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Volume 5, Issue 5 SEPT-OCT 2008 Steps to Success… Steps to Success… Steps to Success… Fifth Annual Drive Fore Autism Golf Outing S ign up your foursome while there are still open- ings! The Golf Club at Portsmouth Abbey has graciously allowed us to sponsor an open golf day with proceeds to go to The Autism Project of RI for the benefit of our kids. The date is set for October 24th and includes the following: Breakfast, lunch and dinner, greens fees and cart. Registration begins at 9:00AM with a shotgun start at 10:30AM. Foursomes are limited and will be sold on a first come first serve basis. Please contact [email protected] to register. It’s not every day that a golfer has the opportunity of playing such an exclusive private course. Take advantage of this now while you have the chance and you’ll be helping out our kids with Autism at the same time. Remember, you don’t have to have a foursome to play. You can sign up as an individ- ual, or with two or three and we’ll set up the four- somes. They say that charity begins at home, but, you know, sometimes it can begin on the first tee! Update on the 2008 National Speaker Conference I n our May-June 2008 issue of Steps to Success, we ran a story about the upcoming National Speaker Conference which is going to be held on Friday, Octo- ber 24, 2008. Please note that the location has been changed from Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick to Rhodes on the Pawtuxet in Cranston. For more information and the ability to register online, please visit our website at www.theautismproject.org . Dr. Mesibov will begin the day by defining the impor- tance of successful inclu- sion for children with au- tism based on the TEACCH philosophy. What is a Free and Appro- priate Education? What constitutes a Least Restric- tive Environment? How do we determine the student’s placement? The remaining breakouts will offer sup- ports and interventions for school personnel to imple- ment the successful inclusion within their classroom and community settings. Dr. Gary Mesibov Please note that the location has been changed from Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick to Rhodes on the Pawtuxet in Cranston.

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Page 1: Newsletter09 08

Volume 5, Issue 5 SEPT-OCT 2008

Steps to Success… Steps to Success… Steps to Success…

Fifth Annual Drive Fore Autism Golf Outing

S ign up your foursome while there are still open-ings! The Golf Club at Portsmouth Abbey has

graciously allowed us to sponsor an open golf day with proceeds to go to The Autism Project of RI for the benefit of our kids. The date is set for October 24th and includes the following:

Breakfast, lunch and dinner, greens fees and cart. Registration begins at 9:00AM with a shotgun start at 10:30AM. Foursomes are limited and will be sold on a first come first serve basis. Please contact [email protected] to register.

It’s not every day that a golfer has the opportunity of playing such an exclusive private course. Take advantage of this now while you have the chance and you’ll be helping out our kids with Autism at the same time. Remember, you don’t have to have a foursome to play. You can sign up as an individ-ual, or with two or three and we’ll set up the four-somes. They say that charity begins at home, but, you know, sometimes it can begin on the first tee!

Update on the 2008 National Speaker Conference

I n our May-June 2008 issue of Steps to Success, we ran a story about the upcoming National Speaker

Conference which is going to be held on Friday, Octo-ber 24, 2008. Please note that the location has been changed from Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick to Rhodes on the Pawtuxet in Cranston.

For more information and the ability to register online, please visit our website at www.theautismproject.org.

Dr. Mesibov will begin the day by defining the impor-tance of successful inclu-sion for children with au-tism based on the TEACCH philosophy. What is a Free and Appro-priate Education? What constitutes a Least Restric-tive Environment? How do we determine the student’s placement? The remaining breakouts will offer sup-ports and interventions for school personnel to imple-ment the successful inclusion within their classroom and community settings.

Dr. Gary Mesibov

Please note that the location has been changed from Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick to Rhodes on the Pawtuxet in Cranston.

