Are We Underestimating The Potential Of Children With Autism?; Another Source of Information on Autism; The 10 Commandments of Parenting; Suggested Christmas Gifts for Your Child; News You Can Use

"The limits placed on people with autism are those placed on them by others." Jerry Komar, Editor Autism News and Views

Are We Underestimating the Potential of Children with Autism?

That's a question that's being asked more often. A recent piece in Scientific American {"The Hidden Potential of Autistic Kids"} suggests we are.

Rose Eveleth, the author of the piece, points out researchers are beginning to rethink what the potential of children with autism really is. Their conclusion is worthy of additional study. We might actually be underestimating the overall abilities of children with autism (note: many of us in the field, including parents, have believed this for some time). For example, many researchers now believe the data we've been using for decades is faulty. In addition, it appears intelligence testing of children with autism may be one of the reasons. In fact, different tests of intelligence report very different pictures of their potential. The article recounts the experience of Laurent Mottron, a psychiatrist at the University of Montreal. In addition to Mottron's research, he summarizes his own experience growing up with two brothers with autism.

You can access the rest of this study at www.scientificamerican.com/


Another Great Source of Information on Autism

You don't have to look further than The Spectrum Times for another great source of information on autism. All you need to do is visit http://spectrumtimes.blogspot.com/. Do yourself a favor, visit the site today.

The 10 Commandments of Parenting: Moses Missed These

Autism Support Network presented "The 10 Commandments of Parenting A Child With Autism." They include:

• You Shall Seek Out Therapists. Specifically, seek out Occupational/Speech/Physical therapists and ABA consultants.
• You Shall Find A Support Group.
• You Shall Engage in Floor Activities.
• You Shall Play With Various Weird Textures.
• You Shall Establish At Least Two Appropriate Toys To Play With.
• You Shall Limit Your Communication To Two or Three Phrases.
• You Shall Include Structure At Home.
• You Shall Hold Hands While Walking in Public Places.
• You Shall Establish A Play Date (with other children). It's important to ensure your child engages with other peers.
• You Shall Believe That All Things Are Possible and Never Lose Hope.

Start today. We recognize some of these are easier said than done (as are the real 10 Commandments). Start with a few now and work your way through each one. The outcomes just might surprise you.

Suggested Christmas Gifts For Your Child 

Tips On Overcoming Bullying; Self-Advocacy Booklet Now Available; Learn The Warning Signs of Dyslexia; Christmas Gifts For Children With Autism

"The only limits are, as always, those of vision."---James Broughton

Tips On Overcoming Bullying

The National Autistic Society reports that over 40% of children are bullied in school. Some studies report significantly higher rates, some as high as 90%. With such high rates, what are parents and teachers to do? The National Autistic Society recommends the following strategies:

• Help Your Child Tell Someone. Telling someone can be a challenge for a child with autism especially if they have difficulty expressing their feelings and emotions. Nevertheless, it's vitally important your child know he/she can talk to someone (write it down if they are non-verbal). If the bullying is not reported, it will continue.
• Buddy Up.  Find out if your child's school has a buddy system where he/she can buddy up with a friend or friends. Ask the friends to "hang around" with your child throughout the day. We commonly refer to it as, "I got your back." It can work well in school settings as well.
• Make A Plan For Break Time. Make sure your school offers structured activities for your child during break times such as recess. These times are always supervised by teachers.
• Practice Talking To Your Child About Bullies. Teach your child how to respond to bullies. This could include, but not be limited to, teaching about body language and eye contact.
• Keep In Touch With Your Child's School and Teachers. Find out if your school has a special help line that you can call to get helpful information.
• Access Other Resources: For example, you can call the Autism Helpline at 1-800-328-8476 (Autism Resource Center).
• Also, understand there are generally three types of bullying. They include verbal, physical and psychological bullying. It's important you observe your child to gauge his/her emotional responses to any problems occurring at school. In other words, read those emotional signals.
• Become An Advocate  by raising awareness about bullying especially if your school does not have any plans in place to deal with this problem.  Many schools do a good job, but there is still a lot that needs to be done within school settings to deal with this problem correctly and in an timely fashion.

Self Advocacy Booklet Now Available

A Self Advocacy Booklet for adults on the autism spectrum is now available. This booklet was developed by a group of adults with autism. It's designed to help communicate wishes and needs. You can access this booklet at http://www.autism.org.uk/.

