World Autism Awareness Day

Dear friends,



It’s that time of the year where we gear up to celebrate with our children on World Autism Awareness Day falling on Saturday, 2nd April. This year we have even more exciting events lined up to increase awareness by different schools/centres across the city. Please do come forward to participate in atleast one of these which suit you the best.

One very important message comes to us from Merry Barua (point no.1) requesting us to light up in blue for Autism…Please join in this endeavour to help increase awareness for our children.

If anyone wishes to distribute leaflets or posters on Autism before the 2nd kindly contact us on 022-32949595 to get an email of the same. A good exercise would be to display the leaflet or poster

· on your society’s notice board,

· in your family doctors reception area,

· at any doctor/hospital/clinic you visit,

· on your office bulletin board,

· on your clubs/gardens bulletin board,

· at any nursery/school you know,

· distribute the leaflet to all the members of your building or society,

· insert in the newspaper through the paper vendor in your area.



The forum plans to focus on public transport travelling issues of parents of children with autism this year. We shall keep you posted on our activities for the same. Anyone in our group is part of a public transport organization and is willing to help out in the efforts is welcome to contact us.



We are planning on the GPS device workshop in April and will let you know the details on the same. Based on maximum response from parents requesting for workshops on independent living skills we will arrange for the same this year.



The is a world autism online survey which will open from 27th of March which we will mail you about to share with all whom you know online…



Do write in any information you have of a new school/centre/therapist we need to update our database with to help other parents. Or just drop in a line about how you feel on this World Autism Awareness Day to share with others…



Warm regards,

Chitra



This email carries information on the following

:

1) Light It Up Blue. On 2 April 2011-message from Merry Barua



2) RAYS OF HOPE PRIYANJ SPECIAL SCHOOL Celebrates WAAD

Venue :-Inorbit Mall ground floor Link Road ,Malad. Date: 30th March 2011 Time: 3 to 6 p.m. from Reesha Dhulap



3) Aspire Educational Services Welcomes you to: Autism Awareness and You – AAAU-2011 A workshop for: School counselors / therapist / special educators and parents. Date: April 2nd 2011 Timing: 9am to 5pm. Venue: SNDT College Dome hall, Cama Lane, Ghatkopar (west) Mumbai. Charges: For Professionals Rs: 350 and Parents Rs. 250 including lunch and refreshments. From Balaswami

4) SANTOSH INSTITUTE FOR THE MENTALLY CHALLENGED CHILDREN

Invitation on Occasion of Annual Day on 3rd April, 2011 to celebrate World Autism Awareness Day. From Datta Sir



5) Khushi, Pediatric Therapy Centre is organizing a bike rally for the awareness of Autism. Sunday 3rd April 4 to 6.30 pm from Aarey Colony to Carter Road from Reena Singh



6) Dr. Matthew Belmonte, Professor at Cornell, who has done significant research in Autism is visiting Mumbai. Dr. Belmonte wishes to do a talk for parents and professionals of the Forum for Autism

Venue : Hinduja Hospital, Conference Hall, Old Building

Time: 7 pm onwards

Date: 8th April Friday

Topic: Understanding Autistic Behaviour as a Normal Human Reaction to a Disconnected Perceptual and Cognitive World





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Dear Friend of the Autism Community,



I am writing regarding an initiative we are supporting called Light It Up Blue. On 2 April 2011 the global autism community will celebrate the fourth annual United Nations-sanctioned World Autism Awareness Day. In recognition of this historic day, Action For Autism (AFA) is joining Autism Speaks, North America’s largest autism science and advocacy organization in its international campaign called Light It Up Blue, whereby landmarks around the world will turn their lights blue to create awareness for autism.



We are talking to various landmark buildings with a request to dress them up in blue light on the evening of Friday, April 1, 2011 – the first night of Autism Awareness Month, and Saturday, April 2 – World Autism Awareness Day. In Delhi, India Gate, Humayun’s Tomb, the Red Fort, and the Lotus Temple will all be lit up blue on these days. In Kolkata, the Asiatic Society has also agreed to join the campaign. We are approaching other landmarks to do the same.



We are also requesting parents, families and other supporters of the autism community to light up their homes and business establishments in blue on these days. When we light up our homes in blue we will join hundreds of buildings worldwide who will turn their lights blue on April 1 and 2, including the Empire State Building in New York, USA; Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia; Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, UK; CN Tower in Toronto, Canada; Bell Tower in Perth, Australia, among others.

