My 200^th blog!  I have been read by 11,821 visitors from over 113 countries.  Some of the topics that I have written on include:

My Journey
I Have Autism: Ryan’s View
Is Your Child Being Bullied?
Overcoming Communication Barriers with Technology
DSM 5: What’s the Big Deal?
iPad: Knowing When It Is Right For Your Child
An Open Thank  You Letter To Teachers
You Don’t Have to be Holly Robinson Peete to be Aware of Autism
Finding the Right App for your Child

Today I had a fascinating opportunity to Skype with Dr. Karen Guldberg, director of University of Birmingham – Autism Centre for Education and Research (Acer).  I had read in the CEC SmartBrief about a robot named NAO helping children in a primary school in Birmingham explore technology.  We, of course, have been working on a project with a robot named NAO in determining the interests of children with autism with this technology.  I wondered whether they were seeing the same trends that we were so I sent off a quick email detailing our research and interest in collaborating.

What did I learn?  United Kingdom faces many of the same challenges as we do.  They too have experienced the tsunami of adolescents with autism becoming adults.  Interestingly, new laws will go in effect next year which will expand services for persons with autism from birth to twenty five years of age.  They also hope to integrate the departments of Education, Care and Health to better meet the needs of persons with autism.  We in Pennsylvania often decry the fact that our departments of Education, Welfare and Health are silos which never communicate.

Dr. Guldberg is very interested in bridging the research and practice communities so that all children can benefit from this knowledge.  Technology enables us to break down geographic boundaries with Dr. Karen Guldberg (link to her site). We will continue to share our research practices and knowledge via email and Skype.

Learn more about Dr. Guldberg’s and BNI’s research.