Welcome
to “On the Horizon”

Issue
110: Apprenticeship

On
the Horizon is an award winning
weekly ezine for parents of children with developmental disabilities
who want simple, effective strategies to reduce stress, support their
child’s development, and improve quality of life for the whole family.

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Great
Information

A Note from Nicole: Exciting Staff News

Idea of the Week:  Start a Hobby or Craft Project

Feature Article: Apprenticeship

The Horizons Team Recommends: Extreme
Makeover: Autism Education Workshop

NEW! Allergen-Free
Recipe of the Week: Yummy Sticks

NEW! Allergen-Free Product of the Month: Gluten Free Dreams Pancake Mix

Upcoming Events: Summer CAMPS; Workshops/Conferences

Hi Everyone,

We’ve had a lot of things to celebrate around here these last two weeks!  I completed my 18-month doctoral internship at the local children’s hospital, and it feels great to have that leg of the journey behind me.  Now I’ve just got to finish up that dissertation…  Erin received an adoption referral for her baby girl that she has been waiting almost two years to get.  Her daughter is currently 7 weeks old and she will be able to bring her home from Ethiopia in the early fall.  Add to that a staff member building her first home, school getting out for the kids, and our summer camps season about to start and it’s been an exciting time at Horizons!

Now that summer is underway it’s time to get registered for the Extreme Makeover: Autism Education Edition Workshop we will be hosting in August. We are very excited about the variety of attendees registered thus far, and would love to add you to the list!
In case you haven’t seen the details yet you can get them at www.ExrtremeMakeoverAutism.com.  Remember we’ve got options for
professionals and parents this year, and it’s going to be an awesome time of learning and fun!

Make it a great week!

Looking to the horizon,

Start a Hobby or Craft
Project for the Summer

Summer vacation is almost
here and we all need something to keep the family busy. Here are a few ideas
that the whole family can collaborate together during summer vacation. Remember
the key is that everyone should participate in the hobby or craft together.

1. Create a summer picture
   book – take turns taking pictures of places you visited or saw throughout the
   summer. When you start getting a collection of pictures organize them in a book
   and include captions under each picture. Each family member can create their
   own special page or taking turns writing the captions
2. Make a quilt – create a quilt together by having family members pick out or design their own squares.
3. Build a model car or airplane
4. Create a family journal – throughout the summer take turns writing what you did and saw. Have older siblings help the younger siblings with the writing.
5. Bird Watching – visit your local library for some bird watching books. Throughout the summer track all the different birds you spotted. To keep track of the birds you saw in a journal write the bird’s name, include a picture (photo or drawing), a brief description of where you saw it, and who spotted it first.

Apprenticeship

By: Erin Roon, MA CCC-SLP

According to the American Heritage Desk
Dictionary, the word apprentice is defined as “one learning a trade under a skilled master; or a beginner.” I find both of these definitions to be relevant to the work I do each day, as well as the way I think about apprenticeship in relation to the remediation of autism spectrum disorders or related neurological disorders.

Apprenticeship in job training has been around for hundreds of years, dating back to the middle ages. The idea of apprenticeship itself has been around much longer than that, since the dawn of history. Humans have been learning from “masters” forever, and it is what allows the human race to survive. Parents apprentice their children who apprentice their children, and so on. This passing on of basic survival skills is not what we may traditionally think of as a master/apprentice relationship; but in reality, it is apprenticeship in its most basic and necessary form.

We tend to think of apprentices in relation to job training, or within education, or the work force. While this form of training is the backbone of most occupations, apprenticeship is used in many places, and for many purposes. If you go back to the definition at the beginning of this article, it states that an apprentice is one who is learning a trade under a master. When I think of this, I take the meaning of the word “trade” loosely. Trade could mean skill, task, or concept. When thought of in this way, apprenticeship applies to almost everything we learn throughout our lives.

Read more …

Extreme
Makeover: Autism Education Edition Workshop

August
4-6 • 2010 Grand Rapids, MI

Put together the
soaring increase in children diagnosed with autism and related
impairments, a group of dedicated educators seeking solutions to the
challenges they face daily, a team of been-in-the-trenches experts,
three days of amazing content and hands-on experience, and what do you
get?

An amazing 3-day
workshop that will transform how you understand and educate students
with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Yummy Sticks

(From “The Super Allergy Girl™ Allergy & Celiac Cookbook”)

Whether you have just started a special diet with your child or you have been following one for years, it can be difficult to come up with what to serve. We decided to try to make that just a bit easier by providing you with a new allergen free recipe each week. While it is impossible to meet every person’s unique food sensitivity needs, we hope you will find these recipes helpful and delicious. Please feel free to adapt the recipes to meet your needs and taste buds; we do it all the time. In addition to the weekly recipes, we will be highlighting a specific allergen free product of the month. Enjoy!

Yummy Sticks

This is a great snack item for children or adults.  It is fairly easy and straightforward to make.

2 cups  gluten-free flour of your choice (sorghum and amaranth work well for this)
2 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt
1 1/2 teaspoons onion salt
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 cup acceptable oil
1 1/2 cups water

Mix flour and spices.  Add oil and water and mix well.  Heat oil in a large frying pan until hot.  Cut a very, very small diagonal corner off of a ziplock bag and place some of the batter into the ziplock bag.  Use the bag to pope the batter into the hot oil.  Fry the batter until very light brown in color.  Drain on a paper towel.

Gluten
Free Dreams Pancake Mix (plain or chocolate chip)

Get
this pancake mix and other allergen-free products at CherrybrookKitchen.com.

Please
join us!

• Summer
  CAMPS
  – Red, White, & Blue

  (ages 4-7 morning  & ages 8-12 afternoon)

  June 28 – July 1

• Summer
  CAMPS
  – Let’s Make Music

  (ages 4-7 morning  & ages 8-12 afternoon)

  July 12 – 15

• Summer
  CAMPS
  – All About Pets

  (ages 4-7 morning  & ages 8-12 afternoon)

  July 26 – 29

• Summer
  CAMPS
  – Fun in the Sun

  (ages 4-7 morning  & ages 8-12 afternoon)

  August 9 – 12

• Summer Program
  – Collaborate and Create:
  Session 1

  Ages 11-18, 9am-12pm, Tues & Thurs

  June 29, July 1-15

• Summer Program
  – Collaborate and Create:
  Session 2

  Ages 11-18, 9am-12am, Mon-Weds, 9am-1pm Thurs

  July 26 – 29

• Extreme
  Makeover:
  Autism Education
  Edition

  August
  4-6, 2010