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Childhood Bullying, Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and Perception

Melissa — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:07:58 +0000

I recently read through a study that looked at not only the prevalence of childhood bullying of adolescents on the autism spectrum but also the perception of bullying acts by the child on the spectrum. Yes, children on the autism spectrum, including those with Asperger’s Syndrome, do experience a higher rate of childhood bullying. However, there are also perception problems.

Children on the autism spectrum often have difficulty with Theory of Mind. This difficulty causes some children to misinterpret bullying acts as non-bullying in nature.

I recently wrote an article on the topic for Suite 101, here is an excerpt:

Although the study showed an increase in childhood bullying among those on the autism spectrum, the teachers reported a higher rate of bullying than the students did themselves. Children and adolescents on the autism spectrum as well as their typically developing peers are reporting a lower rate of bullying than their teachers.

Read the entire article: Children with Autism Face More Bullying.

Details on Walk Now for Autism Speaks Events in California and Florida

Melissa — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:19:13 +0000

Walk Now for Autism, a series of fundraising events that are part of the Autism Speaks organization, has raised more than $27 million in donations for its 2009-2010 events. The events not only raise funds for autism research but they also help to raise autism awareness.

The following Walk Now for Autism events are scheduled for California and Florida in 2010.

Study Reveals Mercury Levels Similar in Autistic and Typical Children

Melissa — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:22:16 +0000

Without going into the mercury/vaccine/autism debate, or my feelings on the matter, I wanted to share a new article on the topic. The article, Mercury levels similar in autistic, normal kids, is a Reuters article that discusses the results of a study from researchers at the University of California, Davis.

The researchers at the University of California, Davis, initially found that children aged 2 to 5 with autism had mercury levels lower than other children because the autistic kids ate less fish, the biggest source of mercury that shows up in the blood.

But when the data were adjusted for lower fish consumption, blood-mercury concentrations among the autistic children were roughly similar to those developing typically. The children with autism had mercury levels in line with national norms.

2009 National Vaccine Information Center Conference

Melissa — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:45:24 +0000

The 2009 National Vaccine Information Center Conference will be held from October 2-4, 2009 in Reston, Virginia. The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is a non-profit education organization that was founded in 1982 to help advocate for vaccine safety. The first NVIC conference was held in 1997 and featured a variety of presenters included Mark Geier MD, PhD, Andrew J. Wakefield, MD, and organization co-founder Barbara Loe Fisher.

The 2009 NVIC conference speaker list includes the following distinguished professionals:

Bob Sears, MD
Barbara Loe Fisher
Joe Mercola, DO
Andrew Wakefield, MD
Peggy O’Mara
Dan Olmsted
Kim Stagliano

The conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Reston, Virginia. For more information about the 2009 NVIC conference, call (703) 938-0342.

UBP Winner – Part Deux

Melissa — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:59:24 +0000

Jenn graciously declined the books and so I went back to the random.org Random Number Generator. This time it came up with #14, which is Candice. I’ll be emailing you now Candice, congrats!

Achieving in Higher Education with Autism/Developmental Disabilities

Melissa — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:58:59 +0000

I came across the website of an organization by the name of AHEADD – Achieving in Higher Education with Autism/Developmental Disabilities. Although my two are young, only five and seven, I often think to the future. Will they want to go to college? Will they be able to go to college? Will they succeed in college? The good thing is that these are parents of children without a developmental disability also ask themselves.

The mission statement of AHEADD states:

Mission – Individualized and Ongoing Support
Currently, accommodations in higher education lack consideration of characteristics that affect the ability of certain students to achieve their potential. While college accommodation plans provide excellent in-class assistance, students with Learning Disabilities, ASDs, AS, NVLD, and ADD require far more comprehensive, individualized, and ongoing support to address difficulties in the areas of organization, social skills, and communication. AHEADD’s mission is to establish and maintain best practices which fill this void in a manner that
respects students as adults, complements the traditional college accommodations plan, and maximizes use of existing campus resources.

As AHEADD grows to meet the needs of a growing number of students across the country, it will continue to set the standard for exemplary support of exceptional students. We also intend to provide this support in consideration of families’ financial burden.

AHEADD currently charges a fee of $4200 – $5350 per student, per semester. We consistently research and pursue opportunities to reduce the out-of-pocket cost for our clients. In addition to securing public and private subsidies for our clients, AHEADD families can reduce the tuition costs by utilizing an FSA and a tax credit available to cover educational costs related to students with disabilities. We continue to petition universities and governmental organizations for funding and believe that these sources of funding may ultimately sustain the support provided through AHEADD.

For more information, visit the AHEADD website.

Guest Post from Cale, an Aspergic Teenaged College Student

Melissa — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:09:10 +0000

I have had the fortunate opportunity to virtually meet a rather charming young man, Cale Irwin, via Twitter. Cale blogs at Spectrum Siblings about how he copes, loves and thrives as an Aspergic teen. I asked Cale if he would submit a guest post for my blog and what he has written is a great message for parents and perhaps a glimpse into the future for many of us.

I sat down to talk to a professor lately about doing some summer research. Here were her requirements for lab assistants:

1) A complete devotion to the topic. A willingness to devote 4-6 hours daily to combing the literature and taking copious notes.
2) A willingness to forsake Friday and Saturday night parties to come to the lab to work.
3) An ability to spend work periods isolated from social interaction; i.e. not texting, calling, or inviting over others while working.
4) An acute memory for detail; an ability to notice slight changes in the appearance or behavior of the rats.
5) A strong sense of cleanliness and a need to return everything to its proper place when research is completed.
6) An ability to convey information in a factual and direct manner.

Why is this relevant to you? Because the professor could have said “I want an autistic student” and would have conveyed the same needs.