Please contact Kathakali DasPandey for more information.



Lets go blue for autism!



Merry


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Action For Autism (AFA)
The National Centre for Autism
Pocket 7 & 8 Jasola Vihar, New Delhi 110025
Tel: 91 11 40540991. 91 11 40540992, 91 11 65347422
Email:
Website: http://www.autism-india.org
AFA's Vision is a society that views the interdependence of people of every ability as valuable and enriching and seeks to provide equal opportunities to all

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RAYS OF HOPE

PRIYANJ SPECIAL SCHOOL

Celebrates

WORLD AUTISM AWARENESS DAY

Venue :-Inorbit Mall ground floor Link Road ,Malad.











Date: 30th March 2011

Time: 3 to 6 p.m.

Come and join us to make a difference

(Namrata Chheda)

(Chairperson )

(Reesha Dhulap) (Anita Mascarenhas)

(Chief Advisor) (Principal)

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Aspire Educational Services
Welcomes you to:
Autism Awareness and You – AAAU-2011
A workshop for: School counselors / therapist / special educators and parents.

On the eve of world Autism Awareness day, Aspire Educational services (AES) is glad to bring in a one day training/ workshop for school counselors, therapists, special educators and parents.

Autism is a developmental disorder which is marked by difficulties in 3 main areas: Communication, social interaction and behavior patterns. It is very important to understand and provide allowances and accommodations for individuals with Autism in order to teach them to be successful in life.

This workshop aims to bring in more information in terms of the etiology, evaluation, Parents emotions, educational methods, treatment methods etc. to enable professionals and parents to help individuals with Autism.

I am very pleased to share with you that Dr.Harish Shetty will inaugurate the workshop.

Mrs. Smita Awasti- President of ABA- India would be our key speaker. She will talk about ABA as a treatment method for Autism. Applied Behavior Analysis- ABA is a behavior based program derived from B.F. Skinner's theory of learning and is a scientific treatment method for children with Autism.
Program
Date: April 2nd 2011

Timing: 9am to 5pm.

Venue: SNDT College Dome hall, Cama Lane, Ghatkopar (west) Mumbai.

Charges: For Professionals Rs: 350 and Parents Rs. 250 including lunch and refreshments.

Please find the attached the Registration Form. Duplicate copies of the form may be used.
There will be nodal points near your area to submit the duly filled in form along with registration charges.
Contact: 9967485161 or mail aspiedu@gmail.com or balaswaminath@gmail.com for submission.
Last date of submission: March 25th 2011.
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Tuesday, March 22, 2011



SANTOSH INSTITUTE FOR THE MENTALLY CHALLENGED CHILDREN



Mumbai, India



To: Respected supporters,





Subject: Invitation on Occasion of Annual Day on 3rd April, 2011 to celebrate World Autism Awareness Day.



Dear Sir/Maam,



Kindly accept heartiest greetings on behalf of Santosh Institute for the mentally Challenged Children.



Santosh Institute has stepped into the 4th year of its inception and to express its gratitude and joy the Santosh family is celebrating its "Annual Day". As a part of year long celebrations Santosh Institute is hosting the 3rd Annual Day on Sunday, April 3rd 2011, a day after 2nd April World Autism Awareness Day,



To mark this event a one-day event has been organized based on the theme "Dosti 2011". I hereby extend a hearty invitation to you on this occasion.



Kindly take this request in right earnest and grace the occasion with your presence. I look forward to your presence at the Yashwant Roa Chavan Natya Mandir at Matunga Road (w), Mumbai, India from 10.30am to 1.30pm. Please contact Datta Sir for donor passes.



Also we look forward to your continued support.



Thanking You.



Your's Truly,



Mr. Dattaram A. Fonde

Director

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Khushi, Pediatric Therapy Centre is organizing a bike rally for the awareness of Autism. I request you to join us to ride for a cause.

If it is possible please put the pamphlet in your society or office premises so that more people can know about it. Also forward it to your friends and family.



For more details and registration please visit www.khushi.net.in. All the registered member will get a T Shirt to wear at rally.

