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Online Organizational Software Supporting Care Planning
Organizing the care solutions your family needs can be difficult and stressful. Often, this entails coordinating with medical professionals, behavioral therapists, and child life specialists that advocate with you to remove all obstacles to supporting care. Fortunately, these specialists...
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How Physical Distancing Brought Us Even Closer Together
Five years have passed since I last wrote about our social recreation group CASY Sparks, previously known as Project CASY (Community Autism Socials at Yale) in the Spring 2016 Issue of Autism Spectrum News. CASY began to flourish in 2016 with the establishment of the Daniel Jordan Fiddle...
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Using Cell Phones to Increase Independence in the Community for Young Adults with Autism
All individuals deserve to be active members of the community in which they reside. However, independent societal participation for young people with disabilities, particularly those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who also have a secondary disability diagnosis (e.g., intellectual disability)...
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Remote Work Expands Career-Exploration Opportunities
Understanding the benefits and challenges associated with technology has always been central at Tech Kids Unlimited, and the COVID-19 pandemic demanded even deeper exploration. Tech Kids Unlimited (TKU) is a NYC-based educational non-profit specializing in teaching technology and computer science...
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Advancements in Assistive Technology – Using Robots for Therapeutic Interventions
Assistive Technology (AT) is an advancing field that helps individuals with special needs learn, grow, and participate in the community. These devices can take many forms and work at many levels. Robot-Assisted Intervention (RAI) is an advanced form of assisted technology. These tools can help the...
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Being Smarter with Smarter Tech: YAI Center for Innovation and Engagement
Technology is an essential part of all of our lives. It can have a profound impact, whether allowing us to connect with family; reminding us to take medication; or keeping us safe at home, at work, or on the road. The coronavirus pandemic has only highlighted the centrality of technology for...
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Supporting Adolescents with Autism Using Technology to Interact with Peers
Friendships are a vital part of adolescence. Friends provide advice and help with navigating through tough topics. As children grow into adolescence, they begin to rely more on the opinions of friends than parents to make sense of the world. Thus, adolescent friendships are an important resource...
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The Scene Cue: A Tool Delivered via Mobile Technology for Improving Independence in Direction-Following
The introduction of visual supports can often augment spoken language comprehension for learners who are minimally verbal. For example, when directing a learner to put a box into a bag, a symbolate sentence strip of “box in bag” (see Figure 1) could improve understanding assuming the learner...
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This Is Me: Using a Personalized, Electronic Transition Tool to Support Self-Advocacy in Transition-Aged Young Adults
For young adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD)1, transition to post-school life brings with it both new opportunities and new challenges. The transition to post-secondary education settings, vocational programs, community-based day programs, and/or supported living means having to teach all...
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Assisting Caregivers with the De-Escalation of Challenging Behaviors
Throughout my time as a special education teacher and administrator, I have always searched for ways to help my Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) students de-escalate themselves without having to get to a point where the use of a protective hold was needed. This was, at times, a herculean feat because...
