By Tiare Dunlap @tiaredunlap 04/29/2016 AT 01:50 PM EDT Shari Grande and her husband call the day their two-year-old son Elijah was diagnosed with autism “the day of nevers.” “His physician told us he’ll never talk, he’ll never interact, it was just one ‘never’ after the next,” Grande, 49, tells PEOPLE. Eleven years after his…
Autism Education Resources & Tons of Inspiration at 2012 CEC Convention
We were so inspired by the special education teachers and educators we met during the CEC (Council for Exceptional Children) Convention this weekend! We had so many great conversations about autism education resources and our social learning program, The Social Express. It was great talking to all of the special education teachers about social learning at our booth!
CEC stands for the Council for Exceptional Children, the voice and vision of special education. The Convention took place held in Denver, Colorado, April 11th through 14th. It was packed with exciting special education resources, sessions, speakers, workshops, ideas, and energy.
Trying Out New Autism Education Resources
Most of the attendees we met had never heard of our new contribution to autism education resources: The Social Express. How cool to introduce them to our approach to teaching children with autism, ADHD and Asperger’s about how to manage interacting with others and other social skills.
We were able to walk them thru our autism education resource program for social learning. And we got some great feedback.
We handed each person an iPad with The Social Express learning software to try it out. When they put on the headsets, and they heard the characters speaking—like Emma. Their reactions were so exciting for us! Then, a few times as we were talking with our booth visitors, we’d hear someone say:
“Oh my gosh! The Social Express! I love you guys! I use The Social Express in my classroom!”
The energy we felt from everyone we talked with at the event was fantastic. Several teachers told us they have The Social Express use it in the classroom. Many asked us, “What are you guys doing next?”
Many of the seminar attendees that are teachers and educators are also parents of special needs children. They shared with us that they’re excited about using The Social Express. The explained that they like it so much because it’s a well-done program. And it’s focused on teaching social skills.
They think that their kids will be very engaged with our social learning program. They said it’s because our animation has a movie-like quality and it’s fun for the kids.
Music to Our Ears from Parents Using The Social Express
We also heard this from a couple of parents who use The Social Express with their autistic children at home:
“My kids don’t want to put The Social Express down. It’s first thing they want to do in the morning when they get up!”
It’s clear that these special education women and men we met at CEC have such a special commitment. We felt it was truly a privilege to meet and talk with them. We hope that The Social Express becomes a valuable program in their toolkit of autism education resources.
Thanks to everyone we met. We hope you had a wonderful experience and have lots of new ideas to put to work with your students back at home. See you next year!
– Marc and Jon