Autism

Recently, Harvard researchers reported that children with autism have a wide range of genetic defects, making it nearly impossible to develop a simple genetic test to identify the disorder. Now, University of Missouri researchers are studying 3-D imaging to reveal correlations in the facial features and brain structures of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which will enable them to develop a formula for earlier detection of the disorder.

It all started because of failure, a missing person who couldn't be located in time. It was and still is a story that happens monthly, if not weekly all across our nation. For families and caregivers exploring options of how to protect a loved one who wanders away from the safety of their home due to Alzheimer's, Dementia, Autism, Intellectual Disabilities or other wandering conditions, there is hope.

The San Jose Mercury News on Wednesday profiled the Fremont, Calif.-based Dream Center, which is "believed to be the nation's only Chinese-centric autistic-focused center." The center was founded in 1996 by a few Chinese-American families to "help fellow Asians who were raised to feel ashamed of disabilities," according to the Mercury News.

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston have embarked on one of the first double-blind, clinical studies to determine whether gluten and dairy products play a role in autistic behavior as parents have anecdotally claimed. The pilot study is one of seven current studies on autism in the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

Joe Ellis, Chairman of NAKMAS (the National Association of Karate and Martial Art Schools) the national governing body of all forms of martial arts in the UK, has announced that he has the neurobiological condition known as Asperger Syndrome. The announcement coincides with the introduction of the NAKMAS Asperger Syndrome training programme, aimed at educating martial arts coaches about the condition.

I was reading through some Autism Related articles and I came across a post on About.com’s Autism Section regarding competition and autism. In it a parent seems frustrated about her autistic son’s lack of interest in sports competition. he’s tried out all kinds of sports. Some, like tennis and bowling, were his own idea. He can [...]

Debbie Lockrey-Wessel wrote a book to explain Autism to kids. She wrote it after her experience of growing up with a younger brother that has Autism. The book helps children understand autism and explains that autism is not a disease you can catch. The book is avaialable from essentialautism.com.

I recieved the following in the comments section for another post here. It included phone numbers which I took out (because I don’t see the need for her to get harrased by people which would most likley happen). 3 DOCTORS TELL THE SCHOOL THAT MY ASPERGER SON NEED SERVICES. HE GETS NO 504, IDEA, NO [...]

The WWE is apparently teaming up with Jenny McCarthy to raise money for her campaign on curing Autism.  While I never really understood what was entertaining about watching guys act like they are beating each other up and dressing like idiots I find this very disturbing.  The WWE has a crap load of money and [...]

I got a message today from Emily, who blogs as pahsophist, she recently purchased one of our great shirts and sent me a picture of her wearing it. As you can see its an awesome looking shirt, and I would like to thank Emily for sending the picture. If you don’t know these shirts were designed so that [...]

Wow.In late June, Roi was involved in an ATV accident during a break in DMB's summer tour. He had been recovering nicely until July, when he was readmitted to the hospital due to complications. Later, he was sent back home after everything got better.He was due to begin physical rehab in Los Angeles when he died. DMB will finish the tour, but nobody is certain what will happen to the new album. If I recall correctly, it wasn't finished yet. They were supposed to go back into the studio after the tour to finish recording.Now I feel really bad, knowing I won't be able to attend their concert…

Everyone is making much ado about nothing over the movie Tropic Thunder and the use of the word 'retard'.IT'S JUST A WORD.It wasn't the first to use it and won't be the last, so why the complaints? You haven't even SEEN the movie.Where were the Down's advocates when Devo named one of their songs "Mongoloid"? Nowhere, because the Down's advocates reclaimed the word.I realize my opinion won't be popular with my fellow Hub bloggers. So be it.It's my opinion. Please let me have it.

Last night's edition of Saturday Night's Main Event based around actress Jenny McCarthy raising awareness for Autism didn't do too well in the ratings to say the least. For starters, the show finished in last place in its time slot, getting beat out by America's Most Wanted on Fox, Wipeout on ABC, and a show by the name of Flashpoint on CBS at the same time slot. Well technically, Saturday's Night Main Event didn't finish in last place out of all the networks as the show likely beat out the offerings from The CW and MyNetworkTV, so perhaps WWE can take solace in that. Then again, those…

And being someone who's followed pro wrestling since around late 1996, through the Monday Night Wars and to the industry's current state, I'm understandably ticked. Vincent K. McMahon has done some terrible things during his tenure as WWE CEO (his dad is rolling in his grave as I type), but this latest scheme is disgusting.According to what I've read, Jenny McCarthy will be there "to raise awarneness for her (sic) charity (sic), Generation Rescue".Waitaminute! Since when is GR a charity, and since when is Jenny the founder?Jenny McCarthy is a lot like Las Vegas. Appealing on the outside (to…

I was going to make a different post related to myself, until I saw this news.Dave Matthews Band saxophonist/woodwind player LeRoi Moore was injured in an ATV accident near his home while having a day off from touring. It is unknown how long he will remain out of commission. It is obviously a serious injury, though the band is not cancelling any tour dates. Jeff Coffin, who plays for Béla Fleck, is taking his place in his absence.You can send Mr. Moore an e-card here: http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/e-cards/Please do it, even if you don't like DMB.As for my originally scheduled…

I've been surfing out in the blogosphere, finding new corners not yet explored and curling up with others already well-known. What an amazing thing, this blogging community, with its ability to lift me at times when I'm feeling sad or just worn out. I especially appreciate Susan's post because sometimes I don't see the forest for the trees, you know? I've never been one to obsess on a cure, whatever that is, but I am awfully focused on getting the boys as much therapy and programs that I can. My sole purpose has been to help them be in our world as much as they're able. I am reminded, though,…

