Connections Learning Center

This is what IEP goals should look like!

Thank you Not An Autism Mom!

It took me four years, and we finally took out the word “prompts” from Jay’s IEP goals. 🎉

For context, an IEP goal might say this:

“Student will participate in whole group morning meeting for 15 minutes with 2 teacher prompts or less.”

or

“Student will spell 5 CVCe words with a maximum of 2 teacher prompts.”

The idea of fading prompts stems from behaviorism, with a focus on compliance. “Prompting” implies that the student doesn’t want to participate in the session or spell those words. It’s also tied to the overall goal of ABA: becoming “indistinguishable from their peers.”

Barf. 🤮

However… In most cases, what the school refers to as prompting… is actually direct support.

Many students (especially students with movement and communication differences) need the support of of a trusted adult to participate in school activities.

These students may need an adult who can anticipate their specific needs, help them understand instructions, co-regulate with them, help them feel safe.

This type of support is often needed for the student to ACCESS the school environment. 💯

In this case, “prompting” is actually a necessary accommodation, but we don’t use that word due to its negative connotation.

Instead, those two goals would be written this way:

“Given direct adult support as needed (and other accommodations), sudent will participate in whole group morning meeting for 15 minutes.”

or

“Given direct adult support as needed (and other accommodations), student will spell 5 CVCe words.”

That’s more better. 💜

[image description: a tweet that reads, The focus of every IEP meeting should be access. How can we help the student access all of the things?]

Dear Friends,

I just presented this poem at tonight's Neurolyrical Cafe. I so love the warm community of Speller poets and their fans! I wrote this a couple of months ago as part of my ever-emerging sense of purpose and my growing awareness of disability justice. I have so much more to say about it, but not for now. I am so hoping it resonates with you!

Your Friend,
Danny

---
I AM GLOWING, by Danny Whitty

All the world is illuminated and illumination
And what I see is just so beautiful
And just one plane of existence
And I sense so so so much
Maybe more than a human body can cope with
And maybe my disability is faulty wiring
It certainly is faulty in many ways
And yet it feels so significantly significant
Like I am connected to something greater
For some purpose
And that generations before me
Can't have suffered and wasted away for nothing
And even if this significance is not fated
I will make it so.

This will be incredibly informative!

This small group Zoom session is Sunday at 4:30pm EDT. 👇👇👇

You can register here:
https://calendly.com/notanautismmom/group-communication-toddlers

Come chat with me and Tiffany from Nigh.functioning.Autism about expanding communication options for your nonspeaking toddler! 💜

Intentions are not unimportant, but we must look at our impact, within our relationships and our community.

WE ARE HIRING!

● Do you think education is a powerful tool that everyone deserves?
● Are you creative?
● Do you think communication is a human right?
● Would you like to work with an Autistic led, nonprofit, neurodivergent affirming private school?

We are an Autistic led non-profit, soon to be private school, that believes that all Autistic students deserve a strong education, they just need the right fit. Here at CLC we are building something new - an educational environment where students are provided the supports needed to not just learn, but to express themselves - where sensory needs and motor differences are part of the every day.

If you like teaching and are passionate about finding solutions to tricky situations, we want you to come join us! We offer a dynamic environment with a supportive team of passionate coworkers. We are looking for teachers, OTs, SLPs, music and art therapists and other complimentary specialists. Reach out today!

ID: a golden background with text and word bubbles. In the center is the CLC brain logo. Branching off are 4 word bubbles, each with one of the questions from the beginning of the post.

We very quickly assume intentions and reasons. But there is often so much more to consider.

You are not lazy! 🙅‍♀️

It can be so easy for us to call ourselves lazy when we’re not doing something. In reality, there are many reasons why we aren’t able to do that something. Fatigue, anxiety, depression, executive dysfunction, pain, loneliness, being unsure where to start, etc

Society teaches us that if we are doing anything other than being ‘productive’, then we are lazy. But this fails to recognise many aspects of human diversity, abilities and health conditions that impact our lives

This societal assumption can cause us to shame ourselves and to be unaware of the aspects of who we are that might be affecting us. Simply put, I don’t believe that ‘lazy’ exists. What does exist is mental health problems, neurodiversity, disability, chronic illness, etc

Shaming ourselves doesn’t help us to move forward, in fact it can make us even more overwhelmed. Please try to be gentle and kind with yourself 💜

[ID: An illustration of a sky with two rainbows in it and clouds. Text at the top of the image reads “you’re not lazy, you’re:”. Illustrations represent text, such as a battery for fatigue, cloud for depression, pills for pain, a flare for anxiety, brain for executive dysfunction, unsure face for afraid, question mark for unsure where to start, sad face for overwhelmed and speech bubbles for lonely.]

