School Archives - Navigating Autism

Red Bird Shaun of the Dead – Kennedy Areffi

December 1, 2014October 26, 2013 by Andy Areffi

Red Bird Shaun of the Dead is Kennedy Areffi’s first parody trailer she used to learn editing. Some of you know that Kennedy Athena has been learning to make movies. She saw the trailer for Shaun of the Dead on Youtube (still trying to figure out how) and decided to make her own version with … Read more

Nav Autism Update

February 11, 2013February 11, 2013 by Andy Areffi

Good morning – something exciting over the weekend. We’ve been corresponding with someone connected to the Connecticut study. Very interesting. We will have much more to report soon.

Defining Definition

January 29, 2013January 28, 2013 by Andy Areffi

If you’re like us, we like to have behavior information come home from school. The reason for this is so the kids know that if you misbehave in school there are consequences at home. Big surprise, right? For some reason, LAUSD seems to have imposed draconian restrictions on the behavior agencies communicating with parents. We’re … Read more

Autism kids need not apply

December 14, 2012 by Melissa Areffi

I got a newsletter from my kids’ school, where the awards were given for things like math, science and literature – okay, I know that’s not where my kids’ strengths are. Then I saw it – photography, art and film making. And I had to respond – why wasn’t my kids’ class participating in this? … Read more

Refusing Special Education

October 1, 2012September 14, 2012 by Melissa Areffi

North Hollywood California Charter principal says, “I don’t want THEM coming here” I have been going through the special education system in LAUSD for over six years now with my 3 kids. Like with anything you are thinking about buying, or places you’re thinking about going, you check them out, right? I read reviews on … Read more

About the Areffis

The Areffis are the parents of three children with autism – Kennedy, age 10, Alex, age 9, and Bella, age 7. They wrote “Navigating Autism” because they were not able to find a book to guide them when Kennedy was diagnosed with autism in 2005. They were still struggling to get the assistance she needed when Alex was diagnosed on the spectrum in 2006 and Bella in 2008. They work tirelessly to support parents of autistic children, “We want to help as many people as possible,” says Melissa. “With early intervention, these kids can go on to become anything, and not dependent on disability services their entire lives. As parents, we want our kids to have a shot at happiness, and a ‘normal’ life. We figured we didn’t have any right to complain about how things are unless we did something about it to help.”