Category Archives: ACT Resources

New: “ACT’s Guide to Employment for Teens and Adults with Autism in B.C.”

After over a year of research, ACT is publishing The Guide to Employment for Teens and Adults with Autism in B.C. The guide provides teens and adults with autism, and their families, with details of B.C.’s employment services, both public and privately funded. The guide also has much that is relevant to other special needs. It can be found on the ACT website as Chapter 12 in ACT’s Autism Manual for B.C. Funding for this guide was made possible by a grant from Autism Speaks Canada.

Increasingly the need for employment is being recognized as crucial to ensuring quality of life for people with disabilities. The provincial government declared September as Disability Employment Month in B.C.

New Social Thinking Article in Chinese: 社交思考、整合執行功能和心理衛生：社交、學業與情緒的相互影響

社交思考、 整合執行功能和心理衛生： 社交、學業與情緒的相互影響 (“Social Thinking, Executive Functioning and Mental Health: The Interplay of the Social Mind, the Academic Load and Emotions”) is now available on the ‘ACT in Chinese’ page of the ACT website. 社交思考、 整合執行功能和心理衛生： 社交、學業與情緒的相互影響. The article, authored by Michelle Garcia Winner and translated by ACT Information Officer Christine Hung, briefly explains what social executive function is and how it can influence not only academics but also mental health.

Visit ACT in Chinese/自閉症社區訓練協會at: www.actcommunity.ca/act-in-chinese/

Back to School Resources

The transition back to school can be exciting, scary, and full of change for everyone. ACT has free resources to help parents and school aged children with autism manage the transition:

ACT’s Autism Information Database has resources such as:

 

Accessing Services in Smaller or Isolated Communities

We know that there are clear concerns that large areas of British Columbia are underserved, without enough local professionals available. These are issues that are of great concern to ACT. Here are a few suggestions which have worked with families in some communities. If you have any other ideas please let us know by emailing [email protected]

Pool Your Autism Funding to Bring in Professionals

It is expensive to fly or drive around B.C. Instead of five families each paying the travel costs, consider bringing up a professional to see multiple families over one or two days, sharing the travel and hotel costs. You can search the RASP to find who is willing to travel. You can call ACT and one of our information officers can help you in this search.

Things to consider:

  • The professional will have to be flexible enough to meet the needs of all the families involved. If they specializes in only one approach, they might not be the professional the community needs.
  • Meeting other families: is there a local Facebook or community group you can join? If not, start one (download our chapter on Building a Community Group).
  • Another great source of support is your local MCFD office which could circulate a request from a parent to others in your region providing the organizer’s contact information.

Call our office and ask to speak to an Information Officer for more ideas on connecting with parents and professionals (1-866-939-5188).

FaceTime or Other Videoconferencing

While the RASP professional could fly to smaller communities every several months, as technologies improve, electronic communication can be used maintain support between visits, and cost effectively. We are starting to hear more about families and professionals who consult using their tablet or smart phone. Did you know that you can search the RASP for professionals who use videoconferencing?

Things to Consider:

  • Sound quality: ambient noise can make it difficult  to hear. If possible, keep noise from TVs or radios down.
  • Following the action: it helps if you can “team up”, with one person interacting with the child, and another holding the tablet to track the action.
  • Light: Filming in daylight, or having more lights on will make it easier to see what’s going on. A dimly lit room can be hard to see participants.
  • If you are watching: the bigger your viewing screen, the better! If you can watch on a desktop monitor, you’ll get a much better view of what’s going on.
  • You might both be new to teleconferencing. You’ll learn what works best for each of you, and in the beginning, expect some bumps!

More ACT Events in Smaller Communities

ACT would like to travel and bring more workshops to a larger number of communities. However, the costs of travel for staff and speakers is very expensive and we do not receive any subsidies to provide this training. Sponsorships can make a big difference in helping us bring workshop to more communities across the province.  If you know of a company or organization that would be willing to sponsor us, please help us connect! We cannot accept sponsorship from organizations providing for-pay autism services as there may be a conflict of interest in ACT’s role in managing the RASP. Email [email protected] with your suggestions.

New! ACT in Chinese

ACT in Chinese – 自閉症社區訓練協會

To help support B.C.’s large Chinese-speaking community with reliable, evidence-based information on autism, ACT has just published Next Steps Following an Autism Diagnosis in B.C., in Chinese. This is just the latest resource that ACT Information Officer, Christine Hung, has developed as part of ACT in Chinese, an area of ACT’s website where we have gathered key information including:

We would appreciate the help of all those who read this to reach out to the Chinese-speaking families who are struggling in English. Please contact ACT at [email protected] if you would like free copies of the Next Steps Guide in Chinese to distribute to the families you support.