Well, hello. Remember us? So many things to say, so little energy. We are still living in a hotel, 21 days since a fire destroyed two bedrooms and a roof. Still waiting for work to begin on our house and all we've heard in response to When can we move back in? is Two? Three months? Maybe more. Nearly one month gone and it's looking pretty gloomy.I will say that I no longer feel that home insurance is a useless, overpriced bite out of our wallet. No, not anymore. I don't know what we'd do if we had to pay $300 a night, ourselves, to stay in this (so not) palatial inn. As you can imagine, it's…

Thank you for watching out for our family by first sending that fierce thunderstorm through here a few weeks ago. It uprooted two beautiful old trees in our backyard and really bummed me out at the time. They were so tall and majestic — taller than our house. The apple tree, especially, was lovely in spring with its dress of pink and white blossoms. Not only that, they provided a nice privacy fence of sorts by blocking our neighbor's yard from view.Two nights ago our house caught on fire. We are so grateful that the view was clear and that our neighbors were able to see the flames shooting…

Amidst the intensity of John's home program, Sam finished his first week of summer camp...and loved every single minute of it. There were worries: the night before his first day he tossed and turned and would not go to sleep. Finally I went in and he said "Mommy, I'm scared for summer camp." But the next morning dawned and he was game. As soon as he saw the other kids and the toys — so much like his classroom — he barely waved goodbye. The camp is run by a group of occupational therapists and most kids are on the spectrum somewhere. There are a handful of ADHD and ADD kids too. What's…

Front page, above the fold in today's New York Times. In two years, cervical cancer has gone from obscure killer confined mostly to poor nations to the West’s disease of the moment. Read the full article HERE.

By Dan Olmsted You've probably heard the controversy over the nation's Number One movie this past weekend that uses the R word in an ATTEMPT to send up actors who take roles playing disabled persons because they are "Oscar bait."...

By Anne Dachel CBS EVENING NEWS reporter Sharyl Attkisson again uncovers evidence of just how much the government has known about the damaging side effects of vaccines. This story clearly documents what countless parents have said, namely, their normally progressing...

By Kim Stagliano The National Vaccine Injury Center has a search program called MedAlerts to search the CDC/FDA's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS site. A search of Dr. Paul Offit's RotaTeq from Merck, turned up 83 adverse events...

Managing Editor's Note: We probably all have at least one Grandparent/autism story. I hope you'll share yours in our comment section. Some grandparents are a source of strength, comfort and and even financial assistance. Others are a brickwall of lack...

“Autistics” simply do not exist. writes journalist Dan Olmsted in an Age of Autism post on the use of the word “retard” in the movie Tropic Thunder. He “really can’t stand” it when the “people with autism” are referred to as “autistics,” and he sees the word as a “corollary of ‘retards’.” Olmsted refers here to an ongoing debate in the autism community, about whether to use the adjective “autistic” or the preposition/noun phrase “with autism.” Some prefer to say…

Darn, I thought it was my own state of New Jersey that does: According to the most recent figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2007, about 1 in 150 8-year-old children in multiple areas of the United States had an ASD, and New Jersey has the highest prevalence rate, 1 in 94. An article in the August 20th CityPages in Minnesota suggests that it’s rather the North Star state that has the highest rate, 1 in 81. The CityPages article mentions a 2001 CDC study but not the more recent one in 2007, though it does cite the 1 in 150 figure. For the 1 in 81…

A Tennessee high school student, Eric L died on August 18th after suffering head trauma at the Byington-Solway Career and Technical Center last Wednesday. Law was autistic and a special education student. From VolunteerTV.com Oaks says two employees are on paid administrative leave pending an investigation. Oaks says the student fell from a vehicle, but would not elaborate on the details because of the ongoing investigation into the incident. Attorney Greg Isaacs identifies the student as Eric Law. Isaacs is representing Law’s family, and says Eric was a special education student with…

Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia are studying how to use 3-D imaging to analyze the facial structures and brain abnormalities of autistic children, in the hopes of developing a formula to identify autism in young children. From a press release: “When you compare the faces and head shapes of children with specific types of autism to other children, it is obvious there are variations. Currently, autism diagnosis is purely behavior based and doctors use tape measurements to check for facial and brain dissimilarities. We are developing a quantitative method that will…

Yes, we’ve been on vacation; meanwhile, the usual back and forth about vaccines and autism rages: CBS news say they’ve unearthed “details of a third case of vaccine injury in a child born in 1974″—as Kev’s noted, Kathleen Seidel described this same case five months ago on the Neurodiversity blog, CBS news is catching up in these dog days of summer. No mention of autism and vaccines is complete without a nod to mercury: Translating Autism reviews a recent study in Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, entitled An Investigation of…

If your a parent you can really appreciate this short video. Even if your not a parent, you can probably appreciate this video. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR, IF YOU LIKE PHYSICAL COMEDY, DON'T MISS THIS ONE. Inside the Diaper - Click here for more home videos

This Is Sparta!!! - Dramatic Lemur - More amazing video clips are a click away

A few weeks ago, my son Tom was in band camp. He did a fabulous job playing his clarinet in a challenging setting, and I expressed my pride to...

It's said over and over again: "if you know one person with autism, you know one person with autism." That's because, thanks to the most recent version of the...

Disability blogs have been filled to overflowing this week with commentary on Ben Stiller's new movie Tropic Thunder. I haven't seen the film, so can't give a first-person report,...

Who knew it was possible to get coverage for autism treatments through ordinary insurance? The answer is Christina Peck, the author of Blessed with Autism - A Parents' Guide...

Is it okay to take a child or teen with autism into the grocery store, the library, the mall, the theater - if he or she is prone to shouting,...

Experts applauded Smarter Brunei for establishing itself as a cohesive, voluntary family-like organisation aimed at providing assistance and support to autistic individuals and their families, a move rarely ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. - ' Recently, Harvard researchers reported that children with autism have a wide range of genetic defects, making it nearly impossible to develop a simple genetic test to identify the disorder.

Months after they were rebuffed by state lawmakers, the parents of autistic children hope an interim legislative study will give them the forum they seek to demonstrate that health insurers should be required ...

