April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day. If you want to get involved but aren’t sure how, registering to walk or donating to a walker or team is a great place to start. There are 3 walks on April 2 in Pasadena, CA, Port St. Lucie, FL and New Orleans, LA and many more scheduled throughout the rest of the year.
Autism Speaks Walk, the nation’s largest grassroots autism walk program, is Autism Speaks’ signature fundraising and awareness event, taking place in communities across the United States, as well as in Canada. Powered by volunteers and families with loved ones on the autism spectrum and local businesses and companies that employ those on the spectrum, this successful grassroots fundraising effort not only generates vital funds for autism research but also raises awareness about the increasing prevalence of autism and the need for increased research funding to combat this complex disorder.
My name is Noelle and I am a member of the Kitting Department here at Adafruit. By day, I am pretty much the Keebler elf, cranking out fun kits here at Adafruit, but once I hang my little kitters hat up at the end of my day, my life as a Mom takes over. I am the mother to this little adorable 3 year old nugget, who is the light of my life. He is this big ball of energy, super funny, super giggly, super cuddly, and he has autism. J.J (my nugget), was diagnosed at 15 months with autism. Luckily there are a plethora of resources and websites geared towards children with Autism.
https://www.autismspeaks.org is a great site to learn about autism, legislation surrounding autism, autism research and how to get involved. They also have a on-site store where you can purchase “Light it Up Blue” merchandise and the proceeds go towards autism research.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, or even use Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for MakeCode, CircuitPython, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell with Google Hangouts On-Air is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
