November 2020
Perk Up And Support Families United In Newtown
Families United in Newtown (FUN) has teamed up with BD Provisions in the Highland Plaza at 125 South Main Street to offer freshly roasted coffee as a fundraiser.
According to FUN founder Linda Jones, $7 of every bag of coffee sold will be donated directly to FUN, the local nonprofit that supports special needs youth and their families.
“This delicious locally roasted coffee — whole bean or ground — and makes a great holiday or hostess gift,” Jones told The Newtown Bee. “Everyone loves coffee.”
Orders are being taken through November 30, and will be available for touchless pickup at BD Provisions on Saturday, December 5, from 10 am to noon, or Sunday, December 6, from 2 to 4 pm.
Coffee orders can be purchased with cash, check (made payable to FUN), Venmo — @FUNNewtown, or on the organization’s new website, familiesunitedinnewtown.org — or via PayPal or credit card.
“Our FUN coffee fundraiser pick-up event will be a drive-by/no-touch event with DJ or live music weather permitting, and FUN volunteer Elves will be distributing the freshly roasted coffee,” Jones said. “Customers who pick up their pre-ordered coffee at BD Provisions can enter to win a raffle prize by filling out an entry form and returning it to an Elf helpers.”
In addition to $50 Visa gift cards, a generous donation from Ingersoll Auto of Danbury will be awarded to the top high school volunteer seller and top FUN family seller. Raffle item will be delivered to winners’ homes by FUN volunteers — again, employing touchless practices.
Founded by Jones and her husband, Duane, FUN offers supervised social and recreational activities for young people with developmental disabilities as well as those on the autism spectrum while helping to raise awareness about autism and funds to support autism research.
The Joneses — parents to Lindsey, Austin, and Tyler — turned the tragedy of Tyler’s untimely passing in 2009 into a positive living memorial for their beloved son. FUN began as a recreational program in memory of Tyler, to help bring the community of special needs families together in a safe and welcoming place.
At each FUN meeting, families are paired with a National Honor Society student from Newtown High School who spends time with the kids, giving the parents a much-needed break.
Any and all are welcome at FUN meetings. The organization also gratefully accepts tax-deductible donations to help underwrite the expense of activities, which are all offered free to participants.
To volunteer, donate, or for more information, visit the FUN website or the Families United in Newtown Facebook page. Anyone with questions about the coffee fundraiser can call Jones at 203-512-6284.
SEPTEMBER 2020
AS THE SCHOOL YEAR RESUMES AMID COVID-19 PANDEMIC, SENATORS LEAD RESOLUTION SUPPORTING SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL LEARNING PROGRAMS FOR STUDENTS
Social & emotional learning programs have been shown to improve students’ academic outcomes, graduation rates, and test scores while reducing bullying, violent delinquency, mental health issues, and alcohol use
[WASHINGTON, DC] – With the school year resuming amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Angus King (I-ME) led the introduction of a resolution supporting social and emotional learning programs for students. The resolution expresses support for the implementation of evidence-based programs into classroom and virtual school curriculums to help students cope with the uncertainties and pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic they may be experiencing at school and at home.
“We must equip our students with proven social and emotional learning skills to help them succeed amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Blumenthal. “I am proud to co-sponsor this important resolution to ensure our students have the tools to successfully tackle the difficulties, stresses, and traumas of this pandemic. Social and emotional learning programs help students understand and deal with their emotions, and teach them how to navigate social situations. These programs have a proven track record of helping students involved and are an invaluable investment in our youth, helping them thrive now and throughout their lives.”
“We rely on schools to teach our children more than just their letters and numbers. In the classroom, kids are taught essential social and emotional skills that they’ll use for the rest of their lives to develop positive relationships and manage their emotions,” said Durbin. “With many kids isolated from their peers for remote learning this school year, it’s more important than ever that these social and emotional lessons are integrated into curriculum to guide children through their anxieties around the COVID-19 pandemic and provide them with the tools to face any challenges they may encounter in the future.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has created an entirely new level of stress and anxiety for many children and teenagers in New Hampshire and across the country,” said Hassan. “Social and emotional learning programs will help children and young adults adjust to challenging situations like the one we’re in now, and give them the tools that they need to maintain a healthy mindset. I am pleased to introduce this resolution that emphasizes the importance of social and emotional learning, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important measure.”
