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Cruising Tips for a Fun Autism Friendly Family Vacation
Do you wish you could go on a family vacation but think it’s too hard to manage with a child on the autism spectrum? With proper planning, a cruise can be a great way to combine fun and predictability for the perfect autism friendly family vacation. As a mom of children on the spectrum,...
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Setting Students Up for Success: Balancing Sensory Needs in the Classroom
Sensory considerations play a key role in developing a classroom environment conducive to learning. When classrooms are arranged with sensory needs in mind, teachers will often see increased levels of social participation and task engagement. Some students face challenges finding their voice in a...
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Inclusive Housing: How Sensory-Friendly Features Can Help Address a Growing Need
Home should be a place where you can relax, feel safe, unwind from the day, and feel like it is your space. However, not everyone has that option. To illustrate, in our work of supporting inclusive housing for autistic adults for over 16 years at Madison House Autism Foundation, we have found that...
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Advocating for Sensory-Inclusive Education: IEPs, Classrooms, and Schools
There are many lists and suggestions for sensory-inclusive education for autistic students. Gaining a sense of your student’s unique sensory profile – what causes distress or helps them stay regulated – is important. They may be impacted differently at school than at home. How can a caregiver...
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The Regulating Benefit of Rituals
The ball boy hands him the tennis ball. He drops it to the ground twice, his torso bent over and neck extended, looking at his opponent. He swipes his face swiftly, touching his right cheek, nose, left cheek, and back to nose. He moves his water bottle just outside the boundary line. Wipes the...
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Five Comfort Tools to Empower Your Driving
When driving a vehicle, sensory issues are important considerations for autistic people. Driving uses almost every sense in the body, like sight, smell, and sound, and all these senses are processed simultaneously, every time you get behind the wheel of a car. If you’re not able to process...
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Establishing Sensory Inclusive Theater Experiences
Many sensory inclusive theaters and performing arts venues have incorporated sensory-friendly (SF) or relaxed performances (RP) to increase access to the arts for all patrons. Often, these events are geared towards children or younger audiences and for individuals who experience hypersensitivity....
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Nurturing Comfort: Sensory Processing Through an Autistic Lens
What grates on your nerves? The slurping sound made by an open-mouthed eater or by someone smacking gum and popping bubbles? What about ticking clocks? Or the coworker who repeatedly clicks their pen, ad nauseam? Why do such noises bother autistic people? Maybe it’s because stimuli and sensory...
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Sensory Sensitivities, Accommodations, and Technological Solutions
Various organizations and venues have recently provided “autism-friendly” and “sensory-friendly” events. This is certainly a welcome trend because it not only addresses an issue that is nearly universal in the autism community but also helps promote autism awareness among the public. Much...
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Sensory-Friendly Hospital Experiences for Children with Autism
Going to the hospital is typically accompanied by fear and stress, which is never easy for any family. For parents of children with autism, it can be even more overwhelming to think about going to the doctor’s office or the hospital. 95% of children with autism also have sensory processing...
