“Autism's appearance determines severity - Atlantic City Press” plus 3 more |
- Autism's appearance determines severity - Atlantic City Press
- Temple Grandin offers window into autistic life - San Francisco Chronicle
- Autism insurance reform touted as a good start - LJWORLD
- Jenny McCarthy to close school for autistic children - KTVZ.com
| Autism's appearance determines severity - Atlantic City Press Posted: 26 Apr 2010 01:39 AM PDT Among the most baffling observations about autism is that some children appear to have symptoms early in life while others develop normally and then regress prior to age 3. Still others have mild developmental delays and then experience a plateau in development. Evidence suggests these are different types of autism, and new research supports that idea. Researchers at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Md., found in a new study that children with early symptoms may actually be at lower risk for poorer outcomes than children who develop normally and then experience a loss of skills. In data collected from 2,720 parents, researchers found children with regression had a distinct increase in the severity of symptoms, such as not attaining conversational speech. The outlook was even worse for children whose parents also said the regression phase was severe. "Children with developmental plateau are an especially under-researched group, and these findings have important implications for those designing and prioritizing clinical evaluations," a co-author of the study, Dr. Paul Law, said in a news release. More than one-third of the parents surveyed said they had concerns about their child's general development before they noticed the more obvious signs of regression. The study is published online in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Temple Grandin offers window into autistic life - San Francisco Chronicle Posted: 26 Apr 2010 05:57 AM PDT Temple Grandin has written best-selling books and revolutionized livestock slaughterhouses. She is a professor of animal science and an activist, and a recent movie about her life starred Claire Danes. And, Grandin is autistic. Grandin began talking in the 1980s about what it meant to live with autism, opening the door to a closed world. For the first time, it was possible to glimpse what it was like to be extremely sound or light sensitive, to feed on repetitive behavior but thrive under new experiences devoid of surprises. Grandin, 62, was in the Bay Area last week, dividing her time as her life work is segmented - between animal welfare and autism. Grandin, who estimates that more than half of the cattle in the United States and Canada are now handled in equipment she designed, visited a Marin County dairy. The next day, she spoke at a luncheon in Novato for Matrix, a nonprofit providing support to families with children on the autism spectrum. In an interview before the luncheon, Grandin offered advice to parents, talked about her work with animals, and spoke of how her own developmental challenges became assets. Q: What is your advice for parents of children on the autism spectrum? A: You have to get kids out and expose them to things, but do this without any surprises, so they know what to expect. You have to find skilled mentors to teach them things. For me, it was an aunt, and it was my science teacher. You need to find the things they're interested in and good at and expand on this. If your child likes to draw trains, broaden it to the station. Where does the train go? Keep broadening it. Q: What do you say to educators? A: Sometimes it's something as simple as changing the lightbulb in a classroom. With kids on the spectrum, there are a lot of sensory issues. Some of these kids can't tolerate 60-cycle florescent lights. It can make the whole room look like a discotheque. Sound is another big one. I was frightened of a lot of things, of balloons because they might pop. People on the spectrum don't think the same way you do. In my life, people who made a difference were those who didn't see labels, who believed in building on what was there. These were people who didn't try to drag me into their world, but came into mine instead. Q: How far has the treatment of autism come from when you were diagnosed in the 1950s? A: I went to the TED conference recently and there were (people with) Asperger's (syndrome) all over that conference! I go to Silicon Valley and they are all over Silicon Valley. A little bit of the autism trait can give you an advantage. But back in the 1950s, they thought autism was psychological. They were trying to find my psychological problems. And when I was diagnosed, mothers were blamed for causing autism. There was no autism support. They'd put autistic kids in institutions. I had severe autism. But my mom wouldn't accept that. I was put in speech therapy. My mother was always pushing me to do stuff. Q: What needs to be done now in terms of autism research? A: One area of study that still needs to be done is the kind of autism where kids have speech and they lose it. Some parents say it's happened right after vaccines. That group needs to be studied separately from others. Q: Are there medications that have helped you? A: I'm a believer in biochemistry. But I tell people to try only one thing at a time to see if it works. And if you do give a powerful drug to a kid, it better have a big wow factor. I've been on antidepressants for years, and it worked to stop my anxiety and didn't limit creativity. Some of the best work I've done, in fact, is after I started taking the antidepressants. Q: What advice do you have for parents of toddlers who worry that something is developmentally wrong? A: If you have a 2-year-old who is non-verbal, don't wait until you get a diagnosis at 4. The child needs one-on-one teaching with an effective teacher now. This can be a grandmother or a teacher or someone from the community. Grandmothers are especially great. There are a lot of grannies around. Go to your church for help. Q: How did your interest in livestock welfare