Autism Month

April is Autism Awareness Month


Autism facts to discuss with your students:

• Fact for the week of April 12- 1/88 people are living with autism; this is up from last year due to better identification processes.

• Fact for the week of April 19- Autism is a spectrum disorder, this means that people living with Autism are not all the same; some people can talk just like you and me and others have to communicate in a different way, some people can attend regular school classes will others have to go to a special class room that meets their needs. (These are just a few examples, there are many!!)

• Fact for the week of April 27- Anyone living with a disability prefers being acknowledged as a person first. This means that our friends at school are not autistic kids, they are kids with autism. Think of it this way, if you used a wheelchair would you want to be the “wheelchair kid or the kid who uses a wheelchair” or “a cancer patient or person living with cancer”?

I would like everyone to keep in mind when discussing our students with autism to always facilitate the conversation based on the fact that we are all different. That everybody deserves respect and kindness. Our students with autism are kids, they still like to play, do art, participate in gym, read books, and do puzzles; it just maybe in a different way than most.

We are having a school wide event on Fri. April 27th!

• Blue is the color chosen to represent autism.

• Please wear something blue to acknowledge autism.

• We ask that on Friday April 27th if you choose to wear blue to donate $1.00, in order to help buy our Autism classrooms software and ipads, please see Ms. Liz or Mr. Haude to donate!