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Cultural and Linguistic Diversity

Nov 23
1

Daily routines: give them a chance to communicate!

By | Cultural and Linguistic Diversity, Everything Autism, Tips for Parents and Teachers | No Comments

When do you teach your child to communicate? 

Hand washing, toileting, mealtime, and naptime are some of the daily activities that occur throughout the day. These routines are predictable and regular and therefore can be utilized for natural teaching opportunities to address communication development and related skills. These routines can become ideal learning activities for young children with ASD and developmental disorders especially when some time is taken to plan for what might be taught during such routines. Routines will look different from country to country and from home to home. I am ending a work visit in Saudi Arabia. …

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Nov 13
0

My little mentor

By | Cultural and Linguistic Diversity, Uncategorized | No Comments

I am spending Thanksgiving with my dear friend Susanna, her husband, children and family. This is my first American holiday. It’s postcard perfect. The house with the wooden front porch, children playing with autumn leaves in the back yard (garden), the aroma of turkey and pumpkin pie. Family traveling from afar. This is all very new for me, it’s not quite Christmas in London. My little friend Nikolas, aged 6 is my guide.  We each take turns to say what we are grateful for. My little mentor, Nikolas says, “It’s when we celebrate about everything we are grateful for. I …

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Jun 04
0

A world focus on autism: guest bloggers & multi-lingual reviews of on line sources

By | Cultural and Linguistic Diversity, Everything Autism, Tips for Parents and Teachers | 6 Comments

During the opening week of the United Nations 67th General Assembly, on the 27th of September, Autism Speaks will host its 5th Annual World Focus on Autism. This is exciting for all of us at Hunter becuase it will be held at Hunter College’s Roosevelt House and many of us who are part of the Hunter Autism Research, Practice & Policy Center (HARPP) will be presenting posters. My colleague Nilofer Naqvi and I are excited to be presenting a poster on Autism in Low Income Countries: current status, challenges and solutions, which is based on our grassroots work during …

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Apr 30
0

Ghana hosts first Autism summit to mark World Autism Day

By | Cultural and Linguistic Diversity, Everything Autism | No Comments

Ghana hosts first Autism summit to mark World Autism Day

The first ever autism conference in a western African country will be held in Accra, Ghana- April 2011: The Global Autism Project, in association with Teachers Without Borders and the Awareness, Care and Training Centre (AACT), will be hosting the first West African autism conference in Accra, Ghana on the 7th-10th April. The conference will be held at the Kama Conference Center for the first 3 days and then the last day will be at the W.E.B. Dubois Center. It will consist of lectures, workshops, discussion groups, …

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Apr 02
0

Reforming Special Education and Teacher Training in Egypt

By | Cultural and Linguistic Diversity, Everything Autism, Tips for Parents and Teachers | No Comments

As we move ahead and pave the way to a New Egypt I sincerely hope that an important item on the agenda of change will be Education, education for all! This must include children in Egypt with special needs. It has been my mission since 1994 to develop services for these children. Those who share this mission with me and have set up NGOs in Egypt such as the Advance Society or Nidaa, know that it has been an ongoing struggle. I don’t think it will be a struggle any more we have seen what people power and passion can …

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Feb 05
0

Bus Stop Conversations

By | Cultural and Linguistic Diversity, Everything Autism | 2 Comments

Location 1: 5th Avenue and East 75th St. It’s a windy January morning and I am waiting for the bus as are three other ladies. We stand there for more than 10 minutes. No eye contact, no acknowledgment of each other’s presence and no attempt to start a conversation. No one says: Have you been waiting long? Oh what cold weather we are having. I have learnt unless there’s an emergency DO NOT INITIATE CONVERSATION while waiting for the bus. When I once asked a lady at the same bus stop if she had been waiting long she looked at …

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Nov 06
0

Flesh+PowWow=….Que?

By | Cultural and Linguistic Diversity | No Comments

I grew up in London,  am relatively new to NYC and in the absence of context struggle to comprehend certain NYC specific phrases. So when I was told to “Flush the assignment out at your next pow wow!”. I understood it to mean…

“POW, Batman throws a punch, WOW, he knocks down the villain as Robin jumps into the car, Batman grabs the assignment that needs to be destroyed, flushes it down the gutter and saves the day”

Well I couldn’t have been more mistaken… “Pow wow”= Sit around the fire smoking a peace pipe with colleagues …”Flesh”= Add more …

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