Disruptive Behavior...

There have been a lot of articles recently (HERE's one)about the disruptive behavior of children diagnosed with autism. These articles point out how disruptive these kids can be at school, in church or at the mall. There was a fairly notrious case recently in which a mother was asked to de-plane because her child had a 'meltdown'.

I've worked with thousands of kids and one thing always turns out to be true. ALL BEHAVIOR IS LEARNED...and it they can learn it, they can un-learn it.

Parents don't like to hear this any more than teachers do but the child having an upset in front of you is responding to what is happening and their history of reinforcement. They are crying because it works. If that kid on the plane wanted off the plane you have no idea how reinforcing being taken off that plane was...they just increased that child's 'meltdowns' immeasurably. There are thousands of children diagnosed with autism who do not scream and yell or cause problems in public.

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The Boy with the Incredible Brain.

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What about adults with Autism?

That is the focus of much of Dr. Temple Grandin's current work. She says much of the hope for a productive future lands on the parents and the messages they send, the expectations they set and the support they provide.

Canada.com has a great article. Click HERE.

Great pic of me with Temple to the right. I was nervous about touching her...you know how those Aspies are:)

They really need role models. Persons with issues like theirs that
are successful and leading independent lives. Temple Grandin is a good one, so is Bill Gates (don't tell me he isn't an Aspie:)

"Parents just want an assurance that their child is going to be able to live with dignity across their life span," says the father of a 14-year-old son with autism.

"You wonder what his life is going to be like as he gets older," says the school board trustee. "He's a very kind, caring person and at times I worry, 'Is he lonely? What's going to happen when I'm not around?"'

"I still think that there is a lot of bigotry towards the disabled today. [There are] stereotypes that autistics can't empathize with other people, that they can't form emotional attachments, that they are selfish, that autism is a 'disease,' which they need to be 'cured.' I personally don't like the words 'disorder,' 'illness' or 'disability.'

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Very cool article HERE at Breitbart.com about a robot whose brain is made of living tissue! His brain is made from stiched together rat neurons. It even had swap out brains that behave differently! It's an amazing experiment in neuronal growth and memory. Mostly memory.

Thimerosal on Trial

Slate.com has a great article titled Thimerosal on Trial: The Theory That Vaccines Cause Autism Goes to Court.

Canary in a colemine...

Pre-dementia in on the rise among men, so says a study out the Mayo clinic in Chicago. I remember seeing the story when it came out but 'Age of Autism' a must-see site dedicated to all things autism framed it nicely.

From Age of Autism:

"Older American men are sliding into neurological impairment. Have our children been the canaries in the coal mine and now the miners themselves are becoming ill?

Autism tends to strike boys more frequently than girls, which is the same trend being seen in older Americans and this frightening new state called, "Pre-Dementia." The study was conducted in Minnesota, in the county surrounging the Mayo Clinic. This is the same area where Somalian children have been diagnosed with autism at an alarming rate.

From the article which ran earlier this week: "A prime goal is finding drugs to treat the mild impairment before Alzheimer's develops." How about finding out what environmental factors are denigrating human brain function to avoid the condition, rather than simply treat the symptoms?"

‘Your son will never be able to focus on anything.’

Well we know he's not physically typical but according to THIS wonderful piece in the Sunday NY Times, he was diagnosed as having ADHD and even took Ritalin for two years before asking to come off of it. Here's an excerpt:

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As he entered public school, he displayed what his teachers called “immature” behavior. “In kindergarten I was told by his teacher, ‘Michael can’t sit still, Michael can’t be quiet, Michael can’t focus,’ ” recalled Ms. Phelps, who was herself a teacher for 22 years. The family had recently moved, and she felt Michael might be frustrated because the kindergarten curriculum he was getting in the new district was similar to the pre-K curriculum in their old district.

“I said, maybe he’s bored,” Ms. Phelps recalled saying to his teacher. “Her comment to me — ‘Oh, he’s not gifted.’ I told her I didn’t say that, and she didn’t like that much. I was a teacher myself so I didn’t challenge her, I just said, ‘What are you going to do to help him?’ ”

In the elementary grades at their suburban Baltimore school, Ms. Phelps said, Michael excelled in things he loved — gym and hands-on lessons, like science experiments. “He read on time, but didn’t like to read,” she said. “So I gave him the Baltimore Sun sports pages, even if he just read the pictures and captions.”

She will never forget one teacher’s comment: “This woman says to me, ‘Your son will never be able to focus on anything.’ ”

His grades were B’s and C’s and a few D’s.

Autism in Iraq

According to the CBS report below there was one (1) doctor serving children with autism in Iraq. Then he fled. Does anyone have any ideas about this? How would one go about setting up a visit?

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To restrain or not to restrain?

Very well-written article on the issue of restraining children who are 'out of control' or a 'danger to themselves or others'. It's a pretty long piece for a blog post so I've posted about half of it. To read the full article from the Buffalo News click HERE.

