The Reason For It All

Can Stealing Buses, Trains Be a Sickness?

DIR®/Floortime Support Meetings in Solana Beach

Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation

Why Juice Plus+???

St. Maddie's Fashion Show, August 23rd

Police Officer and Father needs feedback and suggestions

Autism Speaks 100 Day Kit

Parent/Therapist needs feedback

Autism Tree Project: San Jose Mentor Event

ASA-Santa Barbara Hosts Surf and Beach Day

For Parents New to Autism

IEP Team Disasters: Common Substantive and Procedural Mistakes to Avoid

Parent wants to teach tolerance to other middle schoolers

Melaleuca, The Wellness Company

Report-Teachers Under-prepared for Diversity and Special Ed Students

Empowering Through Information
and the Fostering of Connections

I never endorse anyone or anything. Opinions expressed in what I send out, may not be shared by me. Everything is for informational purposes only.

People who "advertise" through this newsletter have never been checked out by me. This includes professionals and even people who are interested in babysitting, etc.

Please take the time to thoroughly check out anyone and everyone that will be working with or caring for your child. We are all sadly aware, through news stories and word of mouth, of people who pray upon special needs children because of their extra vulnerability.

Thank you,
Valerie Dodd-Saraf
My enewsletters are archived on my website:
www.ValeriesList.com

Some boys never grow out of their attraction to moving vehicles. As adults, they just transition from toys to the real thing.

So it was for 18-year-old James L. Harris, who was arrested on July 22 in Florida for burglary and grand theft auto of a Miami-Dade Transit bus. According to the Miami-Dade Police Department, Harris dressed up like a bus driver and drove the bus throughout the county.

Darius McCollum, however, is more of a train man. On June 14, the 43-year-old was arrested in New York City for criminal trespassing in the subway. According to the New York County District Attorney's Office, it was his 11th arrest in Manhattan.

This coming Wednesday, August 6, we will be having a 9-1030 am professionals support meeting and a 1030-noon parents/ caregivers meeting. These are open to the public - no prior DIR/Floortime experience is necessary. We are excited to have a new format for the parent/ caregiver meetings, with demo tapes and discussion on specific topics. Meetings are at my building, 415 North Highway 101, Suite A, Solana Beach, CA. Come early for better parking. Sorry there is no child care available.

We are excited to offer a number of other services this coming year as well:

For this fall we are also planning a parents' focused group for parents who have taken the DIR® Basic course or are otherwise very interested in meeting with other parents to review videos and discuss them.

For professionals seeking certification who have taken the DIR® Basic course online of have other suitable training, we are offering three sections of monthly tutoring where over the course of the academic year people will read, present cases, learn, do lots of video scoring, give and receive lots of feedback and gradually write and build their presentations for professional development and for use toward certification.

Finally, we are setting up free access to books and DVDs for review on site by appointment. Please email Mara Goverman at msg@san.rr.com for more information on any of these programs.

Hope to see you Wednesday!
Dr Feder
858-509-0523

If you've landed on this Web site, it's probably because somewhere someone you know is affected by pediatric bipolar disorder. Welcome to the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation where we offer information, support, and encouragement in this most challenging arena. Our community is available to you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We want you to know you are never alone.

Why Juice Plus+?
The best way to answer that question, is to ask another. How do you think you would feel; how healthy would your body be; how much positive energy would you have, if you ate a serving of 15 different fruits and vegetables and 2 grains EVERYDAY?
That is what JP+ is and that is what it does.

Juice Plus+ provides the natural nutrition (millions of nutrients) of fully ripened, RAW fruits and vegetables in a capsulated form for adults and chewables and gummies for kids.

The cost for adults is $41.50 per month, or $1.36 per day. (Could your buy a serving of 15 fruits and veggies, and eat all of them, RAW for $1.36 per day?)

The cost for kids for Chewables or Gummies is $22.50 per month, or .74 cents per day? Could you even get your kids to eat 15 RAW, fruits and veggies per day?

For more information about Juice Plus+ and/or purchase it, please visit my website here. JP+ is certified GF/CF Dairy Free and Kosher!!! Click here for info on ingredients for all the JP+ products.

Starting in September, I will be having Juice Plus+ In-Home Parties. It is a great way to learn more about good, lasting health and JP+. If you are interested in learning about JP+ as a home-based business, click here. Juice Plus+ and its' parent company NSA, are NOT Multi-Level Marketing Companies. 95% of the people who order from the companies are customers only. NSA has been in business for 47 years.

Juice Plus+ "Thins" and anxiety and OCD:
Since, giving Tony "Thins" everyday, starting just 2 years ago, with no other medication or change, I noticed that Tony was more relaxed. Less anxiety. And, even more remarkable his repetitive, obsessive behaviors dropped about 80%. Changes in his routine/schedule became much easier, new experiences were no longer hard. Repetitive behaviors/routines nearly disappeared. I have been also able to reduce his medications: Zyprexa, Celexa & Tenex.

Please think seriously about giving this a try!!! If you have any questions about the "Thins", please email me and if you would like to order them, click here.

