Here it is....
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
The Many Faces of Autism
What does Autism look like? What is it? How does one acquire it? What causes it? Although Autism has many faces, it has two common elements: delayed language and impaired social skills, all in varying degrees.
People ask: Why has the incidence of Autism increased so over the last 10-15 years? What causes it? Is it environmental? Is it genetic? Is it caused by routine infant/toddler vaccinations? Is there a cure? The typical answer to these questions is...We aren't exactly sure.
The many faces of Autism? As a career special education teacher and school psychologist, I have seen many, many faces... There was Cathy, a moderately mentally disabled child who had no expressive language. She would momentarily fixate her eyes on an object, i.e., a person's hand or arm, prior to a very sharp bite... Trevor, also moderately mentally disabled, said only one word, "blue." This was said during a preschool evaluation with me. His mother cried when she heard him speak. It was his first and only word... There was Cory, mild to moderately mentally disabled, who had never spoken a word at school and in the same school system for his entire school career. His mother told his teachers that he talked all of the time at home. "Sure, sure," they all thought. No one believed her. In the tenth grade, the special education teacher visited the home. There was Cory---talking! Lesson learned? Listen to the mothers... There were the twin brothers, John and Ron, both mildly mentally disabled. Their mother cried and told me that she believed she had caused it. She thought she had held them and rocked them too much as babies because they were so fretful...Stephen was very, very quiet, rarely making eye contact. He would not initiate a conversation with someone, but would respond in short phrases when spoken to. Stephen entered the talent show at school and sang karaoke.
Then there was Julian; we called him Jules for short. Jules struggled so desperately to make sense of his confusing world. Why did that fire alarm ring so loudly and scare him? He did not know that it was going to ring. That is why he screamed and ran out into the hall and out of the building. One day his teacher held up a paper that he had left on his desk and asked, "Julian, what should we do with this paper?" Jules casually replied, "Oh, give it to my locker." Jules danced an Irish jig with a local celebrity at a restaurant on St. Patrick's Day. He cried when another student jokingly wrote "Pooper" on his paper. He loved the theater and musicals. His English class was delighted when he voluntarily stood in front of the class and recited his rendition of Phantom of the Opera with sound effects. He received a standing ovation from his class. He wrote a note to his teacher one day that she had hideous hair. Another day at lunch, a student accidentally bumped into him, causing him to drop his lunch tray. He screamed. The other student was equally upset. It was an accident. She came and sat by him the next day during lunch. He looked at her and said, "Isn't there something that you want to say to me?" She smiled, said she was sorry and gave him half of her roll. He smiled back.
May God bless the children.
People ask: Why has the incidence of Autism increased so over the last 10-15 years? What causes it? Is it environmental? Is it genetic? Is it caused by routine infant/toddler vaccinations? Is there a cure? The typical answer to these questions is...We aren't exactly sure.
The many faces of Autism? As a career special education teacher and school psychologist, I have seen many, many faces... There was Cathy, a moderately mentally disabled child who had no expressive language. She would momentarily fixate her eyes on an object, i.e., a person's hand or arm, prior to a very sharp bite... Trevor, also moderately mentally disabled, said only one word, "blue." This was said during a preschool evaluation with me. His mother cried when she heard him speak. It was his first and only word... There was Cory, mild to moderately mentally disabled, who had never spoken a word at school and in the same school system for his entire school career. His mother told his teachers that he talked all of the time at home. "Sure, sure," they all thought. No one believed her. In the tenth grade, the special education teacher visited the home. There was Cory---talking! Lesson learned? Listen to the mothers... There were the twin brothers, John and Ron, both mildly mentally disabled. Their mother cried and told me that she believed she had caused it. She thought she had held them and rocked them too much as babies because they were so fretful...Stephen was very, very quiet, rarely making eye contact. He would not initiate a conversation with someone, but would respond in short phrases when spoken to. Stephen entered the talent show at school and sang karaoke.
Then there was Julian; we called him Jules for short. Jules struggled so desperately to make sense of his confusing world. Why did that fire alarm ring so loudly and scare him? He did not know that it was going to ring. That is why he screamed and ran out into the hall and out of the building. One day his teacher held up a paper that he had left on his desk and asked, "Julian, what should we do with this paper?" Jules casually replied, "Oh, give it to my locker." Jules danced an Irish jig with a local celebrity at a restaurant on St. Patrick's Day. He cried when another student jokingly wrote "Pooper" on his paper. He loved the theater and musicals. His English class was delighted when he voluntarily stood in front of the class and recited his rendition of Phantom of the Opera with sound effects. He received a standing ovation from his class. He wrote a note to his teacher one day that she had hideous hair. Another day at lunch, a student accidentally bumped into him, causing him to drop his lunch tray. He screamed. The other student was equally upset. It was an accident. She came and sat by him the next day during lunch. He looked at her and said, "Isn't there something that you want to say to me?" She smiled, said she was sorry and gave him half of her roll. He smiled back.
May God bless the children.
The Kid Who Nobody Liked
There once was a kid named Jack who nobody liked. He was handsome enough and very smart. Nobody liked him. He desperately wanted friends. No one wanted to be his friend. Tears would well up in his eyes because he could not understand why no one liked him. Jack's mother had explained to him that he was born with a condition called ADHD--Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Kids with ADHD act impulsively, talking out before thinking, getting up out their seat frequently. It sounded simple enough to Jack. So why did no one want to talk to him or play with him? This made Jack very sad, and the more he tried to make friends, the more he was shunned by his classmates.
Jack did not understand that the Control Panel in his brain was wired a little differently than most others. Because of his condition, he often perceived things differently than others. He was unable to distinguish between positive and negative social interactions. His teachers saw this and tried to explain to him that others did not like to be called names (often racial) or have their pencils and erasers taken or to be constantly poked and made fun of. Jack thought he was playing and did not understand. His teachers explained to him that his classmates did not like it when he constantly interrupted classes. They did not like it when he was chosen to run the PowerPoint (which was a huge privilege) and then used the Ink Pad to draw on the screen. After once or twice, it is not funny to fall out of a desk onto the floor.
Jack thought he was being funny and making friends. It made him very sad to realize he had no friends. He did not understand why. He was the kid who nobody liked.
Jack did not understand that the Control Panel in his brain was wired a little differently than most others. Because of his condition, he often perceived things differently than others. He was unable to distinguish between positive and negative social interactions. His teachers saw this and tried to explain to him that others did not like to be called names (often racial) or have their pencils and erasers taken or to be constantly poked and made fun of. Jack thought he was playing and did not understand. His teachers explained to him that his classmates did not like it when he constantly interrupted classes. They did not like it when he was chosen to run the PowerPoint (which was a huge privilege) and then used the Ink Pad to draw on the screen. After once or twice, it is not funny to fall out of a desk onto the floor.
Jack thought he was being funny and making friends. It made him very sad to realize he had no friends. He did not understand why. He was the kid who nobody liked.
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