Managing Anxiety Through Relaxation Techniques

This 2-part workshop introduces the impact of anxiety and stress on individuals with autism.  Through interactive discussions and exercises, participants will learn to describe the components of anxiety, identifying the specific stressors that impact their children, and how self-regulation strategies may be implemented to alleviate children’s anxiety in their respective environments.  Families will have the opportunity to record data, design and customize a relaxation program, and rehearse using them with the group. 

Introduction to Social Skills Development

This 2-part workshop introduces parents to the fundamentals of teaching social skills to children with Autism.  Common themes include defining “social skills”, how to best teach such skills, addressing pre-requisite skills, and writing social stories and scripts.   Discussions and exercises examining how to break tasks down into smaller sub-tasks, along with how these teaching opportunities fits into the diagnosis criterion of Autism will be facilitated.  Families will have opportunities to record data, and implement some basic strategies following the conclusion of session #1.

The Value of Reinforcement

This 1-part workshop introduces parents to the many ways to reinforce someone for their efforts, and the important relation between behaviour and reinforcement.  Common themes include how to determine what is reinforcing to a particular individual, and methods to evaluate a reinforcer.  Group discussions will address frequency, time, and immediacy of reinforcement, and determining where to start, along with the behaviours and skills to be reinforced.  The primary outcome of these sessions is to enable parents to determine when, and how to use reinforcement with their children.

Visual Transition Strategies

This session will focus on the importance of visual aids as a tool for increasing your child’s communicative abilities, pro-social behaviours and coping skills.  Group discussions will focus on what visual aids would be particularly useful for each participant’s child, and specific ideas will be provided on how to create these visual tools.

Parenting Strategies

This 1-part workshop offers an opportunity for parents to explore parenting style, and better understand the function of their children’s behaviours.  Common themes include, “The Whats and Whys of Behaviour”, “Instructing, Prompting and Teaching”, and “Reinforcement”. Parents will discuss their approaches to parenting.  

Talking to Your Child about Their Diagnosis

This 2-part workshop assists families in determining and identifying if their child is ready to explore aspects of the diagnosis of Autism, without yet using the term.  A review of ways to determine how to broach the notion of sameness and difference, special interests and talents, and who in the child’s “circle” may provide support for the family and the child.  Activities will be explored to help facilitate the process, along with the function of exploring these topics with your child will be reviewed.