Autism Blogger

My friend told me that her school cafeteria sent her a packet to apply for free school lunch since her son has an IEP.  Her income is too high to receive free lunch, but the school said that they waive that if a child is in special education.  Has anyone else heard of this happening?  Her son is in Kindergarten, so maybe it only applies to K-12 and not preschool, but I'm going to ask for an application from my school anyway.  It would be a good way to save $36/mo for me.

It's Wyatt's second day on Tanoflex, and we've been warned that we won't see any change in behavior for at least one month.  In fact, the Tanoflex might not even work.  He's only going to be taking 1/4 of a pill for the first week and then 1/4 twice per day the second week.  The good news is that the pills easily crush into tasteless powder and I've been able to slice open french fries and drag them through the powder.  I turn the pink powdered sides down and then sprinkle with salt.  Since Wyatt has been known to be very distracted by visible salt and to shove fries in his mouth by the handful, this system has been working beautifully!

Last night Wyatt fell asleep in the car at 8 p.m., a lot earlier than he usually goes down.  Maybe the Tanoflex had something to do with that?  We did some errands and Marc walked the dog while I stayed in the car with Wyatt.  Wyatt woke at 10 p.m. and screamed for about 20 minutes before self-calming.   Afterwards, we had to entertain him with puzzles until 10 p.m. when we managed to get him to drink some juice laced with Melatonin.  He slept, but woke at 3 a.m. and climbed into our bed.  Maybe he had a bad dream?  He sat up quietly in the dark for about an hour before he went back to his own bed.

Today we had absolutely nothing scheduled so I went over to my friend's house for four hours.   Her kids have tons and tons of train stuff so Wyatt LOVES going over there.  The only bad thing he did was dump their mouthwash into the toilet.  

Yes, in answer to Perz, we are in a transition period with the Tanoflex, a part-time job I'm preparing for, and some  deallings with the school district regarding Wyatt's educational program.  I can't write about the last one, but I'm sure you can imagine.

The idea of denying children the therapy that helps improve their lives and diagnosed conditions is unthinkable. But that's what is happening in Dalton McGuinty's Ontario with regards to children with autism. The lack of funding for autism services is a provincial shame.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is one of the most common developmental disabilities, usually appearing during the first three years of life. It is a serious neurological disorder affecting children and their brain development in the areas of social interaction and communication skills, often resulting in severe and pervasive impairment. The prevalence rates in recent years have been increasing, now with 1 in every 150 children diagnosed with ASD in Ontario alone. The good news is that early diagnosis and intervention programs have dramatically insured positive outcomes for children immediately and into adulthood.

After hearing from the Liberals in the 2003 election that children with autism would receive treatment regardless of their age, families today across our province are learning the hard way that this government's talk is cheap.

Instead of putting sufficient funding behind its promise, the government created a waiting list, where children can languish for years before a coveted space opens up in a treatment program. But with the crisis in funding and the absence of a long-term strategy to deal with autism spectral disorder, families lives have been turned upside-down. Children with autism benefit markedly from one-on-one therapy called IBI/ABA (intensive behavioural intervention). Without it they suffer.

Click on the newslink to read the entire article. 

A new diagnostic tool to help detect autism in young children is the focus of new research at Flinders University in Adelaide.

The new assessment tool has been designed to identify developmental and behavioural issues associated with autism in children less than 12 months old.

At present, autism is rarely diagnosed before a child is 18 months old.

"If we are able to detect signs of autism within the first year of life, parents will be able to immediately implement an early intervention plan, which has already been shown to significantly improve the prognosis of children with autism," said psychology PhD student and researcher Danielle Robson.

Click on the newslink to read the full article. 

Reports of measles are on the rise, with health experts attributing the increase to the decision by some parents to forego vaccinations for their children out of fears the shots could trigger diseases.

Scientific research has found no link thus far between vaccinations and diseases such as autism, but some parents remain suspicious.

Pediatricians and health experts are sounding the alarm, noting that measles, which is virulently contagious, is the first disease to crop up when vaccination rates fall. In the past six months, 131 cases of measles have been reported, more than in any other six-month period in the past 12 years, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says extensive reports from several leading researchers have found no "proven association" between autism and measles vaccines. Experts recently told the Chicago Tribune that autism "tends to emerge at the same age children receive their shots, leading to a false sense of cause and effect."

"Parental suspicion is now so high that public health officials fear it could undermine one of the most important advances in medical history," the Tribune reported. "Although vaccination rates have remained fairly steady, pockets of vaccine rejection can lead to outbreaks of childhood diseases that were once thought conquered."

Click on the newslink to read the full article. 

I wrote this for another site, but thought the information would be good enough for a blog post:  read more »

I have a job that allows me to work from home.  The only problem is that I struggle to get any real WORK done.  It takes me three times as long to finsih my work than anyone else in my company.  Why?  Because something bad happens everytime I pick up the phone.  My first call of the day, which lasted all of two minutes, resulted in my son sneaking into my room and dumping out an entire can of baby powder.  My second call took twenty minutes to make because my son wouldn't stop yelling catch phrases from various cartoons and computer games.  The rest will go the same way since I just told him that he can't have any more junk food and the pantry is locked.

Everyone thinks that since I work from home I have it easy but it is far from it.  It takes me 12 hours to do what should be done in 8, plus the cooking, cleaning, and home making, PLUS taking care of the boy who is not always agreeable to my agenda.  It's really difficult and I'm constantly behind.  I feel like I'm being swallowed up on most days.

