[EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the final post in the Autism Spectrum Across Ages and Environments blog. Kathie Harrington, MA, CCC-SLP, passed away on March 19, 2013. A memorial service for her will be held in Boulder City, Nevada, at the Veterans Memorial Cemetery on April 19, 2013. If you would like to honor Kathie's ...

The Social Express is gorgeous animated and interactive app to address social skills. It was created to work on social skills as well as target children's social thinking skills by problem solving situations.  It's intended to be used for elementary school-aged children with autism, Asperger's Syndrome, ADHD, nonverbal learning disabilities, ...

Autism Awareness Month began on Sunday, April 1. My son Doug's birthday is April 1. The fifth annual World Autism Awareness Day was April 2. World Autism Awareness Day ''aims to increase people's awareness about people, especially children, with autism. The day often features educational events for teachers, health care workers and parents, as ...

When do you elicit a language sample? Certainly when you first see a child you would want to take a language sample. However, if the child is not comfortable on the initial assessment, there is nothing written in stone that says that it has to be completed the first time around. That in itself should tell you something. I feel that ...

Thank you! A special thank you to all of the SLPs who emailed pictures of their beloved pets to include in collages that we can all use to elicit language samples. It was so much fun to see the variety of who lives with you. I was amazed to find who shares your affection, and I know now to whom you talk to each night after work! These are ...

Recently, I discovered a new app called Music Color. Music Color is a universal app that's available on the iTunes app store and supports 20 languages. How It Works Select a color from 12 possible options: blue, yellow, red, pink, brown, white, green, gray, orange, black, purple and light blue. Once you select a color, a page with six items ...

Blog Comment: ''Please correct your meter from 'to loud' to 'too loud.''' - D. To D: So sorry about the error. That tells me you are a close reader, and I appreciate the correction. I have made the change to the Loud Meter, as you can see below. Please feel free to print it off and use it with your clients. Thanks so much for following my ...

Dear Kathie: ''Chad is 5 years old and ‘very' autistic and non-verbal. He covers his ears with his hands when there is a loud noise, such as a fire alarm, or even when he anticipates a loud noise, like a balloon that he thinks may pop. How can I help him, his classroom teacher, and his parents? - Payton, speech-language pathologist My ...

Dear Kathie: ''My question concerns Julie, who is a middle school student with ASD. She is bright, verbal, possibly Asperger's, and is included in the regular classroom for most academics. The problem is that she refuses to do any written classroom assignments when the other students are doing theirs. She says ''No,'' lays her head on her ...

All behavior has a function and purpose. There are five main functions of undesirable behavior, and four of them go hand-in-hand with autism. It is important for the speech-language pathologist and the entire team to recognize how any particular behavior is reinforced and enabled. Avoidance Do children and adults with autism ...