Do You Know The Warning Signs of Dyslexia?

Education.com reported on spotting these warning signs of Dyslexia. They include:

So Your 17 Year Old Son With Aspergers Wants to Drive a Car; Applied Behavior Analysis to be Covered by Insurance in NY State; Airway Abnormalities May Point To Autism; Those 7 Important Things Every Parent Should Know; Parents You Have Legal Rights

"I may have been born different and misunderstood from birth, but I know there is a place for me, somewhere in the universe."---Alyson Bradley

Learning To Drive A Car

Your 17 year old son with Aspergers wants to learn how to drive a car. Where do you start?

Learning to drive, as every driver knows, takes a unique set of skills. The demands of learning to drive with someone with Aspergers take on added dimension. The sensory demands alone make learning to drive a challenge for any young person. As someone who has faced this issue on the professional level, allow me to offer some suggestions:

• Bring the issue up to your child's interdisciplinary team. Your child will need to be assessed by the team. The IDT's assessment should include, but not be limited to, fine and gross motor skills, a hearing assessment, and a visual assessment. In other words, the team should determine if your child has the ability to drive a vehicle.
• If the IDT determines your child is ready to take driving lessons, it's time to find a qualified driving instructor or driving school. Check to see if your school offers driver's training (I would discourage any family member to try to teach driving. Leave this to the professionals).
• Apply for a driver's permit, depending on the state in which you reside.
• It's important the driving instructor or school know about Aspergers even if you have to teach them (unless, of course, you are fortunate to find an instructor or school that specializes in teaching people with Aspergers). For example, the instructor will also need to be told that more driving practice will be needed. The instructor will need to be told to break down the teaching modules into smaller modules. In other words, more step-by-step teaching is essential. You should accompany your child in the vehicle throughout the driver's training.
• After your child completes driver's training, I would strongly suggest you return to the IDT team with the results of the training. Allow the team to assess the training. Just as important,  the driving instructor should attend this meeting to answer any questions team members might have.
• Good luck with the driver's test. Remember, it's a written test as well as a road test.

NY State Mandates Insurance Coverage For Autism

On Nov. 1, 2011, NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill authorizing insurance companies to cover Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) in the treatment for children with autism. New York State becomes the 29th state to mandate such insurance coverage.

The law takes effect November 1, 2012. ABA treatment will be covered up to $45,000.00 a year regardless of age.

Airway Abnormalities And Autism

Dr. Barbara Stewart, a pediatric pulmonologist at Nemours Children's Clinic in Pensacola, Florida, reported the finding of abnormalities in the airways of children with autism. Instead of the usual random, asymmetrical branches in the airway, she found "doubled up" symmetrical branches in children with autism. In addition, the branches were smaller. She found this condition in all 43 children with autism in her research. None of the 300 children without autism had this condition. At this early date in the study, researchers do not know what to make of this condition. But they do now know that autism must be treated as a "whole-body" phenomena. ---USA Today

Autism And The Brain; Tablets As Teaching Tools; Autism and Diabetes: Perhaps a Link? Autism Diagnoses Growing By 10-17% Annually; Making Halloween Fun For Children With Autism

"The only disability in life is a bad attitude."---Scott Hamilton

Autism and The Brain: New Research Findings

A recent research study by UCLA found that connections in the brain responsible for language and social skills grow much more slowly in boys with autism than in children who do not have autism.

Their findings appeared in the journal, Human Brain Mapping. Slower growth in the brain of a child with autism appears to occur in the most critical period of brain development. This may have an impact on social interactions, refining emotional skills and establishing the important personal identity. A total of 13 boys with autism were studied. The control group involved seven boys who did not have autism. Researchers found the white-matter brain connections between brain regions important for language and social skills were growing much slower in the boys with autism.

The study has implications for the use of alternative neuroscience techniques to identify the source of white-matter impairment. Any findings could lead to better interventions in the future. In addition, interventions in education may require a different approach.

Tablets As Teaching Tools For Children With Autism

This evening, 60 Minutes, ran a piece on the potential of tablet computers in better developing communication for children with autism. A University of Toronto study in association with the Beverley School in Toronto, will try to determine how effective IPads can be with students with autism. The mother of Josua Hood, one of the students in the study, said, "The day he started using the {IPad}, it blew me away. I wouldn't have known he preferred Coke to Pepsi. He's part of the community...and communication is the essence of being human."

