ASCEND News: PAN & ASCEND partner for 4/23 conference, ASD in the media, events, and more!

For the third year, the Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival will feature two teams comprised of teens on the autism spectrum. Carol Lee Linder, the dynamo behind this festival that takes place on the Schuylkill River each fall, says, “These two teams are the highlight of the festival for me. We start training in July. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to do this.”

ASCEND began a collaboration with the Festival—now in its ninth year—in 2009. The benefits of participating in a sport like dragon boat racing—building social skills, learning the benefits of teamwork, regular physical activity—cannot be underestimated.

“The parents do not understand how much it helps the athletes until they do it,” says Carol Lee. “It is a team sport. One boat is an intergenerational team, meaning the athletes and their parents paddle together. The other team is competitive and is made up of more experienced and older athletes.” Last year, the competitive team, supported by ASCEND, ranked 40th out of 154 teams!

New paddlers are currently being recruited. Participants will meet for practice every Wednesday, 4:30-6:00PM, at Lloyd Hall (Kelly Drive and Waterworks Drive, #1 Boat House Row) in Philadelphia.

For more information about signing up for these teams, contact Gary McCormick, an ASCEND dad and captain of the intergenerational team, at gmbm888@msn.com. For further details about the sport of dragon boat racing and the Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival, visit www.philadragonboatfestival.com.

Only 70 seats remaining!
The 5th Annual Penn Autism Network Conference is filling up fast! Don’t miss this region’s premier event focused on adults with autism, as well as transition to adulthood.This year’s keynote speaker is John Elder Robison, author of the best selling book Look Me In the Eye, My Life with Asperger’s.

Date: Friday, April 23, 2010
Time: 8:15AM-4:00PM
Where: Willliamson Restaurant, Horsham, PA

Saturday, April 3, 10AM—Meeting for Families of Adults, Norristown, PA
All parents and other adult family members or caregivers of adults with Asperger Syndrome and similar diagnoses are welcome to attend any of our support meetings. Click www.ascendgroup.org for more details. Any changes to this schedule will be posted on the ASCEND website.

Pre-K Program: Pre-K Program: An intensive treatment program for children 2-5 years old held Monday though Friday, 9:00AM -2:00PM. Social Competency: An afternoon program designed to facilitate social skills and competencies in children and adolescents 6-15 years old. This program is held Monday/ Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday, 4:00-6:00PM.
Headquarters: 3905 Ford Road, Ste. 6, Philadelphia, PA
Northeast Satellite: 2801 Grant Avenue, Philadelphia, PA
Contact: Intake Coordinator at info@thecenterforautism.org or 215-220-2163
www.thecenterforautism.org or click here for the .pdf flyer.

To have your event listed in ASCEND’s enewsletter, please visit our website and fill out the online event form.

4/7/10, 6:30-8:30PM
Aria Health System, Conference Room 4,Red Lion & Knights Roads, Phila., PA

Monthly support group for parents, caregivers, families and educators of children with ADHD. Guest speaker in April will focus on secondary education in regard to documentation, accommodations, transition from high school to college.

Dr. David Amaral - CAR Distinguished Lecture Series
4/8/10, 7:00PM-9:00PM
Abramson Research Center, Room 123ABC, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Phila., PA
David Amaral, PhD, is the Director of Research at the UC Davis M.I.N.D.

Institute, a collaborative international research center, committed to the awareness, understanding, prevention, care and cure of neurodevelopmental disorders. In this talk, Dr. Amaral will discuss the current state and future directions of autism research. Fee: FREE

Changing Paradigms: Thinking (And Feeling) Like a Family Therapist
4/13/10, 9:30AM-3:30PM
Holiday Inn, 2175 W. Marlton Pike (Route 70), Cherry Hill, NJ

In this workshop, the participant learns how to redirect treatment or counseling perspectives from viewing problems as residing exclusively within the individual client to evaluating and treating the client as part of an overall family and social system. Fee: $100
Contact: David Hoffmann via email or 610-203-1926
www.sourcesforhumanservices.com

Emerging Into Young Adulthood with Autism: Community Responses to Urgent Needs
Keynote Speaker: Fred Volkmar, Director of the Yale Child Study Center
4/22/10, 8:30AM-4:15PM
2100 Arch St., Room #200, Phila., PA
This symposium will examine the impact of emerging into young adulthood with autism. Attendees will learn about rising prevalence rates and how this affects planning and service delivery for the young-adult population. The keynote address, The Changing Face of Autism: Emerging Challenges and Opportunities in Working With Young Adults, will guide attendees through the practicalities of entering into young adulthood. Other topics to be covered include: healthy relationships and sexuality, employment, housing, and building personal relationships, and vocational and housing opportunities.
Fee: FREE
Contact: Lori Warsaw via email or 267-256-2255
www.ujafedny.org/autism-symposium-program

A Practical Guide to Using Community Resources to Get People with Disabilities To and Through College

4/23/10, 5/6/10, 6/1/10
Horizon House, 120 South 30th St., 3rd Fl., Philadelphia, PA

A two-part training for those who work with individuals with disabilities to help them access and succeed in post-secondary education, career training, and competitive employment opportunities. Fee: FREE
Contact: Roody McNair, 215-386-3838, ext. 151 or via email.
hhinc.org

