¿Cómo ayudar a niños con autismo a aprender inglés básico?

Puede ser una buena manera de pasar tiempo con tu pequeño.

Emigrar o viajar a otro país nunca es tarea fácil, en especial si no dominamos el idioma de la sociedad en la que vamos a adentrarnos. Esto sucede con adultos y niños por igual, pues siempre encontramos dificultades para adaptarnos a entornos desconocidos que se alejan de nuestras costumbres y tradiciones. Las personas con autismo saben lo estresante que puede ser enfrentarse a situaciones que se salen de su rutina, así que la experiencia puede ser particularmente difícil para ellos. ¿Cómo puedes ayudar a tus niños a asimilar este cambio? Cuando se trata del idioma, hay ciertas técnicas y métodos que puedes utilizar para ayudar a niños con autismo a aprender inglés.

De hecho, enseñar otro idioma a niños bajo el espectro autista puede resultar especialmente beneficioso para su desarrollo intelectual. Aunque existen pocas investigaciones al respecto, algunas sugieren que los niños bilingües desarrollan un mejor uso del lenguaje gestual. Otras, han concluido que debido a que aprender un idioma nuevo ejercita las habilidades de comprensión lectora y auditiva, esto puede incrementar la capacidad de concentración en individuos con autismo. Es cierto que muchos de ellos tienen problemas para comunicarse o usar el lenguaje, pero eso no quiere decir que no puedan aprender un idioma nuevo. La gramática está llena de detalles y normas que muchos niños autistas pueden disfrutar por el proceso de memorización.

Para motivar el aprendizaje puedes utilizar técnicas como pictogramas, mantenerte apegado a una rutina, esperar a que tu pequeño se concentre antes de comenzar con la lección, utilizar objetivos claros para cada actividad, proveer instrucciones en ambos idiomas y usar muchos soportes visuales para comunicarlas. También, es de suma importancia dar las lecciones en un espacio amplio que les permita desenvolverse libremente.  

Es importante fomentar las habilidades auditivas y motivar a los niños a comunicarse, así que los recursos sonoros, combinados con la presentación de imágenes, también pueden ser muy útiles. De esta manera, los pequeños pueden ver y escuchar al mismo tiempo y formar asociaciones más fácilmente. Prepara juegos de memoria o bingo, con instrucciones sencillas de captar y cuyas reglas sean bastante metódicas.

Si vives en un hogar bilingüe, no tengas miedo de hablar en ambos idiomas. Existe la creencia no comprobada de que hablar en más de un idioma a un niño con autismo puede confundirlo y empeorar sus habilidades verbales, pero no existe evidencia científica de que esto sea cierto. De hecho, si solo le hablas en inglés, pero el resto de la familia habla en español, puedes terminar aislándolo más de lo que estaría normalmente por su condición. Lo que buscamos es integrarlo lo mejor posible y ayudarlo a desarrollar sus capacidades para comunicarse.

¿Has intentado que tu pequeño aprenda otro idioma? ¿Cómo te ha ido? Es importante recordar que todos los niños autistas son diferentes y quizás a algunos se les haga la tarea de hablar un segundo idioma un poco más sencilla que a otros. Consulta con su terapeuta y su médico para explorar las posibilidades y no dejes que los límites o los prejuicios los detengan. En Autism Soccer trabajamos todos los días para superar estas barreras y somos testigos de todo lo que los niños pueden lograr si tan solo les damos la oportunidad de intentarlo.

Jessica A. Yuncoza B.

Blogger Autism Soccer

Aprender un nuevo idioma es todo un desafío; comienza con lo básico.

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Autism Podcasts to Learn All about This Disorder

There's a whole community out there waiting for you!

When it comes to learning about our kids’ condition, there really isn’t a limit to the number of resources we can find. In this case, the Internet is one of our best allies. It allows us to find services we can use, connect with people who are going through the same situation as we are and find an almost infinite source of information and data. Scientific research, experiences, and communities all merge together in the digital world to help us stay strong and give only the best for our children.