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Advisory Board: Ms. Barbara Dubois

Ms. Melissa Ferreira

Ms. Susan Morsilli

Ms. Joanne Weaver

Ms. Roberta Zimmerly

Ms. Deb Belanger

Ms. Gloria Bussell

Ms. Jennifer Parsons

Ms. Lisa Landry

Ms. Nancy Levin

Dr. Stephen Sheinkopf, Ph.D

Ms. Sue Constable

Ms. Susan Shanley

Ms. Glynis Forcht

Executive Director

Ms. Joanne Quinn

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

W e made it! The Autism Project of RI success-fully moved to our new location and we are set-

tling in and preparing for an exciting fall of program-ming for people with ASD, educators and the many, many people who work tirelessly to support them.

Before we look to the future, I need to thank Connie Rinehart, camp director and her terrific staff and volunteers at Camp. Campers experienced a fun filled week of activities because of their dedication and commitment to the children. This was the first year with extended liquid sunshine, but the staff worked through it and campers persevered.

I need to also thank Deana Dufficy, assistant camp director, for six years of commitment to this program. Her sense of humor, organization skills and professional-ism added to the success of Camp. Deana is retiring this year (although we still have her number!). On behalf of all the families whose children benefit so much from time at camp, thank you Deana for all your hard work. We will miss you.

Our fall programming is being finalized and all dates and descriptions will be posted on our website www.theautismproject.org. This year’s National Speaker Conference, Inclusion for the Independent Learner, is scheduled for October 24 at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet. There will be nine breakouts in addition to Gary Me-sibov’s keynote address. Early Bird specials are still available.

As we start in our new location I look forward to working with you all to improve the lives of people with autism. I thank you for your continued support and commitment to work.

Sincerely,

Joanne Quinn

Executive Director

The Autism Project of RI

Executive Board:

Mr. Chris Perrotti, Chairman

Ms. Nancy Merrill, Acting Secretary

Ms. Jean-Marie Coletta, Treasurer

Mr. Michael Andoscia

Mr. Cary Coen

Ms. Joan Colwell

Mr. Dave Dittman

Ms. Pam McLaughlin

Dr. Meg Murray

Dr. Anthony Regine

Mr. David Tassoni

Gateway, Mr. Jay Burdick

PAGE 2

Newsletter Editor: Mr. James Golden

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Welcome to our new home!

This is the main entrance to our new location. It offers much better accommodations for our purposes and should allow for some future expansion. Below is a look at the entire building we now occupy.

We look forward to seeing you in the near future at :

The Autism Project of Rhode Island

1516 Atwood Avenue

Johnston, RI 02919-3223

Phone # is the same (785-2666) but our extensions have all been modified. Listen to the new menu when calling to get the correct extension.

Spotlight on Camp Volunteers By Sue Fisher

E ach year at camp, we’re lucky to have a num-ber of volunteers working with our

staff. Many return year after year to assist staff in working with children and also to help out “behind the scenes” with legwork and clerical duties. Several of our volunteers have gone on to work at camp as counselors and to pursue educa-tion and additional volunteer activities working with children with disabilities. Brenna Rock, Michael Fisher and Adrienne Golden have been involved with camp since our first year at the Champlin Reservation, volunteer-ing for most years, and this year working as paid counselors. Lorna Aronson, Bryanna Sands, Caro-line Neubauer, Michael Quinn and Megan Fisher, also paid counselors this year, began as volun-teers. Calley Rock, a sophomore at Barrington High School, has volunteered at camp for the last three years, and is already looking forward to working next year. Caitlin and Nicole Fisher, stu-dents at East Providence High School and Martin Middle School, respectively, have helped consis-tently over the years. Greg Bagley, a freshman at Mount St. Charles Academy, came to volunteer at camp last summer with his sister, Caitlin Bagley, a counselor, and has continued with us this summer where he helps to organize our rowboating area and assists with rowing. Olivia Radiches, Emily Newton and Abby Rock have also volunteered this summer and in the past. We were happy to wel-come new volunteers, Maura McKnight, Tom Monahan and Andrew Morsilli this summer. In addition to our student volunteers, we were for-tunate this year to have help from Lisa McKay and Joe McCarthy, who worked as volunteer counsel-ors with our campers in the green group. Lisa is an adaptive physical education teacher in East Greenwich, and has also volunteered for APRI’s social skills programs (basketball) and is active with Special Olympics. Joe is an active volunteer with several community organizations having re-tired after 27 years in human resources at Met Life.