“When we talk about preparing our students for success, it can’t just be about teaching them the state capitals and multiplication tables – we need to make sure we’re supporting their social and emotional development,” said King. “This need is even more important during the coronavirus pandemic, which has upended students’ routines, challenged their support systems, and forced them to stay socially distant from the normal, personal encouragement of friends and classmates. This resolution hammers home these clear truths, and reminds our Congressional colleagues that we must step up and provide support as schools adjust to meet these unprecedented times.
Social and emotional learning programs teach students about their emotions, goal achievement, empathy, positive relationships, and responsibility, and have been shown to help students with handling challenging situations and helping them succeed in their learning and in their future. These programs have been shown to improve academic outcomes for students involved by an average of 11 percent, including boosting learning motivation, mastery of subject matter, school attendance, graduation rates, and grades, while reducing problem behaviors like bullying, improving health outcomes, and lowering violent delinquency and heavy alcohol use.
The resolution was also endorsed by the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS), LEGO, and the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.
“Social and emotional development is the foundation which allows academic learning to grow and flourish,” said CAPSS Executive Director Fran Rabinowitz. “It has always been important in education but never more important than right now. Senator Blumenthal’s resolution will allow us as educators to have the resources to address the fear, anxiety and the experiences of injustice that our students will bring to us as a result of COVID-19 isolation. We will be empowered to remedy these needs with new and creative strategies which will allow every child to regain confidence and accelerate learning.”
“The LEGO Group believes that all children should have equitable access to safe, play-based social and emotional learning opportunities,” said Executive Vice President of the Americas at the LEGO Group Skip Kodak. “Now more than ever, children face challenging life circumstances. Evidence shows hands-on playful learning experiences in school and at home help children lower stress and develop social and emotional skills like self-awareness and responsible decision making. We applaud the leadership of Senator Blumenthal, Senator Hassan, Senator Durbin, and Senator King in raising federal awareness around this issue.”
“SEL is the universal life jacket, keeping both educators and students afloat during these uncertain and stressful times,” said Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence Director and Permission To Feel author Marc Brackett. “Creating psychologically safe learning environments that nurture children’s and adults’ social and emotion skills is the key to well-being and success in school and in life.”
The full text of the Senate resolution can be found here.
Karolina Wasiniewska / United States Senate
MARCH 2019
Local Organization Promoting 'Autism Awareness Month'
Families United in Newtown (FUN) founder Linda Jones vividly recalls the day she decided to try and bring her late son, Tyler, to a Bethel retail store to gauge his capacity for tolerating the experience. Tyler, who was on the autism spectrum and non-verbal prior to his untimely passing in 2009, still had a tendency to react loudly, even seemingly violently when he was introduced to new social environments.
As expected, a few moments after entering the store with his mom and a friend who also happened to be a special education teacher, Tyler erupted into what Ms Jones described as “a severe tantrum,” eliciting looks and even comments of disapproval from several customers. But Ms Jones would not be deterred from her goal of continuing to orient her son to public situations.
“I knew based on his diagnosis that if I gave in and left the store, it would have immediately become an automatic behavior for Tyler every time he was brought to a store,” she told The Newtown Bee, “but I was NOT going to give in. I knew if I was able to calm him down, that would become the learned behavior — and I wouldn’t have to worry about taking him to those kind of public places again.”
After five attempts, and plenty more angry stares and comments, Tyler finally calmed down and tolerated a trip around the store. “I was right,” Ms Jones affirmed. “Once he settled down, I never had to worry about taking him to the store again. And while I even had a couple of people remark to my face about how I couldn’t control my child, I also had a couple of people walk up and try to help me with him.”
That incident happened many years ago, and thanks to a greater awareness of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and related conditions like Asperger’s and Pervasive Development Disorder (PDD), Ms Jones is seeing a corresponding reaction from members of the public when they encounter an individual like Tyler, who was on the more severe end of the spectrum, behaviorally-speaking.
Ms Jones believes a combination of more and more young people being diagnosed with ASD and global/community awareness activities like Autism Awareness Month in April and World Autism Awareness Day April 2, are slowly influencing a broader base of the population to be more tolerant about behaviors and idiosyncrasies of those affected.
