Category Archives: Events

AdvoCon 2021: BCEdAccess’ 7th Annual Education Advocacy Conference

ACT is a co-sponsor of AdvoCon 2021 in recognition of BCEdAccess’s outstanding advocacy.

Visit the AdvoCon 2021 website for details, full schedule, and tickets.

BCEdAccess is proud to present our 7th annual education advocacy conference! Join us online Wednesday, Sept. 22nd to Sunday, Sept. 26th for workshops, panels, and presentations for parents, guardians, educators, self-advocates, and supporters of students with disabilities and complex learners. ASL interpretation and CART captioning for all sessions.

Watch the conference live with chat and active listeners, or watch at your own pace. Hop onto Zoom for workshops and at the start and end of each day to get to know other attendees.

Registration now open for “Healthy Sleep” & “Improving Family Mealtimes” Workshops

Sleep and Neurodiversity:
Learn to Achieve Healthy Sleep

Friday, October 1, 2021
9:30 a.m.to 2:45 p.m. Pacific Time

Register by August 23rd to save $10

Presented by Hilary McClinton, M. Ed. &
Nicole Shallow, M. Ed., BCBA

This presentation focuses on sleep education, providing practical strategies to encourage healthy sleep.

This presentation will include:

  • An introduction to the architecture of sleep and how it differs in the neurodiverse community. 
  • A review of basic sleep problems (e.g., early waking, insomnia) and how analyzing the child’s behavior can support families to achieve healthy sleep with a positive, pro-active approach. 
  • Through case studies, the process of assessment, plan development and support implementation will be described. 
  • A discussion of tangible takeaways to support healthy sleep for adults and children.

View Details & Registration

Registration closes Monday, September 27 at 4pm Pacific time.
Bursaries are available. 

Improving Family Mealtimes, One Bite at A Time

Friday, November 26, 2021

9:30 a.m.to 2:45 p.m. Pacific Time

Register by September 27th to save $10

Presented by Lauren Binnendyk, PhD, BCBA-D &
Chantal Juilfs, M.Ed. BCBA

Many children and adolescents with autism and other neurodiverse conditions present significant concerns to carers who are trying to ensure proper levels of nutrition. The presentation will begin with a discussion of selective eating and the factors that can affect a child’s eating. Dr. Binnendyk will then discuss how food preferences develop and the importance of children tasting a wide range of foods.

View Details & Registration

Registration closes Monday, November 22 at 4pm Pacific time.
Bursaries are available.

ACT’s Updated ‘New Diagnosis Hub’ – Now also in Chinese!

ACT’s ‘New Diagnosis Hub‘ has been updated in English to help families receiving a new diagnosis of autism for their child. It provides clear information on how to access government-funded services in British Columbia and how to spend the funds wisely. It is also helpful to families who may have received a diagnosis some time ago but are wanting to rethink their child’s program. 

ACT has also translated the New Diagnosis Hub in Chinese, as part of ACT in Chinese, to meet the needs of many families across BC. There are several other large immigrant communities, as well as deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, we would like to better serve by providing captioning and translation. It is very difficult to understand autism and services if you don’t have a strong command of English. Indeed it is very challenging even if you do. Please support ACT’s ability to caption and translate resources in additional languages by donating to our special translation fund.

Visit the New Diagnosis Hub

新手家長的下一步

ACT 的這個新診斷中心，是要幫助卑詩省新確診為自閉症譜系障礙（通稱自閉症）兒童的家長們建立一個有效的治療計劃。中心內的資訊同時也適用於一些孩子已經得到診斷有些時日，但正在重新考慮孩子治療計畫的家庭。

新診斷中心 New Diagnosis Hub

New! Registration open for Self-Care for Carers | Combating Compassion Fatigue video

Self-care for Carers – a Mindful Compassion Program: A 10 Week Small Group Program for Caregivers of Neurodiverse Family Members

Wednesdays, April 7 – June 9

12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. – 10 sessions

Presented by Georgina Robinson PhD & 
Zoey Ryan BSc, PCC

Mindful Compassionate Parenting is a 10-week course that combines empirically-based practices from Mindful Self Compassion (MSC) and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), along with research that supports caregiver and family wellbeing.

This small group program is limited to parents and caregivers in British Columbia, 20 spaces are available. ACT is providing full bursaries for applicants to attend for free. Please apply using this online bursary form. ACT will notify all applicants if they have received a space by March 16th, 2021. Please apply as soon as possible, as we will close the application process once all spots are filled.

The course content is relevant for caregivers who support any child or family member, including those who support adults. Participation will teach skills to help you recharge your emotional and physical reservoir, cope with stress effectively, improve your caregiving relationship and build associated skills in your child or family member.