Many autistic characteristics seem to stand in your son or daughter’s way when attending preschool through high school. You worry about things like, How can I help him broaden his interests? and How do I get her interested in her peers? and When will he stop fixating on that pendulum and look at how cool the clock is as a whole? And these are problems in a school which offers 9 different classes a day, including one specifically devoted to interacting with peers (i.e. recess).

But in college, and the world of research, these traits stop being deficiencies and become advantages. Employers will scour the applicant pool looking for kids just like yours; kids with their unique blend of talents and idiosyncrasies that will perfectly match the need of the company or institution.

When the diagnosis of autism first comes down, many parents are crushed. But that’s partially because they’re only looking at the here and now, at how their child is different from most and how that creates a chasm between them and their peers. But with time, they’ll begin to see that this separation runs both ways; that what the autistic child might be lacking in social graces the neurotypical child is lacking in perceptive ability and dedication.

One of the keys to understanding autism is to look at the world from a new perspective. And when examining the capabilities of your autistic child, this change in perspective is exactly what’s called for.

Cale can be found on Twitter @Frogger11758.

Canada’s Camp Kirk Gears up for 2009 Season

Melissa — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 17:47:42 +0000

All of the summer camps that I have listed on the site are in the United States but I am noticing that more visitors from Canada are landing on my site. When looking for special education summer camps in Canada, I kept coming across Camp Kirk. Camp Kirk is designed to meet the needs of children aged 6 to 13 that have learning disabilities, ADHD, incontinence/bedwetting and some children on the autism spectrum. They are not equipped to accept children who require one-on-one supervision or who have a history of aggression or violent behavior.

Children may attend one or more of the following sessions scheduled for the summer of 2009:

SESSION #1: Saturday, June 27 to Monday, July 6, 2009
SESSION #2: Thursday, July 9 to Wednesday, July 22, 2009
SESSION #3: Sunday, July 26 to Saturday, August 8, 2009
SESSION #4: Wednesday August 12 to Tuesday, August 25, 2009

All sessions are coed; the fee for the first session is $1,680. The final three sessions have a fee of $2,240 per session.

The camp is located at:
115 Howden Road
Scarborough, Ontario
M1R 3C7
Canada

For more information, contact Camp Kirk at 1-866-982-3310.

Indiana Camp Rocks Sets 2009 Autism Camp Dates

Yay I Won the Solostream Theme Giveaway

Melissa — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:08:52 +0000

When I last posted here, it was an unusual post for the site but I was attempting to win a copy of Solostream’s newest theme- the WP-Vybe. Kyle at HackWordPress.com got together with Michael from Solostream and started the contest. I wrote my review and just found out today that I am one of the two reviews that were chosento win the first place prize – a Developer’s License for WP-Vybe or WP-Magazine. I chose Vybe since I’m in looooove with it.

Thank you Kyle and Michael!!

Solostream’s Latest Release – The WP-Vybe

Melissa — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:23:12 +0000

Just a warning, this post isn’t about autism education legislation, a fantastic new autism school or a fun autism summer camp. Instead it is about the newest theme that Michael from Solostream has created for Wordpress bloggers. I am currently running one of Michael’s themes, the Solostream 3-Column 1.0. I purchased the theme and have been so happy with it.

Today I received an email from Michael announcing the release of his newest theme, the WP-Vybe. While poking around the blogosphere, I noticed that hackwordpress.com was running a Premium Theme Contest. To enter the contest, one must simply write a review of the theme. Thus, this post here on The Autism Education Site.

Now I know that I am a techno geek girl at heart but my heart went all a flutter when I saw the WP-Vybe theme this morning. It is gorgeous. Michael offers users the ability to use one of ten different color schemes including purple and pink! Yes, I am a girly girl and love my purples and pinks. In addition to the color choices, those that use this theme can also choose between a two and a three column layout. This level of customization is fantastic and not commonly seen in Wordpress Blog themes. I much prefer a three-column theme but those who like two columns can still take advantage of this amazing new theme.

Another feature that I like about the Solostream WP-Vybe is that Michael has created a site dedicated to providing information and support to the theme users. I am a geek girl, yes, but still only about a year and a half into using Wordpress. I have found that at times, adding certain elements to themes has proven difficult. I wasn’t able to figure out how to get the Featured Post functionality to work in my current theme so I decided to send Michael an email. Not only did he respond but he took the time out to troubleshoot my issue for me. Fantastic looking theme and fantastic customer service to back it up – what more could you ask for?

Wait, what more could you ask for? With WP-Vybe the answer is ALOT! Here is a list of features direct from the Solostream website:

Theme settings page in your Wordpress control panel (see screenshots below).

2-column or 3-column layouts.

10 different color options with control panel setting for further customization.

Optional featured article glider for home page.

Gravatar integration.

Optional banner ad integration.

Optional built-in post thumbnails.

Optional logo/header image integration via control panel.

Built-in site search.

Built-in drop-down navigation for sub-categories and sub-pages.

Built-in author page and author profile with Gravatar support.

Widgetized sidebars.

Comment and trackback separation.

Post author comments highlighted.

Basic SEO techniques integrated.

Original Photoshop files (PSDs) available for download via control panel.

And much more …

As a female I can be extremely talkative at times and could likely go on and on about the theme. I was contemplating a way to budget this in to my blog budget. As a stay-at-home-mom with two kiddos on the autism spectrum, sometimes money can be a bit tight. However, I am also a freelance writer and was thinking about how many extra gigs it would take to purchase the theme. That’s when I ran across the contest and figured I’d give it a go! Even if I don’t win, I’ll be writing a few extra content pieces for my clients in order to swing the $199 for the WP-Vybe Premium License!