From the article: "Plans by the American Psychiatric Assn. to drop it in favor of a more generic autism diagnosis ignores the differences between the condition and its more problematic counterpart." read more >

Asperger's Pilot Program
San Francisco Chronicle, February 27, 2010
From the blog: “When people learn the my son Matthew has two younger brothers that are 'normal,' they're curious. How has having a brother like Matthew has affected them?” read more here >

Autism through the lifespan: Adulthood
Part seven of a nine-part series covering autism’s impact through the lifespan.
WHYY, March 14, 2010
From the website: “As far as an adult with autism goes, Jeff Hudale is kinda the poster-child. He’s been in studies, sat on state task forces and is active in the autism community. He was in his teens, misdiagnosed with schizophrenia when doctors found that he actually had autism.” read more >

Telling the Story: Autism in the Media
Psychology Today, March 14, 2010
From the blog: "’Assburgers Syndrome’ doesn't exist. So why have so many people been Googling it? The answer to that illustrates the impact that media can have in autism awareness, both for good and for bad. Tuesday, the new NBC show Parenthood formally diagnosed one if its characters with Asperger's. By Wednesday, the resultant public interest had led 'Asperger's Syndrome' and other, more unfortunate, variants to become the top search trend in Google. The public interest is gratifying, but given the confusion that unfamiliar viewers had over the spelling alone - it begs the question: What should the role of media be in autism awareness?"
read more >

Autism: How is your marriage holding up?
San Francisco Chronicle, March 17, 2010
From the blog: “Once upon a time, a long time ago, I joined a support group for mothers of young children with developmental disabilities. I'd never been the support group type, but figured I needed all the help I could get.” read more >

Mom: How Asperger’s changed my family
Shonda Schilling writes about her struggle to understand her son
MSNBC, March. 24, 2010

From the website: “Shonda Schilling, the wife of retired Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, shares the painful and joyous story of her son Grant's struggle with Asperger's syndrome, and how it changed her life and her family. In this excerpt from her book, ‘The Best Kind of Different,’ she recounts her breaking point as a mother who didn't understand what was wrong with her son.”
read more >

Cornell coach Steve Donahue finds special inspiration for NCAA tournament run
Washington Post, March 25, 2010
From the article: “The text message arrived on Cornell Coach Steve Donahue's cellphone minutes before the Big Red upset Wisconsin in the second round of the NCAA tournament. It was a message from one coach to another: ‘If you don't dream to become a champion, you won't become a champion.’ The coach was not one of Donahue's college basketball contemporaries. It was Jason McElwain, a 21-year-old volunteer junior varsity assistant coach [with autism] from the Rochester, N.Y., area.” read more >

Autistic Teen's Perfect NCAA Tournament Bracket Is No More
Fanhouse.com, March 26, 2010
From the website: “For 48 games plus a play-in, Alex Herrmann was perfect. The autistic teenager from Chicago became a national story when he picked every winner in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. He was right about Northern Iowa over Kansas, and Ohio over Georgetown -- two upsets virtually nobody outside of Cedar Falls or Athens predicted -- and now, after Thursday's four Sweet 16 games, Herrmann's perfect bracket is no more.” read more >

The Organization for Autism Research will award $3,000 scholarships to deserving individuals diagnosed on the autism spectrum and enrolled or accepted to an institution of higher learning. Qualifying institutions include two- or four-year undergraduate colleges and trade, technical, or vocational schools. This year, OAR offers an additional scholarship specifically for a student residing in New Jersey. The application period for will close on April 30. All applications must be postmarked on or before that date. www.researchautism.org/news/otherevents/scholarship.asp

Applications due April 2, 2010
Are you interested in getting involved in the national disability youth movement? Are you between the ages of 12 and 24? Are you interested in learning how to inform youth about their rights, give peer-support and training, and to change systems to include youth? If you answered "YES" to these questions, Kids As Self Advocates (KASA) wants YOU! National Kids As Self Advocates [KASA] has positions opening up on our Advisory Board and Task Force. www.fvkasa.org

From Autism Asperger Publishing Co.: “Teaching social skills just got a little easier with the help of The Social Times, a monthly magazine written in students’ ‘voice.’ This fun and informative teaching aid for grades three to nine is a welcome supplement to any social skills program. The Social Times, volume 2, has been expanded for 2010-11 to nine issues, one for each month of the school year. The cost is only $51 for ten student copies (all nine issues) or $5.10 per student for the entire school year." www.asperger.net/

Please send items for consideration for our enews to info@ascendgroup.org
with “Enews Idea” in the subject line.

ASCEND's enewsletter is partially funded via a generous grant from CCRES.

ASCEND Group Inc. is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. We do not endorse any specific professional or therapeutic treatment. We are not meant to be a replacement for medical or legal advice. Our mission is to raise public awareness about Asperger Syndrome and related disorders, to advocate for improved education and services, and to provide support and information to the Asperger and autism community.

This newsletter is for informational purposes only. Any link or mention in our newsletter should not be construed as an endorsement or recommendation.

The official registration and financial information of ASCEND Group Inc. may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll-free, within Pennsylvania, 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.