start? A: On my aunt's ranch when I was 15. I got to thinking about how the animals are feeling. When I got into it in the early '70s, there wasn't even the term "animal welfare." I feel very strongly that we need to give beef cattle a really good life. When they go to slaughter, it needs to be painless. Q: How was it when you went to your first slaughterhouse? A: It wasn't as bad as I thought. I had to answer the question, "Do cattle know they're going to get slaughtered?" I went to plants and watched. I went to feed yards and watched as they were lined up for vaccination. They behaved the same way in slaughter plants as when they headed into vaccinations. Then I started watching and saying, "What kind of things are they afraid of?" I found they were afraid of shadows, reflections, certain colors, of a piece of chain hanging down. If you took out these things they were afraid of, they would just walk right in. Q: Do you like the HBO film about your life? A: It did a fantastic job showing how my mind thinks visually. Everything I think is in pictures. The movie will be out on DVD Aug. 17. Q: You once said, "If I could ever snap my fingers and be non-autistic I would not do so." A: That's true. I don't like the way most people think. It's imprecise. I find that when parents ask me questions, they ask very imprecise questions. They say, "My kid has behavioral problems at school." Well, I have to say, "What kind of problems? Is he hitting? Is he rude? Does he rock in class?" I need to narrow questions to specifics. I am very pragmatic and intellectual, not emotional. I do get great satisfaction when a parent says, "I read your book, and it really helped me." Q: Does your autism define you? A: I don't define myself as autistic first. I don't want to be a professional autistic. I think it's important to have a real job.
E-mail Julian Guthrie at jguthrie@sfchronicle.com. This article appeared on page E - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Autism insurance reform touted as a good start - LJWORLD Posted: 20 Apr 2010 07:37 AM PDT Advertisement Topeka — Advocates for people with autism on Tuesday praised a new law that requires the health insurance plan for state employees to cover treatments, but said it is only a first step. "This is not the end, but rather the start of getting autism treatment to all in need in the state of Kansas," said Mike Wasmer, president of the Kansas Coalition for Autism Legislation. Gov. Mark Parkinson signed into law House Bill 2160, which will require the state health insurance plan to provide coverage of evidence-based, medically necessary autism therapies, such as applied behavior analysis, for state employees. "Our hope is that this pilot project will create a solid foundation from which to expand coverage in the next legislative session to the greater population of families that have been financially devastated by the lack of insurance coverage for necessary autism therapies," said Peter Bell, who is executive vice president of programs and services for Autism Speaks. The new law also includes an annual cap on treatments for children with autism spectrum disorder that are enrolled in the state employee health insurance plan of $36,000 up to age 7 and $27,000 between ages 7 and 19. Nearly 100,000 people are enrolled in the state employee health plan. Kansas becomes the 18th state to enact autism insurance reform, but the first to limit it, according to Autism Speaks, which is the nation's largest autism advocacy organization. Parkinson said the new law represented "a great beginning for putting us on a path toward providing coverage for autism in all health insurance plans." Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Jenny McCarthy to close school for autistic children - KTVZ.com Posted: 26 Apr 2010 08:34 AM PDT
It's been a tough week for Jenny McCarthy. Three days after publicly splitting from her boyfriend of five years, Jim Carrey, McCarthy announced Friday that she is closing her school for autistic children, Teach2Talk Academy. "Jenny and her partner at the Academy, Sarah Scheflen, had different visions for the school and made a decision to go their separate ways," McCarthy's rep said in a statement. "Sarah and Jenny really enjoyed their time working at the Academy and feel honored that they were able to provide such high quality early intervention services to so many children with autism and other developmental disabilities." Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey split The former Playboy model and Singled Out host opened Teach2Talk Academy, located in Sherman Oaks, Calif. According to Teach2Talk Academy's website, which was still active as of April 9, the school is an "early intervention program" designed to treat children from ages 2 1/2 to 6 with autism spectrum disorders. McCarthy and Scheflen also have a line of DVDs, but the future of the entire Teach2Talk company is unknown. Is Jennifer Love Hewitt dating Jenny McCarthy's ex? McCarthy, 37, has been active in the autism community ever since announcing in 2007 that her son, Evan, had been diagnosed with the condition two years prior. McCarthy has released several books on the subject, including Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism in 2007 and Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odds the year after. She has also served as a spokeswoman for related non-profits like Talk About Curing Autism and Generation Rescue. McCarthy's activism has also been met with controversy, particularly after she appeared on Larry King Live and argued that vaccines can cause autism, a fact refuted by the National Institute of Mental Health. Evan is McCarthy's son with ex-husband, actor-director John Asher. Asher has also made headlines this week, following a report that he is dating Jennifer Love Hewitt. Comment on this article at TVGuide.com > Related Articles on TVGuide.com Other Links From TVGuide.com
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Add Images to any RSS Feed To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