Sometimes when my son goes to bed on time I get a few minutes to work on my website or to do the dishes, but usually I'm stuck having to catch up on the work I should have been doing nine to five.   I tried having someone in home to help, but it's not really worth it past having them pick up because the boy demands my attention regardless.

 So while everyone else wishes they could work from home, I wish I could "WORK" from home.  If child care and transportation were available I'd work outside the house just so I could shorter working days and more time to myself and for my kid.

Why Men Don't Write Advice Columns

Dear Walter: I hope you can help me here. The other day, I set off for work leaving my husband in the house watching the TV as usual. I hadn't gone more than a mile down the road when my engine conked out and the car shuddered to a halt. I walked back home to get my husband's help. When I got home I couldn't believe my eyes. He was in our bedroom with the neighbor lady. I am 32, my husband is 34, and we have been married for twelve years.

When I confronted him, he broke down and admitted that they had been having an affair for the past six months. I told him to stop or I would leave him. He was let go from his job six months ago and he says he has been feeling increasingly depressed and worthless. I love him very much, but ever since I gave him the ultimatum he has become increasingly distant. He won't go to counseling and I'm afraid I can't get through to him anymore.

Can you please help?

Sincerely, Sheila

---------------------------------------------------

Dear Sheila: A car stalling after being driven a short distance can be caused by a variety of faults with the engine. Start by checking that there is no debris in the fuel line. If it is clear, check the vacuum pipes and hoses on the intake manifold and also check all grounding wires. If none of these approaches solves the problem, it could be that the fuel pump itself is faulty, causing low delivery pressure to the carburetor float chamber.

I hope this helps.
-Walter

A new diagnostic tool to help detect autism in young children is the focus of new research at Flinders University in Adelaide.

The new assessment tool has been designed to identify developmental and behavioural issues associated with autism in children less than 12 months old.

At present, autism is rarely diagnosed before a child is 18 months old.

"If we are able to detect signs of autism within the first year of life, parents will be able to immediately implement an early intervention plan, which has already been shown to significantly improve the prognosis of children with autism," said psychology PhD student and researcher Danielle Robson.

Ms Robson said the assessment tool included a questionnaire for parents, along with a structured play session to score the children on their responses to a number of specific tasks.

"During each session I assess a range of behaviours, including those that previous retrospective research has suggested are impaired in infants who later develop autism, such as eye contact, social and joint attention, sensory motor behaviours and temperament," she said.

Click on the newslink to read the entire article.

My husband poked me and gave me a significant look when the word "autism" popped up in Bill Clinton's speech last night. Here's what Mr. Clinton had to say:

I will never forget the parents of children with autism and other severe conditions who told me on the campaign trail that they couldn’t afford health care and couldn’t qualify their kids for Medicaid unless they quit work or got a divorce. Are these the family values the Republicans are so proud of?

This was the second time autism had come up at the convention. Hillary had brought up the subject only the night before:

I will always remember the single mom who had adopted two kids with autism, didn’t have health insurance and discovered she had cancer. But she greeted me with her bald head painted with my name on it and asked me to fight for health care.

In both of these cases, the Clintons mentioned autism as if it were an illness that could be treated and cured through medical means - and that the medical tools needed to cure autism would be covered under publically available medical insurance. The idea was "if only these folks had a decent HMO, everything would be just fine."

Click on the newslink to read the entire article. 

Starting junior high can be a stressful time for any child, but especially if that child suffers from autism.

But for 12-year old Colton Ruder of Olathe, his new canine friend, Coop, helps him cope with the challenges of a new school year.

"At school he was very tense very nervous and he would get sometimes very aggressive," said Colton's mother, Shelley Ruder. "We tried different medications and nothing really worked."

Service dogs have been around for decades. but recently the interest in training dogs to help autistic children has grown.

The Ruders got Coop from Canine Specialty Training in Independence, a company that trains dogs for people with disabilities and veterans.

Click on the newslink to read the entire article. 

Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest autism advocacy organization, today announced that Susan Maxwell and Marcia Weinstein have been named Walk Co-Chairs for the Inaugural Treasure Coast Walk Now for Autism. Maxwell and Weinstein will be responsible for directing the Inaugural Treasure Coast Walk Now for Autism community event on Saturday, February 21, 2009 at Jensen Beach High School.

Susan Maxwell’s experience as Co-chair of the 2008 Palm Beach Walk Now for Autism and as a real estate agent with her partner Gabe Sanders of Premier Reality Group and Marcia Weinstein’s advocacy efforts for the autism community and leader of the local Autism Society make them the ideal people to lead the team of dedicated volunteers on the Treasure Coast.

Click on the newslink to read the full article. 

North Yorkshire Police have joined forces with the National Autistic Society (NAS) to promote a new card that alerts members of the emergency services and the criminal justice system to someone with the condition.

The cards are available to anyone in North Yorkshire who has a condition under the autism spectrum and are designed to improve communication with emergency services and criminal justice professionals.

Click on the newslink to read the entire article. 

Researchers have found all the signs of autism in a strain of noisy laboratory mice that are used to diagnose human beings, a finding that may help them study the complicated genetics of the disorder.

For the study, Maria Luisa Scattoni of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues, separated baby mice of different laboratory strains from their mothers.

They found that the pups, which had not yet opened their eyes, made noises aimed to bring their mother back.

These ultrasonic sounds, too low for the human ear to detect, come in 10 different types, from clicking to pure tones.

Click on the newslink to read the entire article.