"Most simply do not understand the nature and condition of Down Syndrome, or Autistic people" The Boardwalk of Bradley Beach NJ isnt just another beach to go enjoy the sun and fun, although there is lots of ...

It's said over and over again: "if you know one person with autism, you know one person with autism." That's because, thanks to the most recent version of the DSM-IV , autism is a spectrum disorder.

Recently, Harvard researchers reported that children with autism have a wide range of genetic defects, making it nearly impossible to develop a simple genetic test to identify the disorder. Now, University of Missouri researchers are studying 3-D imaging to reveal correlations in the facial features and brain structures of children with autism spectrum disorder, which will enable them to develop a formula for earlier detection of the disorder. The researchers anticipate their work also will reveal genetic clues that can direct additional research.

Gaze direction is significant for the processing of visual information from the human face. Researchers have discovered that the visual system of the brain processes another person's face more efficiently when the person's gaze is straight ahead than when the gaze is averted.

Can autism be "cured" with diet? Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston embark on a double-blind study to find out if wheat and dairy products can affect autistic behavior, as some parents believe.

It is well-appreciated that facial expressions play a major role in nonverbal social communication among humans and other primates, because faces provide rapid access to information about the identity and the internal states and intentions of others. New data now suggests that both the social context of a person's facial expression and certain facets of the viewer's personality could affect how our brain interprets the social meaning of someone else's smile or frown.

Picking up on innuendo and social cues is a central component of engaging in conversation, but people with autism often struggle to determine another person's intentions in a social interaction. New research sheds light on the neural mechanisms that are responsible for such social difficulties in autism, and on the workings of these social brain mechanisms in all of us.

Prepare for the financial future of a child with autismArizona Daily Star, AZ - 54 minutes agoChildren with autism can expect to live a normal lifespan if they don’t succumb to those dangers they don’t perceive as dangers (swimming pools, traffic,

Learn about autism services at a free forumGreenville News, SC - 2 hours agoBy Liv Osby • HEALTH WRITER • August 20, 2008 A free forum offering information about autism will be held on Saturday, Sept. 13 at Brookwood Church in

Do vaccines cause autism?Toledo Journal, OH - 3 hours ago''Vaccines cause autism'' may be a statement that initially brings joy to people who believe there is a conspiracy to get rich by the government and

Albert Lea TribuneAutism Bowling Fundraiser earns $2780Albert Lea Tribune, MN - 4 hours agoThe Autism Bowling Fundraiser on June 14 at the Holiday Lanes Bowling Alley was a great success and a fun day for everyone. Currently there are 109 children

Olmsted on Autism: "Retards" and "Autistics"Age of Autism, Trumbull - 8 hours agoWhich reminds me about the discussion over the use of the word autism. When I first started writing my column for United Press International,

Amanda Peet is a rare species of Hollywood celebrity - thoughtful, humble, serene, and strangely not self-absorbed. That makes her the perfect spokesperson to help the American Academy of Pediatrics inject some much-needed sanity into the manufactured debate over vaccines. The contrast between Peet, who supports vaccines, and Jenny McCarthy, who loudly opposes them, couldn’t have been more obvious during a recent Good Morning America interview. The contrast also illustrates fundamental differences between the two spokeswomen’s science advisers. Peet discovered her celebrity PSA…

Honda throws talk radio shock jock Michael Savage under the bus for his intemperate and misinformed comments about autism. Sears, Radio Shack, Hoover Vacuum and others have also distanced themselves from Savage Nation. Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2008 Subject: RE: Michael Savage Dear Mr. ___, Your communication regarding Michael Savage has been referred to me. An American Honda automobile radio commercial mistakenly ran in the Michael Savage “Savage Nation” radio program in the San Diego and New York markets. We have taken immediate steps to ensure that all national and regional Honda…

Voices for Vaccines, an evidence-based organization that promotes public health education, recently sent this letter to the senior producer at CBS News responsible for Sharyl Attkisson’s biased and poorly executed report. Voices For Vaccines objects to the defamatory allegations made by the CBS Evening News on Friday, July 25, against the American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child By Two, and the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, with our colleague Dr. Paul Offit singled out for baseless criticism. It is our privilege to partner with these…

What exactly did the CBS Evening News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson uncover in her Friday report? Though the title of the three minute hit piece was How Independent Are Vaccine Defenders?, it could have been called How Dependent is CBS News on Innuendo and Baseless Accusations? The report fails to present a single piece of evidence that undue influence by pharmaceutical companies has endangered public health or the vaccine program. It’s Law and Order without a body, much less a crime. But Attkisson presses on with file footage of the anti-vaccine activists’ favorite…

Michael Savage is the number three rated syndicated talk show host in America, with eight million listeners a week. He directs his racist, red-meat rants at Democrats, minorities, civil libertarians, moderate Republicans, scientists, educators, and anyone else who displeases him. Savage recently commented that he “would hang every lawyer who went to Guantanamo Bay” to represent detainees. He repeatedly refers to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as “Mussolini”, and has warned that childrens’ minds “are being raped by a homosexual mafia.” Now this: On the…

This blog has moved. Click here for my new site: Ed's Blog

Some people seem to work very hard to express themselves. They try to make what they say count for something important and good and they are not frivolous with their speech. Too many others however seem to take for granted that what they say won't matter and that they can always fix any problem their words create with more words.It seems to me that the frivolous attitude of producing and throwing away so many products has led to the many problems in our environment by polluting the air with factories and more powerful and faster means to transport ourselves along with the waste that pollutes…

The ways that I find the word intellect often being used does not describe much more than arbitrary judgments that has more to do with a cultural or societal bias. I see this judgment often leading to inappropriate and wrongful treatment.There are so many attributes to different types and different sources of intelligence that it is completely irresponsible for any person or group that arrogantly claims to be mainstream to define so many potentially alternative resources as inappropriate and/or invalid.This is Wikipedia's definition of intelligence:Intelligence (also called intellect) is an…

