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. 

• Ever Wondered What Autism Is? This Is a Fantastic Explanation! Maybe your child was just diagnosed with autism. Maybe you were just diagnosed with autism. Maybe you want to know more about the disorder. Maybe you've been hanging out here on The Autism Site Blog for a while now and always wondered what exactly autism was, but were too scared to ask (no shame, friend!) Whatever your situation, you may be asking that huge, intricate, and complicated question: What is autism?Amythest Schaber is an autism advocate who runs the YouTube series, "Ask an Autistic." (By the way: if you're wondering why she prefers identity-first language [i.e. "autistic"] as opposed to person-first language [i.e. "has autism"], feel free to check out her explanation here.)
• Understanding The Spectrum. I hear alot of people misinterpreting or misusing the term 'autism spectrum'. So for Autism Acceptance week, I decided to make a comic to help explain the term and how it affects things. Archie is one of the reasons I became so interested/knowledgeable in autism (I like to go all out in research when I write characters for comics n such) so he's the one presenting everything! Click here to read more
   
   
• The controversy over autism's most common therapy. Applied behavioral analysis is the most widely used therapy for autism, but some people say its drills and routines are cruel, and its aims misguided. hen Lisa Quinones-Fontanez's son Norrin was diagnosed with autism at age 2, she and her husband did what most parents in their position do - they scrambled to form a plan to help their child. Ultimately, they followed the experts' advice. They put Norrin in a school that used applied behavioral analysis, or ABA, the longest-standing and best-established form of therapy for children with autism. They also hired an ABA therapist to direct a home program. Click here to read more
   
• 10 Ways to Use Positive Behavior Supports for Students with Autism - a must read post from Trisha Katkin.  Engaging a student with autism can be tough. The broad term "Autism" encompasses a whole spectrum of abilities and it's important to note that although a strategy may work for one, it most certainly, won't work for all. There's a reason why people say, "If you've met one child with autism, you've met one child with autism." Although every child is different, there seems to be one thing that rings true for all children with autism, Positivity! Using Positive Behavior Supports is a wonderful way to increase desirable behavior while simultaneously decreasing challenging behaviors. Click here to read more

• Click here for the Autism File Magazine Back to School Edition 

• A Teen with Autism Was Bullied While Playing Pokémon Go. So Strangers Did Something Amazing.  One of the more heartbreaking realities of autism is that the incredible individuals with it have a tendency to be bullied. But every once in a while, a bullying story turns around and has a happy ending when others reach out in kindness. Click here to read more
   
• ANCA's World Autism Festival 2016.  The 7th annual World Autism Festival will take place in Vancouver, B.C. Canada Sept 30-Oct 1, 2016. Click here for a list of workshops 

• Autism Speaks Canada Walk at the new Pacific Autism Family Centre: As we near the opening of the GoodLife Fitness Family Autism Centre, Autism Speaks Canada and the Pacific Autism Family Foundation will host a community 'sneak peek' of this amazing facility during our annual autism walk and festival Oct 23. As a proud supporter of PAFC, through our Family Services granting program & $500,000 of your BC Walk dollars, Autism Speaks Canada joins the B.C. autism community in embracing this amazing new facility. Our Walks provide the opportunity for the B.C. community to come together, make connections, share experiences and celebrate the potential of all those living with autism and what better place to do it, than this brand new, state of the art facility. Click here for more information
   
• Autistic Film "CONNECTED" Screening at the Vancouver Lift-Off Film Festival 2016