Over the years, podcasts have become one of the most popular ways to record conversations and reflections on many issues. The community of autistic people hasn’t let this opportunity pass and we can now access many interesting autism podcasts that make us reflect on this condition and the challenges that we still face in regard to nurturing, inclusion and scientific progress. That’s why today we’ve made a small list so you can start diving into the world of podcasts and find all that it has to offer for you and your family.

The Autism Show

The Autism Show is an educational podcast on an online radio created for autism parents and educators. This is a weekly interview show allowing leading autism advocates, authors, educators and organizations to share their inspirational stories and best resources with the global autism community. Listen to all the podcasts to find support, resources, facts, entertainment and inspiration for autism parents, educators and practitioners working with children on the Autism Spectrum. Topics include behavior therapy, autism apps and others related to the autism spectrum disorders.

Listen here: The Autism Show

Autism Matters

Presented by the Autism Science Foundation, the Autism Matters podcast series (hosted by Dr. Laura Crane) aims to showcase the latest research published in Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice. They do it in a way that is accessible, easy to understand and has real-world relevance. The podcasts are aimed at a broad audience, including academics, researchers, students, clinicians, journalists, policy makers, individuals with autism as well as their families, and basically anyone interested in the autism spectrum disorders.

Listen here: Autism Matters

Moving Autism Forward

This podcast is presented by Talk About Curing Autism (TACA), a National Autism Organization focused on gathering families going through similar circumstances so they can find help and support in each other. Join them for candid conversations, personal stories and leading research and therapies available today. Tune in for expert talks on issues like the best advice for parents and possible legal challenges the community faces. You'll walk away encouraged, empowered and equipped with tools to make a difference in your own Autism Journey.

Listen here: Moving Autism Forward

Finding Mikey

Finding Mikey tells a family’s story, their journey with the autism spectrum disorder, ADHD and sensory processing disorder. It’s especially aimed at families that have autistic children at home. They share their experiences as a platform for inspiring others and providing helpful strategies for coping with these disorders. Each podcast contains personal accounts and expert advice from doctors, lawyers, advocates and other influential members of the community. It’s also packed with practical help for regular incidents and special events, such as packing for family trips.

Listen here: Finding Mikey

Are you ready to give them a try? Let us know if you’ve heard about any other podcasts worth sharing! At Autism Soccer, we know that we’re on this journey together and we don’t have to face it on our own. Connect, chat, talk. Let’s start the conversation!

Jessica A. Yuncoza B.

Blogger Autism Soccer

Have you heard about them?

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When Your Children Gets Sick

Give them their space but keep an eye on how they're feeling. Depending on the disease you might want to consider sleeping close to them,

There’s nothing worse for you as a parent to see your children go through difficult times and feel like helping your children feel better it’s just out of your reach. Like any parent who loves their children, you want them to have the best life conditions and give them all the protection you can from anything that could do them harm.

But what happens when you just can’t avoid your children getting sick? Diseases are everywhere: one moment your children are alright, and the next they start to cough or show severe headaches. In their growth, children are highly prone to get sick and no matter how many measures you take (like raising their defenses with vitamins), the chances are that your children will get a lot of diseases during their growth.

In cases like these, the only thing you can do is help them ease the pain and treat them accordingly. Special needs children are very sensitive and getting sick affects them differently, you need to be careful depending on the illness they’re recovering from.

Of course, the first and more important thing you need to do is to get them to a doctor to get the medicines for the treatment and guidelines to follow back home. If the doctor recommends the children to stay to get treatment in the hospital, do not have second thoughts and follow the instructions. They are the experts when it comes down to diseases and how to treat them.

Special needs children and specifically autistic disorder kids can get stressed when they’re ill, but that’s understandable, and you must give all your support to them and hope the treatment does the job. Until they’re healed, do not expose them to outdoor situations and be strict about the schedules of the medicines. After they are completely cured, you can let them out to compensate all the time lost. If you’re willing to create a healthy routine for your children, access to Autism Soccer’s website and learn how soccer can improve your children’s life. Contact them for more information.

Wait for your children to fully recover, there's no rushing here. They need to be completely cured in order the feel at ease.

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A Positive Influence for Awareness

Be the example, show others how much this initiative means to you.