Increasing Diagnoses
Last April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its biennial update of autism’s estimated prevalence among America’s children — based on an analysis of medical and available educational records of eight-year-old children from 11 sites across the country. Again, that monitoring confirmed that the number of young people being diagnosed on the spectrum continues to increase, with the latest estimate representing a 15 percent increase in prevalence nationally.
That means today, one in 59 children will be affected, versus the ratio of one in 68 just two years earlier (2016).
Throughout Autism Awareness Month this April, Ms Jones, her supporters, and the many Newtown High school Honors Society students who volunteer for the FUN cause are hoping local residents will help celebrate autism awareness all month long by hanging or displaying blue lighting at their homes and businesses.
Regular attendees at Ms Jones FUN meetings, held monthly during the school year, are getting their blue lights ready, and the Newtown United Methodist Church, along with a growing (glowing) number of businesses and buildings, will also be illuminated in blue lighting throughout April, including Newtown Savings Bank and The Bee.
Other businesses are helping boost autism awareness in other ways.
Queen Street Gifts owner Andrea Appelbaum already sells various “autism puzzle piece” fundraising items and has invited FUN representatives to come to the store on select days in April and show off their latest wares to customers. Ms Jones said the newest items her participants and honors students made together are purple ceramic charms and fobs in the shape of the trademark autism puzzle icon.
While all the money raised goes to supporting FUN, Ms Jones says she allocates a percentage of those funds annually as a designated donation to underwrite research toward a cure being performed by longtime friend of the organization, Margaret L Bauman, MD.
Resident Greg Van Antwerp has created a short video featuring images from various recent FUN events using the 2011 song “Light It Up Blue” by Owen Saunders and ten of his classmates in Pellham, New York, as the sound track. It will be shown in April during or after services at the Newtown UMC and the Newtown Congregational Church, Ms Jones said.
Awareness Matters
According to the Autism Society of America, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental disability; signs typically appear during early childhood and affect a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others. ASD is defined by a certain set of behaviors and is a “spectrum condition” that affects individuals differently and to varying degrees.
There is no known single cause of autism, but increased awareness and early diagnosis/intervention and access to appropriate services/supports lead to significantly improved outcomes.
Some of the behaviors associated with autism include delayed learning of language; difficulty making eye contact or holding a conversation; difficulty with executive functioning, which relates to reasoning and planning; narrow, intense interests; poor motor skills’ and sensory sensitivities. Again, a person on the spectrum might follow many of these behaviors or just a few, or many others besides. The diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder is applied based on analysis of all behaviors and their severity.
With an eye on better awareness, Ms Jones also shared the following points from that 2018 CDC update:
*The gender gap in autism has decreased. While boys were four times more likely to be diagnosed than girls (one in 37 versus one in 151) in 2014, the difference was narrower than in 2012, when boys were 4.5 times more frequently diagnosed than girls. This appears to reflect improved identification of autism in girls — many of whom do not fit the stereotypical picture of autism seen in boys.
*White children were still more likely to be diagnosed with autism than were minority children. However, the ethnic gap had narrowed since 2012, particularly between black and white children. This appears to reflect increased awareness and screening in minority communities. However, the diagnosis of autism among Hispanic children still lagged significantly behind that of non-Hispanic children.
*Disappointingly, the report found no overall decrease in the age of diagnosis. In 2014, most children were still being diagnosed after age 4, though autism can be reliably diagnosed as early as age 2. Earlier diagnosis is crucial because early intervention affords the best opportunity to support healthy development and deliver benefits across the lifespan.
Anyone with a child or teen on the spectrum is invited to attend the group’s next meeting and egg hunt April 7, from 2 to 4 pm, at the UMC lower event room in the rear of 92 Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook center. Just RSVP via e-mail by clicking here — and learn more about FUN at its Facebook site or on the web at familiesunitedinnewtown.org.
For Autism Month information, details, and data, visit autismspeaks.org.
John Voket / The Newtown Bee
Septemer 2018
Autism Group Invites Newcomers, Regulars Back For 2018-19 Season
A local grassroots support organization for families with children on the autism spectrum has scheduled its first few activities of the 2018-19 season, and it all begins with ice cream.
