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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
