COBB AUTISM SPECTRUM SUPPORT GROUP MEETING NOTICE

THURSDAYâ€"MAY 15

MORNING MEETING - 9:30 a.m. to 11:30a.m.

Topic: Using Sensory Integration at Home and in the Classroom

Presenter: Marnie Danielson, MHS OTR/L.

We are excited to announce that Marnie Danielson is returning to speak
to us this month! In addition to Marnie’s educational background in
Occupational Therapy and Health Science, she has won the Hollis
Sammons Research Award and has been published on her studies in
Neuroplasticity. She owns Building Blocks Pediatric Therapy,
Inc.â€"which offers speech, occupational therapy, and physical therapy
services to children ranging from infants to adolescents. Marnie’s
therapeutic specialty is Sensory Integration Dysfunction. Her
presentation to our group will cover three main areas:
* An update on the latest studies addressing sensory integration
and autism
* A general overview of the basic premises and understanding of
sensory integration theory and application
* Techniques for “thinking out of the box” and applying sensory
integration programs at school and at home


EVENING MEETING â€" 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Topic: Coping with and Celebrating Your Child’s Diagnosis of Autism

Presenters: Elizabeth Newman and Carmen Simons

Elizabeth Newman is an author and speaker. She has written a book
entitled “A Long Way from Shattered Glass to Mosaicâ€"Living with Autism
Spectrum Disorder.” The book (written after her youngest daughter,
now 8, developed epilepsy and autism in 2001) encourages parents to
take the parts of their lives that were “shattered” by autism and put
them together in a “mosaic” that while different, is also beautiful.
Carmen Simons is the mother of an eleven year-old son with autism, and
a long-time member of our support group. Together, Elizabeth and
Carmen will lead a support group discussion that will encourage
parents to share their personal struggles with autism, in addition to
sharing the unique and beautiful talents that their children possess.
We have had several requests this year to offer a support group
discussion such as this, and we graciously thank Elizabeth and Carmen
for hosting the meeting!


RSVP
Please let us know if you are planning on attending one or both of
these meetings by sending an RSVP to Karen Kolacinski at
kkola@.... Please make sure to tell her if you are coming
to the morning meeting or evening meeting.

DIRECTIONS:
Our meetings are held at Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church in the “B”
building located near the front of the church campus. Our meeting
room is B116, next to the church library. Directions to Mt. Bethel
are as follows: From I-75 take exit #261, Delk Road and head East
(opposite Dobbins Air Force Base). If exiting Northbound, turn right
onto Delk Road. If exiting Southbound, turn left onto Delk. Delk
Road becomes Terrell Mill Road, which becomes Lower Roswell Road.
From I-75 the church is approximately 5 miles. It is a large yellow
church on the left, and a police/fire station is across the street on
the right. Turn into any church driveway. The parking spaces at the
front of the parking lot will be the ones closest to Building “B.”


THIS IS THE LAST MEETNG OF THE 2007-2008 SCHOOL YEAR:


We want to remind our members that there will be no support group
meetings in June or July. We hope you enjoy the summer vacation with
your family. Please remember to use our Message Board during the
summer to ask questions and to share information with everyone in our
group. Joining is easy. Just go to our website: www.asgcobb.com and
click on the “News” tab at the top of the home page. Then look for
the “Yahoo Groups” Icon at the bottom of the page to sign up!