Goals worked on throughout the 2008-2009 Friends' Club Year:

Most Friends' Club students have participated in five sessions this year, which have included: Friendship, Humor, Getting the Big Picture, Bullying and Self Advocacy/Asking for Help. Below are the major points and topics we studied during each session.

Friendship:
Our friendship theme was based on introducing basic concepts of friendship and communication, such as communication (conversation, body orientation, eye contact, compromise, making decision with a friend and etc.).

Humor:

Our friends learned appropraite times to make jokes and use humor, whether while in school, with the family, or with friends. We discussed what is appropriate to laugh at as well. We explored different types of "gag" humor (whoopee cushions, etc.) and when this type of humor would be appropriate. We also explored the "three time" rule because friends' tend to repeat the same joke (looking for anticipate response), so we decided: the first time is funny, the second time is less funny and the third time is annoying.

Getting the Big Picture:

Our friends do not often read or interpret the social idea or as we have called it, the "big picture." When we are lucky enough to hear them process what theyy are sessing, or we ask them. We have found that though they correctly interpret pieces of information, it is not the whole picture. Consequently, they miss out on the social interaction. We have worked on getting the big picture by using concrete activities, games and stories. For example, CASE staff has written 'scenarios" and asked what the big picture is. In addition, they have watched movie clips and looked at pictures to make inferences about what is happening. One night we looked at just one puzzle piece at a time to see if we can get the overall idea of the puzzle. Overall, this was a successful session. We expect to be hearing more about the "big picture" as we move into our bully lesson.

Bullying:

Our kids and teens do not correctly perceive others' motivations, or know how to respond to bullying when it is directed toward them or others. During this session we discussed:

1. Physical bullying- this includes hitting, tripping, throwing things at you, taking things away from you, sexual harassment, etc.
2. Verbal bullying- this teasing, taunting, name-calling, insulting, making fun of, writing nasty comments or spreading rumors, making threats, etc.
3. Insincere, taking-advantage-of-you bullying-usually the hardest for our friends to detect because the bully is smiling and seems so friendly, which confuses our kids. When bullies smile and laugh as they're doing the mean thing, this is tricky because they do not see the bully's hidden intentions.

We also discussed how to handle being bullied. Different situations need different strategies:

1. It is not a good idea to fight back.
2. It is a good idea to tell the nearest adult (which has been identified as an ally).
3. It is not good to ignore the verbal bully, because it tends to escalate the bad behavior in search of a reaction.
4. It is a good idea to look the bully in the eye and say something brief, so it will not attract more teasing, and then walk away. Something like 'This is boring" or "So what?" or even, 'If you say so." By saying something, the bully has gotten a reaction and the target will be allowed to walk away more easily than if he or she says nothing.

Self Advocacy/Asking for Help:

Knowing when and how to ask for help can be very challenging. During this session, we were able to identify times when we might need to ask for help or stick up for ourselves (theory), but we also practiced doing this through role play and community outings (application). We learned that sometimes it is hard to ask for help, even when we are with our friends or people we trust. Some activities included working through situations that required more than one person to get the job done (such as moving a heavy object or asking an adult to get something out of reach). For older kids, this included how to self advocate in situations (such as getting the wrong food order at a resturant or getting wrong change when making a purchase). Self Advocacy is an important skill and one that requires on going practice.

For more information or to get specifics on your child's report card, please call our offices in Carlsbad, Napa or on the Sunshine Coast.

Friends' Club Registration has now begun!

 Registration for Carlsbad and Napa, CA has begun. To register your child in the 2009-2010 year of Friends' Club, please call our Carlsbad Office at (760) 720-4964 or our Napa office at (707) 258-5545.

Calendars and Registration forms are attached. Please click on attachment.

Summer Club

Summer Club is a combination of an extended school year, summer camp and Friends' Club all rolled into one! The program will consist of lessons wrapped around books and literature. Each week, the children will participate in fun activities. Some of these activities are:

Drama, Motor Lab, Speech and Language, Math Center, Field Trips - most are TBA, and much more!