Anybody who works with children with special needs, or even 'regular' children (whatever that means) has, at one time or many times restrained a child or seen a child restrained in a manner that disturbed them. We've all seen situations in which the 'adult' precipitates a crisis then says there is nothing that could be done. I've never, not once, seen a child 'lose it' for no reason. Children's behavior is dependent on their environment...they are always behaving in a manner that 'works' for them and that they have learned. (MY OPINION...happens to be backed by research but there you have it)

If a child is restrained then the 'adults' in that child's life have failed that child in that moment. Doesn't make them bad but don't blame the kids. When I find myself on the other side of a crisis moment I ask myself one question, "What did I do wrong?". In other words, "how did I fail that child in that moment?" I heard something once that has always stuck with me...educators blame the child at the point at which their skill-set ends. I think this is true.

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ALLEGANY — Tim Miller has a lot of “what ifs” running through his head.

What if he had never been held face down by teachers when he was in sixth grade?

What if he had had more friends? What if he had never had autism?

As the number of autistic kids in schools grows, there are signs that teachers and administrators are having difficulty controlling them and addressing their special needs.

That can lead to conflict, and in some cases, to federal court. That’s where Carole and John Miller turned after not getting satisfaction through the state’s special education hearing process.

Their son Tim, a student at Allegany- Limestone Central High School, remembers being restrained face down when he was 12. There is evidence he was restrained more than 10 times over a four-month period in 2005.

“I thought maybe they were taking his wrist. I didn’t like the idea, but I figured, they know better, they’re the instructors, the teachers,” Carole Miller said. “I asked him what happened when he got home from school, and he would always just say, ‘They’re trying to kill me.’ I thought he was overreacting.”

Dealing with troublesome children leaves some teachers with their own questions:

How much physical force can be used in restraining an unruly child?

How much time and attention should be given to the special-needs child without neglecting others?

Are there better ways to control a frustrated child who has special needs?

Lyme Induced Autism?

I had never heard of the possible connection between Lyme disease and autism until my step-mother forwarded me the following story which was published in Medical Hypotheses (misspelled below which made tracking down the study tougher).

You can download the study directly HERE.

It may be part of the answer to the vexing question of regressive autism and the explosion of autism related cases in certain geographic areas.

Read the full article below.

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Lyme disease may play a role in causing autism according to a recent study published in Medical Hypothesis, a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

A team of five physicians led by Robert Bransfield, M.D., analyzed the two diseases and discovered a connection based on epidemiological findings, symptom similarities, case reports, and laboratory test results. The Lyme-Induced Autism (LIA) Foundation has paved the way for studies such as this one.

Led by Tami Duncan, herself the mother of an autistic child, the LIA Foundation was established in 2006 by a group of parents who suspected the connection but recognized the need for scientific research. Collaboration on the Medical Hypothesis study began during one of the LIA Foundation national conferences, which have attracted top physicians from around the country.

Charles Ray Jones, M.D., considered the nation's leading pediatric Lyme specialist, was one of nine presenters at a recent LIA Foundation conference held on April 12, 2008 in Fort Lee, New Jersey. "I've treated over 10,000 children with Lyme disease," Jones said during his presentation. "A good many of the children, we've found, have had autism-spectrum disorder."

Warren Levin, M.D., was also present at the New Jersey conference. He described the case of "a terribly ill autistic kid...who tested positive for Lyme disease." Subsequent to that case, Dr. Levin "started screening all autistic patients...and nine in a row tested positive for Lyme disease."

The LIA Foundation hosted their most recent conference on June 27-29, 2008 in Indian Wells, California. To educate the public about the Lyme-autism connection, LIA Foundation president and co-founder Tami Duncan recently co-authored a book on the topic with author Bryan Rosner. Rosner has written three books on Lyme disease. "Lyme disease is not the only causative factor in autism," Rosner says. "We know that many other environmental and genetic triggers are involved. However, Lyme disease is the fastest spreading infectious disease in the United States, with an estimated 200,000 new cases per year. Autism cases are also exploding. If Lyme disease can contribute to the onset of autism, then we are onto something big here."

In their book, Duncan and Rosner describe a correlation between the geographic incidences of the two diseases. "The ten states with the highest incidence of Lyme disease are the same states with the highest incidence of autism," Duncan says. "Research also suggests that Lyme disease can be congenitally transferred from mother to child during pregnancy, even if the mother is unaware that she is infected," Duncan continues. "This can account for the early onset of Lyme-induced autism in young children."

Duncan and Rosner do not believe that the Lyme-autism connection hypothesis is new. Their book states that parents, caretakers, and researchers have long suspected the link. But the recent conferences and peer-reviewed studies are important because they attract the attention of the medical community, which can lead to life-saving research. "New medical truths do not have significant impact until they are packaged and presented according to accepted guidelines," Rosner says. "The connection is not new, but it is finally receiving proper attention."

To learn more, visit the LIA Foundation website at _http://www.liafoundation.org_

Rosner and Duncan's book, "The Lyme-Autism Connection," can be ordered from _http://www.lymebook.com/lyme-autism-connection_(

Lyme-Induced Autism Foundation_ (http://www.liafoundation.org/)