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Recent Fundraisers:

A huge thank you once again to the Pat Salis-bury for hosting The Puzzle Ride for Autism

on July 27th at Francis Farm in Rehoboth. Due to the hard work and dedication of Pat and her puzzle ride committee an amazing $6100.00 was raised to support our organization. A huge thank you to our child ambassadors; Tracy and Sergio who helped make this event a huge success.

Sergio, Pat Salisbury and Tracy A heartfelt thank you to David and Kim Hebert for hosting “The Hebert Open Golf Tournament” this July. Due to their generosity $6000.00 was raised to support programs in our schools.

We would also like to thank Robert Reynolds and all the employees at UPS Cartage Services for host-ing a recent fundraiser to support our organization. We so appreciated your support.

The Autism Project of RI is pleased to announce a new partnership with Cardi’s Furniture enti-tled: E-Waste Can Ed-u-cate

Did you know that the EPA estimates that over 70 million computers are being taken out of service each year, consisting of over 5 billion pounds of potential electronic waste contamination? Only a fraction of these systems are ever put back into ser-vice creating a major safety hazard for our environ-

ment. As responsible mem-bers of the community, Cardi’s has partnered with the Autism Project of Rhode Is-land to turn your unwanted computers, monitors, key-boards and other electronic equipment into a donation to the Autism Project of RI where you can not only support educational programs designed exclusively for individuals with autism but you can clean up the environment as well. It’s easy to participate: Bring your electronic items to the Cardi’s West Warwick location on Saturday, September 20, 2008 from 10:00AM-2:00PM.

Electronic Recycling Items:

Items included in our recycle program Computers, Monitors, Keyboards, Mice, Fax ma-chines, Printers, Copiers, Speakers, Cell Phones, Wireless devices, Telephones & Phone systems, Net-work hubs, Digital cameras, Video game consoles, Portable video game players.

Please help us make this event a success by contact-ing your friends and neighbors to participate. If you would like to help us distribute event posters please contact [email protected].

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Salute to Summer at the Newport Naval Station

Sunday, August 24th

C ome join the Autism Project of RI and see Hewy Lewis and the News perform a free outdoor con-

cert at Naval Station Newport on Aug. 24, 2008, dur-ing an open-base event ending with a fireworks dis-play shot from a barge in Narragansett Bay. “Salute to Summer,” an annual tradition, features food, music and fireworks, will be held at Dewey Field. Gates will open at 5 p.m. Spectators must provide their own lawn seating, either blankets or chairs. Rental chairs will be available for $1 each No coolers or picnic baskets are allowed on the base but plenty of concession stands selling clam chowder, hamburgers, hot dogs and other food will be available. Beer and wine also will be sold, along with water and soft drinks. Partial proceeds benefit the Autism Project of RI. For more info con-tact: [email protected]

Sept 6 & 7 Frerichs Farm Pumpkin Palooza 43 Kinnicut Avenue, Warren, RI *Farm Fun Day for Autism on Satur day, Sept. 6th All proceeds from this day go to the

Autism Project of RI. Have fun explor-ing the farm… visit the Western Town, Scarecrow Factory, Corn and Hay mazes and take a magical Pumpkin Coach Ride

Call (401) 245-8245 for more info.

Sept 21 CVS Downtown 5K Volunteers needed to collect chips at the end of the race-All volunteers re-ceive a race t-shirt.

