What’s New in the Special Needs Community? “SKATE AND SLIDE” Event Gives Children with Special Needs an Up-Close Ice Rink Experience. OSWEGO, NY – Oswego Minor Hockey Association, in partnership with ARC of Oswego County, returns with last year’s popular “Skate and Slide” event, a special free opportunity for children with special needs and their families to experience an ice rink. Volunteer Minor Hockey Association players were on hand to guide children around the ice, whether they choose to skate or simply walk. Children can be pulled on sleds around the ice. For some children, this was their first experience on an ice rink. Often, families hesitate to bring their children with disabilities to a public place such as an ice rink because of accessibility issues, or fearing that a child’s inability to skate may disrupt the experience for other attendees. With this special event, however, parents and siblings can enjoy some time on the ice with their child with special needs without worry. Patricia Moody- has been nominated for two “Have You Heard Disability Advocacy RISE” awards: Rising in Entertainment & The Rise Award The YouTube video you will see was taken in 2007 when Patricia’s voice coach, Tania Ortega-Cowan, invited her to perform sign language to the song “Wind Beneath My Wings”.Since that time Patricia has performed both sign language and singing for several occasions, including presenting her own concert, “PATRICIA LIVE!”, which was a charity benefit for our local ARC. We were surprised by this nomination but we are so proud of Patricia and her gifts and her true love of people. She loves sign language and she loves teaching it to others – and they love her in return. Go to http://hyhonline.com/riseawards/cast-your-vote/ and please vote for Patricia Moody. Thank you, Nancy and Mike Moody (mom and dad) B’moreAbilities Expands to Baltimore’s Counties in 2011 Baltimore,MD –Special needs students have the opportunity to enjoy “DanceAbility” classes in a range of Baltimore metro locations. Inspired by her two special needs sons, former ballerina, Zoey Robinson-Budreski launched B’moreAbilities Special Arts Center in 2010, and students have been traveling from distant counties to the popular Dundalk classes. Convenient new locations will enable more families to participate, with classes scheduled in Bel Air, Timonium, Ellicott City, Reisterstown, Westminster, Edgemere and Baltimore city, in addition to the original Dundalk site. Unlike sport and social programs, dance and arts programs for the disabled are few and far between in the Baltimore area. Consequently, parents and students have responded enthusiastically, and are reaping the physical, social, and emotional benefits.- Even rarer are dance classes for those in wheelchairs and walkers; B’moreAbilities is the only facility in Maryland to offer non-ambulatory dance instruction.Regardless of the range of disability, all participants can choose from classes in social dance, as well as jazz, hip hop, and ballet classes that conclude with a proud performance for family and friends. Whether challenged with mobility limitations, developmental delays, Down Syndrome, Autism, Asperger’s, vision and hearing impairments, sensory processing disorders, or a range of other conditions, all find common creative expression as they explore a variety of dance styles under “Miss Zoey’s” skillful instruction. And while they’re having fun, parents observe improvements in energy, attitude, attentiveness, strength, flexibility, coordination, and social interaction. Older students and adults with disabilities are also very responsive to dance, and appreciate this rare opportunity to continue their artistic pursuits and interact with peers beyond school and into adulthood. Visit http://www.BASAC.webs.com Wendy on Wheels Saves the Day became available last week, a couple weeks early. I’ve been so busy the last month getting it all together. My hardwork paid off! I had my WORLD PREMIERE Author Reading of Wendy on Wheels Saves the Day yesterday at Southview Special School. What a great audience to introduce my new book! The students loved it!A mother and son Wendy visits in the hospital in “Wendy on Wheels Saves the Day” were inspired by a mother, Amy, and son, Eli, I “met” on Facebook. A while back, I saw some pictures Amy posted on Facebook that were taken when Eli was in the hospital. The love they had for each other was pouring out of the photos. I could feel it. Eli’s smile spoke to me. Amy wrote a really nice blog about “becoming a cartoon.” <http://amygenn.blogspot.com/2011/03/ wendy-on-wheels-saves-day.html> Please take a look if you get a moment. It’s feels amazing to touch someone I’ve never even met in a different part of the country. Launch party for Wendy on Wheels Saves the Day will take place April 3rd at All Along Press. Autographed copies of all three books will be available. More information will come or check out www.wendyonwheels.com The Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) held its 8th annual conference in Lake Mary, Florida Friday sessions of the event were offered at no charge and focused on educators. Topics included dealing with bullies and exclusion, the national standards project, bringing school buddies into the community, inclusion, assessing and treating challenging behaviors of students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and other session options. The Friday session ran from 8:30 to 5:00 p.m. and was presented by CARD staff from across the state. The Saturday and Sunday portions of the conference were attended by both teachers and families. Sessions were held from 8:30 a.m. through 5:15 on Saturday, and included information on pseudoscientific treatments for Autism Spectrum Disorders, safety and unintentional injury for people with ASD, transitioning young adults with behavioral, social and employment considerations, instructional strategies for parents/educators to discuss sexuality with persons with ASD, financial and estate planning, teaching imitation skills to individuals with autism in a social context and others. Evening events included The Autism Society of Florida Statewide Meeting, and a networking dinner with entertainment. Sunday’s classes began at 8:30 a.m. and wrapped up around 1 p.m. with a presentation by James Williams. He discussed “High School Life and After” through the perspective of a person with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Submitted by Ruth Wingate, Family Care Council Area 15 Artist with Autism – Art is often undervalued in society . Non-profit art groups promote local artists for the benefit of the artist, as well as the community. Whether as a hobby, business, or used as healing, art is an important aspect in any culture. The popularity of art exhibits is apparent in a bustling metropolis city as well as a small country town. The popularity of displaying the talents of local artists can be seen in the form of lightly-structured shows in the neighborhood coffee shops, to the more wellorchestrated outdoor art shows on village sidewalks.The financial compensation, most artists would agree, can be a tiring endeavor. In order to be successful, artists can only hope their style and creativity is well received from a mass of art connoisseurs. A local organization comprised of a handful of parents with their talented young artists are not sitting idle when it comes to showing the world, talent can be found at any SAT score level. As artists, they all have a style their own. With the collateral efforts of the group, the members share their knowledge of resources to help promote each others’ success. The young members of this group have several things in common. Not only are they interested in creating art and marketing their talents,They all share the same medical diagnosis of autism. ArtistsWithAutism.org , located in Broward county, is a networking group whose sole purpose is to promote the artistic talent of persons with autism.The members exhibit their art as a group. Most recently they have participated in the DisAbilities EXPO at NOVA Southeastern University, and a private exhibit at UniLatina International College. Event dates and more information can be found on the website: http://www.ArtistsWithAutism.org.