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Upcoming Events
Phoenix Mercury Game
August 8th
US Airways Arena (Phoenix)
Click here to get tickets
Wine Tasting Special Event
August 28th
Winestyles (Paradise Valley)
Click here to get tickets
"Back to School" Autism Conference
September 17th & 18th
Phoenix Convention Center
Contact us for more information on any of these events!
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Link of the Month
A program in Dallas is using Legos to help children on the autism spectrum develop social skills.
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Wine Tasting to Benefit AZA United  On Saturday, August 28th, AZA United will host another delightful wine tasting event at Wine Styles in Paradise Valley! Come join us for wine, food, a silent auction, and lots of other great surprises. Tickets are only $15/person and include 6 tastings and refreshments, or $60 for a group of five! All proceeds will benefit AZA United's new Helping Hands program, which is scheduled to begin later this year. Get your tickets and RSVP here. Please contact us if you are interested in volunteering, donating items for our silent auction, or being an event sponsor!
We would also like to thank these additional people and organizations that helped make our last event a huge success:
Young's Market Company, One Hope Wines, Republic National Distributing Company, Quintessential Wines, Orangewood Wines, Quail Distributing Company, Valley of the Sun Distributing Company, Diamondback Distributing Company, Jim O'Brien, NYPD Pizza, Dolce Salon, Lorena Stein, and O'Neil Printing!
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Updates for Employees We have two new opportunities for employees to go green and help us increase administrative efficiency. Please contact Jenifer Werntz, Finance Manager, at jen@azaunited.org or 602-773-5775 if you would like to sign up for a new online timesheets system or receive your direct deposit slips via email.
As a reminder, all AZA United habilitators must now be using the new version of the Monthly Habilitation Progress Report. You should have a copy of the Functional Outcomes for each child you work with; if not, please contact our Program Team at 602-773-5772. You can download the new report from our website, as well as a sample report and tutorial to make sure you are completing it correctly. Make sure you enter the support coordinator's name at the bottom, and the page numbers at the top. You can also contact the Program Team if you have any questions or need assistance completing the report. Reports must be submitted for each month, by the 5th of the following month.
And don't forget...we do have a 401K plan! Contact Jen to sign up.
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New Website for Siblings!  Contributed by Larissa Beckstead, AZA member family. Larissa is the mother of a 7 year old boy with autism named Bailey, and a 5 year old neuro-typical boy named Cooper. Are you a parent who is trying to balance therapies, treatments, and doctor's appointments for your special needs child while raising a non-special needs child? If so, there is a group for you. Sibs Support is a new Phoenix-based support group for siblings of special needs children and their families. At Sibs Support, parents can discuss and share the successes of all their children. They can also discuss strategies on how to raise a child that will have to be an advocate and possibility a caretaker of their special needs sibling. There are forums for parents to discuss their special needs child's diagnosis as well as forums broken into age groups to discuss their other children. A special forum has been set up to share the celebrations of the non special needs children. There will be opportunities for siblings to get together at recreational events to meet and make friends with children that are in a similar situation. Check out our website and join today at www.sibsupport.com. |
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Parents in Scottsdale for ABA in Schools
Contributed by Char Ugol, AZA member family.
Parents are gathering in Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) to support ABA programs and services at school for kids on the autism spectrum. No experience is necessary, just sign up for our email list and we will survey parents of children with autism for their input. This will be a group of interested parents helping the District develop programs and resources. Those who already use ABA at home or are interested in using ABA at home and school are encouraged to become active in this group. Please contact me ASAP, with your email address, a telephone number that's good to reach you, and times you're available to meet. You can reach me at 602-614-2088 Cugol@msn.com. |
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Send us Your Pictures!  The Program Team at AZA United has been working hard to create new materials and resources that you and your habilitators can use to teach your child skills and concepts. At a recent employee party, we collected an array of facial expressions for a new set of "Emotions" flashcards. If you would like a set, simply contact us at resources@azaunited.org.
So far these flashcards have been great to teach the basic emotions of happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared and excited. The only problem is, all the pictures are adults! So we need your help. Send us your digital pictures to pictures@azaunited.org of your kids making facial expressions or doing anything that clearly demonstrates an emotion, and if possible, a sense of why they are feeling that way. For example, a picture of a child looking sad with a spilled drink works very well for teaching the concept of "why" and "because" - why is he sad? Help us help more kids and families! This could also be a great project for habilitators to do (with parent permission). We look forward to seeing all those smiling (and other) faces! |
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Thanks for all you do, and don't forget to tell us what else we can do...for you! |
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