For More information please contact [email protected]

October 15 3rd Annual Catwalk to Campground Fashion Show Providence Marriott, Providence, RI Join us for an exciting evening with dinner and Fashion Show

For more information call Mary at (401) 785-2666

October 24th- 5th Annual Drive Fore Autism Golf Tournament/Carnegie Abbey Come join us for a day of golf, spa treatments, din-ner and auction at Rhode Island’s premier golf club-Carnegie Abbey. Help us raise awareness and sup-port children and adults with autism, their families and the many programs we provide. The cost per golfer is $250.00 and includes breakfast, greens fees, cart, lunch and dinner. Registration begins at 9:00AM with a shotgun start at 10:30AM. Four-somes are limited and will be sold on a first come first serve basis. Please contact:

[email protected] to register.

There are still sponsorships available-T-Signs are $150.00.

TSETSE Gallery APRI Fundraiser

TSETSE Gallery RI, at 101 Orange Street in Provi-dence has invited artists to submit their work for a unique art exhibit in collaboration with the Autism Project of Rhode Island. This exhibit is an exciting opportunity for individual artists to display works expressing feelings, thoughts, life views and experi-ences related to Autism and Asperger’s. The mission of “The Art Spectrum” is to build through art, com-munity awareness regarding the needs of individuals with Autism and Asperger’s while affording oppor-tunities to gain cultural and educational awareness, along with community unity. Many mediums of art will be on display. There are two “openings” for this exhibit. The first, which will be a fundraiser for the Autism Project of RI, will be held on Friday, September 12th at 5:30 PM. The second, which is free and open to the pub-lic, will be held on Thursday, September 18th at 5:30 PM. The exhibit will run from September 12th through September 27, 2008. For more information, contact Therese Lavallee, founder and president of TSETSE Gallery, at 401.453.3337.

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SCHOOL, FAMILY AND ASPERGER SYNDROME

By Nathan Weissler

A t age four, I was diagnosed with Asperger Syn-drome (AS), a complex of learning and social

disabilities. I have been in special education since age three. My AS has affected me in countless ways. For example, I often misinterpret others, just as they mis-interpret me.

An incident demonstrating this difficulty with commu-nication occurred at my elementary school in 2001. I had been sent to the principal's office because my teacher thought I had spoken disrespectfully to her. However, I felt that I had to assert myself by speaking loudly so as not to be ignored. I provoked my teacher with innocent motives. I was surprised and scared, and the nurse comforted me as we waited for the prin-cipal to arrive. I don't remember what the principal said to me, but I do remember that as I was leaving, I casually remarked, "That was long." She replied, "Next time, it'll be even longer. You'll be suspended.

This incident illustrates the shame, fear, and frustra-tion of being misunderstood. AS makes me constantly anxious; I am afraid of transgressing unspoken rules of behavior, and of being shamed and punished.

My family relationships also are affected by AS. I crave touching and feeling things and often handle and break items belonging to my younger brother and sis-ter. This leaves me embarrassed and ashamed. My brother and sister once got so angry that they threat-ened to go into my room and break all my things. This threat, while not carried out, was frightening.

My brother and I have had wonderful times together, however. He is a jokester who has a reservoir of kind-ness, compassion and dedication to family. My brother occasionally volunteers to help me with math, a sub-ject in which I struggle but he excels. I have consid-ered whether helping me find my way is too much of a burden on him, but I also realize that having a sibling with Asperger Syndrome has its advantages. He knows more about the range of ability and disability

than the average boy. Understanding my brother better also has made me less lonely. Just as I have benefited from better un-derstanding my typical brother, I hope that this arti-cle will help typical people better understand the perspectives of people like me.

Nathan Weissler is fifteen years old and lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He can be reached at [email protected]

King of All Bridges update!

Kudos to Brian Boog and NewEnglandFish-ing.net for organizing our first fishing tourna-ment on June 22, 2008 at the Turner Reservoir in East Providence. Because of their generosity we were able to raise an additional $2,657.32 to sup-port our programs. Thanks also to the many vol-unteers and local businesses that helped make this event a great success.

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Back to School tips: By Megan Black

M egan Black received a BA in education from Providence College and Masters in Education from South-ern Connecticut State University. She previously taught in New Haven, CT and is currently a spe-

cial education teacher for the Cumberland School Department, as well as an educational consultant for the Autism Project of Rhode Island.

