college transition, education, executive functioning, independent living skills, learning disabilities, self-advocacy, students, transition planning
• 2141    0

Walking onto a college campus is the first step to adulthood and true independence. This step can cause excitement, fear and anxiety for most young people. For students with learning disabilities and on the autism spectrum, these emotions are magnified.  It is a new world of unchartered territory...

Executive Functions: Skills to Promote Success in School and Beyond

• By: Renee Soufer, MA, MEd Shuli Sandler, PsyD Spectrum Services
• April 1st, 2011
• children, executive functioning, school
• 3856    0

Many children diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and High Functioning Autism (HFA) struggle with impairments in executive functioning (EF). Executive functions are defined as “an umbrella construct defined as the control, supervisory, or self-regulatory functions that organize and direct all...