Spring is here! Let’s get out, breathe the fresh air, and celebrate Autism Advancement Month together on Saturday April 20! Now that we can see clearly and the rain is gone, AASCEND is reprising last year’s friendly, sociable walk from San Francisco’s Marina Green to Aquatic Park, this year with a side loop to the Palace of Fine Arts lagoon, exotic site of a thousand wedding photos.

Our route will take us through ever-fascinating Fort Mason. We’ll meet at 11am on Saturday, April 20, at the Marina Green parking lot (X on the map), by the Phil’s Coffee truck, near the corner of Marina Blvd and Scott St. Click map for detail. There is usually plenty of parking in the Marina Green lot. NOTE: The walk is at 11am, not the usual 10am AASCEND meeting time. We plan to sit down together to eat along the way, so bring a lunch. It’s San Francisco, so dress accordingly! If weather threatens (please no!) check the AASCEND.org website to be sure it’s on.

It will be fun to walk, talk and celebrate Spring together. See you there!

Who: Adults on the spectrum, family, professionals and friends all welcome!

When: Saturday, Apr 20 2024 at 11:00 AM

Where: Marina Green, San Francisco, Meet at the Philz Coffee Truck (X on map above) near the corner of Marina Blvd. and Scott St.

Here is a video recording of this event.

At the next AASCEND Job Club, we will continue our series with Dan Middleton (“Coach Dan”), and the job search and placement process. Dan will be interviewed by Job Club facilitator Michael Bernick, and will discuss best practices for members of our autism community in networking and interviewing. He also will discuss the handling of rejections, and how to move forward from it.

The Zoom meeting URL and password will be sent to people on our email list as the date approaches. If you are not on our email list, click here to sign up. No registration is necessary.

As usual at AASCEND meetings, attendees on the autism spectrum will offer their experience and perspectives throughout the program. 

Who: Adults on the autism spectrum, families, mentors and professionals all welcome. For more information, please contact: info@aascend.org
When: Sat Apr 6, 10am – 11am
Where: Online via Zoom. URL and password will be emailed.

Here is a video recording of the presentation.

On March 16 AASCEND presents, online via Zoom, the newly-released book Neurodiversity for Dummies, with authors John Marble, Khushboo Chabria and Ranga Jayaraman. Neurodiversity For Dummies is a guide to understanding neurodivergent conditions like autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and more. The book is intended for the neurodivergent person and for parents, caregivers and professionals seeking success for a neurodivergent person. The book is also designed as an aid to service providers, workplace managers and colleagues, and to family members and friends. At the meeting the authors will give a tour of the book, describe how the book came to be, and respond to your questions about it!

John Marble is the multiply neurodivergent founder of Pivot Neurodiversity, an organization empowering companies to modernize recruitment, hiring, and culture to better support neurodivergent employees. He is also a classroom instructor and training partner with Neurodiversity Pathways. Khushboo Chabria, motivated in part by her own ADHD, is a neurodiversity specialist working with the Neurodiversity Pathways program of Goodwill of Silicon Valley. Ranga Jayaraman is the Director of Neurodiversity Pathways program of Goodwill of Silicon Valley in San Jose, California, USA. He is a neurotypical father of a neurodivergent son.

The Zoom meeting URL and password will be sent to people on our email list as the date approaches. If you are not on our email list, click here to sign up. No registration is necessary.

As usual at AASCEND meetings, attendees on the autism spectrum will offer their experience and perspectives throughout the program. 

Who: Adults on the autism spectrum, families, mentors and professionals all welcome. For more information, please contact: info@aascend.org
When: Sat Mar 16, 10am – 11am
Where: Online via Zoom. URL and password will be emailed.

Here is a video recording of this event.

At the next AASCEND Job Club, job coach Dan Middleton will present a new career tool that he and others at Catalight have developed, focused on individuals with autism. Every attendee will receive a free copy of this Compass Work Tool for continued support. Dan will be interviewed by Job Club facilitator Michael Bernick, and will discuss how this tool can assist with navigating job boards, attending job fairs, asking for accommodations,  managing job rejections, and a 100 day plan for when you land the job you want.