  Message from Officials of the Vancouver Lift-Off Film Festival 2016

  Dear Filmmaker, Your film has been selected to screen online, during the Vancouver Lift-Off Film Festival 2016. Your film will be available for viewing on Vimeo On-Demand as part of a series of films that make up Vancouver Lift-Off Online Festival 2016 from Monday Aug 1st and it will be live until Saturday August 6th.CONNECTED: A Film About Autistic People.  Countering media depictions of autistic people, this documentary offers fresh questions about the nature of human development; our understanding of intelligence; what it means to be social and the implications of living in a conformist driven society.The film was produced & directed by Vancouver film maker, Sonia Suvagau with original score composed by Sebastian Hugeneck of  Sonia Productions Executive Producers Leonora Gregory-Collura and Charlie Collura Co-Founders of the ANCA® World Autism Festival™
• Click here to see the trailer

   Down Syndrome  

• check out these BBC Three videos

• 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

•  New! Kelty Eating Disorders Website. Click here
   
• Mind Matters has a new website. CMHA BC has a new and improved website! Visit here

  to check out our new look and find information about mental health, wellness services and upcoming events.
• Click here to sign up for the Mind Matters E-News
   
• Click here for the Kelty Mental Health News 

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Workshops and Training

•  Click here for the CCRR Options Fall Training Calendar

• Facing the Future Together: A Succession Planning Workshop. 2016 Dates:
  

  • 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 
   
• 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 studentsRegistration now open! Cllck here for more information

• Cutting Edge Strategies to Improve Executive Function Skills.

  Thursday & Friday, September 15 & 16, 2016

  Sarah Ward, MS, CCC-SLP Co-Director, Cognitive Connections LLP. These two days will provide you with dozens of practical strategies that you can implement tomorrow. You will learn about task initiation and execution to time management, practice using strategies such as 'Future Sketch', 'Get Ready, Do, Done', 'STOP and Read the Room', and seeing and sensing the passage of time. Through demonstration and practice, you will learn how to teach students the following executive control skills: awareness; forethought; waiting, planning skills; shifting; pacing; flexibility; speed of information processing.Click here for more information
   
• Family Focus Conference, October 21-23, 2016.  The Value of One; The Power of Many 

  October 21-23, 2016 Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel Richmond BC

  Click here for more information - Registration now open!

• Trauma-Informed Practices: School, Home, Treatment, and Community
  October 21, 2016 La Perla Ballroom , New Westminster, BC #230 - 810 Quayside Drive, New Westminster, BC. The Children's Foundation (TCF) is pleased to be hosting David Melnick on trauma. On October 21st, David will focus on using the lens of the "Seven Domains of Impact" examine the ways in which youth are impacted by trauma, and the relational, strategic, self, and collaborative practices to address areas of need.
  Traumatic events happen to all people at all ages and across all socio-economic strata in our society. These events can cause terror, intense fear, horror, helplessness and physical stress reactions. Some traumatic events are profound experiences that can change the way children, adolescents and adults see themselves and the world. Click here for more information and to register
   
• Integrating ABA Methods in Schools: Supporting School Aged Children. Richard Stock, PhD, BCBA-D Friday & Saturday, October 21 & 22, 2016 

  This two-day workshop will focus on using Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) methods to support students with autism from Kindergarten to Grade 12; in particular, those who are moderately to severely impacted by their autism.

  While many educators are familiar with early behavioral intervention using discrete trial teaching, the science of ABA has much more to offer teachers who are responsible for the education of students with autism and related disorders. This workshop aims to expand your conceptualization of ABA in ways that are practical in the regular classroom.  

   Topics covered will include:

  • The Individual Education Plan (IEP)
  • Collecting practical and useful data
  • Problem Behavior Management

  • Practical classroom strategies
  • Click here for more information 

   
• Addictions and Mental Illness - Working with Co-Occurring Disorders. Oct 28, 2016 (9 AM - 4 PM)Many people who struggle with a mental illness also struggle with an addiction. Recovery for people coping with both of these issues is complicated because they affect each other and are intertwined. Caregivers may often be at a loss for where to start - did the addictions cause the mental illness, did the mental illness cause the addictions or is there something else leading to both? This workshop provides a framework for working systemically with both issues at the same time. Participants will explore the impact of both addiction and mental illness, an overview of the theoretical frameworks for both issues, and how to integrate strategies in a way that supports health and change. Click here for more information
   
