Prompts are ways we help our learners demonstrate new skills. We use prompts to get our students to greet a peer, flush the toilet, name the color blue, and clap their hands. Prompts are something we add to the situation because the natural or teaching cue was not enough to cause the student to resp…

In celebration of Multicultural Children’s Book Day, I caught up with children’s author Christel Land to interview her about her children’s hero stories on autism as a ‘difference’ not a disability. The Superhero Brain and The Superhero Heart are Christel’s debut books and al…

Communication problems have always been considered a core feature of autism. Yet there are substantial and wide-ranging differences in how people with autism communicate. That reflects not only the inherent variability of the condition, but also the complexity of communication itself — encompassing …

Reposted with permission from Action Behavior Centers What are the four functions of behavior?  In the Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) field, it is believed that there is always an underlying reason for all behavior. Our behavior serves a purpose, even though it may not always be clear.…

By Alison, the American iMum It’s important that EVERYONE on the autism spectrum have a voice! Even those who are nonverbal have a lot to say. As a part of our #Activate4Autism movement, we asked The iMUMS to share their expertise about the AAC apps that are helping autistic individuals communicate.…

PODS – People of Diversity, Speaking is a project similar to HONY – Humans of New York. PODS promotes the art of storytelling and it will be an ongoing database of Recognized Diversity Acceptance. by Kimberly Gerry-Tucker BOD and PODS; Intro by Kimberly Gerry Tucker, (new Board of Direc…

Tal Anderson plays the character Sid on the Netflix original series Atypical. By Ron Sandison My favorite Netflix original series is Atypical. I love watching Keir Gilchrist portray Sam Gardner, a young adult with Asperger’s. I was excited to interview Tal Anderson, a young adult actress with autism…

We are still getting settled into the new studio. So many boxes to unpack and tools to find places for. The kitchen is looking good, the library shelves are going up, the digital arts studio is pretty much up and running, and the shop is back online. A lot of work but the move was a good one. The s…

Our stories remind one another of our shared humanity. By Debra Muzikar As I was driving home last Saturday from dropping Kevin off to visit his Dad, the NPR radio station played an interview with David Isay, the founder of StoryCorps. StoryCorps is an organization that goes from city to city collec…

Mice with either too much or too little MeCP2, the gene mutated in Rett syndrome, show similar malfunctions in a learning and memory brain circuit, according to a new study1. The findings may help explain why people with Rett syndrome and those with MeCP2 duplication syndrome share common features. …

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness around the world. Glaucoma occurs when pressure builds up inside the eyes which ultimately damages the optic nerve – the one that is responsible for sending images to the brain.  An astonishing 3.5% of the population aged 40 and above is diagno…

“We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” –Franklin D. Roosevelt. By Lamar Hardwick Fear is a funny thing. It is not easily defined. Fear can present itself in different ways for different people. Fear is universal, but fear isn’t uniform. Perhaps that’s why it is so difficult to get a grasp on how…

“I have always been fascinated by art and began creating my own a few years ago after visiting Barcelona and seeing the works of Antonio Gaudí. This love has led me to my current career path,” Robbie IeRubino An interview with artist Robbie IeRubino who shares some of his art. Q. How ol…

We first interviewed autistic author Elizabeth Jade (her pseudonym) in May 2018 when her first book, Akea, The Power of Destiny, was published. She told us that she was the child that struggled to fit in, and no one knew why: “[I was] the child who could tell you everything that had been going on ar…