The Zoom meeting URL and password will be sent to people on our email list as the date approaches. If you are not on our email list, click here to sign up. No registration is necessary.

As usual at AASCEND meetings, attendees on the autism spectrum will offer their experience and perspectives throughout the program. 

Who: Adults on the autism spectrum, families, mentors and professionals all welcome. For more information, please contact: info@aascend.org
When: Sat Mar 2, 10am – 11am
Where: Online via Zoom. URL and password will be emailed.

==> !!! PLANNED SF MARINA WALK POSTPONED DUE TO RAIN !!! <==

Temporarily defeated by weather, we pivot! Join AASCEND February 17 for an informal roundtable discussion of sensory overload and how we cope with it. This time you will be the experts! Let’s share our experiences and also the many ways we cope in a world that for many of us is often too bright, too loud, too fast-moving, too scratchy, too hot or cold, and more. Here is a chance for your hard-won wisdom about sensory overload to benefit others. You might pick up a useful pointer or two yourself!

The Zoom meeting URL and password will be sent to people on our email list as the date approaches. If you are not on our email list, click here to sign up. No registration is necessary.

As usual at AASCEND meetings, attendees on the autism spectrum will offer their experience and perspectives throughout the program. 

Who: Adults on the autism spectrum, families, mentors and professionals all welcome. For more information, please contact: info@aascend.org
When: Sat Feb 17, 10am – 11am
Where: Online via Zoom. URL and password will be emailed.

WALK POSTPONED DUE TO RAIN

Are you a job coach, employer, or family member of someone with an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD)? See the important Stanford research project below.

ALSO Catalight.org is offering copies of its new Compass Work Tool, a self-paced career management tool for neurodivergent adults, free for evaluation to AASCEND folks. Click here to request your copy!

We faced down February weather last year, and we’re doing it again! AASCEND is reprising last year’s friendly, sociable walk from San Francisco’s Marina Green to Aquatic Park, this year with a side loop to the Palace of Fine Arts lagoon, exotic site of a thousand wedding photos.

Our route will take us through ever-interesting Fort Mason. We’ll meet at 11am on Saturday, February 17, at the Marina Green parking lot (X on the map), by the Phil’s Coffee truck, near the corner of Marina Blvd and Scott St. Click map for detail. There is usually plenty of parking in the Marina Green lot. NOTE: The walk is at 11am, not the usual 10am AASCEND meeting time. We plan to sit down together to eat along the way, so bring a lunch. It’s San Francisco, so dress accordingly! If weather threatens, check the AASCEND.org website to be sure it’s on, but if it’s just a little mist, heck, we’ll show are stuff and walk together anyway!

It will be fun to walk and talk together again. See you there!

Who: Adults on the spectrum, family, professionals and friends all welcome!

When: Saturday, Feb 17 2024 at 11:00 AM

Where: Marina Green, San Francisco, Meet at the Philz Coffee Truck (X on map above) near the corner of Marina Blvd. and Scott St.

STANFORD DIVERSE PROJECT

Developing Inclusive and Vocational Education and Resources for Success in Employment (DIVERSE)

Do you live in California and identify as at least one of the following?

• Job coach
• Present or prospective employer of adults with intellectual/developmental disability (IDD)
• Family member of an adult with IDD

We are recruiting participants to join in a research study that includes free, self-paced, and asynchronous training on improving skills for working with adults with IDD in employment support settings!

If you are interested in participating, please complete the questionnaire.

See the flyer or visit our website for more information.

Please contact us at stanfordneurodiversityproject@stanford.edu if you have any questions.

Are you a job coach, employer, or family member of someone with an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD)? See the important Stanford research project below.

Here is a recording of the following Job Coach program.

