Summer Camps for Children with Special Needs

Are you looking for camps for your child to attend this summer? 

Seattle Children's Center for Special Needs has created an entire directory of special needs summer camps! 

Click here to navigate the online directory

Click here to see the entire directory in PDF

April is... Autism Awareness Month!

The tenth annual World Autism Awareness Day was Sunday, April 2nd. The Washington Autism Alliance & Advocacy (WAAA) hosted the WAAAlk for Autism at Marina Park in Kirkland on April 2nd. If you missed Autism Awareness Day and the WAAAlk on April 2nd, the entire month of April is National Autism Awareness Month. This month is to educate the public about autism and to raise awareness & acceptance for those with Autism. 

You can help raise awareness/acceptance by wearing blue or red for the month of April. 

The “Light It Up Blue” campaign is backed by Autism Speaks. They have traditionally been focused on ‘curing’ or preventing autism in children by funding research. You can show your support by wearing blue. 

#RedInstead is a campaign that is apart of Autism Acceptance Month. Their goal is to shift from just raising awareness to encouraging others to become more open and accepting of autistic individuals. You can show your support by wearing red. 

You can also show your support at the Autism Speaks Walk in Seattle on September 23, 2017. You can donate or sign up to walk and help to raise funds for Autism Speaks. Click Here to learn more. 

You can support the autism community year round with the Puzzle Ribbon. The ‘Puzzle Ribbon’ is the symbol for Autism awareness and is promoted by the Autism Society as a means of supporting awareness/acceptance for autism. 

Decision Making Opportunities for those with a Communication Disorder

Making little choices is an important daily function. We make decisions about what to wear, what to eat, and what to do daily. Imagine if someone else was making these decisions for you. Would you be happy with their decision? Despite the insignificance of these decisions, not making these decisions yourself can be demoralizing and limiting. 

It’s important to recognize how this may affect those with a communication disorder. Helping them to express their needs and wants through giving options could dilute a potential frustrating situation for them. While they may not know how to respond to open ended questions, giving choices can help them give an appropriate answer while practicing recall. For example, “Would you like to eat a banana or an orange?” instead of "What would you like to eat?"

Giving them the option to make these decisions gives them a sense of independence and empowerment. This also demonstrates that you respect their desires and needs.

Benefits of giving choices:

• Allowing children to make decisions demonstrates the role communication plays in making requests in a concrete, immediate way. For example, “Would you like to tie your shoes or would you like me to do it for you?”

• Giving them choices creates opportunities to model and expand language.

• Offering choices helps to set expectations when giving directions. Phrasing a command as two choices can give you a quicker response while helping the child to feel independent and as if it was their idea. For Example, “Would you like to put your socks or shirt on first?” This questions has an underlying command saying “It’s time to get ready.”

Also, it can help to make the child feel in control of their environment. Giving two choices can help them to maintain predictability and reduce the uncertainty of their environment.