The month of June marks our 19th anniversary at Autism Awareness Centre Inc. (AACI). The past 2 years have transformed us and influenced how we’ll go forward in the new “normal”; although I keep asking myself, “Are we there yet?” I don’t know a person who has not been deeply affected by the events of the pandemic. Most of us…
I can hardly believe that this June 2021 marks our 18th anniversary as a company. Where has the time gone? My children were only 4 and 6 years old when I co-founded Autism Awareness Centre Inc. (AACI) in 2003 – now they’re 22 and 24, young adults. Over years, AACI has crossed Canada from coast to coast offering 131 conferences,…
Low Arousal Approach training, developed over 30 years ago in the UK, has been offered in Canada through Autism Awareness Centre Inc./Studio 3 Canada for 6 years. This training is for professionals, support workers and EAs, carers and family members. The Low Arousal Approach emphasizes a range of behaviour management strategies that focus on the reduction of stress, fear and…
Every week, I receive detailed e-mails describing various aspects of challenging behavior. The person has made a list of everything the child has broken, what they said, and the advice and strategies they have tried to help the child. When talking about challenging behavior, we have to go deeper and look beyond the behavior itself. Think of the behavior you…
I recently participated in a UK study on using the Low Arousal Approach at home. Answering the research questions and talking about the positive impact that the low arousal approach has had on our family got me thinking about how we’ve adopted this practice and made it work for us. I also hope by writing about it answers some of…
Pathological Demand Avoidance of PDA is becoming more widely recognized as a distinct profile of autism. British psychologist Elizabeth Newson came up with this term which describes an anxiety-driven need to be in control and avoid other people’s demands and expectations. Research done at the University of Newcastle in November 2016 found that Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) was also associated…
Studio 3 clinician Dr. John McDermott discusses relationships and autism, and the role played by the emotional and relational world when supporting clients. The importance of relationship in the lives of people who have an autism diagnosis is a crucial part of our practice at Studio 3. When working therapeutically with clients, parents or caregivers, we aim to capture individual…
June 2019 marks Autism Awareness Centre’s 16th anniversary. When I co-founded this company in 2003, my children were 4 and 6 years old. I was only four years in to the autism journey. Today my children are 20 and 22, young adults. So much has changed in the autism field these past 16 years. Some of our biggest advancements have…
This week I was spoke on an ageing caregivers panel hosted by the Autism Calgary Association. It was both interesting and informative to hear parent perspectives on how they have supported their adult children through different life transitions. No matter what our stories were, common themes emerged : the need for housing secure income continuing advocacy and who will oversee…
Dr. Andrew McDonnell, creator and founder of Studio III UK , was recently at my home to meet my family. He commented that my home embodies the tenets of low arousal. It got me to thinking – what have we done to make it that way? How have we kept life on an even keel with two young adults with…
For many of us with children on the spectrum, support people like doctors, therapists, extra school staff, teachers, aids etc…are a big part of life. We depend on the help we get from various sources, but what happens when a situation goes badly? Even more important, how can we create predictability for our kids with autism so we can ensure greater…
What strikes me most about the past 11 years is the development and increase of knowledge in the field of autism. There is a greater awareness about autism in the general public thanks to film, documentaries, blogs, websites, books and media coverage. I can remember when our bookstore started, we had 90 titles which was considered a a lot. Now, we have almost 700 titles and I add 5 new ones to the collection every month. The new additions to the literary scene have been wonderful, with books on education, speech development, communication, anxiety, challenging behaviour, medical management, personal accounts, and the growth of relationship literature because we are recognizing life partners who are on the spectrum.