Register for Autism Community Training (ACT) workshops here. Best Practices in Early Intervention: An Update on the Research and Helping Families Build Their “Team”. November 21, 2014, Vancouver. Presenter: Dr Karen Bopp, PhD RSLP

Dr. Bopp is Senior Behaviour Consultant, MCFD and a Research Affiliate, CIRCA (UBC).

This presentation will provide an overview of current best practice treatment approaches for children and youth with ASD, and will focus on developing collaborative partnerships amongst behaviour consultants, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists and other professionals in order to enhance optimal outcomes for children with ASD and provide their families with meaningful support.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About the Role of Occupational Therapy in Autism Treatment. January 31, 2015, Vancouver. Presenters: Sheija Abraham, B OT, Diploma Child Psychology; Brian Lai, BSC OT, MHS; Jane Remocker, BSROT.

In this workshop, three experienced occupational therapists will talk about their profession, its scope of practice, and the importance of having an occupational therapist on the child’s interdisciplinary team, from the time of diagnosis through to adulthood. They will explain how Occupational Therapy can address many of the practical challenges of raising a child with ASD from learning to tie shoe laces, handwriting to pre-employment skills.

Two Social Thinking Days in Sidney February 20^th & 21^st, 2015, Sidney, BC. Presenters: Kari Palmer, MA, CCC-SLP; Ryan Hendrix, MS, CCC-SLP.

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Day 1 - Teaching Social Thinking through Stories and Play

This workshop is designed to introduce professionals and parents to the many important facts of development that underlie social learning in preschool and early elementary-aged children. The ability to participate in collaborative pretend play depends upon having a flexible brain, competent language ability, self regulation, and solid social-emotional development as well the executive function skills to multi-task the use of all of the above. The new common core standards highlight the importance of ‘listening and collaboration’ in the classroom, which are hallmarks of developmental learning in preschool and during the elementary years.

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Day 2 – Implementing Social Thinking Concepts and Vocabulary in to the School and Home Day: A Day to Develop Team Creativity

This workshop is focused on practical information that can be infused into home and school environments. Lessons offered are relevant to all school-age children and youth, and those working with preschoolers and young adults will also benefit from the information provided.

The focus of the workshop is on ways to teach Social Thinking concepts and vocabulary across the school and home day, including:

• Working as part of a group
• The three parts of play
• Lessons related to abstracting and inferring information
• What it means to share an imagination and more.

For more information on the Social Thinking programs, go to www.socialthinking.com.

“Social thinking is what we do when we interact with people: we think about them. And how we think about people affects how we behave, which in turn affects how others respond to us, which in turn affects our own emotions…..Because social thinking is an intuitive process, we usually take it for granted. But for many individuals, this process is anything but natural, and this often has nothing to do with conventional measures of intelligence. In fact, many people score high on IQ and standardized tests, yet do not intuitively learn the nuances of social communication and interaction.

While these challenges are commonly experienced by individuals with autism spectrum disorders (high-functioning), social communication disorder, Asperger’s, ADHD, nonverbal learning disability (NLD), and similar diagnoses, children and adults experiencing social learning difficulties often have received no diagnosis. A treatment framework and curriculum developed by Michelle Garcia Winner targets improving individual social thinking abilities, regardless of diagnostic label.”