The opportunity to communicate and collaborate with people from around the world regarding best practices when working with children with autism spectrum disorders is phenomenal!  I had such an opportunity on Monday, November 5th 2007 in the wee hours of the morning to accommodate for the 12 1/2 hour time change.  Using SKYPE, Chris and Gary were able to connect  with me so that I could present to the teachers and staff of the Open Door School, The National Centre for Autism in India, also known as Action for Autism or AFA as it is referred to by those who work there. 

In preparation for this presentation, Gary took with him a notebook of resources I’d prepared covering various areas of intervention, teaching strategies, and actual supports specific for children with autism spectrum disorders.  I’d originally planned on talking about the various supports in the notebook, however, once things got started, I had other resources I wanted to share with these people as well.  After going through the initial technological snafu’s, I did my best to offer these professionals with resources that would meet their needs, and spark other ideas of collaboration amongst them, specific to their children. I reviewed a powerpoint presentation that represented various aspects of an individualized model called Structured Teaching.  Although I included many pictures of the actual classroom structure along with pictures of various interventions and tasks, I later learned that they wanted to see these resources being used with  children.  This will be something we will be working on for future web casts. 

Telling someone about how well a support works, and showing them how it works are vastly different perspectives, and so I believe future web casts will include actual hands on implementation of some of the resources suggested.  Questions followed, and then about an hour and a half after it started, we were done.  

What was even more exciting were the people from India that have been emailing me since the presentation.  Just like the collaboration with the people from China, I am now working with the people of India.  I find this international connection invaluable on many levels.  Although it benefits those places we are reaching out to, it also benefits us here at home.  Considering the alarming rate of increase with autism spectrum disorders, it behooves us to work together as a team locally, state wide, nationally, and internationally.  It is with this type of collaboration that all children become the concern of many, and it is with many that we will collectively move forward.  I look forward to other opportunities such as this with great enthusiasm! 

Autism is autism worldwide, and if connecting to the world increases our opportunities to better serve children, then we have begun what will surely be a beneficial collaboration for all.