Because learning and listening don't have a look.

The focus on educating autistic children has historically been on teaching them to behave neurotypically. An inability to do this easily is falsely interpreted as the child lacking cognitive capacity.

Many autistic children, especially nonspeakers and apraxic children, cannot do this. It may take them many years to learn the motor control that comes naturally to other children. This lack of motor control affects their ability to speak and make purposeful movements with their bodies. With understanding they can be coached to gain greater motor control, but it will not come from assuming they are incompetent for lacking it, or from punishing them for being unable to do this easily.

The focus needs to be on adapting their learning environment so they feel safe, accommodating their sensory and motor needs, and giving them the earliest possible access to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).

They need to be taught literacy, numeracy, and educated with the presumption of understanding while they develop these skills. Assume radical competence. Assume language capacity, complex thought, and ability. Treat nonspeaking autistic children as fully understanding, capable little people.

Recognize their agency. Talk to them (not about them while they’re present), read to them, educate them, fight for them.

[image description in comments]

It is never too late to learn, and grow.

I have watched children, teens, and adults, access deep, meaningful communication for the first time in their lives. And it's always amazing. It's life changing for them and everyone in their lives.

It's ok to regret choices we made when we didn't know better. To mourn the lost months and years. But then we take that energy and use it to grow. To share. To do the best we can with what we know NOW.

The only mistake is refusing to grow.

Humans naturally enjoy learning. This doesn't mean we can or will enjoy everything we do all the time. But it does mean that our environments GEARED TOWARDS LEARNING should encourage joyful learning, rather than compliance training.

More un-learning here.

When you create a safe environment that focuses on regulation and collaboration, this term is unnecessary.

This 100% creates an environment of compliance.

Thank you, Not An Autism Mom for this truth.

Attention all teacher and educator friends!

Connections Learning Center is hiring for the fall 🍂🏫🎒

Who we are: a nonprofit educational center, primarily serving nonspeaking and unreliably speaking Autistic people

What we do: we presume competence, support alternative styles of communication, and provide age appropriate education

Who we need: we are looking for teachers, educators, or related professionals who want to work in a creative environment, to help our students get the education they've always deserved, and the communication to express it

* Teaching certificate or other licensure preferred, but not necessary; disability experience not necessary; passion for supporting people and building community a must.

Functioning labels are one of the fastest ways to limit someone and restrict their supports. They come with assumptions that are dangerous, like presuming incompetence, or presuming support needs.

Functioning labels: Part 2

Functioning labels are often used to describe autistic people. These labels can be obvious (“low-functioning,” “high-functioning,” “severe autism,” etc.) or can be more subtle euphemisms.

Describing people in terms of support needs is more respectful but saying they have “high support needs” still tells us nothing about the individual.

Information about being autistic needs to serve a purpose other than simply minimizing non-autistic people’s anxiety or maximizing their sympathy.

If you only want to describe an autistic person as “high functioning” to let others know “they won’t cause you problems” or to ask them, “please don’t immediately project all your negative stereotypes onto my child,” then you’re setting the norm that other people’s prejudice deserves being validated and it’s the autistic person’s responsibility for being able to keep others comfortable by not taking up space or needing support.

If you say “low functioning” or “severely autistic” in the hope that others will have sympathy, you probably sense they’re not safe.

Better ways to characterize autistic people always consider the context and should help others to understand and accommodate them.

“Raya has hyperacusis which means she is very sensitive to loud noise. It actually hurts her. Could we turn down this music?”

“Stevie is nonspeaking and has apraxia and motor disinhibition. That means he can’t coordinate his body for purposeful movement, even for speech, and other times he has behaviors he can’t prevent, similar to tics. He is not misbehaving if he gets up, makes noises, or repeats phrases.”

“Jesse has a lot of anxiety about unexpected changes. When possible, can you help them know in advance of any changes in plans and what to expect?”

If you don’t yet have the language to describe these differences, that’s okay. You’re in the right place! Just hang around, and we will help equip you with the language and framework you need to better understand and talk about autism, autistic people, and .

Hiding a diagnosis only allows those hiding it the comfort of not discussing it. Understanding why you're different (when you already know you are) is an absolute gift, even though it doesn't necessarily make struggles go away.

Autism Acceptance Month: Day 2
The reason I asked this question as part of the survey was largely because of often hearing people say "I won't tell my child they're autistic, because I don't want them to think they're different".

I felt it was worth exploring the likelihood that their children *already* felt different, whether they had a word to contextualise their differences or not.