The job of empowering oppressed groups is too often ignored as a practical goal by claiming that the job is too big or that there are too many pathological issues facing each individual person to help them to understand and be responsible for their liberties once they are granted.In this way the liberties of individuals who are a part of an oppressed category are categorically ignored as victims of too big of a problem to solve. This societal illness doesn't just claim the lives of those who are perceived as weak but it prevents those who are considered strong from realizing the aspects of…

All that is considered organic can and does emit gases. :] Some of those gases are more pleasant smelling than others but they all provide proof of activity. Even what begins to die, in some ways, creates new activity that we can recognize by it's scent.The thing is that we all must contend with the activity in our environment. The activity that gives us the most joy as well as most aggravation can come from the other humans in our environment. No matter how much we may try to avoid certain people or certain aspects of how some people behave, our attempts at trying to escape the patterns that…

We are about to have some BIG! NEW! CHANGES! in our life. We have decided to cut back on Michael's therapy and enroll him in a regular preschool. I really agonized over this decision as the ABA preschool is fantastic and he's made so much progress there. But, it is a 45 minute drive each way, which means Laurel is in the car for 1.5 hours to drop him off, home for an hour or so, and then is back in the car for 1.5 hours to pick him up. And if that weren't bad enough, it is scheduled in a way that keeps Laurel from taking a nap on the days we have to go, which means loads of HIGH INTENSITY…

Laurel usually wakes up most mornings and immediately poops in her diaper. Or worded differently, Laurel's body decides to poop every morning around 7am and the sensation wakes her up. Either way, when I open the bedroom door to get her I'm assaulted by the pungent odor and have to immediately change her. I'm actually kind of glad that her system works this way as it means the most disgusting aspect of my job is over before I even have a cup of coffee. The day can only get better, right?Anyway, earlier this week I was busy cleaning Laurel's poop-smeared butt when Michael decided he wanted to…

"You want M&Ms for breakfast? Ummm...OK.""You want to watch your 10th straight hour of TV? Ummm...OK""You need a new roll of tape because you've used up the old one taping together all the furniture in the house? Ummm...OK"

Ken took the afternoon off yesterday and we went to the Clark County fair with Grammy and Grampy. Ken and I haven't been to a fair since the kids were born, so we were pretty excited to show them all the cool animals and rides. It's one of those Parenting Perks.Unpredictably, the animals weren't that big of a hit. I guess pigs/goats/cows/chickens/sheep all look the same...and once you've seen one you really don't need to see the others. We did get Michael to tentatively touch a pig's ear, and Laurel briefly patted a bunny, but otherwise we worked our way through the barns pretty…

Laurel fell - HARD - the other day at Burger King. We had gone there to see what their playland was like as the McDonalds we've been to a couple times doesn't have much for Laurel to do. It's a shame because she is perfectly capable of handling all the equipment, but she's too small to climb up the levels. So I've been on a hunt lately to find a free playland that has stuff for both big and little kids. Burger King was my hope.Unfortunately, theirs was even worse. Not only did it have nothing good for Laurel, but the upper level where all the big kids played was completely visible from below,…

I miss him already. I miss both of them already.Tomorrow afternoon I am embarking upon a solo journey to visit one of my oldest, dearest friends for a couple of days. She will soon be moving to Switzerland to join her husband who has already moved for a new job. It is our last chance to spend time together before Niksdad starts school soon.I'm not going far —just north of NYC —yet I feel like I might as well be traveling to Mars. I have only been away from Nik once since he came home from the hospital and that was a cross-country house hunting trip over Easter weekend in 2005. But this…

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?Actually, who are you not to be?You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other peopleWon't feel insecure around you.We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.And as we let our…

His indignant cries rouse me from my state of half-sleep. I sit up and groggily reach for the monitor, turning it up so I can hear a bit better. Through his sleepy sobs I hear him singing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine” —his “comfort me, Mommy” song. Like one of Pavlov’s dogs, I am trained well; I slither out of bed and stumble across the hall.He closes his eyes and whines a moment as he moves my hand into just the right position to press over his right ear. Something still causes him discomfort but he cannot tell me what it is; it has been thus his entire life. I rest my hand…

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill.Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.~Lao TzuStep one — make room:Dear People-I-Have-Come-to-Honor-and-Respect,I want to let you all know that I will no longer be participating withthe [names of groups here].As you know, circumstances change; taking care of my family is a top priority. When I undertook each of those commitments my family was in a very different place; Nik was in school and Niksdad was just embarking upon his new career path. Now, I am home schooling Nik and coordinating his many therapies —to which he is responding very…

Over at Wired.com, David Wolman has posted an essay entitled The Critics Need a Reboot. The Internet Hasn’t Led Us Into a New Dark Age. The essay is a response to the numerous recent books and articles that paint “the internet and its digital spawn” as the cause of the growing shallowness and dumbing-down of society. I’ve been following this trend of blaming the internet as part of another interest of mine, Work Literacy, and that is how I came across this particular article. What caught my eye, in terms of relevance for this blog, was Wolman’s take on the role…

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a meditation on censorship. In light of all the recent discussion surrounding the film Tropic Thunder, I thought I should post this companion meditation on individual expression: Emperors uphold censorship, But extreme repression leads to extreme reaction. Individualists believe in freedom, But extreme expression leads to extreme reaction. To answer the question I posed in my last post, “No, I don’t believe the creators of pop-culture have a responsibility for limiting their content to what is ‘acceptable’.” The nature of art is…

In a previous post in which I discussed the power of pop culture, I wrote the following: As much as we may wish it were not so, we can’t ignore the power of pop-culture and the influence it has had, and will continue to have, on the public perception of autism. (You may have also seen a version of this post earlier this year, when I reposted it in the wake of the ABC Eli Stone story. And, no, I’m going to repost the whole thing again ;-) In the article Film comedy courts controversy; mental disabilities heart of issue, Jenny Goode, chief executive officer of the Betty Hardwick Center,…

