President's Message
by Frank Wise

AACCASA meetings are typically held on the last Tuesday evening of each month at Ruth Parker Eason School in Millersville, Maryland. Meetings always begin promptly at 7:00 p.m.

The preset agenda includes introductions, general announcements, presentation/discussion on the topic of the month, a refreshment break, a problem solving/highlight sharing session, and group support and socialization.

New members and new ideas are always welcome.  Come check us out!

has all of the comforts of your living room at home, (except TV, dogs and kids) while also being much more spacious. Signs will be posted to direct you to the new room. If you haven't been with us for a while, come check out the new space.

APPLIED BAHAVIOR
ANALYSIS-Upcoming Speakers:

Our January 30th meeting will feature a presentation by Rose Kraft and
Doris Smith on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), also known as discrete trial training. ABA is based on more than 50 years of scientific

research with individuals affected by a wide range of behavorial and developmental disorders. This presentation will cover several key feature of ABA, including an explanation of it's history and background, it's goals, how it is implemented, and how success is measured and reported. Rose Kraft is an autism advocate as well as a mother of an autistic son who did ABA. She will be presenting the technical side of ABA. Doris Smith is the mother of a 5-year-old boy who is currently in an in-home ABA program through New Jersey Institute for Early Intervention.

Happy New Year to all our members and families.

If you weren't able to join us for the November meeting you missed a wonderful presentation, "Advocacy 101," by Debbie Janis from Parent's Place, Maryland's federally funded support center for families of children with
disabilities. Some of her ideas and handouts are available from Parent's Place at 410-859-5300 or on the web at www.ppmd.org.

Additionally, we stumbled upon a great room at Ruth Eason, that has become
our new monthly meeting room. It's called the "Home Living" room, and literally