BlogCadre - autism

Daily Geek News RoundUp, Nov. 25, 2009

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:52:49 +0000

5 Cool Ways Brands Are Using Facebook for Black Friday and Beyond - Mashable

FUTURE HUMANS: Four Ways We May, or May Not, Evolve - National Geographic

The Food Lab: Turkey Brining Basics - Serious Eats

If Kerouac Lived In The Present, OnTheRoad, The Service, May Have Interested Him - TechCrunch

The Matrix in LEGO - Boing Boing

11 Days on the Subway -- Autistic Boy Goes Unnoticed - Scallywag & Vagabond

Data In The Couch Cushions: USB Sofas - Geekologie

Recipe: Green Chile Stew - Craftzine.com Blog

Top 15 Black Friday tech deals - CNET

Q & A, An Animated Interview Between Mother and Son

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:48:35 +0000

Q&A teaser from Rauch Brothers on Vimeo.

Rauch Brothers Animation is working in collaboration with StoryCorps to put many of the StoryCorps interviews onto the screen and creating a series of animated short films. Q & A is one of these films.

In February 2006, 12-year-old Joshua Littman interviewed his mother Sarah at StoryCorps. Joshua has Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. Kids with Asperger’s have a tough time socially, and can have obsessions— for Joshua, it’s animals. Most StoryCorps participants use a list of suggested questions, but Joshua wrote his own. The conversation they provoked covered everything from cockroaches to Sarah’s feelings about him as a son.

Above is only a snippet of the film. Having worked with autistic kids for many years, I look forward to seeing the short in its entirety.

Previously on BC:
Teaching Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Link

[via Colle+McVoy]

Autistic Basketball Manager Plays a Great Game

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:33:02 +0000

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

Peers vote out 5-year-old classmate from class, teacher's idea

Tue, 27 May 2008 03:04:50 +0000

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.

Link.

Kristina Chew profiled in Working Mother magazine

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:42:50 +0000

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.”

Link to full article (Thanks, Kristina!)

Teach 3-5 year-olds special needs, mostly autistic children

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:55:57 +0000

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.

List of Autism Advocacy Organizations in California

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:16:50 +0000

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.

ABA and the Older Child

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 20:43:21 +0000

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!)

2007 Minnesota State Autism Conference, Keynote address by Roy Richard Grinker

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 23:49:26 +0000

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.

Five for Fighting Donates to Autism Speaks, View the "World" video

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 03:24:38 +0000

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!)

'Autistic Child' street signs go up in Rochester, Minnesota

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 02:27:50 +0000

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)

New Autism Genes Found

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 19:25:55 +0000

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.

Read the full article here.

An Autistic Child's story, a breath of fresh air

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 15:58:51 +0000

Finally, here is a story about an autistic child named Nathan where the family focuses on the positive and not the negative.

Who once was a boy who "screamed when he was frustrated, spinned in circles to entertain himself and banged toy cars against the wall," Nathan is now a boy who has made amazing progress over the past few years. Nathan is not an autistic "savant" or "cured" from his diagnosis -- He is a boy who has made gains that will help him in his daily life and be more involved in family activities.

Nathan, she says, isn't composing symphonies and does not entirely blend in with his classmates. But thanks to years of intensive speech, behavioral, play and occupational therapy — and an intelligence his parents suspected from the start — Nathan is doing things they did not think possible back in 2003. Among them:

Autism rate higher than expected

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 19:35:37 +0000

Based on 2002 data from 14 states, a study has revealed that 1 in 150 American children has autism.

The study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculated an average autism rate 6.6 per 1,000. That compares with last year's estimated rate of 5.5 in 1,000.

The research involved an intense review of medical and school records for children in all or part of 14 states and gives the clearest picture yet of how common autism is in some parts of the country, CDC officials said.

However, those states are not demographically representative of the nation as a whole, so officials cautioned against using the results as a national average. The study doesn't include some of the most populous states including California, Texas and Florida.

Read the full article here.

Previously:
New Study: MMR link to on-set of Autism? The debate continues, Teaching Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Genetics and Autism, My Son Has Autism blog: Learning How to Learn

"Autism Every Day", A 'fair' look at Autism

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 06:22:23 +0000

Starting tomorrow, Jan. 21, 2007, a documentary about autism, "Autism Every Day," will be shown at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT. Spread awareness. Yes! But after reading this NY Times article I feel those who made the film took a biased approach and instead will raise fear and hopelessness within families.

AS he worked on a documentary about children with autism, Eric Solomon wanted its opening sequence to have an impact similar to the start of “Saving Private Ryan,” he said: “The soldiers are storming the beach and you feel like you’re in battle with them.”

The film, “Autism Every Day,” is being shown starting Jan. 21 at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Its first 90 seconds are an uncomfortable, compelling sequence of children crying, shouting and rocking as their parents struggle to restrain, comfort and connect with them.

The severity of autism varies and it seems that this film does not portray this spectrum. "...the children in the film are among the more severely affected, for whom the activities of daily life are a challenge and meaningful communication is frustratingly limited."