Minutes for March 2nd meeting

Eight people attended our last meeting with Barb Nelson, Autism Consultant for MARESA as our guest.

We had four new people at the meeting:  the mother or dual diagnosis son with down syndrome and ASD, a couple from Harvey who recently gained custody of their seven-year-old grandson, and a mother of three, including a seven year old son with Asperger Syndrome. 


As usual, I passed around the clipboards seeking recommendations and contact information.  For the first time I had a contact list to hand out to those interested in sharing contact information (not a requirement for participating in the group).  My goal is to update this list every three months.

Resources:
Some new resources mentioned were a diagnosing physician in Milwaukee:

Dr. Jeffrey Crisco
(414) 476-9755
3333 N. Mayfair Road, Suite 113
Wauwatosa, WI 53222

Jennifer reported she had a two week turn around when they brought their son in to see him.

New Down Syndrome Group meeting the 2nd Sunday of each month in the Dandelion Cottage Room of the Peter White Public Library.   

There was also a brief discussion of an increased recognition of ASD in popular media with a contestant on the American Idol TV show and a character on the show Parenthood.  

Barb Nelson:

Barb Nelson introduced herself, described her experience working with children with autism in Upstate New York where she was originally certified.  When she moved here in the 1990's, she had to become re-certified to work in Michigan and was one of the first two graduated of the online autism program through NMU.  

Her job for MARESA includes many roles, including that of Autism Consultant for the schools in both Marquette and Alger County.  As part of this job, she works with UPAN-- the Upper Peninsula Autism Network, an arm of the STatewide Autism Resources and Training (START) project.  UPAN is made up of members of all the Upper Peninsula ISD's and as a group they look to identifying and meeting the autism education needs for our area.  

Coming up on June 15 and 16 UPAN will be offering a training opportunity for parents and educators at Bay de Noc College in Escanaba.  Project Impact will host a program in August in Sault Ste Marie.  (More information on these events forthcoming.)

Currently Barb is working in the schools to try to create a point person for each school that parents and teachers can approach with questions regarding best practices for working with students on the Spectrum.   One of the messages that Barb tries to get across to teachers is that best practice strategies used with autism work with all kids.  

One of the tips she offered to parents in the group was to allow for processing time when talking to children on the spectrum.  As she explained, those with ASD often don't prune the information that comes to them.  Typically, when we receive new information our brains will select the most important parts and prune out those parts that are extraneous.  The child with autism will retain all parts-- kind of like see a photograph versus seeing an iconographic picture.  As a result, it is therefore more difficult to retrieve information from the brain and may take a child longer to answer a question.  When we can simplify and slow down the rate in which we present new information we can help autistic children process that information and improve communication.   

One of the questions she answered was "how to tell if your child is getter what they need?"  Her response was to ask "Is the student successful in their classroom?"

Barb said she would like to work with our group and be a resource to us without intruding on what we are doing.  She brought copies of her business card.  Her number at MARESA is 906-226-5176.  

Announcements:

Our group will be co-sponsoring a screening of the movie Temple Grandin in the Peter White Public Library Community Room on Monday April 11, 2011 in honor of National Autism Awareness Month.  

This HBO movie earned several Emmies, including best Actress for Claire Danes.  The film depicts Temple Grandin's struggles in school and the early part of her career as she learned to live with autism and establish herself as an expert in the field of animal management.  

Dr. Foster Cline, co-author of the Love and Logic Series, will be speaking  speaking at the Upfront on May 5 about stress and parenting.

The MARESA Special Education Parent Advisory Committee is hosting a family fun night at YMCA this Sunday, March 13 from 6-8:00.

Corrections and additions:

If you have any corrections or additions to these minutes, please let me know.