My recent posts, and your comments to them, has got me thinking about the following question: Aside from being a good parent, advocating for our autistic children when they are young, and helping them learn how to advocate for themselves as they get older, what are some things that parents can do advocate for autistics in general? I know what the basic message is, but what I’m not sure of is how best to get that message out; to friends, family, local media, educators, etc etc. I’m going to be “off the grid” for the next 10 days, so I won’t respond to anything…

Just a little while ago, I learned of (what is to me) an interesting website: OpposingViews.com. As the name suggests, it is a place for people to discuss their opposing views. A newly started debate entitled Are Autism and Vaccines Linked is up and running that I thought my readers would be interested in. I’m not exactly sure how the site works, or how “experts” are verified, but as of the time I write this post, the debate seems to be between Dr. Jennifer Shu on the NO side and the National Autism Association, SafeMinds, and Dr. Karima Hirani on the YES side. Those of us…

Yesterday I spent  a very pleasant morning at Heron Corn Mill talking to a group of artists about the needs of children with autism and other special educational needs. Some of them will be coming to work with my pupils in the autumn term. Kate who set the whole thing up has worked with us before. [...]

I have been neglecting to write recently. What with visiting family, taking short breaks in the nearby Lake District and having the builders in, there has been little enough time for keeping up with all the autism news, never mind commenting on it. As Liverpool is this year’s European Capital of Culture we took a day out to visit [...]

Perspectives Sometimes we need to step back from autism and consider it in relation to other disorders in order to refresh our sense of perspective. Take Alzheimer’s Disease. It is the most common form of dementia. The Alzheimer’s Society estimates that out of 700,000 dementia sufferers in the UK over 400,000 have Alzheimer’s. In terms of numbers it is [...]

Yesterday I referred to Age of Autism, the self styled “Daily Web Newspaper of the Autism Epidemic.” It has an editor, Dan Olmsted, who believes that Autism was triggered by the commercialization of ethyl mercury in vaccines and fungicides in the 1930s. There is a legal editor, Kent Heckenlively, who is in favour of pro vaccine doctors, those [...]

Dr Gordon is aggrieved Over at Respectful Insolence, Science Blogger, Orac has been visited by Dr Jay Gordon in the comments section of his blog, Dr. Jay Gordon: No vaccines needed, just quit eating cheese and ice cream. Dr Gordon, you will remember, is a paediatrician to the children of the rich and famous, including Jenny McCarthy’s son [...]

Stolen from my very good pal, Nancy. [ A blogless person!}EFFECTIVE AUGUST 1, 2008 NEW OFFICE POLICYDress Code:1) You are advised to come to work dressed according toyour salary.2) If we see you wearing Prada shoes and carrying aGucci bag, we will assume you are doing well financiallyand therefore do not need a raise.3) If you dress poorly, you need to learn to manage yourmoney better, so that you may buy nicer clothes, andtherefore you do not need a raise.4) If you dress just right, you are right where you needto be and therefore you do not need a raise.Sick Days:We will no longer accept a…

Shamelessly pinched from my pal - Thanks dearie.Can you cry under water?How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?Why do you have to 'put your two cents in'... but it's only a 'penny for your thoughts'? Where's that extra penny going to?Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?Why does a round pizza come in a square box?What disease did cured ham actually have?How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?Why is it that…

My husband walks in bleary eyed and yawns hugely.“Didn’t you sleep well?”“Too bloody hot. Do you know it was nearly 78 last night?”“Hmm, it’s much hotter during the day.”“Anyway, I’m off now. See you tonight.”“Hey! Say good bye to your mother!”“Oh right.”A few minutes later, he leaves for his minimum 14 hour shift in his air conditioned office.When she walks into the kitchen I have a foot in each sink. One hand holds a spray glass cleaner and the other a chamoise. My mug of tepid tea, calls to me from the opposite counter. “Ere I brought dis in for you.” I…

I nip out of Lucky’s and pack the boot to busting, zip over to park my trolly in the designated duty area and whiz back to the car. As I open to door to fling in my handbag, I hear mutterings and look around for spare people. A spare person is staring at me with a set, not to say displeased expression, “hello?” I offer tentatively.“Would it kill yah?”“Um…….I beg your pardon?”“I’m jus saying, would it kill yah?”“Um….I’m not quite sure…..er…..”“The cart!” she snaps.“The cart?”“Yeah, right there, next to yah!”“This one?”“Yeah.”“Actually…

I watch him out of the corner of my eye as I do the washing up by hand. Every day he receives an automatically generated message of the latest available houses in the UK. Which house and where, it’s our new perseveration? Clearly my eye contact bores into his brain as he turns to face me, “did you see the water bill this month?”“No. Why?”“It’s prohibitive!”“Well that’s presumably the price we have to pay for a green lawn in the desert!” I snap. He opens his mouth and then closes it again to turn back to the screen. Whilst he examines property details I nip around the…

“It’s been a long week — I bet you’re ready to decompose.” I stared at my husband, blinking through the mental fog of too-many-jobs-not-enough-sleep. “I’m not ready for the compost pile yet,” I replied, trying to figure out what his latest malapropism was meant to be. “Or whatever the term is,” he added. My brain finally catches up. [...]

So I’m getting the first day of class materials organised, and looking at the online class Web application.  The instructor and students can both use it for sharing documents, so tomorrow I will have to demonstrate to the students how to access the program, and where I will put files for them. The instructor can [...]

I think that ’bout sums it up.

When we watch old movies or programs, read old books, listen to old audio recordings, it quickly become apparent that tastes in humor change, mostly due to evolving senses of what is appropriate for being laughed at. There are racist and sexist and disableist jokes that are only painful to hear, because it is embarrassing [...]

