John McElwain is a special education student with autism.  He is his high school's basketball manager and definitely shows a love for the game and for his team. 

For the last game of the season, coach Johnson let John suit up for the game, not necessarily to play, but to give him the feeling of what it feels like to wear a jersey.  At four minutes left in the game coach Johnson put John in the game.  John's first two shot attempts were airballs, but his next 7 consecutive shots are legendary.  John made six three-pointers and one two-point shot.  Incredible.

Link

A kindergarten teacher in Florida allowed students to vote out a fellow classmate, who is in the process of being diagnosed with autism, from the class.

After each classmate was allowed to say what they didn't like about Barton's 5-year-old son, Alex, his Morningside Elementary teacher Wendy Portillo said they were going to take a vote, Barton said.

By a 14 to 2 margin, the students voted Alex — who is in the process of being diagnosed with autism — out of the class.

Melissa Barton filed a complaint with Morningside's school resource officer, who investigated the matter, Port St. Lucie Department spokeswoman Michelle Steele said. But the state attorney's office concluded the matter did not meet the criteria for emotional child abuse, so no criminal charges will be filed, Steele said.

Our BlogCadre pal, Kristina Chew, has been profiled in an article about special needs mothers in the May issue of Working Mother magazine.  Here's a snippet from the article:

Moms who have children with special needs often neglect themselves during their consuming quest to help their kids. Here, they share ways they’ve discovered to take care of themselves, too.

Kristina Chew teaches with her cell phone on. More than once over the years it’s flashed in the middle of a lecture with the number of her son’s school, prompting her to pack her things and rush to her car to pick up Charlie, now 10, who was diagnosed with autism at age 2.

Charlie’s bad days have weighed heavily on Kristina, a classics professor in Jersey City, NJ. She would often leave her office early to drop off a prescription or rush to school because Charlie was banging his head on the floor in frustration. Still, she considers herself fortunate: “I’ve been lucky. Because I’m a professor, I have a flexible schedule and have been able to get home in time to pick him up from school. But it can still be very stressful to make it all work.”

This is my first blog that I have written. I needed an outlet for my thoughts. I yearn to talk to others who share the goings on of my day.I feel overwhelmed, and sometimes frantic. I want to know all there is to know about autism, selective mutism, etc. What can I do,what can I research, what strategies do I use to reach my students! I have literally read at least 2 dozen books, hundreds of articles and attended countless conferences on these subjects. Am I doing enough? I know I can't save the world, but I want the students to leave my class after 3 years with a sense of independence, success, and a great self image, and self esteem.

Request for Information: Names of Autism Advocacy Organizations in the State of California

We are a group of social scientists at Columbia University studying autism. Our research, under the supervision of Peter Bearman, is funded by the 2007 National Institute of Health Pioneer Award.

Project Background

There has been a staggering increase in the incidence of autism and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in California in the past decade--- with comparable increases nationally. Three competing theories have been advanced to account for the rise in autism cases: expanded criteria for diagnosing autism, increased environmental degradation/toxicity, and increased genetic risk.

Here is a recent article entitled "ABA and the Older Child" written by Kristina Chew, Ph.D. about the benefits of ABA therapy for her school-age son Charlie. 

"Older children can benefit and need ABA—need good teaching—just as much as young children. It is never too late to learn, never, ever, too late to give kids like Charlie a chance."

(Thanks, Kristina!)

The Autism Society of Minnesota will be hosting the 2007 Minnesota State Autism Conference on May 2-5, 2007 in Minneapolis.  (It looks like the deadline for registration has already passed, but I'm sure there is no hurt in contacting AuSM if you really want to go.)

Highlights of the conference will be talks given by Temple Grandin, Martha Herbert and Nick Dubin.  The Keynote Address will be given by Roy Richard Grinker who is a friend of BlogCadre contributor and autism advocate, Kristina Chew.

Roy Richard Grinker is the Professor of Anthropology and Director at George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research, and a father to a child with autism.  He recently had a book published, Unstrange Minds, where he discusses a controversial idea.

Autism Speaks created a music video of the Five for Fighting song, "World", which features images of autistic children and their families. Five for Fighting is donating $0.49 to Autism Speaks for each time the video is viewed. They are aiming for 10,000 hits, but hopefully it will be more.  Here is the link to the video.

(Thanks, Pinggy!)

Families with autistic children in Rochester, Minnesota are being offered street signs costing $200, which read 'Autistic Child', that can be placed on the families' home streets.  Rochester is the first place to offer such signs.

Because autistic children have difficulties with social interaction and communication, families hope that these signs will keep their children safe while playing outside or in case of emergencies. 

Link (includes video)

By "scanning the largest collection of families with multiple cases of autism ever assembled," scientists say they have found new autism genes -- a region of chromosome 11 and a specific gene called neurexin 1 -- as described in the latest issue of Nature Genetics.

"We hope that these exciting results may represent a step on the way to further new treatments in the future."

Professor John Burn, of the Institute of Human Genetics at Newcastle University, said the news was fantastic.

But he cautioned: "There will almost certainly be an interaction between several genes so this one discovery doesn't provide a complete answer and may not lead straight to a genetic test but it could be a key step in development for effective treatments as it provides a target for drug development."

Dr Fred Kavalier of the British Society for Human Genetics said a cure for autism was still a long way off.