Upcoming Live Events
ACT provides a wide-range of autism-related training to parents and professionals, mostly at Simon Fraser University's Downtown Campus in Vancouver, Canada. We also web stream events and these are open to registrants internationally. We offer bursaries to parents and professionals, targeting low-income participants.
Visit our events page to see ACT's 2018 upcoming events:
B.C. Resources
Looking for autism & special needs resources specific to British Columbia? Visit the new B.C. Resources page to find community agencies, recreational activities, service providers, support groups, education & employment, community events, the autism manual, new diagnosis hub, transition to adulthood, and much more!
Find Autism Information
Find practical autism resources with the AID search. We've made it even easier to find resources and tools for parents and professionals with a new subject listing. Free and relevant world-wide.
You can also find 自閉症社區訓練協會 (ACT in Chinese), ACT in Punjabi, Online Mental Health & Autism Project: Looking Beyond Autism, and Autism Research.
Autism Videos @ ACT
AVA - Autism Videos @ ACT covers practical topics on issues across the lifespan - free! We have nearly 30 videos, grounded in research and good practice, providing reliable, non-commercial information to help professionals and parents. ACT videos by leading practitioners from a wide-range of professional backgrounds, allow ACT to serve the autism community internationally, no matter where our viewers live. No registration is required!
Latest News
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Social Stories with Carol Gray - July 19 & 20, 2018 - Nanaimo, BC
Social Stories can play an essential role in enhancing communication and bringing down anxiety among individuals with ASD. Over the past two decades, Social Stories, and their innovator, Carol Gray, have earned the respect of parents, professionals, and people with autism, for their utility in providing clear explanations of what is often a confusing social world.
Event Details
The Essentials of Advocacy: A Parent’s Guide to Advocating for their Child with Special Needs
This presentation highlights essential information for parents, and the professionals who support them, in understanding the systems that control access to services for children with special needs.
Watch NowSearch the Autism Information Database
Search over 1,000 vetted information resources related to ASD, including online articles, videos, and websites.
Upcoming Events
July 19 & 20, 2018 - Nanaimo
July 30 - August 3, 2018 - Surrey
August 16 & 17, 2018 - Vancouver
August 24th, 2018 - Vancouver
B.C. Community Resources
News from ACT on Facebook
Teachers he doesn’t know seem like zombies to him and recess is like a giant maze, but he would never change anything about himself: a nine-year-old boy and a paraprofessional have written a book together to tell others what the world feels like to him.
Boy Writes Children's Book About Having Autism
courant.com
Milan, who will enter the fourth grade at Braeburn Elementary in West Hartford this fall, wrote and illustrated the book with Allison Butler, a West Hartford resident who is a paraprofessional at Whit...“We’re going in the right direction.” Families in Saskatchewan with a child on the spectrum who is under six can now apply to receive $4000 of individualized funding per year.
Sask. mom says funding for autism supports a good first step
leaderpost.com
‘It’s a long process to get these kids diagnosed. Funding is just one piece of the puzzle.’
So BC is the only province with autism funding ?
Why is each province treating autism differently. 🤦🏽♀️
The catch will be getting a diagnosis before the age of six.
It's a start, but there's such a long way to go to get services to the level recommended and needed for all persons with ASD. There's a deseparate need to attract/train/employ more professionals in this province with expertise in ASD, enhancing access to diagnosis and evidence-based therapy. Individualized funding is only as good as the services availabe;which right now are few.
Wow. That's pathetic. Never leaving BC
I wish Manitoba offered this:(
“In a world of turmoil and trouble, we cannot afford to waste precious resources-particularly the leadership and ingenuity of people with disabilities.”
Opinion | The dawning of a new age for persons with disabilities in Canada
thestar.com
The recently proposed Accessible Canada Act and the Senate report on fixes for Revenue Canada concerning the Disability Tax Credit, Breaking Down Barriers are stellar achievements for advocates with d...We don’t usually post letters from newspaper advice columns, but this one is from a mother who says that her husband doesn’t accept their daughter’s autism diagnosis. What do you think of the advice the psychologist gives her?
My husband finds it hard to accept our daughter has autism
irishtimes.com
He says she is just ‘quirky’. I am coping alone and we are fighting a lot over this
I agree with the other commenter who said that the psychologist is assigning the wife additional emotional labour. If the father is unwilling to meet in the middle emotionally then the marriage will eventually dissolve. 80 per cent of marriages involving a child with special needs will eventually end in divorce. The most fair and logical approach with a partner such as this, who is in denial, is to offer the opportunity for them to seek support while not sacrificing your own psyche in the process. I think that the mother should at this point start to think about her life and career choices and whether her current career could support herself and her children (with child support) should her marriage require dissolution.
I have a feeling than the psychologist is just assigning her more emotional work, and that is not really insightful nor supportive.
Unfortunately she will probably have to just get used to it. My sons father wants nothing to do with his diagnosis. He tells me to stop taking him to appointments and stop giving him medication. Refused to attend our parenting classes even though the company applied for double funding so he could do it at his house and I could do it at my house. Always had some excuse. It’s sad, but if I continue to spend my time and energy worrying about his dad I have nothing left for him. Do the best you can. You can’t change his dads reactions. Be happy you have a partner who works so you don’t have to be a single parent who’s working full time and taking care of your kid.
My ex doesn’t accept one of my son’s diagnoses (the kid who does well in school; ex has no problem accepting the diagnosis of the child who struggles). Note the key word: Ex. He’s not around now for good reason. I don’t have patience to baby someone who cannot rise up to support the children. I’m too busy looking after the kids to waste time convincing the ex the diagnosis is correct. So yes, I’m doing all the ASD-focused work with and for the kids almost entirely on my own, but that’s just parenting and it’s totally worth it!
A lot of husbands find it hard to except and often are in denial especially when it's a boy
Special Needs Community Events
ACT lists workshops and conferences in B.C. related to autism and other special needs that are provided by local agencies and organizations.
View Community Events自閉症社區訓練協會 | ACT in Chinese
ACT 自閉症社區訓練協會，
是加拿大卑詩省內針對家有自閉症兒童的家庭提供諮詢及轉介服務的非營利機構。
ACT in Punjabi
ACT has been able to both create and identify valuable resources for the Punjabi-speaking community in British Columbia.
View Punjabi-language Resources