For those who disagree with the campaign against Tropic Thunder, here are my responses to some of the criticisms I've read. You are promoting censorship.Censorship is an action taken by someone with power to silence. What I promote is the sharing of information and exchange of opinions. I begin my part by saying, this is an offensive word, and it is time for society as a whole to start looking at what it means to use it so casually and with such frequency. I think we should send a message to writers and directors that this sort of thing is no longer profitable. Then someone says why it’s…

2005-2006Perfect. It was for the first year or two, anyway. The building was quiet, the community room empty by 9:00 PM every night. That gave me three uninterrupted hours to read and study, with no obligation to talk to anyone unless there was an emergency. Even in the hours before nine o’clock, I had plenty of time to myself most nights. My job consisted of taking care of small problems, answering the phone once or twice in an evening, answering the door if someone didn’t know how to reach a resident in order to be buzzed in. My primary purpose was to be there if the fire department or…

Read this.Watch this.Take action.Boycott hate.

This was something I did. I never knew why, I’m still not sure I can explain. With the best of intentions, I’d enter the store. With or without a list, it happened either way. The list, if I had one, was perfectly ordered, the way I’d learned from my dad. You visualize the store, writing each item in order, checking it off as acquired. Efficient, yes.But something happened as I entered the produce aisle. I changed my mind. Over and over I changed it. Though I’d been clear about what I’d wanted, I couldn’t imagine why. The pros and cons of Swiss Steak and vegetable soup swirled…

She would push her shopping cartamong the rows of cotton balls,vitamins and note cards,pausing at the book rackjust before crossing the divideinto women’s extra large.It was always Wednesdayand she wore a floral print.Above her cameras watchedthrough darkened glass.We would find her buggy, abandonedand bulging with second thoughts,somewhere between Toys and Sporting Goodsor just outside the restrooms.Sometimes she made it to the registers,scattering her daydreamsas she zig-zagged forwardto purchase a thing or two.I want you to know that I never hated youas I returned the hairspray and the…

Maire Mullarney, mother, home educator, nurse, founder member of the Green Party, journalist and author, has died. Marie Mullarney taught her 11 children at home. She didn't have any teaching experience when she started. One of her books was very influential in home education. What follows is from its introduction:"If those inside cannot repair the system it is up to those outside to move. Anything school can do, you can do better is my contribution. After some eighteen quiet years of childwatching I had come to realize that school was a time-wasting and inefficient attempt to enable one…

From Teachers TV: "Electronic technology offers schools unprecedented ways of surveying students' behaviour and movement. Many praise the benefits that such technology brings, but are there dangers involved too? One secondary school featured in this programme, has over 100 CCTV cameras watching its students in classrooms, in corridors and in the playground." - Watch it here.

"GROWING numbers of parents are deserting Scotland’s failing state schools to educate their children at home."Read more...

Mozart, Miracle of NatureThe Greatest Mozart Documentary Ever [part 2 - part 3]In Search of Mozart [part 2 here]

the aforementioned really interesting person on twitter is, truly, very interesting, but has a tendency to, when she starts talking about something, go on. and on. not just about the one topic, but then onto a tangential thought, and another tangential thought… and i clocked her, to see if i was imagining [...]

i met up with a friend this past thursday at a local bar. i like hanging out with this person because i find her easy to talk to: she’s extremely intelligent, aware, curious but not in an overbearing way, open-minded, and speaks in complete sentences, means what she says. if you’re someone [...]

i am a designer, and a significant portion of my job is sending print jobs to outside printers. this involves job analysis, pricing, quotes, pre-press, taking care of technical issues of the print process, dealing with their sales people, etc. i had a problem with the printer i used for a job last month (really [...]

the site i namechecked in my previous post has an even better page called “The Insane Guide to Living With Mental Illness: The Psychiatric Appointment.” i am so incredibly rolling on the floor laughing. So! Here are some tips to coping with the psychiatric appointment. Enjoy! 1. Look Like Shit Everybody knows that Mentalists don’t know how [...]

i’m going thru a mixed episode. AGAIN. keeerist, i thought this whole thing was over, that getting older was supposed to make it go away. (sigh). just googled and came across a very awesome web page on a site subtitled “the insane guide to living with mental illness,” and i absolutely [...]

Episode 74 | Author and former individual with autism, Sean Barron By Michael Boll | August 3, 2008 Shannon Johnson and I talk with Sean Barron, co-author of There’s a Boy in Here and The Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships: Decoding Social Mysteries Through the Unique Perspectives of Autism. Sean co-wrote the first book with his mother and it describes, in much detail, his life as a young man with autism. He later leaves autism behind and no longer considers himself to have autism. Websites: Amazon.com link to his books.Listen NowShow Notes

Shannon Johnson and I talk with John Robison, author of Look Me In The Eyes. In this fantastic interview, we discuss life as an adult on the spectrum, his book and some of the current treatments John is participating (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation).Listen Now!Show Noteshttp://www.autismpodcast.org/podcasts/50-75/episode72_john_robison%201.mp3

How playing with water led to playing in Play Therapy!Listen Now

I speak with Rick Rollens. We discuss his views on the causes of autism, the work he has done for the autistic community and the need to deal with the increasing numbers of children classified as autistic. Rick’s story was a cover for NEWSWEEK and a segment on the CBS news show 60 Minutes.Listen Now Websites Rick’s Wikipedia Entry

Podcast 6: Sleeping Issues Difficulty sleeping? You’re not alone! Autistic children have VARIED sleep patterns.Listen Now

Please read more about the “R” word in current media at: Nationwide ‘Thunder’ Boycott in the Works and PatriciaEBauer.com

From the discussion section of a post over at Orac’s place at ScienceBlogs: Hi Dr. Gordon, On your website there’s a video ad for your “Vaccinations” book. In the video, I noticed a slide that contained the following: Autism by the Numbers: U.S. and Europe USA - 1980′S: 1-2 per 10,000 USA - Late 1990’s: 1 in 500 USA - 2000: 1 in 250 USA - 2004: 1 in 166 Given that the video is not much more than a short advertisement, if you mention the changes in diagnositic critera as well of the very definition of “autism,” it’s not evident in the…