At the last AASCEND Job Club meeting,discussion centered on how to find and work with a Job Coach. On February 3 we will continue the discussion and be joined by two veteran job coaches: Lauren Fuentes and Lasalette Capote. Ms. Fuentes is a Program Coordinator and Job Coach for VistaBility, an agency serving adults with developmental differences in the East Bay. Ms. Capote is a Transition Specialist/Job Coach for the Castro Valley Adult and Career Education program. They will be interviewed by Job Club facilitator and AASCEND member Michael Bernick.The Job Coach is a valuable service for employment success, and is one that most clients of DOR and DDS are eligible for, as needed.

The Zoom meeting URL and password will be sent to people on our email list as the date approaches. If you are not on our email list, click here to sign up. No registration is necessary.

As usual at AASCEND meetings, attendees on the autism spectrum will offer their experience and perspectives throughout the program.

Who: Adults on the autism spectrum, families, mentors and professionals all welcome. For more information, please contact: info@aascend.org
When: Sat Feb 3, 10am – 11am (approx.)
Where: Online via Zoom. URL and password will be emailed.

STANFORD DIVERSE PROJECT

Developing Inclusive and Vocational Education and Resources for Success in Employment (DIVERSE)

Do you live in California and identify as at least one of the following?

• Job coach
• Present or prospective employer of adults with intellectual/developmental disability (IDD)
• Family member of an adult with IDD

We are recruiting participants to join in a research study that includes free, self-paced, and asynchronous training on improving skills for working with adults with IDD in employment support settings!

If you are interested in participating, please complete the questionnaire.

See the flyer or visit our website for more information.

Please contact us at stanfordneurodiversityproject@stanford.edu if you have any questions.

Here is a recording of the presentation. See also socialthinking.com

Next up for AASCEND, Michelle Garcia Winner, Founder of the Social Thinking®  Methodology, will talk on a subject that is sadly relevant to many autistic people, loneliness. Together we will explore the impact of loneliness on both one’s physical and mental health. We will also look at strategies and tips for building social competencies such as unpacking friendship, how we communicate in person, language for conversation, and the “spirals of anxiety.”

The Zoom meeting URL and password will be sent to people on our email list as the date approaches. If you are not on our email list, click here to sign up. No registration is necessary.

Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP; CEO & Founder of the Social Thinking®  Methodology, is a prolific author, creative clinician, and internationally renowned speaker. She was honored to receive a Congressional Special Recognition Award in 2008, and a Lectureship Award (2019) from the Society of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatricians.

As usual at AASCEND meetings, attendees on the autism spectrum will offer their experience and perspectives throughout the program. 

Who: Adults on the autism spectrum, families, mentors and professionals all welcome. For more information, please contact: info@aascend.org
When: Sat Jan 20, 10am – 11am
Where: Online via Zoom. URL and password will be emailed.

Here is a video of the following presentation.

At the January 6 AASCEND Job Club, veteran job coaches Dan Middleton and Keith Halperin will present the results of their recent Employment Survey of AASCEND members. This Survey looked at current job situations and goals for 2024. Keith and Dan  will be interviewed by Job Club facilitator Michael Bernick, who will lead an interactive Q & A session with meeting attendees.

The Zoom meeting URL and password will be sent to people on our email list as the date approaches. If you are not on our email list, click here to sign up. No registration is necessary.

As usual at AASCEND meetings, attendees on the autism spectrum will offer their experience and perspectives throughout the program.

Who: Adults on the autism spectrum, families, mentors and professionals all welcome. For more information, please contact: info@aascend.org
When: Sat Jan 6, 10am – 11am (approx.)
Where: Online via Zoom. URL and password will be emailed.

Here is a link to the recording of the December 9 Employment in Gaming session.
Here and here are links to the Powerpoint slides for the session.

Next up for AASCEND is the December 16 Holiday Potluck Party!  Live and at the Arc for the first time in years!!! Come join our community for food, conversation, music and good cheer. There will be Entertainment, Music, Games, did we mention food, and a low-sensory space available. It’s a potluck, so bring food to share if you can — but if you can’t, show up anyway!

It’ll be a blast to celebrate in person again!