Autism Signs

The thought of losing control can cause major problems for children who live with anxiety. Now, parents, teachers and children have a helpful tool that gives young children an opportunity to explore their own feelings with parents or teachers as they react to events in their daily lives. Engaging and easy to read, this illustrated children s book is filled with opportunities for children to participate in developing their own self-calming strategies. Children who use the simple strategies in this charming book, illustrated by the author, will find themselves relaxed and ready to focus on work or play!

Price: $18.95

Click here to buy from Amazon

The topic of community inclusion is becoming increasingly important to families with children on the autism spectrum - and for people with autism in general.?? And community inclusion encompasses a huge field of possibilities.? The "community" includes everything from places of worship to bowling alleys; from soccer fields to concert halls.'m conducting research right now in pursuit of several outside projects, to determine how inclusion is typically conducted.? There are several models - autism-only events and programs; unsupported inclusion (you're welcome to come and we won't stare); supported inclusion (trained staff provides help and support); reverse inclusion (people with autism are in the majority, while typically developing peers "push in" to provide models and support).? There are also a wide variety of ways in which support can be provided to people with autism, ranging from provision of visual planning tools (social stories, photo books, videos) to modification of the program itself (lowered sound in a movie theater) to intensive staff training at the community venue itself.When my son was smaller, I was convinced that supported inclusion was the best possible way to involve kids with autism and their families in the community.? Families (parents, siblings) could be part of the world again, while the child with autism could take part in a situation where his needs would be anticipated and provided for. We've had very good experiences with supported inclusion at camp, in band, and in other typical settings.? In fact, supported inclusion has allowed our son to build some terrific musical skills, and to gain self-confidence, skills and knowledge in a variety of settings such as the YMCA, the bowling alley, and the museum.What I've learned, however, is that supported inclusion - while it is the gold standard - has a lot of barriers to entry.? To start with, it's expensive: the cost of training or bring in trained staff is very high, and modifying program elements can also be quite pricey.But just as importantly, full supported inclusion is not always best for the "autism families" themselves.What could be wrong with a program that welcomes autistic family members, their parents and siblings, and makes provisions for special needs?? While the concept of full, supported inclusion is terrific, for some families its extremely stressful.While it may be possible to include a child with autism in, say, a typical soccer team or at a special exhibit at the zoo, the experience may be too much for the child.? Yes, he might be able to run up and down the field and, with support, kick the ball - but without a great deal of preparation, many kids with autism won't fully understand what's required of him relative to teamwork.? He's on the field, he's cared for, but he's really not part of the team.? Similarly, it might be possible to provide trained staff and quiet spaces where a child can engage with animals at the zoo, but for some children the smells, crowds and heat may be simply unbearable despite everyone's best efforts.Perhaps just as important as the child's experience is the parents' and siblings' experience in the community.? For some parents, the experience of watching a child with autism flap or become agitated in a typical setting with special support provided is just to hard to handle.? Depending upon the situation and the child's level of ability, it can be flat out embarrassing to be the only sibling or parent of a special needs child in a typical setting.? The kindly meant sympathetic glances can be infuriating, and the desire to leap up and step in can be overwhelming.These days, I'm much more sympathetic to the families and institutions that take a less stressful, less costly approach to inclusion by creating autism-only events and programs.? Whether at the movies, at camp, at a museum or on a playing field, autism-only programs can offer families a combination of community, support, and ease.? If everyone around you is dealing with an autistic child, your family is no different from anyone else.? No one will give your child the evil eye for flapping, shouting, or melting down.? And of course the price of providing such a program is much lower: no need for special training for staff or modifications to programs or classes.

Who is in charge of providing typical and special needs kids with the tools they need to succeed in life?? What are those tools?? And what do the schools have to do with providing them?
According to the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) American public schools must provide children with the tools they need to access the general curriculum.? In theory, kids with special needs should also receive help in preparing for and taking standardized tests.? For children with autism and many other developmental disabilities, though, there's often a whole separate set of expectations that are wholly unrelated to the "general curriculum."
The general curriculum consists of academic classes in math, science, language arts and social studies, along with (sometimes, when budgets allow) "specials" such as music, art, gym, and computers. There are other activities available through most schools (after school clubs, band, theater, athletics, etc.), but these are by no means considered "general curriculum."? They're not only optional - they're often available only through try-outs or auditions.? Plenty of typical kids either can't or don't take part in these activities.
Nowhere in the curriculum are there expectations that children should make friends, be socially accepted, build advanced athletic skills, play with others during free time, order in a restaurant, fold a shirt, shop for groceries or make a bed.? None of our standardized tests require that our students be capable of brushing their hair, hammering a nail, or choosing matching socks.? It is perfectly possible for young people to graduate high school with no clue of what it takes to boil an egg, fill out a check or dress appropriately for a job interview.? Typically developing children aren't taught "life skills" (bed making, bathroom cleaning, food shopping and the like) or social skills (how to make eye contact, shake hands, use a friendly tone of voice, exchange small talk).? In fact, if they lack such skills (and a great many do), they're simply left to flounder and cope with the consequences.
Today's public schools hire an entire second work force, just to support the needs of children with developmental challenges.? In theory, their charge is to include these kids as fully as possible in the general curriculum.? Yet instead of teaching the general curriculum, many are actually teaching a complete separate curriculum - a curriculum designed to teach children to behave in a socially acceptable manner and to do basic tasks.? The schools are spending a fortune on therapists who have no mandate to teach academic content, but whose job is to normalize children socially and to prepare them for minimum wage jobs or sheltered workshops.
If we are working to have? children with autism included in the general curriculum, then, logic would suggest that we should be working on those skills required to access the general curriculum.? That is: reading, writing, math, and, depending upon the school, cutting, drawing, molding, singing, running, jumping, and so forth.? Collaboration may be expected in certain classes, but it is perfectly possible to complete science projects without a lab partner, or to write a report individually rather than as part of a team.
So which is it?? What do we, as a society, value for our children?? Are we most concerned with their understanding how to live their day-to-day lives with grace and competence?? Or are we most concerned with their ability to grasp academic content and prove their knowledge through standardized testing?? Is it possible for us to teach all of our children to manage both of these sets of skills?
In my opinion, it's long past time for Americans to review the purpose of both general and special education - and to adjust programs, services and expectations accordingly.