From the Chicago Tribune Web Edition, blogger Julie Deardorff writes: Originally posted: July 3, 2008 The AAP responds to ‘vaccine dissenters’ Below, I’ve posted the response by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to my recent blog item The AAP gets tough on vaccine dissenters. In the piece, I pointed out that some parents are unnerved by the sheer number of shots that are currently recommended and in many cases, mandated. The new combo vaccines are sure to raise more questions and concerns, especially since parents are currently trying to unbundle the Measles, Mumps…

Last night I got to have dinner with some of my favorite Autsim Hub bloggers - an evening I’ll not soon forget. Today was every bit as rewarding. I had an excellent opportunity to hear the thoughts of several young people and adults with autism spectrum diagnoses, and I was fortunate to have an opportunity to speak with several attendees at the University of San Diego’s Autism Institute Summer Conference (School of Leadership and Education Sciences) this morning and this afternoon. The good folks at USD even handed me the microphone for about 15 minutes (Steve D must have paid…

At the suggestion of Steve D (One Dad’s Opinion), a great blogger/Dad, and someone I consider a friend, I’m re-posting the following article, because it concludes with perhaps one of my most compelling personal reasons for blogging. It also happens to fit right in line with the theme of the University of San Diego’s Summer Autism Conference. Originally posted: August 4th, 2007. The Support I Need I used to participate in local online “support” groups. I recently got booted from the last one (I left the other three of my own accord). This occurred after I…

Zoë is going to a birthday party this weekend, for her friend, Charlie. They've been in the same class at school for three years now, so she really knows him well. She informed me today that he's her "boyfriend". I checked, and that's pretty much what she meant. She didn't mean "a friend who is a boy" she actually seems to have meant that he's her boyfriend. I'm okay with that. Charlie's a good kid, and I like his parents. We'll see how they're going when they get to high school or so. Today I gave her a skivvy (note to Americans: turtleneck sweater) to wear to school. Normally, she…

Zoë is still making very clever paper sculptures, but lately she's taken to cutting out dozens of bits of paper and wadding them up and ... I don't know. She has a collection of them, and she won't tell me quite what she imagines it to be, but I think maybe it's a bug kingdom or something along those lines. And while we applaud and appreciate her creativity and like to encourage it, we're getting pretty tired of there being bits of paper all over the house...

Tonight we had reason to go to the customer service counter at the grocery store. As we were standing there, Zoë said, "Oh, I'm so scared!" I asked her why. She said, "I'm scared of the poison smoke." She was looking at the cigarettes.

Well, a great deal has been going on. Here's a recap. Zoë started in an integration programme at one of the smaller primary schools near her specialty school. She has two other children from her group with her (both boys), and two teachers, so it's a very good student to teacher ratio! The kids are under constant supervision (even on the playground). Zoë seems to be really enjoying the new school, which has free range chickens and a science room with reptiles and a human skeleton, among other things. She's also still participating in the "Girl's Friendship Group" run by the speech…

Zoë will be attending a new school in a few weeks. This is through her current school, which, as I've mentioned, is a specialty school for autistic spectrum disorder kids. This is an integration program, which is why the new school. Three of the children from her class are going to participate, though others may join later. Two of the teachers from her class will be in attendance all the time, even on the playground, so none of the kids from Zoë's school will ever be unsupervised on the playground or anywhere else. I went to visit the school yesterday and it's pretty remarkable.

I’m always looking for examples of positive parenting - parents who are champions of their kids, who look for their strengths and fight to make sure their teachers, doctors, and therapists are working from a strength-based place as well. A great example of positive parenting can be found in three interviews with mothers at the website for ADDitude magazine. (http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/1998.html) With the Olympics capturing so much attention, it’s fitting that one interview is with swimmer Michael Phelp’s mother. The others are with the mother of Ty Pennington, of Extreme…

As your child enters middle school, junior high, or high school, it can get especially difficult for you as a  parent to help with social skills. This can be a problem because older kids are dealing with a more complex social environment than they were when they were younger, and many kids who managed in the early school years really start to struggle as they get older. One problem is that parents of older kids just aren’t as involved with the school as they used to be. There’s less of an opportunity to volunteer, your kids may no longer want parents around, the kids are coming from…

Facilitating great play dates for kids who are struggling socially is a complex issue for parents. This post will only cover a small part of this topic, with additional ideas in later posts. It pays to begin at the beginning, so that’s what I’ll do here. The first issue is figuring out which child you’ll invite over for a play date. For many parents, that’s the toughest part. For children and teens who are developing socially at a standard pace, parents may not have to get too involved with helping their children find friends. For kids who are struggling socially, parents are going to…

Please check out the new list on the side of my blog! I’ve added some favorite books on the topics of Asperger’s, Autism, ADHD, other special needs, and parenting in general. These are all books which I’ve read and enjoyed, that I think will be helpful to parents, and they’re books I recommend to my clients. Parents of kids with special needs seem to be some of the most well read, well educated parents out there. I think in part it’s because the answer aren’t clear. No one has all the answers about what causes ADHD or Autistic Spectrum Disorders. No one knows the best treatments…

I just watched a You Tube video of Michael Savage discussing autism and parenting, and felt I had to write something. Generally, I try to make this blog useful and practical, but not controversial or reactionary. Also, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. After all, I didn’t listen to Michael Savage’s entire program, just a few out-of-context minutes. In any case, I don’t want to focus on negative energy from anyone, when so many people are working so hard to make the world a better place. Should I even comment about statements that seem so extreme, angry and unjustified? But…

Last autumn I returned to autism self-advocacy, being fed up with the way I was treated post-diagnosis. I knew that a single person can't accomplish much on eir own, and no one else seemed interested in helping, but I wanted to have another go at changing people's attitudes nonetheless.The thing is, I belong to a number of other minorities, not all of which are apparent. I'm well aware that there's a prohibition against multiple differences, but they're still there. That was fine until I started to accept myself for who and what I am. While fear and a lack of self-acceptance had long kept me…