• Earlybird Registration NOW. 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

• The Healthy Sex Talk: Teaching Kids Consent, Ages 1-21.  We believe parents can start educating children about consent and empowerment as early as 1 year old and continuing into the college years. It is our sincere hope that this education can help us raise empowered young adults who have empathy for others and a clear understanding of healthy consent. Click here to read more 

• A simple visualization that will dramatically change the way you respond to your kids. 
  It's a lazy Saturday. One of those rare weekends when you have nothing planned.
  Your kids have been parked in front of the TV all morning. It's a beautiful day, so you innocently announce, "Alright, guys! Time to turn the TV off and go outside!" Suddenly, they snap out of their zombie-like state and fire back at you: Click here to read more
   
• How Anxiety Leads to Disruptive Behavior. Kids who seem oppositional are often severely anxious.  A 10-year-old boy named James has an outburst in school. Upset by something a classmate says to him, he pushes the other boy, and a shoving-match ensues. When the teacher steps in to break it up, James goes ballistic, throwing papers and books around the classroom and bolting out of the room and down the hall. He is finally contained in the vice principal's office, where staff members try to calm him down. Instead, he kicks the vice principal in a frenzied effort to escape. The staff calls 911, and James ends up in the Emergency Room. Click here to read more 

• Circling the Storm Drain - The Origins of a Narcissist (by Dr Sarah Sarkis). Maybe it's the current political season, maybe it's our obsession with the #selfie generation, but as a psychologist I am aware of how much narcissism and self-involvement is on display these days. I have long held a particular curiosity about this personality structure and the people who manifest the pathological expression of it. Click here to read more 

• Caregivers Retreat Reclaiming Ourselves: A Journey Inwards for Caregivers Sept 16 - 18, 2016. This special weekend retreat is designed to support and nourish family caregivers. It offers an opportunity to feel rejuvenated and renewed with a gentle schedule of activities including nature walks, painting and collaging, sharing stories, guided meditation, as well as alone time for personal reflection and relaxation. All delicious meals will be included.
  Being the primary support for a loved one who is vulnerable or who has a disability can be an all consuming and sometimes overwhelming experience. Some of us feel isolated, exhausted and disconnected from ourselves outside of our caregiving role.
  "When I'm not caring for others, who am I?" Plan Institute invites you to join with other caregiving individuals and couples who are looking for a renewed sense of self and deeper intimacy with their partners, friends and community. We hope this will be a wonderful break in your busy lives to share rest and rejuvenation with others.Click here for more information 
   
• Click here for the August edition of COMPLEX CHILD - ADVOCACY

• Click here for the Current Family Support Institute's Kindred Thoughts 

• SERVICES TO ADULTS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES (STADD) EXPANDS.
  This year, 2016, STADD is expanding to communities in the Fraser region. It has begun operations in Langley and Delta, and will be serving downtown Vancouver through the Granville Youth Health Centre.To find out more about STADD, and whether the STADD service is available in your community, you can call 1-855-356-5609 or 250-356-5609, or visit
  
   the website here

• FSI's 9th Annual Trivia Night 2016. Come and join the FUN at FSI's 9th Annual Trivia Night on Oct. 1/16 at BACI in Burnaby. Tickets are on sale now!  Click here for more information

• Do you have positive stories about employment? We are launching a familyWORKs social media campaign to reach new families through Facebook and Instagram by publishing positive and inspirational stories of real individuals participating in employed roles. 
  The campaign will be modeled after the very successful Instagram and blog, Humans of New York, which features authentic stories of citizens in New York and around the world (often receiving hundreds of thousands of "likes" and comments per posting). We are confident that through social media, FSI will be able to connect with families who are not aware of the possabilites of employment for people with diverse abilities. Contact Daniele by email here 

• 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.

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