REACH Parent Network Information Exchange.

This information exchange, sponsored by Reach, is by parents for parents.  It's content is  guided by Reach's mission to provide choices for families,  be family centered, facilitate inclusion, and  exist as a quality resource.  The information is meant to meet the needs of a multitude of families' interests.  We caution readers that Reach does not investigate all claims, and that claims  made  are not necessarily endorsed or recommended by Reach. Readers are encouraged to undertake further investigation on their own of items noted. 

• I very sincerely apologize for the offensive language in one of last weeks Autism Blog Articles. It was a complete lack of proof-reading on my part and I humbly apologize for the over-sight.

• How do I use technology and apps effectively for a person with an ASD? by Maureen Bennie. Tech devices such as iPads, and iPhones have become increasingly popular for assisting people on the autism spectrum. There are lots of positives going for technology and apps: people on the spectrum often enjoy using tech devices, there is some autonomy, it takes the pencil out of the process to demonstrate learning, there are 1000's of apps to teach a myriad of skills, and their use can be both motivating and rewarding. Nonverbal individuals have another way to express themselves. These tech devices are also becoming more affordable all the time. But is there a down side? Click here to read more 

• How Do I Prepare A Girl With Autism For Menstruation? by Maureen Bennie. 
  Getting your period is a tough topic for every parent/child to cope with, but introducing the topic of menstruation to girls on the autism spectrum can be a daunting task. Mothers worry about how their daughters will react to the event. Will there be sensory issues around blood flow and the use of sanitary pads? How will they feel about this change in their body? Will it be painful? How do you teach hygiene around menstruation? Will menstruation be understood and accepted? Click here to read more

• Sunshine Coast Gets Recognition in Hollywood.   Gibsons, BC - Locally based Sunshine Coast organization ANCA® World Autism Festival™ garners international recognition for their film CONNECTED: A film about autistic people. Filmed on location in Edinburgh, Scotland at the AWAF in 2014, with excerpts from the 2013 AWAF event held here on the Sunshine Coast, we are showcasing very talented, artistic and creative Autistic People from across Canada and around the world. This film has caught the attention of Life Fest Film Festival (home of the CAPRA AWARDS) in Hollywood, LA, California, USA. The film was produced & directed by local Vancouver film maker, Sonia Suvagau with original score composed by Sebastian Hugeneck of Sonia Productions Inc. The founders of the ANCA® World Autism Festival™, Leonora Gregory-Collura & Charlie Collura who are the Executive Producers of the film, will be attending the film screening with many members of the cast from Canada, the USA and other countries such as India, Turkey and the Ukraine.
• "Connected" is the most comprehensive film that I have seen from the perspective of people on the spectrum. This documentary will have a strong impact when it becomes available to the general public. I developed a deeper understanding of ANCA and what motivates Leo and Charlie Collura to establish this organization on an international level. Thank you Leo for allowing our meetup group to participate at this private film screening/debut."               (Peter Wlasenko)
• Click here for more reviews
   

   Down Syndrome  

• You are Invited to a Delta Down Syndrome Support Group meeting: OUR GOALS ARE
  
  · To provide guest speakers (Reach therapists, community
  professionals and other programs) to discuss common issues
  · To provide support and information to families in Delta who
  have a child with Down Syndrome
  · To help connect parents of children with Down Syndrome
  · To provide monthly meetings for parents and their children
  · To provide on-site child minding while you attend the
  discussion
  When: First Thursday of each month
  Where:
  Reach Developmental Preschool South #3-3800 72nd Street, Delta, BC
  Reach Developmental Preschool North Delta 10921 - 82nd Avenue, Delta, BC
  
  **alternating each month
  • Time: 6:00pm - 7:30pm
    Cost: No charge
    Light refreshments provided
    Please RSVP to Sarah Garnham at 604-946-6622 extension 321.
    or email here

Medical and Mental Health

• Click here for the Kelty Mental Health News 

• Mind Matters e-newsletter provides new resources and programs offered by Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) BC Division and is committed to the mental health of British Columbians. Click here for their current newsletter   