With the days of summer rapidly coming to a close and school right around the corner, this can be a difficult transition for our kids with ASD. Here are some things that you can do to help your children as they begin a new school year.

• Talk to your child’s principal or teacher about arranging a visit to their new classroom before school starts. Taking a picture of the teacher may help to create the connection from home to school.

• Remember you are your child’s first teacher. Provide your child’s teachers with what visuals are success-ful with your child (count down timer, break card, etc.) as well as their interests and outward signs of anxiety. Many teachers appreciate this information as they get to know your child.

• Set up a schedule for after school that includes time for snack, homework and breaks. Depending on your child’s ages and needs, a break right after school might be most beneficial.

• Use a timed timer (http://www.timetimer.com) to visually show how much time to spend on homework. For example, 15 minutes of homework, 15 minutes for break. Help your child break assignments into smaller pieces. Using sticky notes to organize the tasks can help. Here is an example:

Read pages 3-8

Answer question #1

Read pages 9-13

Answer question #2

Using a planner or assignment agenda will help children to stay organized with materials and assignments. Ask your child’s teacher for help in supporting this at school by having them initial the planner at the end of the day.

Remember that children with ASD often struggle greatly at the end of the school day. While their peers have been asked to manage the academic curriculum of school, children with ASD must handle both the academic and unwritten social curriculum on a daily basis. As a result, this point of the day might be a particular chal-lenge for ASD kids. Talk to your child’s teacher if homework becomes a great difficulty. Together, you might be able to strategize to help formulate a plan for success for your child.

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From our mailbag… The following is an excerpt from an e-mail sent to Joanne Quinn from Joanne Allard:

A s usual, this had to be Tracy’s best week of summer! The week left her calm, happy and as

usual, expanding her friendships. She met a girl from Block Island and has already been on the phone with her. I can’t thank you enough for all the time and effort you all put into creating such a safe fun place for our kids.

One day as I was dropping her off she began to melt-down about something that was on her mind, I could not calm her. Sue Fisher sent me on my way. I wor-ried all morning. Later, I learned Sue Fisher had her smiling and happy in no time. Why was I worried? Sue’s the best, and we are blessed to have her.

You guys are all such special people. Thanks again for such a great week.

Joanne and Bob Allard

P.S. Patrick’s shirts were adorable. Tracy will be emailing you to tell you how impressed she was and how proud she was of him.

The following is an excerpt from an e-mail sent to Joanne Quinn from Tracy Allard:

Hi Joanne,

Thank you today for a great week at camp. I could-n’t wait to get there every day. Today, I got up and made my breakfast all alone, made no mess and ate it all – I was trying to rush camp to start.

The excitement of being at camp is a good happy feeling. I forgot my bathing suit one day, and I got scared and sad but guess what, it was no big deal. I used my shorts to swim. I love Sue Fisher.

It was the funnest week of the whole summer and I

was so happy to meet more new friends and to see a lot of old friends. I didn’t know what Block Island was or that a kid with autism lived there.

When camp was over today I was sad, but then I saw Patrick’s t-shirts and I was not sad anymore. He is a good t-shirt artist. I’m so proud he did that. Does he know how many people will be wearing his shirt? I had to ask Mom to get one for Sergio. Tell him I said it’s a wonderful shirt.

Thank you, also.

Love,

Tracy To caregivers of HFA and Asperger kids: Help to pay for Social Thinking Academy and Camp.

GRANT TO INDIVIDUAL:

Uninsured/Underinsured United Healthcare Deadline: Open

T he United Healthcare Children's Foundation (UHCCF) has announced that new grants are

available to help children who need critical health-care treatment, services, or equipment not covered or not fully covered by their parents' health benefit plans. The foundation provides grants to families to help pay for child healthcare services such as speech ther-apy, physical therapy, occupational therapy sessions, prescriptions, and medical equipment such as wheel chairs, orthotics, and eyeglasses.