I now have several families that are going to give the "Thins" a try. It will be several weeks before I know if this is going to work for others, besides Tony. As soon as I know anything, you all will know!!!

St. Madeleine Sophie's Center 31st Annual Fashion Show
"Haute with Heart"
Saturday, August 23, 2008
10am to 2:30pm
Sheraton Harbor Island and Marina

Tickets before 8/6:
$60 per ticket or $600 per table -regular seating
$100 per ticket or $1,000 per table -VIP seating

Tickets after 8/6:
$75 per ticket or $750 per table -regular seating
$125 per ticket or $1,250 per table -VIP seating

Price includes a fabulous lunch with the fashion show and boutique shopping. There will also be opportunity drawings, Silent and Live Auctions. Join local Celebrities, like Carol LeBeau, Mayor Sanders and his wife, Phyllis Parrish and Sally Thorton for all the fun!

Hurry and get your tickets, over 600 tickets have been sold and we are just about sold out!!!

Valerie,
My name is Brian Herritt. I am a Police Officer at Palomar College, but more importantly I the father of a child with Autism. I am currently working on a project to provide training for every law enforcement agency in San Diego and Imperial County in handling persons with Autism. I have secured funding through a generous donation from the Foundation for Developmental Disabilities in San Diego County. I am creating a training "basket" for each agency. I am looking for items to place in these baskets. Information on other disabilities is welcomed as well. Pamphlets, products that law enforcement may use, or other training material would be greatly appreciated. If anyone has any ideas or items they would like to see added please have them contact me. My contact information is below.

Respectfully Submitted,
Officer Brian Herritt
Palomar College Police Dept.
1140 West Mission Road
San Marcos, Ca. 92543
bherritt@palomar.edu
(760)744-1150 X 2289

The Autism Speaks 100 Day Kit was created specifically for families to make the best possible use of the 100 days following the diagnosis of autism. The kit contains information and advice collected from trusted and respected experts on autism as well as from parents of children with autism.

The 100 Day Kit includes a week by week plan for the next 100 days, as well as organizational suggestions and forms that parents/caregivers can use to help with the paperwork and phone calls, as they begin to find services for their child.

The kit is available on line in PDF format for all to view and download. Users also have the ability to personalize their own kit with local resources in their area.

Go to http://www.autismspeaks.org/community/family_servic es/100_day_kit.php for information about any of these options.

Valerie,
I was hoping to ask the autism families for some feedback. As we know, insurance issues are very frustrating with our kids. Specifically, I have been trying to find a way for social thinking groups to be paid for as psychotherapy because I believe they are just that. The social thinking groups here in San Diego are run by speech therapists (who are properly trained-just have the "wrong" license for billing), who cannot bill for psychotherapy, so insurance will not pay. My insurance has great mental health coverage but no speech coverage, so they won't pay for these groups. My oldest son with Asperger's needs the social thinking program to address anxiety and all the other issues that go along with it. Our problem is that none of the therapists on our insurance panel are trained in (Winner's) social thinking, and they don't do groups. I am a licensed psychotherapist myself and I am considering getting trained by Michelle Winner's clinic so that I can provide group therapy in San Diego using her social thinking model for these kids, and legally bill insurance for the service. Is this something that folks would want? It seems like such a specific little niche, but I am willing to get myself trained in this if it will help other families access services for the aspie kids who would otherwise not get covered. If you have any feedback please email me at jmvos@yahoo.com. Thanks so much.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008, 6:30-8PM at Customer Service Realty, San Jose

The event will include a light dinner and wine plus networking, followed by an hour of mentoring from 7- 8PM. RSVP by August 15 to daynahoff@cox.netor 619-980-8614. If this will be your first event, please fill out and return one of the mentor/mentee request forms, found here. View the flyer for more information (PDF).

ASA-SB has partnered with the Santa Barbara Seals to host a unique surfing event designed with families in mind! Surf and Beach Day will take place Saturday, August 16, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara, Calif. The SB Seals are professional coaches and competitors with over 50 years' combined experience in surfing. There will be an amazing 3:1 teacher-to-student ratio while in the water. Several Santa Barbara Seals staff members have successfully completed "Autism 101: Training for the Uninitiated," provided by Evelyn Kung, M.A., BCBA, through the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

Kayaking and boogie boarding will also be available. There will be plenty of activities and games on the beach as well, including Touch Tanks, Indo Boards and the "Winners Circle" at the conclusion of the day. Snacks and drinks will be available, as well as a goodie bag for each child. Wetsuits and surfboards will be provided by the SB Seals.

Families are encouraged to bring a picnic (especially for dietary-sensitive folks), plenty of sunscreen and their favorite beach toys. RSVP to 805-560-3762 or info@asasb.org. YOU MUST RSVP IN ORDER TO RESERVE A SPACE AT THE EVENT. Please make sure to leave your name, phone number, your child's name and age, and how many in your family will be attending, including the ages of any siblings.

Erin, an About.com reader, is the mom of a 20 month- old daughter on the autism spectrum. She's trying hard to help her daughter connect with friends and family, but like many parents new to the autism community, she's feeling alone and overwhelmed.

Here's what Erin has to say:
I've recently discovered that my 20 month-old da