• back to menu 

Workshops and Training 

•  Click here for the CCRR Spring Summer Course Schedules 

• Click here for information on RDSP presentation 
   
• Focus Group!  Please join us for a community engagement meeting to find out about families' experience of accessing and using early intervention services. INFO Early Intervention Supports. The Family Support Institute, Inclusion BC, and the BC Association for Child Development and Intervention would like to hear from you about your experience with early intervention supports and services for your child. We will have parent led discussions to identify key topics and issues most important to parents and families in BC. This will help form a provincial advocacy plan to be utilized by parents and families across BC to ensure the Government addresses these issues in the next provincial budget.

  Where?Reach Boardroom, #3-3800 72nd Street, Delta

  When? #1: Tuesday, May 31st, 9.30-11.30am.

  Register?Contact: Si Stainton; email Si Here Phone 604-540-8374 ext. 528
  
  
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder - Strategies for Supporting
May 26 - May 27, 2016 (9 AM - 4 PM)
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is one of the most prevalent brain-based disabilities in our society. There is a growing need for caregivers to acquire increased knowledge and practical skills to support children, adults and families living with FASD. This workshop will propose 5 pillars for success when supporting individuals with FASD. These include a focus on Strengths, Healthy Relationships, Promoting FASD Self Awareness, Adaptations Strategies and Team Based Support. Participants will transfer newfound knowledge about FASD into practical and meaningful ways to try differently not harder in their support of individuals, families and communities affected by FASD.Price: 420.00 (regular rate)
Vancouver, British Columbia - Holiday Inn Vancouver Centre  Click here to register


• Thursday, June 2, 2016, 6:30 - 9:00 PM
  Bilingualism and the Advantages for Children with Language Delay
  Dr. Stefka Marinova -Todd is the Director of the Centre for Intercultural Language Studies and an Associate Professor at the School of Audiology and Speech Science at the University of British Columbia.  Her research focuses on the language and cognitive development of bilingual children, both typically developing and children with Autism. In this seminar, Dr. Marinova-Todd's presentation will include information on bilingual language development and how it relates to executive function, literacy, and academic achievement.  She will also discuss the capacity of children with developmental delay and ASD to be bilingual and implications for their successful education.Click here for more information
   
• Facing the Future Together: A Succession Planning Workshop. 2016 Dates:
  

  • June 4 (10am-3pm) 
  • October 15 (10am-3pm)

  Facing the future with promise and confidence takes planning and requires all those who care for and support your relative with a disability to work together.

  This full-day workshop is designed to inform and assist all members of the family and their successors to:

  • Address concerns about the future and secure a succession plan
  • Hear how other families are creating peace of mind
  • Consider how to share roles and responsibilities
  • Identify key resources
  • Balance wishes and obligations

  Identify short and long term actionsClick here for more information and to register 
   
• Myles Mckie: Myles of Courage. June 7, 2016 7pm - 9 pm. Please come and hear Myles McKie talk about his educational experiences - both elementary and high school - what worked - what didn't!! Hear about his understanding of his Autism and his successes in transitioning to adulthood and employment.  Please email Pam here or call 604-946-6622 ext 359.
   
• Inclusion BC 2016 Conference, June 22-25, 2016. Inclusion BC will host the 2016 Conference, "IGNITE" in Prince George, BC from June 23 - 25, 2016. It will spark new ideas and fuel conversations about current trends and issues to advance the rights and opportunities of people with developmental disabilities and their families. The Inclusion BC Conference annually draws over 650 self advocates, family members, service providers, support workers, community leaders, advocates and allies of the inclusion movement together to explore and engage in discussions on inclusion, citizenship, innovation, supports and access, and leadership. Click here to see the list of incredible speakers and to register 

• Introduction to ASD - Practical Applications - POPARD - July 2016. This 30 hour course reflects current research and evidence-based practice in teaching students with ASD. Instruction includes pre-readings, practical hands-on training through instructor demonstration and coaching. In addition, course participants complete applied exercises in the key elements of teaching and supporting students with ASD.The course structure involves pre-readings and class discussions, in addition to ongoing opportunities for the participant to apply concepts through active participation.This course is a requirement for teaching assistants in many school districts and is open to community professionals and parents. Click here for more information
   
