Ascent Autism

February is often known for being a month dedicated to love. But February is not only about valentines and sweethearts. It can also be a month for self love, self care, and nurturing your relationships with family and friends.

Self care is a crucial aspect of maintaining good physical, mental, and emotional health, especially for young adults and teens. With the pressures of school, work, and social life, it can be easy to neglect your own needs. However, taking care of yourself is the foundation for being able to show up as the best version of yourself.

Self-care looks different for everyone and it’s important to find what works for you. It could be something as simple as taking a relaxing bath or going for a walk and nature.

What will you do to implement self-care this month? ❤️

Sprinkle kindness everywhere you go, like confetti 🎊 💙

Tag your friends in the comments below! 💙

⭐️TRUST: Trust is established through honesty, dependability, and keeping confidences shared in the friendship.

⭐️SUPPORT: Friends in healthy friendships, provide emotional support, encouragement, and understanding. They celebrate each other’s successes and help each other through challenges.

⭐️EQUALITY: Healthy friendships are based on the quality, where both friends have an equal say in decisions, and both treated with the same respect.

⭐️RESPECT: Friendships are also built on mutual respect for each other’s, boundaries, opinions, and individuality.

⭐️OPEN-COMMUNICATION: Friends should be able to open the communicate with each other, express their thoughts and feelings, and listen to each others’ perspectives.

Did you know that participating in social skills groups can play a vital role in helping individuals with autism, build, self-esteem and confidence? 👥

📲Head to our blog to learn more about the benefits of social skills group. Link to blog in our bio or visit us at ascentsutism.com

To join online peer groups, visit us at ascentautism.com and schedule an assessment with a member of our team.

Friendship is not something that just happens, it takes time, effort and commitment to nurture and maintain 🤝

Strengthen your friendships by scheduling regular catch-up sessions, sending a thoughtful message or planning a fun get-together.

✨Motivation Monday✨

Letting go of things that hold us back allows us to focus on our own journey and find peace within ourselves

Sharpening our conversation skills is like sharpening a sword. It takes practice, but it’s essential for making connections, building relationships and communicating effectively in all aspects of our lives.

⬇️Let us know in the comments what specific conversation skills you feel you excel at and what are some areas you would like to improve on?

✨Mental health check✨

Mental health is just as important as your physical health. Do what is best for your entire well-being.

What will you be trying out this year to prioritize your mental health?

NEW blog post! 💻

This article explores the importance of social skills development for children, teens and young adults on the autism spectrum.

Learn about the strategies that can help your child to grow and develop meaningful connections.

Read the full blog on our website or use the link in our bio here

Let us know in the comments what you are most excited for next year 🎊

Thank you for making this year a memorable one. We look forward to meeting new learners and their families to help with achieving their social skills goals and creating new friendships.

We hope 2023 brings more joy, friendships, adventures and love for all of you and your families!

From,
The Ascent Autism team 💙

Thank you to everyone who submitted their lovely artwork this month for 🎨

It’s incredible to see the variety of talents in our peer groups. We hope you all enjoy taking a look at some amazing art.

Share some positive feedback in the comments ❤️

If you have some art that you would like to be featured, use the hashtag and we would love to feature you on our stories!

Navigating the holidays isn’t easy but putting your mental health first can help! By prioritizing your mental health, you can help reduce the stress.
🌟

What are your special interests? 🤩

Special interests are very meaningful to an autistic persons life. It is a part of who they are and is different for every individual.

Some examples of special interests of learners in our peer groups are: video games, cats, drawing, anime, specific movies or movie genres, story telling, cosplay, classic cars, animals, and certain sports.

We would love to hear about your special interests or your child’s special interests in the comments below! ⬇️

In a world where you can be anything, be yourself ❤️

Elon musk is a very well known entrepreneur and is CEO to businesses including PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla to name a few.

In May of 2021, Elon hosted “Saturday Night Live” and shared that he identifies as being part of the autism spectrum.

Share your comments down below!⬇️

🌟Teen learners are finding great value in our peer groups for the friendships it has brought them and for being a safe space to be themselves. This is why we do what we do!

