We're Going to Meet Anyhow!

For the second half of June, we will meet in the Kingston Library upstairs in the children's art room at the usual time of 1:30 p.m.

Those of us who came to the last meeting on the 13th voted to gather even though Irene will not be there on the 27th.

We won't be seeing Dr. Brody until the 11th of July.

special showing tomorrow

Hi everybody.
On Saturday, June 13th, at 2PM, Jamey Wolff of the Children's Annex will be presenting a new, unfinished, half hour movie about teens/young adults with Asperger's. She is interested in getting our feedback about it. She will really appreciate any comments about what age group the film would be useful for, and anything else people would like to share.
See you at 1:30 on Saturday!
By the way, we will be meeting in the smaller, children's reading room, adjacent to the children's library.

Dr. Irene Brody

Saturday, May 23.

Hi Folks. Unfortunately, the Kingston library is closed today, thus we must cancel our meeting. The next meeting is Saturday, June13th.
Have a happy memorial day weekend.

Q:What did the Buddha say to the hot dog vendor?
A: Make me one with everything!

May on the Spectrum

For the month of May:

We will not know if others attempted to meet with the group on the 9th until our next meeting in June.

April Highlights

For the month of April:

On the 11th, we mostly talked about what things could bring us interesting topics for discussions (books, articles, information about Aspergers online, etc.). We decided to experiment on meeting together without Irene, since Irene will not be back again before Sat., May 23rd. 

We got together as usual on the 25th of April, except without our accustomed structure Dr. Brody provides. Everyone successfully handled our experimenting with a free-form style during the first hour of our being together. Max arrived in time to practice chairing our second hour.

Neither Irene Brody nor Layne Habib were at the annual Walk for Autism. Those of us who did make it gathered at the table for the Ridge School.

This event was held at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, off Route 9 in Rhinebeck, NY between 9:00 am and 2:00 pm on Sunday, April 26th. The actual walk around the track began at 10:30 am.

All proceeds went towards Hudson Valley Autism Awareness. For more info, visit autismwalkhv.org.

Peeping at Spring

For the month of March:

On the 14th, the movie Into the Wild was talked about.

On the 28th, more was covered on how people converse when getting acquainted.

Check out The Flip Side of social life titled in our right column.

We're birds of a feather flocking together!

For the month of February:

The topic of difficult conversations was our primary focus on the 14th. After that, the question of whether or not Aspies have empathy was discussed again.

On the 28th, we wrapped up our discussion on empathy and moved on to talking about letting go of a relationship. Even though all neurological types of people experience having to move on sometimes from a relationship, Aspies seem to receive more than their fair share of this potentially upsetting aspect with life.

January Comforts

For the month of January:

Due to the snow fall on the 10th, the meeting was cancelled halfway through the normally scheduled hours. Irene, along with another group member, showed up around 1:30 p.m. An hour later, another showed up.

On the 24th, there was a decent crowd which gathered for that day. Irene started the meeting by wanting to know what others thought about our group becoming part of GRASP. Shortly after, many different topics where randomly discussed.

Remember December

For the month of December:

Four group members met on Saturday, December 13th to discuss whatever came to mind with Irene. GRASP wasn't one of those things; nor was the topic of leadership brought up. Our one and only December meeting was about as casual as it has ever been. Generally speaking, the atmosphere was cozy on that sunny afternoon as we sat in the children's art room upstairs tucked into the Library's southwest corner.

Several topics were touched upon briefly; ranging from light conversation to things of a more serious nature.

Happy Thanksgiving!

For the month of November:

We met as usual on Saturday, November 8th.  Some of our discussions were on how Aspies can appear egocentric when socializing by talking about one's self too much and also on how we handle criticism (especially since we tend to be hypersensitive in that area).

On Saturday, November 22nd, Brian and Sheila practiced replacing Irene's leadership role.  ART suggests that its members research as much information about GRASP as each individual feels is necessary in order to be able to make a personal decision about our joining them.

Subscribe to GRASP's free online support for extra information that's not found on their website, but rather in their groups formed on yahoo.

Don't forget―we also have the option of possibly enlarging our group by joining meetup.com  If we chose that route, we could still get information from GRASP and avoid the obligations to their conditions attached.

Once ART would become a GRASP group, Irene would no longer be able to be a backup leader. GRASP requires groups to be led by a peer. Irene would not qualify, because she lacks sufficient Asperger traits.

I, Sheila, regret I can't continue practicing a leadership role.  Are there any volunteers of ART to co-lead the group with Brian? Maybe what's needed is to pay someone to come from NYC to take over ART's leadership? Maybe the problem is that everyone in ART has come to feel relaxed and comfortable under Irene's gentle guidance, so no one really wants anyone to replace her? 

Complete Fall with A.R.T.!

For the month of October:

There was a meeting on the 25th. Irene might possibly recall what transpired during that gathering.

