Drawing a blank

Got a child who has trouble with reading comprehension? Here's something that may help: Drawing a Blank: Improving Comprehension for Readers on the Autism Spectrum. This book includes ideas on how to improve both vocabulary and comprehension while emphasizing the importance of using proven techniques after assessing each child's needs. The author, Emily Iland, M.A., provides a review of the literature and also tells her own story of her struggle to find supports for her son with autism.

Iland will also be presenting a workshop on this topic in Noblesville, Indiana, on April 21st. For more about the workshop, see our post dated February 3rd, or go to: http://iidcautismresources.blogspot.com/2011/02/workshop-drawing-blank.html

Interested in checking out this title? Send us an email at cedir@indiana.edu, or try using worldcat.org to find it in a library near you.

Twin: A Memoir

Twin: A Memoir is a book about growing up with autism. Delving deeply into his family history and secrets, author Allen Shawn shares his memories and angst about his twin sister, Mary, who was placed in a residential facility when they were eight years old. Shawn discusses his feelings about losing her in his daily life and the way their lives seemed to parallel each other.

Want to read it? Send us an email at cedir@indiana.edu. Or try worldcat.org to find it in a library near you.

Basic Course on the Greenspan Floortime Approach(TM)

Interested in learning more about the Floortime Approach^TM? An online course will be available from March 4, 2011 through May 15, 2011. The course will include not only include the basic course--Assessment, Diagnosis, and Intervention for Developmental and Emotional Disorders, but also four workshops--The Learning Tree: Overcoming Learning Disabilities from the Ground UP, Regulatory Sensory Processing Disorders, A Lifespan Approach to Autism, and Meltdowns: Helping Infants, Children and Adolescents Overcome Behavior Problems, Aggression and Tantrums. For more information on this course, go to: http://stanleygreenspan.com/

Mark your calendar!

IRCA Summer Institute

June 6-10th, 2011

at the

Indiana Institute on Disability and Community

2853 East 10th Street in Bloomington

Participants in this year's Summer Institute will learn tools to evaluate classrooms, validate outcomes of programming and learn how to implement evidence-based practices.

The cost of the Summer Institute is $400. That will include morning pastries and coffee, instructional materials, snacks, and parking permits. Spaces are limited so register right away!

For registration questions, contact Donna Beasley at (812) 855-6508 or via email at

dbeasley@indiana.edu, for information on content email Cathy Pratt at prattc@indiana.edu, or visit our website at www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca.

YAI Network 32nd Annual International Conference to Focus on Autism

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) will be a major focus throughout the YAI Network’s 32^nd Annual International Conference “Bridges to Success in Developmental and Learning Disabilities.” The conference will take place May 2-5, 2011, at the Hilton New York and feature some of the most prominent experts from throughout the U.S. and abroad to address critical issues in the field of ASD.

For more information about the conference, speakers, and to register, go to: http://www.yai.org/about/sharing-our-stories/yai-network-32nd-annual.html

What blame can tell us about autism

Although most children develop theory-of-mind ability (the ability to infer other people's thoughts) around the age of 4 or 5, children with autism seem to have a much more difficult time developing this skill, if at all. A new study, released earlier this year, from MIT reveals that high-functioning autistic adults appear to have trouble using theory of mind to make moral judgments in certain situations.

To read more about this study, go to: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/autism-theory-mind-0201.html

TEACCH Five Day Training

The Institute’s Indiana Resource Center for Autism will host a five-day training for professionals who work with students with Autism, June 20-24, 2011 at the Edgewood Early Childhood Center, Ellettsville, IN.

This intensive five-day workshop combines hands-on classroom experience (including setting up the classroom for five students), lectures on topics related to working with students with autism, and group discussions of classroom activities including:

· Supervised experience in a demonstration classroom setting;
· Hands-on experiences with students with autism of varying ages
and functioning levels;
· Active learning; and
· Presentations and demonstration of working with students with autism.

Registration fee is $1,990.00 per person. Attendance is required for all five days. Certificates of attendance will be provided and free to be used as Professional Growth Points. CEUs will be available on-site. An administrative fee of $15.00 will be charged. Graduate course credit will also be offered on the first day.

For information on Consumer Investment Funds for family members or individuals with disabilities in Indiana, contact the Indiana Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities at (317) 232-7770.

For content questions, contact Catherine Davies at (812) 855-6508 or e-mail daviesc@indiana.edu. For registration questions, contact Donna Beasley at (812) 855-6508 or e-mail dbeasley@indiana.edu.