More information about benefits of going Gluten-free

Dan Swearingen | January 2, 2010

We have been Gluten-Free Casein-Free (GF-CF) around our house for over ten years. For us it was a no-brainer. After only a few days of trial a few benefits were immediately apparent:

improved energy which improved mood.
clearer sinuses, better sleep.
improved ability to withstand sensory input.

Over the next few months more benefits became apparent:

For our son, we [...]

End of year request for your donations to Autistry Studios

Dan Swearingen | December 26, 2009

We have had a great year at Autistry Studios but we would like to take this opportunity to ask for your additional help before we launch into a new year.

This week we would especially appreciate any donations you could make of either cash or tools and materials.
United Cerebral Palsy of the North Bay has generously [...]

Event: Parent support group for parents of children and adolescents with autism

Dan Swearingen | December 9, 2009

Doug Lipinski is the dad of one of our first students and he has been doing parent group meetings for several years here in Marin.
This meeting is for Moms and Dads but Doug also runs a regular Dads meeting. Please contact Doug at his email below if you have any questions.
From Doug:
Come and discuss strategies [...]

Film report: Ben X

Dan Swearingen | December 4, 2009

Ben X is a 2007 film from Belgium about an extreme Aspie teenager who is relentlessly bullied in and around his high school. Ben’s solace is his role playing game persona (”BenX”) and his online relationship with a healer character “Scarlite.”

Bad Things happen to him. Ben is driven past his limits and it is unclear [...]

Hands on Banking: Financial life skills for us and our children

Dan Swearingen | November 9, 2009

Pam Erwin gave us a great pointer to Wells Fargo’s Hands on Banking program which provides instructional resources and online classes in financial skills.
Courses are available in English and Spanish and four grades: Kids, Teens, Young Adults, and Adults. We are going to be drawing on these lessons and the great instructor guides (available as [...]

Hire Autistics – Hire Aspies

Dan Swearingen | September 23, 2009

For many people on the ASD spectrum entering adulthood, finding appropriate gainful employment is a challenge.

This is unfortunate because people with ASD have skills that can be profitable for an employer. Our experience in Autistry Studios has been that there is an astounding range in skills and interests in the people we work with so [...]

PowerPoint deck from our Autism Resource Fair presentation

Dan Swearingen | September 12, 2009

I’m beat! The presentation and the Resource Fair went very well. I’ll post more about the fair and our presentation later but we had some requests for a copy of the slides we used.
Here it is in PDF (Acrobat Reader): Preparing our Teens to Work

Preparing our Teens to Work presentation this weekend, September 12

Dan Swearingen | September 11, 2009

Janet and I are presenting a mini workshop “Preparing our Teens to Work” this weekend at the CONNECTING PEOPLE TO RESOURCES resource fair tomorrow at Dominican University in San Rafael.
Besides the mini workshop we will be manning a table displaying some student projects and information about Autistry Studios. Several Autistry Studios parents and students have [...]

Service dogs as “social catalysts” assisting people with ASD

Dan Swearingen | August 23, 2009

At one point we considered a service dog for Ian. Mainly, we saw a dog as a way to facilitate Ian interacting with peers. The idea is that kids are attracted to the dog and talk to Ian while petting the dog. As Ian spent more time in mainstream classrooms we saw that he gets [...]

Improved quality of life through developing social skills

Dan Swearingen | August 21, 2009

While being introverted and liking time alone is very common for people with ASD that does not mean they have no desire for friends or social interaction. When they do actually want social time with peers they can find it particularly awkward and stressful.
AP Science Writer Alicia Chang has posted a great article today:  Autistic [...]