Parents and legal guardians may apply for grants of up to$5,000 each for child medical services and equipment by completing an online application at the UHCCF Web site. Info: http://www.uhccf.org/apply_applicant.html gÜ|á{ g{ÉÅtá Partnership Coordinator Family Voices National Center for Family Profes-sional Partnerships

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Living with Autism in College

The following has been reprinted with permission from CNN.com

When Dan Hackett started college, he didn't make the grades he knew he could.

Hackett, who has Asperger's syndrome, found at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pitts-burgh that some of his symptoms were holding him back. He had difficulty organizing his time and man-aging assignments.

"I always knew I could do better," said Hackett.

His parents tried to help, but he wasn't comfortable with them intervening at college. He was relieved to discover Achieving in Higher Education with Au-tism/Developmental Disabilities, a group that helps college students like him.

After contracting with AHEADD, Hackett's grade point average increased from 1.5 to 3.6.

"They kept me on track," says the now 21-year-old political science major. "They helped me manage my time."

Many students with Asperger's or other autism-like disorders face new challenges in a college setting. The syndrome hampers communication and social skills, so along with difficulties staying on top of their studies, these students may struggle with mak-ing friends and living more independently. They also may be more reluctant to ask for help

It's a problem colleges and universities are "very aware" of as the first big wave of children with diag-nosed autism-related disorders moves beyond high

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school, says Gwendolyn Dungy, executive director of NASPA, a Washington-based organization of student affairs administrators.

"We've been very interested in it and finding out how ready colleges are for these students," she said. "We want to establish a climate for success."

While higher education institutions usually make ac-commodations for students with disabilities, the law does not require them to provide the extent of ser-vices that students receive in kindergarten through 12th grade.

College students must become their own advocates, a change that can take them and their families by sur-prise, said Donna Martinez, executive director of George Washington University's Heath Resource Center, an online clearinghouse for students with dis-abilities.

"It's night and day" from high school, she said. "It's a whole different world."

Colleges are trying to educate faculty and staff about autism-related disorders and gauge how much ser-vices will cost, said Dungy, who organized a seminar on these questions at her association's annual confer-ence in March. Most colleges already provide ser-vices to students with disabilities or special needs.

For decades, only children with severe language and social impairments received the autism diagnosis. In the 1990s, the autism umbrella expanded, and autism is now shorthand for a group of milder, related condi-tions, known as "autism spectrum disorders."

One in 166 children is now diagnosed with autism, compared to 1 in 2,500 a decade ago.

There has been a corresponding surge in special edu-cation services for autistic children in elementary and high schools.

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"More and more of these people who were identified (in the 1990s) could be headed to college," said Marjorie Solomon, who studies high-functioning children with autism disorders at the University of California Davis' M.I.N.D. Institute.

One college that has added services for such students is Marshall University, home to the West Virginia Autism Training Center. Through its College Pro-gram for Students with Asperger's Syndrome, gradu-ate students help autistic students manage class as-signments and develop social and living skills.

The program fields about 10 calls a week from par-ents of prospective students, said Barbara Becker-Cottrill, director of the training center. "The parents are saying, 'Wow, my student has the grades and there's a place that will provide the appropriate sup-port for him or her?"' she said.

Students pay $3,200 per semester to enroll in Mar-shall's program. Advisers may speak with them sev-eral times a day, have weekly contact with their pro-fessors and help find them social activities. They might give guidance on dorm living or cafeteria food.

"Most classes are 50 minutes long, two to three times a day," noted program coordinator Marc Ellison. "The rest of the time, you're navigating the college community. My advice to students is to realize the least amount of time you spend in college is in the classroom."

Families looking for the right college for autistic kids should ask whether a school has a counselor who spe-cializes in autism, if professors receive training about it, and what academic accommodations, such as addi-tional time for taking tests, can be made, experts said. Students also should inquire about social opportuni-ties: Does the school have an autism organization for students? Would the university help find a peer men-tor?