As a child, teen or young adult on the autism spectrum, feeling lonely can occur especially if you have not found the right group of friends to relate and connect with.

⬇️Here are a few tips and examples on how to overcome loneliness:

🤝Join a peer group: peer groups in person or online can connect you to other like minded individuals who you might have a lot in common with and build a friendship.

📞Reinforce existing friendships: if you have friends and family who you haven’t connected with in a while, give them a call to check in or send a text to say “Hello 😊”. Make plans to grab a coffee or do a fun activity together.

❤️self-care and self-love: if you are not looking to connect with others quite yet, do activities to embrace your alone time by doing things that are good for your health and make you happy. This can be exercising, cleaning, meditating or writing in a journal.

🎨Try something new: if there is something you always wanted to learn (baking, drawing, gardening, etc.) give it a try! You might find yourself enjoying it and connecting with others who like the same things.

If you or someone you love is struggling with loneliness, please share these tips. For online peer groups at , click on the link in our bio or send a DM for more information.

May this day be a beautiful reminder of the wonderful things in life. Happy Thanksgiving 🍁🧡

The Ascent Autism team had a great time coming together for this weeks team meeting. 🧡

It’s always great when we can gather to discuss our plans and goals for the future.

Is your child looking to make meaningful connections with like-minded peers their age? 🔍

Our moderated peer group chat is a great opportunity for our learners to strengthen the friendships they develop in our weekly peer groups. They can chat with each other throughout the week or check in just to say “Hello 👋🏽”. They can also discuss their shared interests (games, music, movies,etc).

Group chats are moderated by the facilitator of the peer group to aid in teaching texting etiquette and help maintain a positive space.

If your child would benefit from these social groups and group chat, head to the link in our bio and select “schedule an assessment” to speak to a member of our team.

It warms our hearts to see new learners feel welcomed and accepted in our peer groups. 💙

For some individuals, this is a feeling they long for and we are so proud to provide that them.

If you or someone you know struggles with making friends, schedule an assessment today to get started in one of our peer groups.

Good social skills allow kids, teens and young adults to positively interact with others, communicate effectively and enjoy peer relationships. For some individuals this does not come as easy.

💡Social skills groups can provide a safe space for individuals with or without a a formal diagnosis to learn and practice their social skills in a safe space.

💡 provides social skills groups where individuals can be themselves and meet similar peers to develop positive peer relationships.

For more information, click on the link in our bio to “Schedule an Assessment” for one of our peer groups or visit us at www.ascentautism.com

Tag someone who needs to be reminded of how special they are 🧡

Satoshi Tajiri grew up with a fascination of insects and arcade games. His fascination ultimately led to his success in the creation of Pokémon.

🎮By Satoshi pursuing his special interest of insects and video games he was able to create one of Nintendos most popular franchise.

🎮By encouraging children, teens and young adults to explore their passions and special interests, they too can create something extraordinary!
*tajiri

Success story: Ezra and Arjun are two of our learners who have been in our online peer groups for about 1 year. Their guardians were able to arrange a meet up for lunch at a local mall. The two learners used the skills they learned in our peer groups to engage in conversations, ask questions and discuss mutual interests with each other. We are so proud of their continued progress and could not have imagined a better outcome!

How will you spend the weekend?

With busy life schedules, it can be difficult to find time to do family activities.

Find an activity that helps you to enjoy time together. Check your local community for free events, try a new recipe for breakfast or go to the nearest park for a picnic.

The “Play it Safe “acronym can help teach teens and young adults about what it means to be safe on the Internet.

Educate the teens and young adults in your life by sharing this information on internet safety. 📲

Our co-founders went to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) in Canada 🇨🇦

A wonderful turnout with many professionals looking to make a difference!

Relating to peers can be difficult for those with special needs, but can also be challenging for shy and gifted individuals.

💡Whether your child is on the autism spectrum or just needs help making and maintaining friendships, will design a program to help improve social communication and provide fun opportunities for practicing their skills with other peers.

🧑‍💻If you would like to get your child started in one of our peer groups, please call, email or click on the link in our bio and select “Schedule an Assessment” to speak with a member of our team.