I'm not sure if this is new to anyone, but I found an English translation of a document describing the history of Project Empowerment, a former project within the Swedish national autism society. It was originally initiated by Gunilla Gerland and was intended to increase the influence of adult autistic people within the organisation itself.Some notes on the translation:The term functional disorder is a mistranslation of the Swedish "funktionshinder," meaning disability.Communicator should probably be lecturer. Unfortunately, from what I've seen and heard from the Dalarö based school, it…

For those who enjoy listening to speeches, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Seminars About Long Term Thinking series by The Long Now Foundation. It's a big part of my usual audio input when I'm travelling nowadays.A surprising number of these talks touch directly on subjects relevant to activists and self-advocates of any kind, and most of the other ones have various amounts of geek appeal.All of the talks given so far are available in their archive.

I've now tagged (labelled in Blogger-speak) nearly every past entry on this blog. Hopefully that'll make it easier to find older posts on a particular topic.Now, for some reason the tags won't appear on the actual posts. Not sure why, but I'm working on it.

Here is the letter I (finally) wrote to Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz of the NYU Child Study Center concerning their offensive and misguided campaign. Only the signature differs. It ended up in the "nice" category, for complicated reasons.Dear Dr. Koplewicz,I am writing to you as an autistic self-advocate deeply concerned by the NYU Child Study Center's recent campaign titled "Ransom Notes." While I am sure it was originally conceived with good intentions, the context chosen and the both inaccurate and sensationalist way in which it portrays these conditions will have a most detrimental effect and…

This week started out kind of insane. Nearly all of my clients wanted things at once. It hurt my brain pretty bad, but somehow I managed to get almost everything done. To make matters worse, my work environment has become somewhat of an ergonomic nightmare. I fixed my wrist problem by switching to a trackball, wearing a brace, and putting the arms back on my chair. Unfortunately, the chair arms led to bad pain in my shoulder. Oy. I worked all day Tuesday without a break and by evening, I was in some pretty bad pain. I fantasized about taking ibuprofen all day, but it makes me tired and I had…

Joss Whedan. Neil Patrick Harris. So good. Watch it. All acts will stay up until midnight Sunday July 20th. Then they will vanish into the night, like a phantom. Thanks to ma.tt for the tip!

I am still having a very hard time with school, but I am tired of whining about it. Decided to take a break from driving myself insane and not getting anything done. It is several hours later and I realize that I am not miserable and exhausted anymore. Doesn’t help my school situation any, but it did wonders for my brain. Suddenly it is filled with happy things. Saturday night, there was a VH1 Rock Honors show at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion. It will be aired on VH1 on Thursday. VH1 has been having tons of Who stuff on lately. Makes me happy. The Who is one of my favorite bands of all…

photo credit: flickrich It is almost a year since the last Harry Potter book was released and equally as long that I have been trying to read it. I am about half way through. I know it is a long book, but at this rate, it will take me 2 years to read it. I am okay with that, only I have also not been able to read technical books, which are usually much easier. The timing is very bad because I am taking classes now. Recap of uncooperative brain cycle: I get too busy, my brain shuts down, I end up not being able to do anything, things get bad, I stop doing so many things, I feel better, I start…

Happy birthday! Abigail Ruth Berkowitz was born at 1:47am this morning to my sister-in-law Sarah and my brother Brian. 8 lbs. 4 oz. 20.5 inches. Smaller than a cat. Cuter than a baby giraffe. Congratulations Bri and Sarah! She is beautiful

I have been suspicious of this obama guy for long time. He fails the smell test big time. He has less qualifications than Dan Quayle. Yet the same people who claim Quayle was not qualified to be vice president say obama is qualified to be president. Very suspicious and hypocritical.Today's editorial in the Investors' Business Daily explains a lot. They have been running a series called the audacity of socialism. Today the startling and disturbing connection of Saul Alinksy's philosophyto Obama's background and thought was made clear. Obmm worked in a number of Alinksy's initiatives over the…

I am sounding a call of alarm. Google just unveiled their answer to wikipedia. It requires people coming forth not anonymously and share their expert opinion. Already the other side has done so. Look at this:http://knol.google.com/k/bryna-siegel/autism/epDokBTC/w3lKYg#We need real information written by parents and autistics.

He is *partially* right. This part specificallyThe “autism lobby of devastated parents is just a scam to get more money.”When you see all these lawsuits on the unscientific disproven vaccine link what is an “outsider” to think???? If anything we should be mad at achamp /generation rescue/shoemaker/kirby etc who gave the autism community this image. They are the real criminals.Again the Twiddle-Dee and Twiddle-Dum , the dynamic duo of stupidity John Gilmore and Evelyn Ain are right now protesting the recognition of the very climate they help to foster. They are the ones who promote bad…

(parody)The Shaft ReportSomebody is gonna get shafted and it might as well be autistics."Wiping Autistics off the face of the planet - No Finer Cause on thePlanet" Loser Shafter - Editor in MischiefToday's Headlines - The NeoNazi council of America. has discovered autism to be a Jewish plot for world Domination. - Read more World Renowned Preacher _ "Autism is God's punishment for homosexuality" - Read more DAN researchers discover excessive masterbation leads to autistic like symptons. - Read more Today's Editorial Helping Autism to help ourselvesAs we suffer through each horrendous day of…

I’ve been thinking about the Tropic Thunder controversy that’s been brewing in the disability blogosphere. (Go follow that link if you haven’t already heard about this; I don’t see a need to reiterate the background story when it’s already been covered on plenty of other blogs.) And as I thought about it, I noticed something odd. It wasn’t the oft-quoted dialogue about mental retardation that bothered me; sure, it’s offensive, but part of the whole point of the movie is that the characters are painfully insensitive. (I mean, come on, Downey’s…