Peter Breslin of South Salem, New York, knew his

son, Jason, could handle college academics, but he worried about the rest of the experience. The center at Marshall has made all the difference, Breslin said, even though Jason doesn't always think to contact it himself.

"They have to seek him out," said Breslin. "He thinks he could do it without going to the center. But he really does need them."

Jason Breslin, 20, a music performance major, says, "They have all been very helpful and supportive of me. I tried a semester without going to the center and ended up with very low grades because of late assignments or no assignments turned in."

The Organization for Autism Research, a nationwide group, is creating a line of videos designed to edu-cate college staff. The first is aimed at professors; a second, in the works, will be geared to resident as-sistants.

AHEADD, the Pittsburgh-based organization, re-cently opened offices in Dallas, Washington and Al-bany, New York. It charges between $4,200 and $5,700 per semester for help with all aspects of col-lege life.

"We start with academics," says founder Carolyn Komich Hare. "If our students don't do well aca-demically then they're not around to deal with the big issues

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Our RIPIN Parent Consultant Provides Input on Recent Book

R ecently published, the book Beyond the Dragon is a story about a child with Asperger’s Syndrome.

Doug Flutie called the book, “another Hail Mary story.” The author, Christopher Tremblay, who resides in Woon-socket discussed how the book came to be. “One day, my wife Debbie, who used to work at Century 21 Crossroads in Cumberland, RI was talking to her good friend Amy Bedard, a realtor there, about my first book The Comeback Kid which was released in 2006.

“Amy told her that she could not read that story to her au-tistic son, Robbie because he would not be able to under-stand the story and that it would be great if I would write a short story for him from the perspective of an Autistic child. Amy and my wife Debbie searched the internet for any sports books pertaining to an Autistic child who wanted to play sports - they could not find any - and that is where the idea began.”

Chris goes on to explain how he connected with Sue Sposato. Sue, currently with RIPIN, has been associated with the Autism Project or RI since 2002. “Amy Bedard then told me that her son Robbie, who was 5 at the time, worked with Susan Sposato at Autism Project and that I should contact her. Susan took time out of her busy day to educate me on high functioning autistic children. “After that visit with Susan it seemed I continued to meet parents who where looking for this book to be completed and I decided to take the challenge. My biggest supporter for this story is Susan Garramone whose child has Asper-ger Syndrome. She spent tireless hours at Barnes and No-ble with me and would share the chapters with many mothers of autistic children and would then supply me with their feedback.”

The following provides a sense of the story, “Nine-year-old Robbie Stanley would rather stay inside, playing on his computer and watching TV rather than go outside and interacting with the neighborhood kids –that is, until one afternoon when he happens across a soccer game while flipping through the TV channels. Immediately, Robbie is transfixed upon the dragon adorning the Greensboro play-ers’ uniforms. At that defining moment, he decides that the wants to play soccer.

While this may be a rather routine task for any other child,

Robbie, who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syn-drome (AS), finds that playing soccer sets him on a course on which he has never embarked before. Al-though Robbie is excited about his new adventure, his mother is unsure how her son will react in situations to which he is not accustomed. Of more pressing concern, is how other children will act towards him.

Experience the trials and tribulations of Robbie as he participates in organized sports for the first time”.

Chris Tremblay, who has been a freelance sports writer for over 27 years, hopes that his book will create a me-dium which promotes autism awareness in an entertain-ing and enriching manner for children and adults alike. The author will be appearing at the Metro West Medical Center, Leonard Morse Hospital in Natick, MA on Sep-tember 14, 2008 to sign copies of the book as part of the 9th Annual Eastern Bank Flutie 5K Road Race.

For more information on ordering any of his books please visit www.goldenrampress.com.

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Every year in this issue we have attempted to show you some pictures from our recent camping experi-ence. We choose the pictures to showcase the various activities the children are involved in during their stay with us. We hope you enjoy them and if you’d like to see more, they are available on our website at www.theautismproject.org .

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...and more from the Camp, 2008

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...and still more from the Camp, 2008

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...and finally!

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