April is Autism Acceptance Month. Although raising awareness and providing a safe environment for our students to be accepted is something we strive to do all year, this month gives us an added prompt. A prompt to share the good, share the victories, share the accomplishments, and share the baby steps. As an educator, clinician, parent, or autistic individual, you are part of this community. Take April as a prompt to share with those that are not part of this community. Share with them why acceptance is important. Share with them how acceptance can cause meaningful change. Change that can make the lives better for individuals on the spectrum. Change that could lead to one less child being bullied, one less parent getting the side eye during a challenging outing with their child, or one less teacher having to advocate for accommodations that should already be given.
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, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, 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 is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
