I was given a copy of Autism & Alleluias by Kathleen Deyer Bolduc. Kathleen Deyer Bolduc is a national recognized author and speaker in the field of disability ministry. The mother of a young adult son with autism and moderate intellectual disability, she has shared her inspiring story in doezens of articles in national publications. Visit Kathy's website at http://www.kathleenbolduc.com.

I'm offering the book Autism & Alleluias to the first Autism Blogger member with at least 50 points who comments on this article, with the caveat that you must write a book review on Autism Blogger when you are done reading it. Autism & Alleluias lists for $14.00 and is hot off the presses as it was just published March of 2010.

Any takers?

I was given a copy of The Autism Mom’s Survival Guide by Susan Senator. I'm offering this book to the first Autism Blogger member with at least 30 points who contacts me, with the caveat that you must write a book review on Autism Blogger when you are done reading it. This book lists for $16.95 on Amazon.

Any takers?

http://susansenator.com/survivalguide.html

Picto selector is a freeware Windows application written for easy selection and printing of Pictos (also known as PECS). The Pictos, 5000 black and white pictures,  come from the website www.Sclera.be and have a Dutch, English and French translation. The application itself also supports those languages.

With Picto Selector the time consuming cut, paste and editing in Word is over.

Do you need some ideas for unique holiday gifts?  Ali-Pat Publications offers a variety of fun handmade items for sale!

• Christmas Wreaths 18" and 14"
• Bells
• Ornaments
• Magnets
• Back Pack Clips
• Jacket Pulls
• Bird Feeder
• File Folder CD's
• Puzzle Piece Craft Kits

Visit our products page for more information on all of these products!

www.alipatpublications.com/AwarenessProducts.html

If you have questions regarding these items please contact us at info@alipatpublications.com

            Alison and Patty

A Marietta College student and Warren High School graduate is attempting to cover new ground in autism research, exploring an area of the disorder mostly ignored until now.

Heather Haught, 20, of Tunnel, a junior at the college, is entering the second phase of a research project aimed to form a better picture of what foods those with autism spectrum disorders prefer and how a diet can be made to cater to their needs and address eating problems associated with autism.

Often, children with autism are underweight, while many adults with autism are overweight or obese.

"I want to try to determine how we can get these people into a healthy weight range and have it be based in science," Haught said.

Haught had little background on autism when she learned a bit about it in a developmental psychology course at the college. She took that interest to assistant psychology professor Alicia Doerflinger, who had a background in the research of development of feeding behaviors, and the study was born.

The two found they would be virtual pioneers in their experiment, titled "The Effect of Food Preferences, Food Intake and Taster Status on Body Weight in Children with Autism."

"When we started to look at the literature, there was obviously not a lot of work done in that area," said Doerflinger. "Even though it's pretty well known that parents of children with autism have feeding issues on a daily basis, there didn't seem to be investigation into that in any depth. It was a little niche we could move into."

The lack of previous studies may be due to the difficulty of working with young children who are autistic or simply because with all the functionality issues related to the disorder, it may not have been a high priority, she said.  read more »

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) - Research on a new device - a version of which is now available to consumers -  that measures young children's language-learning environment and holds promise for use in the screening, assessment and treatment of  young children with autism, will be the topic of the first 2009-2010 UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute Distinguished Lecturer address on Wednesday, Oct. 14.

The address will be presented by Steven Warren, a senior scientist, professor of applied behavioral science and vice provost for research and graduate studies at the University of Kansas, at 4:30 p.m. in the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute auditorium, 2850 50th St., Sacramento.

Warren is internationally recognized for his contributions to understanding language development in children and his leadership in the field of developmental disabilities. He has conducted extensive research on early communication and language-intervention approaches and has published more than 120 papers, chapters, and books on these and related topics.

Warren’s major research interests are early communication and language development and intervention and the prevention of mental retardation. His Distinguished Lecturer address focuses on his research using a new device that is an extension of the LENA (Language ENvironment Analysis) system, which Warren calls a “breakthrough technology.”  read more »

(NaturalNews) According to a U.S. government survey just published, rates of autism in children have doubled since 2003. Today, an estimated 1 in 91 children are being diagnosed with autism, making this the highest rate in any population in the history of human civilization. Meanwhile, the vaccination push in America continues, specifically targeting children with not just seasonal flu vaccines (which may contain thimerosal), but also the H1N1 swine flu vaccine.

It all begs the question: Is there a link between vaccines and autism?

In defending vaccines, many doctors have blamed autism on a genetic cause. But if it's genetic, why are rates skyrocketing so quickly? The gene pool obviously isn't changing that dramatically. There's no such thing as a "genetic epidemic." If genes caused autism, the rate of autism diagnosis should be holding steady year after year. Clearly, something else is at work, causing the sharp increase in autism.  read more »

I sell Avon for a living and never thought a lot about the type of person that bought my product until recently. I received an email from a mother who bought Avon's KIDS bath time body paint for her son. See her son has autism and she thought this would give him maybe some fun in the bathtub instead of the hassle it usually was. The first night she used the product she was amazed. He didn't want to leave the tub. The body paint, which happens to also be soap, was keeping him quite busy and entertained. He was coloring every inch of his body and the bathtub wall. (It washed off really easily). He didn't understand that this was a soap nor did she care to tell him but was happy to see she was getting what she wanted with out all the problem, a clean child. She couldn't believe that something that cost only $1.99 could be such a nighttime helper.

Christina Fugere
www.youravon.com/cfugere

Hello!   We at Ali-Pat Publications LLC are excited to be a part of Autism Bloggers. We wanted to share with you some information about our company, ourselves, and our thoughts about the educational needs of children with Autism. 

Although there are many existing programs, 

what we hear repeatedly from teachers is the desire to conserve space and to minimize the amount of time spent at the copier reproducing the file folder games.  The other concern is that existing programs work well for typical children but need to be modified for special needs children.

It is from hearing these concerns expressed regularly that we set out to create a program offile folder games to address these needs:

Minimizing storage by having the games on CDs as opposed to large books, therefore leaving room available for other supplies.                      

Ease of downloading and printing directly in the classroom, freeing up the teachers and assistants to spend more time teaching.

   read more »