The awareness month is coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean the activism towards special needs children ends as well. On the contrary, it’s the perfect chance to improve in the upcoming months and to look for ways to reach others into this initiative. This is not only a responsibility of parents alone: every little action you can do to support the cause is useful. An autism-related post on Instagram, sharing a Facebook invitation to a march and even talking to your neighbor about autism works.

The importance resides in doing what you can and feel will help to bring awareness to others about the complications Autism Disorder pose to children and teens on society. It is true that nowadays it is hard to encounter or see someone who doesn’t know about this condition but is also a fact that despite knowing, it’s not comprehended. Children are still the victim of bullying in school: this is very concerning and has negative effects on their inclusion between non-disorders.

Not correcting those attitudes creates an environment of discomfort in children and teenagers: they’re not the ones to blame for being the way they are. The problem resides in the lack of empathy from their peers originated from not fully understanding the condition itself. If you’re a part of the people who think could help this condition to be understood, try your best and reach them.

In the end, it’s not about changing the world: one person can change their environment and be a positive influence in the autism initiatives. Also, you need to be aware that not everybody is willing to understand or develop empathy towards autism children. Do not let this discourage you from trying, though. Organizations offer different ways to help children deal with this disorder, like Autism Soccer. Their initiative goes around sports to help children develop the necessary skills for facing the future as individuals. You can access their website for more information about their programs.

Use the social media, reach for organizations, ask for support, but never cease trying.

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Useful Tips for Parenting

Look for information about ASD on websites or organizations that support special needs children.

One of the biggest swings in the life of adults is the process of becoming a parent, and this step will be the hardest one yet. The fact that you need to be responsible for yourself and another human being too, can sound like too much and even create a huge amount of pressure and stress on those who are new in this world of parenting. You’re taking the first steps as a parent with special needs children, so it’s good that you ended up in this post. The following steps will help in this new experience by giving you useful tips for parenting:

1. Pay attention:  Children in their early years need a lot of attention, mainly because they depend on their parents to feed, move, and care for them. In the case of special needs children it’s almost the same. After the first 18 months, you must be more careful as the first symptoms in autistic children will start to show off; eating disorders, ingest problems and the first signs of regression in their speaking and the stop of language using in general.
2. Investigate: Look for information on websites about any changes your children starts to show and ways to help them. Websites who support autism initiatives have a lot of information on early intervention for those first stages in children.
3. Look for help: Do not feel that asking for help is a sign of being not good enough as a parent. The fact is that you’re new at this, so look for advice from others; people who’ve been through this and know how to help you by giving you ideas for your children.
4. Be patient: This is the most important thing you need to have at all time (after love); you must be patient and understand your children. They are doing the best they can with the life they were given with. Every time you feel you’re about to say something you shouldn’t, breathe and count to ten.

As a new parent, you have to be very careful about raising special needs children; they need more attention than normal. Keep in mind that this is a whole new world for you and for your children, so you both are learning from each other in this beautiful road of parenting. If you need the help of any organization, be sure to reach for them and be sure that your children will be in safe hands. Autism Soccer is one example of people capable of doing this task, put your children to play sports and let them grow happily in a learning environment.

If you're new at being a parent, ask for advice to people capable of helping you out.

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Love Is Commitment: Parenting Done Right

Sometimes you might feel like giving up, but remember the love you have for them. Do it for their future.

The road of being a good parent is challenging as it can be, but imagine just how hard it would be for children to grow and face life without a mother and father beside them to support their growth. If you chose to follow this path, you must be aware that it’s not going to be easy, but it will be worth the try.

For a start, children’s growth is a very delicate thing; every word and expression they hear and actions they see will have its consequences in their future. Also, there’s no such thing as the perfect guide for parenting or a manual of instructions on becoming the best dad or mom. The process of becoming a parent is only made by making mistakes and doing your best to understand what your children are trying to tell you. When it’s about children who are born with Autism Spectrum Disorder, there’s more to be done and the attention must be constant.

