OK so for those that couldn't make it last night I'll try to recap the important things covered...sorry if this is long!

I listed the upcoming SASI events:
Today 10/4 asd support for the kids/young adults 4pm at 2 vineyard way, mount sinai
10/8 Longwood Special Ed resource fair (come visit SASI too) 11-3 at I believe the middle school
10/9 5pm $10 per child Open Play Give it your All Sports, Ronkonkoma
10/15 Music Therapy FREE...for any aged child that likes music. Hosted by The Music Academy for Special Learners 11 AM held at wisdom tree school in miller place
10/28 Monthly Support Meeting Mather Hospital...Danielle Brooks parent advocate coming again to answer all of your questions, don't miss!
11/19 Parents night out I'll post time soon (well deserved!). Recipe 7 in Miller Place (used to be Nappertandys) $15 includes a drink (beer, wine or SASI-tini) and an appetizer.

We had speakers from Lewis Johs Avallone Aviles, LLP talking about how essential it is to plan ahead. You should have wills of course and also guardianship to plan if your child might be unable to make decisions for themselves when you are no longer able. Also very essential to those whose children receive money or benefits of any kind to set up a special needs trust (you can put as little as $10 in it initially) so that if they inherit money from a grandparent or anyone or if they accumulate any money that it goes into the trust to be used for their benefit. If not, the government can withdraw benefits and/or seek repayment of benefits from the money. They offer free consults to SASI members so feel free to speak with them at anytime they are really great and kind hearted Lewis Johs

NEW PROGRAMS:

Life Skills with Audra Sisak (behavioral therapist) and SASI mom. She will be focusing on ages 9-12 and 15-21 for the first two sessions. 6 week session (once a week)Will cover life skills and extended 12 week session will also cover sex ed for older kids. Very hands on and essential skills for the kids to have. Cost is $25 total for the 6 week session and $45 for the 12 week. SASI will be paying to keep it affordable for our parents. To be held thursday nights from 6-7:30 (still securing venue) starting Nov 3rd. Spaces limited so if you are interested I'll be posting the registration form soon and you must prepay to be registered. We hope to continue this as an ongoing program and include 13-15 as well going forward.

Life Skills with NY Therapy: This will focus on the younger ones aged approx 4-8 and will be done based on individual assessment to group them in very small groups accordingly by needs. All essential life skills, teeth brushing, self care, navigating their world. This program will be paid for by your insurance and they take cigna, united healthcare, oxford,empire bc/bs, empire child health plus, fidelis,empire plan/NY Ship, GHI, emblem health. Starting as a pilot program with limited numbers but hope to expand this to include more. If interested i'll be posting the intake form for you to fill out and return to them or to SASI and we will get it to them. Beginning January 2017.

Vocational Coaching Program with Felicia Fleitman of SAVVY HIRES. We are VERY excited to bring you this program. Felicia has a very extensive resume of vocation coaching and many connections in the business community. She is developing a program that will specifically address the needs of our community. We will have two groups...two sessions per group... 1 1/2 hours per session to be held at Stony Brook University. Will cover resume writing, interviewing and finding employment. Again, this is meant to address some of the challenges that asd young adults face in finding employment. We hope to expand this to partner with local businesses and help these kids get jobs. Age range is 17-23 approx. with group 1 being in college/college bound and group 2 being non-college bound young adults. Cost will be $50. Program dates will be posted with the event shortly running late oct/november

IF YOU HAVE NOT GOTTEN YOUR FREE MEMBER CARD PLEASE DO SO....you need to be a member to take advantage of these programs.

We also had Alan Packer of the Simons Foundation (he's also my big brother) they are the nations leading private researcher in autism he spoke about the research that has been done and also where it is heading. He answered some really interesting questions. We will be having him back as there was not enough time to cover everything.

AGAIN IF YOU ARE INTERESTED in any of the programs I will be posting them individually soon with the details on how to sign up if interested. If you have any questions about anything feel free to message me.