• Two Days of Social Thinking® (Vancouver)Thursday & Friday, August 4 & 5, 2016

  Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP Pamela Crooke, PhD, CCC-SLP.Social Thinking conferences are dedicated to providing practical information about school-age students and adults who have social and communication difficulties, including but not limited to those related to high-functioning autism spectrum disorders, PDD-NOS, Asperger Syndrome, NLD, ADHD, twice exceptional, murky undiagnosed challenges, etc. Information presented concentrates on students with near average to far above average verbal intelligence (verbal IQs above 70). Most strategies focus on school-age children and adults, although the information is helpful for those living and working with younger children.Click here for more information 

   
• Introduction to ASD - Practical Applications - POPARD
  Monday - Friday, August 15 - 19, 2016 Kenneth Cole, PhD, RPsych Surrey School District Education Centre Surrey, BC.

  This 30 hour course has recently been revised to reflect current research and evidence-based practice in teaching students with ASD. Instruction includes pre-readings, practical hands-on training through instructor demonstration and coaching. In addition, course participants complete applied exercises in the key elements of teaching and supporting students with ASD.

  The course structure involves pre-readings and class discussions, in addition to ongoing opportunities for the participant to apply concepts through active participation.

  This course is a requirement for teaching assistants in many school districts and is open to community professionals and parents.Click here for more information 
   
• Creating the Future - Partnerships for Inclusive Learning Save the Date:  August 22-24, 2016 at UBC in Vancouver, BC. Facilitating strategic approaches to inclusion
  & belonging for all students Registration now open! Cllck here for more information

• Family Focus Conference, October 21-23, 2016. Call for workshop Proposals now open! The Value of One; The Power of Many  October 21-23, 2016 Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel Richmond BC Click here for more information

• Victoria, BC - November 4 & 5, 2016. Featuring Speakers Leah Kuypers and Elizabeth Sautter  Friday, November 4 Leah Kuypers The Zones of Regulation This presentation provides teachers, therapists and parents with hands-on knowledge on the nature of self-regulation and strategies for improving self regulation and emotional control in individuals of all ages. Audience participants will learn an explicit, stair-stepped method and tools to guide individuals in utilizing The Zones framework across situations and environments to regulate sensory needs, impulses, and emotional states to social demands.  The Zones of Regulation presentation also incorporates core concepts from Michelle Garcia Winner's SocialThinking® framework to help teach individuals about perspective taking so they better understand how being in the different zones impacts thethoughts and feelings of other people around them.November 5 Elizabeth Sautter Make Social Learning Stick: Practical Tools to Build Social Regulation. Social Regulation (Kuypers and Sautter, 2011) is the ability to adjust one's level of alertness and modify how emotions and behaviors are revealed in order to meet social goals. This presentation will offer parents/caregivers, educators, and other professionals who work with individuals with social cognitive, executive functioning, communication &emotional regulation challenges, the glue that makes social learning stick.The majority of the presentation will focus on practical tools, concepts and suggestions that can easily be used the next day to support social regulation at home, school, work and in the community. Participants will learn to embrace teachable moments using new strategies as well existing ones in order to create a "social learning diet" for success.  Click here for more information and to register 

• Save the Date! We're excited to announce that the 20th annual Children the Heart of the Matter conference will be held on February 17 & 18, 2017 at the Sheraton Guildford Hotel in Surrey.
• Children the Heart of the Matter Conference Committee is seeking proposals for our
  20th annual conference. Our 201 6 conference drew over 600 participants and was an overwhelming success. Consideration will be given to those presenters whose proposals reflect diversity, inclusive practice, programming and curriculum for any or all of the following: infant/toddler, preschool-age and school- age children as well as children with special needs.

