The Autism Advocate

Welcome to The Autism Advocate, ANNA’s monthly newsletter! We hope this will be a helpful source of information about upcoming events, tips for caregivers, community resources and more. We would love to hear your feedback and ideas for future editions!

ANNA Announcements

Important Dates and Upcoming Events

Calmer Con Boston: Saturday, August 24, 2024 10am-5pm

ANNA will be hosting a table at Calmer Con Boston, a sensory-friendly comics and pop culture convention, and we would love to see you there! The event will include Jedi training, drawing workshops, Superhero Academy, Pokémon club, Lego building, entertainment and vendors. Cosplay is encouraged so feel free to dress as your favorite character!

Calmer Con Boston will take place at The Meadowbrook School, 10 Farm Rd. in Weston, MA. Admission is free with registration and you can learn more here.

ANNA Open House: Saturday, September 28, 2024 10am-2pm

Save the date for our September Open House! Current families are invited to meet and mingle with one another, while prospective families and community members are welcome to come see the space and learn about our services. We will provide fun activities and supervision for the kids as well as refreshments and opportunities for adults to connect. More information to come, hope to see you there!

Caregiver Connections

We will begin offering virtual support groups for families this month, with both a daytime and evening option. This is an informal way to connect with other caregivers for emotional support, resource sharing or whatever you need! These groups will take place on Teams and you can request the link by emailing [email protected] or calling/texting Ashley at (617) 307-3989.

Upcoming support groups:

Monday, July 22nd from 6:30-7:30pm

Thursday, July 25th from 10-11am

Monday, August 19th from 6:30-7:30pm

Thursday, August 22nd from 10-11am

Ask ANNA

Do you have something you’d like to ask the ANNA team? Please submit your question here and we will answer it in a future newsletter!

Support Your Child’s Development

When your child is learning a new skill, such as using a particular word or completing a task independently, you may notice that they are able to do it sometimes and not other times. It might depend on where they are, who’s around them, how they’re feeling or any number of other factors. This is very common and it is ok! Recognizing this inconsistency as an expected part of development is important, and can help reduce frustration for both you and your child.

A useful phrase to keep in mind is “inspire, don’t require.” This means that you can inspire your child by demonstrating the skill for them, providing prompts and other support and giving them time to respond. If they demonstrate the skill, that’s wonderful and you should both feel great about your progress! However, try removing the pressure from both yourself and your child by not expecting or requiring them to do this every time- remember that they likely can’t because they are still learning.

Providing your child with low-stress opportunities to observe and think about the new skill is an important part of helping them master it, and shows that you are proud of them no matter what!

Staff Spotlight

Helena Costa is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) with ten years of experience providing specialized care to individuals with autism and their families. Her clinical approach is rooted in evidence-based practices that combine traditional autism care approaches with cultural responsivity, naturalistic teaching and trauma-informed practice.

Helena’s initiatives extend beyond clinical parameters, involving parent empowerment, staff development, and community engagement. At home, Helena enjoys gardening in her yard and spending time with her two dogs, Charlie and Callie!

Featured Resource

Federation for Children with Special Needs (FCSN)

The Federation for Children with Special Needs (FCSN) is Massachusetts’ Parent Training and Information Center, and offers a wide range of supports and resources for families. With a strong commitment to language access, the FCSN team includes individuals who speak Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Mandarin, Vietnamese and several other languages. Most staff members are parents or family members of individuals with disabilities.

FCSN offers numerous programs including Parent to Parent, which facilitates supportive connections between caregivers of children with similar needs, and the Caregiver to Caregiver Respite Network which supports the exchange of respite care among families. Their Information Center provides guidance and support around special education, and FCSN offers many workshops and trainings for families on topics such as special education rights, IEP development, transition and more.

These are just a few examples of FCSN’s offerings, and you can learn much more at fcsn.org.

Recommended Reading

Sincerely, Your Autistic Child

Sincerely, Your Autistic Child is a collection of essays by autistic writers, compiled and edited by Emily Paige Ballou, Sharon daVanport and Morénike Giwa Onaiwu. Providing personal insights and perspectives on autism, the book challenges common stereotypes and addresses important topics such as relationships and self-advocacy. This is an incredibly valuable resource for anyone seeking to better understand autism from the perspective of those who live it.

Morénike, a multiply disabled and neurodivergent global human rights and disability scholar, author, advocate and parent, says this about the book: “I think what excites me most is that this book represents a “meeting of the minds” in that it explicitly amplifies the perspectives of autistic people, but it intentionally strives to provide both conceptual and practical information to non-autistic readers, particularly (but of course not limited to) parents, professionals, and allies. Moreover, the book seeks to broaden the “face” of autism beyond common societal generalizations and thus debunk a lot of the misconceptions about autistic people and autism itself.”

Caregiver Affirmation

“I am exactly who my child needs”

Being a parent or caregiver is hard work and none of us are perfect. We all have unique strengths, needs and capabilities- just like our kids!

It’s important to remember that being ourselves, knowing our limits and taking care of our own needs are all important parts of being an effective and loving caregiver, but many of us feel guilty when we do those things. We might wonder if, while meeting our own needs, we have fallen short of meeting the needs of our child.

This is a common feeling that can be hard to shake, but let’s consider the importance of teaching our kids how to set boundaries and advocate for their needs. What better way to do that than to demonstrate it for them? Next time you start to feel guilty about taking a break or doing something just for you, try to remember that you are setting an example for your child of how to do the same. This is a wonderful gift you are giving to them.

So embrace your uniqueness, advocate for your needs and feel confident that by doing so you are meeting an incredibly important need for your child- you are teaching them to do the same for themselves!

How can we improve? Please share any feedback about our services, this newsletter or anything else you’d like us to know!