For those who dedicate their lives to caring for others, this is an opportunity for you to dedicate some time to important self care, learning how to treat yourself with kindness, and soothe any ragged emotions during difficult times.

View Details & Registration

ACT’s Bursary Fund is made possible by the support of our individual donors. If you would like to contribute your support to ACT’s bursary fund, please consider making a donation.

Combating Compassion Fatigue

A new workshop on Autism Videos @ ACT – free!

Presented by Georgina Robinson, PhD 

Caring for children is frequently exhausting. Parenting children with special needs is even more demanding of families, compounded by the need to navigate and advocate across systems. Driven by love, these families are at high-risk of neglecting themselves and developing compassion fatigue. In this 13-part workshop we begin by exploring the “costs of caring” and its potential physical and emotional toll. Then we consider research supported strategies that can empower families and build their resistance to ward off compassion fatigue. Systems supports, self-care, and mindful self-compassion are featured.

Watch here

3 Spring Events | Submit Your Events, Resources, and Research | Autism in the News

Upcoming Events – Spring 2020

Positive Behavior Support – A Practical Introduction for Parents & Caregivers

Friday, April 3rd, 2020

Vancouver, BC & Webstreaming!
View details & registration

An Introduction to Autism and Anxiety – from Research to the Classroom

Friday, April 24th, 2020

Vancouver, BC & Webstreaming!
View details & registration

Advocating within BC’s Ministry of Children and Family Development – A Workshop for Parents

Friday, May 22nd, 2020

Vancouver, BC & Webstreaming!
View details & registration

Save the Date! – Events in the coming year

Details & registration coming soon

Thursday & Friday, August 20 & 21, 2020

Two Days of Social Thinking:
A Focus on Emotions

Surrey, BC & Webstreaming
Presented by Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP

Thursday & Friday, October 22 & 23, 2020

Educational Forum – Future Of Special Education In B.C.

Vancouver, BC & Webstreaming

Thursday & Friday, November 5 & 6, 2020

Supporting Early So cial and Communication Development through Parent Coaching

Vancouver, BC & Webstreaming

Friday, November 27, 2020

Parents are Teachers Too! PBS Scenarios in the Home and Community

Vancouver, BC & Webstreaming

Brenda Fossett, PhD, BCBA-D

Thursday & Friday, February 4 & 5, 2021

Toilet Training For Everyone – Revised And Expanded

Vancouver, BC & Webstreaming

Presented by Pat Mirenda, PhD, BCBA-D and Katie Rinald, BCBA

Does your organization have an event, resource listing, or research project to list on ACT’s website?

ACT supports the autism community with special sections on our website for contributions from organizations, researchers, support groups, service providers, and educational training & employment opportunities. Submit to any of these sections:

Share Your April Autism Awareness Month Activities on our Community Events listing

ACT’s Special Needs Community Events listing shares event information from B.C. organizations. Are you planning anything for April to mark Autism Awareness Month? You are welcomed to submit your organization’s events.

Visit Special Needs Community Events to see what is happening around the province,

Participate in research

ACT encourages research that builds evidence-informed approaches to supporting individuals with autism and other conditions. We devote a page on ACT’s website to informing autistic adults and parents of children with ASD about university-affiliated projects which may be of interest.

Visit the Participate in Autism Research page to see all current research projects and project contact information. Submit your research project using our online form to submit your university-affiliated research projects related to the field of autism and special needs. It may take up to one week to post.

Submit a Community Resource to the BC Community Resources Database

ACT is continually adding to our community resources from throughout B.C. You can submit your recommendations for quality resources in your community for inclusion in the BC Community Resources Database. We also appreciate updates or corrections of existing community records.

Categories for submission include

Autism in the News

ACT carefully sources insightful stories, ranging from research and government policy, to the world of entertainment, culture, and lifestyle.

Join ACT’s Facebook page for all the latest updates.

Woman takes up law to fight for son with autism – BBC News

Canadians with lifelong disabilities can lose disability tax credit – Global News

Teachers encouraged by special-needs funding changes – Prince George Citizen

I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder – CBC Books

Girl Scout troop for children with special needs makes scouting ‘meaningful’ – Today

Malena Ernman on daughter Greta Thunberg: ‘She was slowly disappearing into some kind of darkness’ – The Guardian

Autistic teen faced relentless bullying since he came out at age 12. He died by suicide. – LGBTQ Nation

Melatonin may ease autistic children’s sleep troubles – Spectrum News

I’m Autistic, But I Didn’t Know It Until After Marriage And Kids – Yahoo