One easy way to teach your community about human trafficking, which will in turn help combat its causes and effects, is to incorporate information into your conferences, trainings, manuals, and other relevant materials. For example, the American Bar Association has created best practices for businesses, training for lawyers and members of the law enforcement community, and has boosted awareness for pro bono opportunities to ensure victims are well taken care of. Meet with, or write, your government representatives to discuss human trafficking. Consider contacting everyone at the local, state, and federal level. Let them know that you care about human trafficking in your community. Furthermore, ask what they are doing to address human trafficking. Request the introduction of bills, discussions in committees, a particular vote on a particular bill, and other means of taking action. Make people in your community aware of human trafficking by legally distributing trafficking materials in public spaces. For example, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers newsletters, campaign materials, and contact information that you can use and distribute to help raise awareness. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security has launched the Blue Campaign, which strives to protect the victims of human trafficking and bring those responsible to justice. The Blue Campaign offers a resources page where you can find media printouts, videos, and campaign materials that you can print and distribute. Try to get a group of concerned citizens together to watch a recent documentary on human trafficking. If you cannot find a documentary or do not have access to one, watch training videos and other materials offered online. After you watch the videos, discuss them and open up a dialogue. See how people might feel about human trafficking and how you might be able to get more people involved with the fight against it. A lot of school curriculums fail to recognize and address current issues facing the world. Even if schools do address some of these current issues, human trafficking is often left of the list. Encourage your school to incorporate the issue into their curriculum. Some organizations, for example Frederick Douglas Family Initiatives, actually has a curriculum teachers can incorporate directly into the school day. Take this knowledge to your local schools and ask them to introduce the information to their teachers and students.  In addition to teaching children about human trafficking, talk with parents, teachers, and administrators about the risks of human trafficking on school-aged children. Bring materials issued by the U.S. Department of Education to show them. You can do something as simple as setting up alerts on your phone and computer to receive up-to-date news on human trafficking. For example, you can set up a Google Alert about human trafficking. After the alert is set up, you will receive notifications whenever a news article arises that concerns human trafficking. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper discussing the issue of human trafficking in your community. This can help bring awareness to another group of individuals that may not get online or walk around public spaces where you might be handing out resources. The internet allows you to start a petition and circulate it to millions of people instantly. Using sites like change.org, you can create your own petition calling for a specific action to be taken on human trafficking (i.e., starting task forces, creating victim hotlines). Get online and create one of these petitions. Once you do, send the link to everyone you know and ask them to sign it. If your petition gains enough traction and signatures, community members might be forced to listen to your concerns. If you are a business, refuse to allow traffickers to use you. In addition, provide internships, job/skills training, and hire victims of trafficking to help them get on their feet. If you are a medical provider, extend low-cost or free medical services to victims of trafficking. If you are an attorney, offer pro bono services to victims and anti-trafficking organizations. Encourage companies to get rid of forced labor by investigating and eliminating trafficking within their supply chains. Ask that companies publish their findings and what they are doing to fight traffickers. Some websites, for example chainstorereaction.com, offer pre-written letters that you can send for free to companies of your choice. These letters discuss human trafficking and what companies can do to combat it.  The U.S. Department of Labor even keeps a list of goods that have been produced using forced labor. Check this list often and refuse to buy anything produced through forced labor. You can also take a survey to find out about your "slavery footprint." Using the website and taking the quiz can help you discover your unintended connection to human trafficking.
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One-sentence summary -- Incorporate information into your professional materials. Write your government representatives. Distribute helpful materials. Host awareness events. Encourage schools to teach about human trafficking. Keep up-to-date on human trafficking news. Contact your local paper. Start a petition. Provide opportunities for victims. Be a conscientious consumer.


All autistic children are capable of learning. They simply need to find a strategy for proper information absorption.  If an autistic child is not learning, it is not because they cannot learn, but because there is some barrier. Too much noise in the environment, an untreated anxiety disorder, or bullying are examples of issues that can impede learning. Limited communication skills may also prevent them from demonstrating what they know. Learn to accept that autistic children may always have differences, and should not be evaluated on the same basis as their neurotypical classmates. Autistic children should be evaluated in relation to their own growth and learning over time Understand that not all autistic children can use the same techniques that you use when teaching a certain subject. Some autistic kids may pick it up very quickly. Autistic kids may have uneven skill profiles. Make sure that the material is appropriate (including supplying more advanced material as needed). An autistic child isn't going to act like a non-autistic child, and that's okay. Many autistic differences are adaptive; the child acts this way for a reason. Instead of trying to teach them to suppress their natural body language and pretend to be non-autistic, accept their differences and focus on teaching skills that will be more helpful.   Eye contact can be distracting or painful for autistic people. An autistic child may prefer to look at a different part of you or stare into space to help them listen better. Fidgeting is normal and helps with coping skills. Turning away is not a sign of rejection, but a sign of being overwhelmed. Movement disabilities may cause jerky, clumsy, or overly forceful movements. Facial expressions may look distant, odd, or exaggerated. This usually isn't on purpose. Autistic children may need extra processing time and thus respond more slowly. Some autistic children may struggle with sarcasm, idioms, puns, and jokes. When talking to them, be as precise and specific as possible. Say what you mean when you want them to do something. For example, instead of telling them "Perhaps you should go back to the drawing board," say, "I want you to try this activity again." These can be confusing, as autistic children often have trouble processing sequences, particularly spoken ones. Give them extra time to process what you say as some autistic children have problems processing what they hear.  If the child can read, write down the instructions. If the child is still learning, written instructions with pictures might help. Give instructions in small steps, and use short sentences whenever possible. Some autistic children learn to communicate via sign language, pictures, or a voice output device. If the child uses any of these to communicate, learn the system so that you can effectively use it. For example, you may need to print out different pictures of food. At snack time, have the child point to what they want. Autistic children sometimes struggle to process spoken words (especially from recordings due to odd acoustics), so seeing written words can help them understood what is being said. This can help both those who can and cannot yet read.   Children who cannot read yet will associate printed words with spoken words. Children who can read may benefit from being able to see the words as well as hear them. If a child has a favorite television show, record the show with the closed captions and incorporate the show as part of the reading lesson.
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One-sentence summary --
Assume that all children are competent. Recognize how autistic body language can be different. Speak in clear, precise language. Avoid long verbal commands or lectures. Communicate with the child using functional aids if necessary. Use closed captions on a television.