Summer Club will be 5 weeks long, July 13- August 13, Monday - Thursday from 9:00 am - 1:00 pm. We will be accepting children within the age range of 5-9 and either were previous Friends' Club attendees, part of the pilot program, recommendations from Speech Station & Leaps and Bounds or are ready to move up from 1:1.

BELOW ARE THE PLANS FOR EACH WEEK:

We have a framework for the summer curriculum.  The overall theme is summer vacations.  Each week we will target a different destination for vacation.  The program is going to be language based with real life math and plenty of opportunities to apply and work on social thinking.  For each destination we will target the following categories: what to pack in "your bag", what you bring to that destination, animals you might see, things you could do, people you might see, and a sport that correlates with the week.  Below is a break down based on weeks. 

July 13th – 16th
Ocean/Beach -surf lessons included
July 20th – 23rd
Camping
July 27th – 30th
Amusement Parks, fair
August 3rd – August 6th
Picnic
August 10th - August  13th
My Summer Fun - Drama Classes included
What did/are going to do this summer, Photo book of trip, how to describe trip, pen pals

To register and sign up, please call our offices at (760) 720-4964.

SUMMER CAMPS are avaliable in Napa, California too!

These camps are as follows:

Napa, CA: August 3-7.  For more information, please call the Napa office at (707) 258-5545

Oahu and Kona, Hawaii Surf Camps have been canceled. Sorry for the inconvenience.

The Summer Club Flyer for Carlsbad, CA is attached. Please click on attachements.

We have moved....

Beginning May 18, 2009, all in clinic services will take place at 785 Grand Ave. Suite 101, Carlsbad, CA 92008

If you have questions regarding our move, please call our offices at (760) 720-4964.

Below are directions to our new office.

From I-5 South:
Take I-5 North; Exit Carlsbad Village Drive and go west toward the ocean; make a right onto Jefferson. We are at the corner of Jefferson and Grand. Parking on the street is avaliable.
From I-5 North:
Take I-5 South; Exit Carlsbad Village Drive and go west toward the ocean; make a right onto Jefferson. We are on the corner of Jefferson and Grand. Parking on the street is avaliable.
From 78 East:
Go West on highway 78; Exit I-5 South; Exit Carlsbad Village Drive and go west toward the ocean; make a right onto Jefferson. We are on the corner of Jefferson and Grand. Parking on the street is avaliable.
From I-15 South:
Take I-15 north; exit the 56 west; take I-5 north; exit Carlsbad Village Drive and go west toward the ocean; make a right onto Jefferson. We are on the corner of Jefferson and Grand. Parking on the street is avaliable.

For printer friendly directions, please visit mapquest.com and enter our address: 785 Grand Ave. Suite 101, Carlsbad, CA 92008.

QUIRKY, YES—HOPELESS, NO

•  How to greet others and make eye contact
•  How to let go and move on to new things
•  How to ask for help and cooperate
•  How to pay compliments 
•  How to discern someone’s true intention
•  How to handle teasing and bullying
•  How not to be rude

Be the first to purchase Quirky, Yes-Hopeless, No. Buy from Amazon.com , Barnes and Noble.com or Indiebound.com

Are you on the Autism Hub?

In the world of autism there seems to be two camps. Those who celebrate the individuals that we are lucky enough to work with by translating and facilitating in social settings and those that want to treat with a biomedical model. CASE is definitely in the first camp.

I am proud to have begun posting on some sites within the Autism Hub. There is one specific site I like to blog on.  One Dads Opinion webpage at click here to go to Onedadsopinion.com  is in line with our beliefs at CASE, Inc.

I have finally found a positive media report about autism and bloggers from the Autism Hub are featured. Please check out the ABC news article from Good Morning America click here to view the article.

Cynthia

" When I approach a child
He inspires in me two sentiments:
Tenderness for what he is,
And respect for what he may become."
-Louis Pasteur