  Click here for more information 
• The 7th International Conference on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
  Research: Results and Relevance 2017 Integrating Research, Policy and Promising Practice Around the World Conference Updates:
  Call for abstracts just announced. Click here for more information. Deadline for all submissions are August 26, 2016.
  Conference Dates: March 1-4, 2017 Conference Location: The Westin Bayshore, Vancouver, BC
  This advanced level conference continues to bring together experts from multiple disciplines to share international research. From the pure science, to prevention, diagnosis and intervention across the lifespan, the conference will address the implications of this research and promote scientific/community collaboration. It provides an opportunity to enhance understanding of the relationships between knowledge and research and critical actions related to FASD. First held in 1987, the conference brings together people passionate about this work in a stimulating environment where they can learn and forge new partnerships.Click here to stay in tune
  
   

Other

• 10 Steps To Guide Children Without Punishment. "Where did we ever get the crazy idea that in order to make children do better, first we have to make them feel worse? Think of the last time you felt humiliated or treated unfairly. Did you feel like cooperating or doing better?" - Jane Nelsen  Click here for the 10 guidelines 

• When You Lose it With Your Child: 5 Steps Toward Repair 
  "On Mother's Day I decided never to yell at my kids again. I want to be a good role model. But only 24 hours later, I completely lost it and found myself screaming like a crazy woman." Click here to read more

• Local Parent starts new business Click here to learn more

• Cllick here for the Current Edition of Parenting Special Needs Magazine 
• Check out the behaviour article on page 24

• Focus Group!  Please join us for a community engagement meeting to find out about families' experience of accessing and using early intervention services. INFO Early Intervention Supports. The Family Support Institute, Inclusion BC, and the BC Association for Child Development and Intervention would like to hear from you about your experience with early intervention supports and services for your child. We will have parent led discussions to identify key topics and issues most important to parents and families in BC. This will help form a provincial advocacy plan to be utilized by parents and families across BC to ensure the Government addresses these issues in the next provincial budget.
  Where?Reach Board Room, #3-3800 72nd Street, Delta
  When? Tuesday, May 31st, 9.30-11.30am.
  Register?Contact: Si Stainton; email here  Phone 604-540-8374 ext. 528
   

• Screen Time Challenges? A reporter from the Canadian Press is looking for parents who are dealing with conflict over how much screen time their child should have.  It seems that one parent caves while the other digs in his/her heels about controlling time on the phone, Instagram, YouTube, games .... It never ends! If this is you, please feel free to contact me, Camilla Bains.  I will be speaking with experts to get you some answers!  You can call me Direct: 604-692-1166  Office: 604-687-1662 or email me here

• 2016 Alaska Mission Possible Cruise  Madeline Stuart, Barbara Laird and Cyndi Gerlach
  It's no surprise that Celebrity guests and the travel press, including Conde Nast Traveler, consistently rate Celebrity Cruises as one of the world's finest cruise lines. Celebrity fulfills your clients dreams of remarkable, memorable vacations.
  July 10, 2016 Click here for more information

• The Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP)

  is a long-term savings plan to help Canadians with disabilities and their families save for the future. Click here for more information

  If you have an RDSP, you may also be eligible for grants and bonds to help with your long-term savings.
  You should consider opening an RDSP if you have a long-term disability and are:
  • eligible for the Disability Tax Credit (disability amount);
  • under the age of 60 (if you are 59, you must apply before the end of the calendar year in which you turned 59);
  • a Canadian resident with a Social Insurance Number (SIN); and
  • looking for a long-term savings plan.
  You may contribute any amount to your RDSP each year, up to the lifetime contribution limit of $200,000. With written permission from the RDSP holder, anyone may contribute to the RDSP. Please click here for more information 
• PLAN (Planned lifetime advocacy network)  offers a variety of workshops regarding RDSP's, wills and estates and setting up personal networks.
• Click here for your comprehensive guide 

• Your One Stop Shop for children and families in Delta - click here

Submissions or Questions?

To submit for our newsletter or have a question for Pam to research please contact her at

Parent Network 

or 604-946-6622 ext 359.  

You can sign up at the Reach Child and Youth Development Society website to receive this newsletter directly.

back to menu