It’s not that special needs children are demanding or need to be spoiled; it’s a matter of finding the communication channel that will open your children’s way of expressing. Perhaps this could be the hardest step and the one that will cut off most of your time,  you have to be patient and look for all the alternatives possible. Then again, this is not about sacrifice or waiting for your children to thank all your efforts. You’re taking this step and facing the challenge because you love them, they mean everything to you and you won’t give up; you know they need you.

There’s no greater joy in parenthood than being able to see your children grow and make all his desires come true. This is the commitment parents must have with their children; making sure they do what they love, knowing that there’s nothing in the world that can stop them, not even a development condition like Autism. With the help of initiatives of organizations like Autism Soccer, the world has the path opened up for children with autism spectrum disorder. The only thing you have to do is contact with them and you’ll notice the change in your children’s behavior.

There's no need for a "thank you" coming for them, there won't be more joy than seeing them grow ready for the world out there.

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Autism Awareness Month

Know the origin of this initiative, get the facts of how this started.

As years go by, the access to knowledge that the internet gives has been a great tool to fight against ignorance on subjects and incidents around the world. Activists, journalists, and TV news show daily fragments of the things that happen on a daily basis, but that’s only information, what do we do about it?  Should this knowledge serve no purpose at all?

Ever since its foundation in 1965, the Autism Society successfully made its way to bring awareness on parents and people in general. Studies, campaigns, and projects in the support of understanding autism back then, were done in favor of bringing awareness. Thanks to all those efforts through the years, the Autism Awareness Ribbon was released back in 1999. Their contributions in this area greatly helped by setting the basis for the future treatments for autism.

But it was on December 18, 2007, that the United Nations General Assembly approved the resolution 62/139, submitted by the State of Qatar, declaring April 2 as the World Autism Awareness Day. This resolution encouraged all members of the UN to take measures for raising awareness in the society, in order to detect it in its early stage and be able to get intervention. This commemorative date had such impact that it had to be more than a day, so autism supporters made it a complete month for Autism awareness. Organizations like Autism Speaks are the ones who support the efforts of raising ASD awareness, and they have a large support group for families with autistic children.

All efforts made by those organizations in favor of raising awareness were the key in helping and in the aid of autistic children. People need to actively help and support campaigns like this: donating, supporting initiatives like The Power Of One March, giving flyers to people with info and putting links with information about autism on social networks or Websites. Do not surrender, this is awareness for children who need your support to be understood, if you need more support you can contact Autism Soccer, to look for guidelines for autistic children, plus, you can also help someone out by recommending this initiative, too.

The Autism Awareness Day helped ASD children being accepted and understood through all of the campaigns.

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What is Autism Awareness?

Autism is a condition that has different important lessons to teach for parents and children.

April 2nd is one of the most important days for the people within the Autistic Spectrum, as it sets in motion the Autism Awareness Month all over the world. These days are vital for the people who live with this condition who want to spread the knowledge of the branches and limitations of said condition with the people they interact with, as well as with the general public. Why is this important? Well, in most situation, autistics people doesn’t show the symptoms of his condition as well as others, and they want the world to understand that intrusion in their personal space can be very uncomfortable for them or even trigger behaviors that can cause them distress. Also, they want people to understand this condition is not a limitation for their everyday life, growth, and love, and that they deserve the same loving comprehension they offer others.

What happens during Autism Awareness Month?

During this month, non-governmental organizations that work with people in the autistic spectrum kickstart activities to bond families of patients with others, as well as to create the sense of community that works in benefit of the situations that these people live in. During this period of the year, it’s normal to see rallies, benefit events such as games, fundraisers, and even walks that allow them to raise funding to help organizations that work with people in these conditions.

Some of the events that occur during this month are:

• Bake sales (with products prepared for the needs and limitations of autistic spectrum diet).
• Seminars about the autistic condition.
• Public talks.
• Sales of thematic t-shirts (to raise funds and create awareness).
• Rallies.

Be a part of these wonderful events in your community and work with the organizations to create awareness and generate the necessary drive to make people in the autistic spectrum feel welcomed and loved! If you want more direct participation, head out to Autism Soccer, as they can show you alternatives to participate in fun events that will help raise awareness. Contact them and see how you can be a part of this wonderful cause!

It's important for all people to understand autism, and this is the ideal time to learn about it. 

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