Greetings Everyone:

Here is wishing all Moms have a Happy Mother's Day this Sunday. Here in California we have been dealing with fires this past week and extreme heat. I have seen on the news that Florida is also experiencing fires. I want to share something I wrote down last year when watching fire coverage on CNN.

The 6 Ps for getting ready to evacuate:

People
Pets
Prescriptions/Pills
Photos
Papers - Important Documents
Plastic - Water jugs, containers, credit cards


Also download computer hard drive, load up car with gas and have cash available.

On that note I am posting some links to older articles that are relevant at this time:

Prepare Now - essential items for the family with an autistic child -

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art18268.asp

Tips for Keeping children on the autism spectrum safe -

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art40928.asp

I have an article in the works that I thought would be posted by now. It is on consent forms and incident reports. Unfortunately there was an incident with Matthew and his aide at school on Tuesday. The recess routine was changed a bit since he needed a diaper change and when they lined up to go back to the classroom Matthew hit his aide in the face and did something to her elbow.

I am not quite certain since the school was having graduation ceremonies for Track D that same day and the Principal was on the playground and instructed office personnel to call me and come get my son. The Principal at the school does not seem to comprehend the difference between discipline problems in general ed and an accident due to change in routine with a child in special ed who has an IEP.

The call was to tell me this took place and that since the aide was leaving the premises to go to the Doctor I would have to pick up my son. It just so happens that his behavior support plan has a contingency plan stated that he gets additional assistance should his aide be out sick or not there. There was no reason to contact me and ask me to pick up my child from school due to her leaving and the teacher explained this to the Principal.

I called behavior support specialist at the Los Angeles Unified School District to report this call and spoke to parent resource network. I called back the school to see if Matt was suspended, they said No and I said that if I am required to pick him up than they need to do an IEP meeting so he could get comp time for missed school time. They said it was not necessary and the call was done in error.

So once I get a copy of this incident report and look through his file I will have an article with samples of these terms and what the procedures are. I just hope that due to language barriers or ignorance that no other parent thinks they have to pick up their special education child because an aide is not available. They are entitled to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).


Here's the latest article from the Autism Spectrum Disorders site at BellaOnline.com.

Look Mom! I Have Good Manners - DVD Review
Children learn proper etiquette for school, telephone, meals, playtime and healthy manners in this thirty-minute DVD that is appropriate for those on the autism spectrum.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art50752.asp

An article I posted this week on the Insurance site you may be interested in:

Safety at the Pharmacy Counter -

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art50744.asp


Please visit http://AutismSpectrumDisorders.bellaonline.com for even more great content about Autism Spectrum Disorders.

To participate in free, fun online discussions, this site has a community forum all about Autism Spectrum Disorders located here -

http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=365

I hope to hear from you sometime soon, either in the forum or in response to this email message. I thrive on your feedback!

Have fun passing this message along to family and friends, because we all love free knowledge!

Bonnie Sayers, Autism Spectrum Disorders Editor
http://AutismSpectrumDisorders.bellaonline.com

One of hundreds of sites at BellaOnline.com