Turns out almost 90% of autistic respondents were aware of their differences from an early age.
In my opinion, the moral of the story is that if you have a child who's likely to understand that they're different, it's best to empower them by giving them a word and a reason for it, rather than run the risk of them growing up believing that their autism-related struggles are down to personal failures rather than neurology. -Chris

Full results and analysis: https://autisticnotweird.com/autismsurvey/

This is mandatory reading for anyone and everyone who does anything with or around Autistic people.

Results and Analysis of the Autistic Not Weird 2022 Autism Survey Advice and insight from a former teacher with Asperger Syndrome

A must read for anyone who spends time with unreliable communicators.

The Right to Privacy for Nonspeaking Autistics Nick Barry, a young nonspeaking advocate, writes about how the privacy and autonomy of nonspeakers is often violated by those around them, how it feels, and how to do better.

More of what to look forward to in tomorrow's (Wednesday) live event.

Attention all spellers and families of nonspeakers! One of the best community conference events is back in person this summer!

Dreaming of the warmth of Summer? We are too!

Make sure to save the date as I-ASC Presents the Flagship S2C 6th Annual Motormorphosis Conference! Live & In Person in Herndon, VA!

Saturday, July 23rd & Sunday, July 24th, 2022
Come early for a Speller & Community Party on Friday night, July 22nd.

How do you measure up?

A CRP (communication and regulation partner) is a key part of the spelling process. And while learning the motor skills and techniques is important, those aren't the things most requested by the experts.

An Ideal CRP - I-ASC The Experts - I-ASC An Ideal CRP – I-ASC The Experts February 2022 – What’s your idea of an ideal CRP? We have launched a new monthly blog feature called, “I-ASC(I Ask) the Experts”. Our goal is to turn over some of the most frequently asked questions or issues to the true subject matter experts – the spell...

It's been a little quiet over here. Over a month ago, my husband starting getting sick. By mid January he was in the hospital, and he passed away on January 27th.

Today was my first day back at work since my husband died.

I honestly have no idea what I'm doing. But I knew I had to come in. Doing things always helps me organize myself. And I knew the students would want to see me, they've been so concerned.

Turns out my amazing people and .justice.art had the guys make a special project for me. They asked the students for a word that describes me, and then the guys painted the pages.

Don't ever try telling me about how Autistic people lack empathy, or the ability to connect with and care for others.

ID: two water color paintings, each with one word written in cursive, with watercolor paint around the words. One painting says "tough" with a largely blue background, and the other says "hero" with a yellow and green background.

Excited that this course is up and running! Learn more about ASL and AAC:

https://courses.language1st.org/courses/american-sign-language-and-augementative-and-alternative-communication-practical-implementation

Diversity and inclusion and representation should be as wide and deep as the human experience. Check out these books featuring Black Autistic people.

6 Books About Autism Featuring Black Characters - The Kisha Project Finding books about autism featuring black characters was extremely hard because they are few and far between, however they are important.

Some day I'd like for news like this to be surprising. A shocking thing of the past.

EVERY SINGLE ONE of our clients and students has been dismissed by the school system. Over and over. Denied access to communication that actually worked for them. Denied access to a proper education. Denied access to growth and development in a supportive and respectful environment.

This is important for parents of nonspeaking children to read and process. 👇👇👇

This week, I advocated in front of Virginia House of Delegates for my nonspeaking child, his peers, and their teachers. I didn't realize I would be going up agains Autism Speaks and Council of Autism Service Providers - CASP. 🤔

HB 1047 was a MODEST but meaningful bill that would protect nonspeaking students in Virginia by ensuring that -

1) a student's need for AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) wouldn't be used as a reason to segregate that student,

2) school staff would receive training to support their student BEFORE school starts,

3) IQ test results wouldn't be used to deny access to AAC.

These are basic protections already put in place by IDEA, but they don't happen. 💯

This is why the bill was brought forth... because nonspeaking students are segregated at an alarming rate and many aren't even offered AAC.

When I went to speak in favor of this very modest bill, I was joined by several others, including Virginia Education Association, because our teachers WANT training to support their nonspeaking students!

After we spoke, Autism Speaks and CASP (a lobbyist for ABA companies) gave nearly identical testimonies about their "concerns for the bill's language." 🤬 I will put links in the comments.

Anyway, the bill is dead now and won't be voted on this year. 💔

So before you "light it up blue" this April, just remember that Autism Speaks advocated AGAINST protections for my son, his nonspeaking peers, and their teachers in Virginia this week.

And be sure to keep this disgustingly wealthy company in mind as you navigate the IEP process, and as you fight for services and inclusion. 😒

💜 ~ Meghan

Another great tool from Autism Level UP

Join the party!

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." ~Browning

Join us for fun, games, and festivity with fellow spellers.

Register at https://i-asc.org/iasc-events/ , and .