The "Autism Quotient" (AQ) quiz has been around for years now.? It's a screening tool designed by Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen and his colleagues at Cambridge's Autism Research Centre "as a measure of the extent of autistic traits in adults."? Published in Wired Magazine's website, it's now making the rounds on FaceBook.? According to the blurb on the Wired site:

In the first major trial using the test, the average score in the control group was 16.4. Eighty percent of those diagnosed with autism or a related disorder scored 32 or higher. The test is not a means for making a diagnosis, however, and many who score above 32 and even meet the diagnostic criteria for mild autism or Asperger's report no difficulty functioning in their everyday lives.

The Autism Quotient test is just one of many similar screening tests devised by the Cambridge research group. In fact, there are nearly two dozen online screenings available on the site, including AQ tests for adults, adolescents and children, empathy tests, "mindreading" tests, and more.
Of course, there is a disclaimer that these tests are not diagnostic, and they're only to be used for "genuine research." Still, for parents of children on the autism spectrum, adults wondering whether they might fall into an autism spectrum category, or anyone concerned about the symptoms of autism, these tests may be a useful first step in deciding whether or not to seek an evaluation.
Have you taken the AQ or any other of the tests at the Cambridge Autism Research Centre site?

There is no one genetic variation responsible for autism.  But genetic variations have been found that increase the risk of autism, and, for the first time, researchers have visualized the impact of one such variation (CNTNAP2) on brain function.  According to a press release in Newswise:

Suspecting that [a gene earlier found to be associated with autism] might influence brain activity, the researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of 32 children as they performed learning-related tasks. Half of the children had autism, and half did not.
The team's goal was to measure the strength of various communication pathways in different regions of the brain as they connected with each other.
The fMRI images excited the scientists - and confirmed their suspicions.
Regardless of their diagnosis, the children carrying the risk variant showed a disjointed brain. The frontal lobe was over-connected to itself and poorly connected to the rest of the brain. Communication with the back of the brain was particularly diminished.

According to Dr. Daniel Geshwind, a professor of neurology, psychiatry and genetics at UCLA and of the study authors, this project was a first glimpse into how genetic anomalies physically change the way the brain works.  The genes under consideration are known to influence language development, and "...we know where the brain is influenced by the genes.  Variation in the gene is likely to modify activity in those parts of the brain.  We proposed to look at that part of the brain as kids do language-related tasks.  Sure enough we found differences between those with risk and those without."
It's important to note CNTNAP2 can be present with or without symptoms that would qualify for an autism diagnosis.  In fact, says Dr. Geschwind, many children have the variation but are otherwise normal - and thus can adapt to the neural differences.  "Kids with autism," he says, "would have 3-4 additional variants, so they can't adapt to this difference."  What makes this study significant, therefore, is a discovery that could lead to an ability to physically observe the impact of therapy on parts of the brain impacted by genetic differences leading to autism.  Says Geshwind:

With this particular anomaly, long range brain connectivity is diminished in favor of short range brain connectivity.  Can we give a therapy to improve that connectivity?  We can look to see if therapies alter this pattern.   This process is a research tool, not a clinical tool, but we can look at interaction between therapy and brain connectivity.  It gives us a foothold.  We think many genetic variations may be quite modifiable.  Knowing genetic risk allows us to look at the question with a better magnifying glass.

For many parents, of course, the $64,000 question is not "what do autistic symptoms look like," but rather "what causes these symptoms in the first place?" If the problems are a result of spontaneous genetic mutations, what causes those mutations to occur? Says Dr. Geshwind, "No one knows what causes spontaneous mutations, but they happen all the time. That's how evolution occurs. We know of some risk factors; for example evidence is strong that increasing the age of the father increases risk of autism. We don't exactly why this is a risk factor, but it seems likely that as sperm age, they have more chance to accumulate mutations."