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If you or someone you know has an autism spectrum disorder you may want to check out an
AARC Roadshow
presentation near you in March. The AARC will be conducting four events across Alaska featuring Dani Bowman. Here is a little more about Dani:
"Dani Bowman founded her company,
DaniMation Entertainment (formally
Powerlight-Studios) at age 11. Now 21, she has worked professionally in the
animation industry since 14, premiered 5 award wining animated short films at
San Diego Comic-Con each year for the past 4 years, which include voice overs of
Joe Mantegna, Tom Kenny (Sponge Bob), and Stella Ritter in her projects, as well
as other voice actors on the autism spectrum. Knowing the special talents of
people with autism, Dani employs others on the spectrum at DaniMation
Entertainment as musicians, artists, and voice actors. Dani combined her six
passions, Autism Advocacy, Public Speaking, Animation, Illustration, Fine and
Visual Arts, and Teaching Animation to young adults on the spectrum and other
disabilities in hopes to inspire them to follow their dreams.
Since age 15, Dani has taught summer animation camps around the country,
both with Joey Travolta's Inclusion Films camps, and expanding out on her own
to show others that anything is possible. Her contributions to the autism
community have been acknowledged widely, including as the first American with
Autism honored at Anna Kennedy's "Wear It for Autism" event in London in
October 2014, and the Temple Grandin Award from Future Horizons in 2012.
Additionally, Dani enjoys speaking about autism, the need for self-sufficiency
and employment. Among other speaking engagements, she was the keynote
speaker at the Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence (OCALICON) 2014, and
the Oklahoma State Autism Conference (OSACON) in 2015.
She's currently attending Woodbury University with an animation major and a
business minor."
Below is a clip from when Dani spoke alongside Temple Grandin at the event "Temple Grandin & Friends" in 2015.
(introduction of Temple Grandin with Joe Montegna, Criminal Minds at Nokia Center in Los Angeles)
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| Dani at Temple Grandin & Friends |
To register or find more information on Roadshow dates, times, and locations please visit our website: www.alaskaarc.org
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Books of the Month:
The books of the month are available in the SESA Library. You may search the library on the
SESA website
, or you may contact our Librarian, Anne Freitag, at
[email protected]
or 907 . 334 . 1301
For easy searching on the SESA Library site, we've added the ISBN number. Simply copy, paste, and search!
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Be Different: Adventures of a free-range Aspergian with practical advice for Aspergians, misfits, families & teachers
By: John Elder Robinson
Crown Archetype, c2011.
ISBN: 9780307884831
Description: In his bestselling memoir, Look Me in the Eye, the author described growing up with Asperger's syndrome at a time when the diagnosis didn't exist. He was intelligent but socially isolated; his talents won him jobs with toy makers and rock bands but did little to endear him to authority figures and classmates, who were put off by his inclination to blurt out non sequiturs and avoid eye contact. By the time he was diagnosed at age forty, he had already developed a myriad of coping strategies that helped him achieve a seemingly normal, even highly successful, life. In this new book he shares a new batch of stories about his childhood, adolescence, and young adult years, giving the reader a rare window into the Aspergian mind. In each story, he offers practical advice, for Aspergians and indeed for anyone who feels "different", on how to improve the weak communication and social skills that keep so many people from taking full advantage of their often remarkable gifts. He addresses questions like: How to read others and follow their behaviors when in uncertain social situations; Why manners matter; How to harness your powers of concentration to master difficult skills; How to deal with bullies; When to make an effort to fit in, and when to embrace eccentricity; How to identify special gifts and use them to your advantage; The message this book puts forth is that every person, Aspergian or not, has something unique to offer the world, and every person has the capacity to create strong, loving bonds with their friends and family, and its goal is to help readers and those they love find their path to success. Biographical.
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Born on a Blue Day: Inside the extraordinary mind of an autistic savant: a memoir
By: Daniel Tammet
Free Press, 2007.
ISBN: 9781416535072
Description: An autobiography of a man who sees numbers as shapes, colors and textures. He can learn a language in a week. Tammet has Savant Syndrome, a rare form of Asperger Syndrome, and has a need for order. He is very self-aware and able to communicate what it feels like to live in this way.
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"Just give him the whale!": 20 ways to use fascinations, areas of expertise, and strengths to support students with autism
By: Paula Kluth & Patrick Schwarz
Paul K. Brooks Publishing, c2008.
Description:
"When learners with autism have deep, consuming fascinations - trains, triangles, basketballs, whale - teachers often wonder what to do. This concise, highly practical guidebook gives educators across grade levels a powerful new way to think about students' "obsessions": as positive teaching tools that calm, motivate, and improve learning. ... this guide is brimming with easy tips and strategies for folding students' special interests, strengths, and areas of expertise into classroom lessons and routines. Teachers will discover how making the most of fascinations can help their students: learn standards-based academic content, boost literacy learning and mathematics skills, develop social connections, expand communication skills, minimize anxiety ..."--Publisher's website.
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Look Me in the Eye: My life with Asperger's
By: John Elder Robison
Three Rivers Press, c2008.
ISBN:
9780307396181
Description: Memoir of John Robison whose odd behavior was explained when he was diagnosed with a form of autism called Asperger's syndrome as an adult when he was forty and the change that made in his life.
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Stay in touch with the AARC!
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