Last date for registration 23rd March, 2011. refer attachment for the poster below:








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Dr. Matthew Belmonte, Professor at Cornell, who has done significant research in Autism is visiting Mumbai. He has spoken at Action for Autism on more than one occasion and is a wonderful speaker who can connect to families very well. Dr. Belmonte wishes to do a talk for parents of the Forum.
Venue : Hinduja Hospital, Conference Hall, Old Building

Time: 7 pm onwards

Date: 8th April Friday

Call at the FFA no. 32949595 to register your name entry free

Lecture II for families and professionals : Friday 8 April 7pm

Topic: Understanding Autistic Behaviour as a Normal Human Reaction to a Disconnected Perceptual and Cognitive World

The straightforward way to study autism is to confront the obvious deficits: What genes or what parts of the brain underlie autistic behavioural impairments? This approach falls short in at least two ways.

First, in focusing on autistic deficits it fails to account for autistic superiorities; in fact, one and the same physiological and cognitive alteration may explain both autistic weaknesses in social communication and behavioural flexibility, and autistic strengths in perception of detail, exact memory, and understanding of explicit and immediate rules.

Second, this approach from deficits assumes that autistic behaviours are produced directly by biological differences in the genes and/or in the brain; in fact, many of the things that people with autism do are most productively construed as adaptive responses, the reactions of a normal human mind maturing within an abnormal perceptual and cognitive environment. We all adapt within the constraints of our bodies and brains, and we all develop strategies that capitalise on our strengths and minimise our weaknesses. A child temporarily deprived of sight in one eye, for instance, will have learnt to rely on the intact eye; to force development of the bad eye, the good eye must be covered with a patch.

Likewise, a person who has suffered a stroke will learn to rely on the good side of the body, and must be forced therapeutically to exercise the bad side. The situation in autism is less visible because it involves strengths and weaknesses not simply in overt sensory or motor skills, but in perceptual and cognitive skills: people with autism spectrum conditions learn to rely the capacities at which their brains excel, at the expense of skills that don't come as easily to them. Every human brain has a balance between local connections within single regions of the brain, and long-range connections between distant regions. More short-range connections may make individual parts of the brain very efficient at at working autonomously and independently, but correspondingly difficult to coordinate with each other. Autism seems the extreme case of such an altered balance, in which separate brain systems operate independently and

in parallel, but with little or no coordination. This re-conceptualisation of autism as an extreme case of normal human cognitive variation opens the way toward new therapies for autism, and to a new understanding of ourselves: The more closely we examine autism, cognitively, genetically, and physiologically, the more we find ourselves gazing into a mirror.


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(A behavioral approach to learning)
Social Skills Program:

What are social skills? Skills that allow us to communicate, relate and socialize with others are called social skills.

Why Social skills program for children? Social skill is a complex human behavior and it is rule governed. It is sometimes very difficult for our children to understand the unwritten set of social rules that everyone knows but no one has been taught directly. These unwritten social rules can be taught to our children. It is also very important for the overall development of the children.

How is this done: A small set of 6 to 8 children are grouped. They learn to interact with each other and learn social skills. We will target specific social skill goal during the period.

Some Social skills Activities: social stories, social games, role plays, relational activities, music, group activities etc.

Some Social skill goals: Greetings and Farewells, How to begin interactions, Say Sorry, thank you, Getting appropriate attention, Waiting turns, Sharing, Use Appropriate voice, Personal space, Feelings Sharing, Asking for help, Asking for break, Negotiations etc.


Summer program - 2011

Social Skills program for children with Autism and related needs.

Organized by:

Aspire Education Services

(A behavioral approach to learning)

At

Chip and Dale Nursery school

Next to Vijay Sales,L.B.S.Marg, Nithyanand Nagar, Opp. Shreyas cinemas, Ghatkopar(w),Mumbai-86

2 week program: starting from April 18th and April 29th (Rs 3250)
4 week program: starting from April 18th to May 13th. (Rs 6500)


Age Group: 3 to 8 years Daily 2 batches: 11 Am to 1 pm or 2 pm to 4 pm.

Special features:

Individualized program based on the child’s needs. Working on Attending skills, compliance, Communication, self help skills, motor skills etc. focusing to increase social skills.

For more details and registration contact:

Mrs. Bala Swaminathan, Special educator and Behavior therapist at 9967485161.

E-mail: aspiedu@gmail.com, balaswaminath@gmail.com


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Forum For Autism(FFA) parent support group Mumbai: www.forumforautism.net


www.autism-india.org
the parent body for Autism in India