Could Autism and Diabetes Be Linked?

Rice University is suggesting a possible link between diabetes and autism. In Frontiers of Cellular Endocrinology showed that both "Diabetes 2 and autism have a common underlying mechanism of impaired glucose tolerance."

Michael Stern, a biochemist at Rice, said, "When I read that the incidence of autism is increasing , it seemed reasonable that each increase could have the same ultimate cause---the increase in hyperinsulinemia in the general population."---Mediplacements: Medical News

Drexel's Autism Public Health Research Institute: To Study Environmental Exposure; Some Great Resources Found Via Facebook

"I do not suffer from autism, but I do suffer from the way you treat me."---Tyler Durdin


Straight From The Headlines: "Digging Furiously For Autism Answers." Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct. 9, 2011.


"Most of the local talent is at the Center for Autism Research at Children's Hospital (in Philadelphia), which in less than four years has grown into a powerhouse with more than 100 researches and staff running two dozen studies..."


"Drexel {University} is jumping in with a much smaller but ambitious Autism Public Health Research Institute, which is poised to lead in some other areas, beginning with environmental exposure. The long neglected field has suddenly become a priority as evidence builds that genes alone do not explain the disorder..."


"The goal is to figure out what flips the genetic switch that puts some infants on a path to autism. Only then can scientists begin to understand how the brain changes and what can prevent it, discover treatments, and devise cost-effective ways to teach hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren..."


"'Autism is like a snowflake,'" said Robert Schultz, director of the center at Children's. It's core attributes---mainly an inability to engage in normal interaction---are enough to define it. But the severity, symptoms, and timing of each case are different. So huge research samples are needed to discover what they have in common...'"


"'Autism was definitely something that we felt CHOP should be leading the world in" said Tom Curran, deputy scientific director.'"


The Center's goal is to have 10,000 volunteers take part in the research. To date, 1,500 have already signed up.

CARA Passed; Impact of Facebook on Autism Advocacy; School Community Tool Kit

"I am different. Not less."---Temple Grandin

GREAT NEWS!!!

As many of you may already know, Congress passed The Combating Autism Reauthorization Act of 2011( CARA) this week. It now goes to Pres. Obama for his signature. Folks---this is what advocacy is all about.




THE IMPACT OF FACEBOOK ON AUTISM ADVOCACY


In the last several months, I've come to the conclusion Facebook has a generally positive impact on autism advocacy. Even though there are countless resources online for autism related issues and concerns--- like this very blog--- Facebook magnifies those resources a thousand fold. I am constantly amazed and thrilled at the information the general population shares regarding autism on their Facebook autism pages. Just as important, the comments added by the general population add to this enormous tapestry of relevant and useful information. We can only look forward to what the future holds with this technology and the evolving technology around the corner for continued autism advocacy.
(Note: you can access my Facebook page to the right of this post. Also visit the many resources we have available on this blog).

Breaking News: House Passes CARA; Top Ten Terrific Traits of People with Autism; Taking the Mystery Out of IEP's

"...History suggests that many individuals whom we would today diagnose as autistic---some severely so---contributed profoundly to our art, our math, our science and our literature."---Morton Gernsbacher, parent of a child with Autism.
(I would also add they've contributed to our overall culture in very positive ways)---Editor

BREAKING NEWS:

The House of Representatives passed The Combating Autism Reauthorization Act (CARA). This legislation authorizes $693 million in funding for three additional fiscal years. A personal thank you to all who contacted their representatives advocating for the extending of this very important legislation. Kudos to all!



Autism Support Network ran a terrific piece recently entitled, "Top 10 Terrific Traits Of Autistic People." In short, these traits include, but are not limited to, the following (note: I only use "people first" language, so the text will not always match that of ASN):

• People with Autism Rarely Lie
• People on the Autism Spectrum Live in the Moment
• People with Autism Rarely Judge Others
• People with Autism Are Passionate
• People with Autism Are Not Tied To Social Expectations
• People with Autism Have Terrific Memories
• People with Autism Are Less Materialistic
• People with Autism Play Fewer Head Games
• People with Autism Have Fewer Hidden Agendas
• People with Autism Open New Doors for Neurotypicals

Allow me a moment to add two more terrific traits to this list.

• People with Autism Are Very Smart and---just as important--- Very Cool!