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The stats for this weblog reveal an average of 150 visitors per month. 50% of those are newcomers. Rarely do visitors leave quickly. They usually scour everything created for this site.

Do we want our group to grow?

After doing research, there appears to be no way for other adults with aspergers to know about our group if someone is using the internet as a way to find other adults on the autism spectrum scale in our region of the Hudson Valley.

With the Open Center for Autism being closed, other aspies are depending on the slim chances word-of-mouth offers.

We don't have enough links to this blogspot on other significant sites for the search engines to have us come up in a result (unless our name is known and placed in quotes when a search is done).

Local newspapers are another way for others to be aware of our existence, but the majority of younger adults do not read the paper. The most likely way we can get new members to join our group is by being listed in meetup.com's aspergers data base.

The more members we have, the more input we have. Each new member brings in more financial support; plus, different experiences and possible knowledge we can all benefit from.

The price range for placing our group with meetup.com's service is between $12-$20/mo.

If you're unable to join us in person and/or you don't want your vote to be seen by others when we meet, you can vote on this now in the column to your right.

Cool Times Are Back!

For the month of September:

We met on Saturday, Sept. 13th and 27th at the Kingston Library on 55 Franklin Street.  

If you would like to know what you missed, Irene might remember what was discussed on those days. 

So long summer...

Vacations in August

For the month of August:

Irene is on vacation, so there will be no meetings for this month.

Since there will not be another meeting until September 13th, please feel free to join the ART forum and get in touch with others in the group online. Since there is an interest in the community forum, it will not be deleted. Time is needed for people to get comfortable with it.

If you can't travel for a vacation, do as Dr. Leo Marvin recommended to Bob Wiley in the movie "What About Bob?"...take a vacation from your problems.

Our Mid-Summer Schedule

For the month of July:

We had a meeting on Saturday, July 12th and Saturday, July 26th in the Kingston Library upstairs between the hours of 1:30 - 3:30 pm.

Please be aware that when we're not in the large Children's room upstairs, most likely we're in the smaller Children's ART room (also upstairs).

There will be no more meetings until Saturday, September 13th.

June's Agenda

For the month of June:

On Saturday, June 14th, we discussed what factors need to be considered for understanding why people respond the way the do to what we say, especially when we might get a different response than someone else.

This topic was then finished on June the 28th. 

Our Days in May

For the month of May:

We met as usual on Saturday, May 10th. We did not plan a meeting for Saturday, May 24th.

Our time between 1:30 to 3:00 pm was spent discussing 5 social aspects of Asperger's syndrome with an emphasis on small talk. We did not devote any of this time towards socializing.

Eight people showed up in the Children's art room of the Kingston library. Along with Irene and 6 regulars, a newcomer joined us.

April Events

For the month of April:

On Saturday, April 5th we spent our entire two hours socializing. There was plenty of food! It went fairly well once everyone got comfortable. Most likely that was because everyone knew what to expect ahead of time and had enough time to get adjusted to something different.

At our last meeting for April on Saturday, April 26, we experimented by changing our activity during the last half hour of our time together. This was not planned and came as a surprise to everyone. During the first 90 minutes, we voluntarily took a turn going around the table sharing whatever obsessions and/or compulsions we have. Not everyone had something to contribute, but all listened. The purpose was to share what ideas and/or techniques may have worked for us in order to possibly help others there.

March Meeting

For the month of March:

We met as usual on March 8th; however, that was our only regular meeting for this month. There was no meeting on March 22nd due to Irene being gone.

On that rainy Saturday of the 8th, only four regular members, Irene, and one other visitor showed up. Discussion was kept light and on schedule.

Lovely February!

For the month of February:

On Feb. 9th, we spent some time talking about jobs and about how we deal with anxious situations when they arrive. Besides Irene, seven others showed up on that snowy Saturday.

On Feb. 23rd, we got to practice handling some anxious situations that arrived. Thirteen attended on this Saturday (including Irene). 

Happy New Year!

For the month of January:

We met on Jan. 19th and on Jan. 26th. At those meetings, we discussed the topic of sadness and how Asperger's might possibly contribute to it.

It was on Jan. 26th, we decided to plan our outings to occur on other days than the regular ones. These trips will not begin until the warmer weather of spring arrives.

New Address . . . New Year

Bookmark
http://hudsonvalleyaspergers.blogspot.com
into your favorites.

Using a blog for checking up on our group events (instead of a website) spares the group from enduring an unnecessary financial decision. A blog is easier to use, more flexible and reliable; plus, it's without any responsibilities in regards to payments because it's free!

The meeting on Dec. 8th was the only one planned for the month of December. Most of our time was spent on the insightful experience of ordering pizza for 16 people with different requests. The remaining time went to discussing e-mail, phone, and gift receiving protocol.