Families United in Newtown (FUN) founder Linda Jones established the organization in 2010 in memory of her late son, Tyler, to help bring the community of special needs families together in a safe and welcoming place.
At each FUN meeting, families are paired with a National Honors Society student from Newtown High School who will spend time with the kids, giving the parents a much needed break.
The group’s “Fall F.U.N. Sign up and Kickoff” activity is happening Saturday, September 15, from 3 to 5 pm in the lower rear activity room at the Newtown United Methodist Church (NUMC) on Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook. Kids and guests will be treated to Ferris Acres ice cream, along with live and DJ music.
The event is an opportunity for parents and caregivers to get all their FUN waivers and documents processed so kids will be set for any FUN event for the year.
Then, on Saturday, October 27, “Halloween Fun” will be had by all from 4 to 7 pm at the Newtown High School cafetorium, 12 Berkshire Road, Sandy Hook. Youths are encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes and to enjoy refreshments, DJ dancing to spooky favorites, and a trunk or treat candy dash in the parking lot (weather permitting).
On Saturday, November 10, FUN will host its popular “Respite Dinner” from 5 to 7 pm at the NUMC. This event, also featuring quiet live music, is an opportunity for parents to gather and socialize with their peers from the community.
Attendees will enjoy a full prepared meal and dessert, served by NHS Honors Society students and volunteers, who will also provide assistance and care for any children attending in a separate location at the church so parents can enjoy an hour or two of respite time together without distractions.
FUN’s final event of the calendar year will be on Saturday, December 1. The group’s “Holiday Celebration” is happening from 3 to 6 pm in the Newtown Congregational Church and is scheduled to feature a small gift giveaway of items donated by a group of partners. Previous pre-holiday gatherings have also included ornament-making crafts and a visit from a certain “jolly old elf”.
The group typically holds at least one public concert each year that features a mix of local performers from among participating FUN families as well as local musicians from the community and beyond. More information on that event, as well as the winter-spring activities, will be announced before the New Year.
Broadcast Training
To help promote FUN and the public events they sponsor, Ms Jones was recently trained by the team at Charter Communications’ Spectrum CTV-192 public access television studio on Commerce Road. As a result, Ms Jones and key FUN volunteers learned how to use the studios video cameras and production equipment.
The first project they undertook was to film the “Awesome ’80s” benefit concert that was held at the Newtown Congregational Church last June.
Ms Jones told The Newtown Bee that the entire crew at Charter/Spectrum were very gracious and kind as they worked with her and the FUN volunteers.
“When we needed video equipment to film the benefit concert in June, they trained us so we were able to capture the performance for anyone to watch,” she said. “Then they helped us to edit the recording for video on demand — which makes the performance available to watch on the station’s website for a year.”
Ms Jones said the CTV-192 crew was “helpful, professional, and supportive of our cause.”
“I started doing some of the training work at the studio and observed the crew taping Maggie the dog and Reverend Rob with the Lutheran Church comfort dog program,” she said. “It was exciting to be a part of the back room support crew and observe what actually goes on behind the scene in a cable TV shoot.”
Being in the right place at the right time put Ms Jones in a position to be invited to get out from behind the camera and to be a guest in segment of the program In Good Company with host Ron Dukenski on August 25,” she said. “This was another wonderful experience to tell our story and promote upcoming events.”
As a result, Ms Jones is encouraging those who represent other community groups looking for publicity to consider completing the next studio training course.
Read MORE...
John Voket / The Newtown Bee
APRIL 2017
For Community Partners, Autism Awareness Is Not Confined To April
For the local grassroots organization Families United in Newtown (FUN), as well as the established service bureau at Newtown Youth & Family Services (NYFS), focus around autism awareness happens 12 months a year. But during April — Autism Awareness Month — both organizations are exploring a new partnership that could expand opportunities for youngsters and young adults on the spectrum.
After several years building a successful partnership with student members of the Newtown High School National Honor Society, FUN founder Linda Jones has one of the largest and most active contingents of students supporting activities for kids on the spectrum, and their parents.
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John Voket / The Newtown Bee