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Birds singing at night…

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Leah Kelley, Ed.D.'s avatarThirty Days of Autism

I love this time of year when the days are getting longer and I awaken to birdsong in the early morning…

It feels so renewing and full of hope to know that spring has kept its perennial promise and has made the rounds again.

This year – I feel I need that…

And now… as I sit and lose myself in less considered and less tightly contained, controlled and measured words – I feel that I need to get in touch with deep down things that I have been pushing aside with my busyness.

I do that sometimes…

I use busy – wildly busy – as a distraction… a way to make me feel like things are in control and progressing and… in a way – this keeps me from getting too lost or sucked in by my own meanderings.

It is not a bad plan when it is working…

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A Documentary, Two Blogs and A YouTube Video

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arianezurcher's avatarEmma's Hope Book

The following is a trailer for Spectrum:  A Documentary about Autism and Sensory Perception.  This is the documentary I cannot wait to see when it’s finished!  It features Nick Walker, Martial Artist, writer of the single best description I’ve ever read answering the question  “What is Autism?” and all around amazing guy and Judy Endow, a terrific writer, speaker, talented painter and sculptor and friend.  The third person featured is Tito Mukhopadhyay, eloquent poet, writer and son to the woman I am filled with gratitude for on a daily basis, Soma Mukhopadhyay, who taught me how to communicate with my daughter.

http://vimeo.com/94476882

 

This is the first of two blogs you must know about, if you don’t already.  How to Talk to a Woman Whose Child is Dead the most recent post on Unstrange Mind.  It is so beautifully written by the multi-talented Sparrow Rose Jones, who also sells her fabulous art work in…

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Dare to Hope

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Many autistics have trouble articulating their thoughts, but it doesn’t mean they don’t have articulate thoughts! Emma demonstrates this in the video below:

arianezurcher's avatarEmma's Hope Book

Trigger Warning:  Parental despair

Five years ago I was in a bad, bad place.  Life felt unbearable.  The future loomed ahead shrouded in fear.  I could not imagine a life that was not bleak and filled with pain.  There were times when I could not bear the thought of another day.  There were times when I felt it was all too much.  People would make kind suggestions, but none of their words made sense to me.  I was sinking and saw no light.  I thought it was because of my specific circumstances.  I thought it was because I was the parent of a child who, I was told, couldn’t and didn’t understand most of what was said to her.  I was told she couldn’t comprehend this world.  I was told concepts like less and more, time, currency were beyond her ability to grasp.  I was told she was in her own world.  Despite…

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“Autism – What We Know” by Wendy Chung

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all about autism's avatarAll About Autism

For today’s blog, I originally planned to take a look back on the month of April and our activities.

However, I just watched a TED Talk titled “Autism – What We Know (And What We Don’t Know Yet)” by Wendy Chung, the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) Director of Clinical Research. Dr. Chung’s presentation is a concise, informative review of what we know about autism, what we don’t know, and what definitely has been proven false.

Image Dr. Wendy Chung

Some of the information that I found fascinating included:

– Genes play a larger role in autism than they do in cancer, heart disease, or diabetes

–  25% of cases with autism are caused by a genetic mutation that was neither possessed nor transmitted by the parent but occurred in the egg, the sperm, or both

– There is not one gene for autism but 200 to 400 different ones…

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Singer Johnny Dean: I Was Diagnosed With Autism as an Adult

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British singer Johhny Dean wrote in the Guardian recently about his life as an adult with autism, particularly his difficulties getting diagnosed as an adult, and receiving support for his condition. The article pointed out that 70% of autistic adults in the UK feel they are not receiving the help they need.

Adults seeking diagnosis are often faced with a struggle. Not being taken seriously seems to be a common occurrence. I experienced more than just a few quizzical looks and furrowed brows when I asked to be assessed. Many people simply give up at this point. I was even asked outright, by a consultant psychologist, why I was seeking diagnosis when I was an adult. Apparently, this happens a lot. [quote from the article]

Antler Luggage: Worth Every Penny

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I own an Antler rolling computer bag. It’s definitely on the pricier side, but I’ve found it to be money well spent. For roller bags, you want to be sure the wheels don’t give up before the bag does. I’ve been rolling mine on pavements every weekday for months, and those wheels keep spinning. Why is Antler luggage so durable? Check out this video to find out.

Fitover Sunglasses: Prescription-Free Shades

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Many autistics are sensitive to glare, either from the sun or indoor fluorescent lights. If you’re short-sighted, you may not want to pay for a pair of prescription sunglasses on top of your regular specs. Thankfully, you don’t have to. Fitover sunglasses are worn over prescription spectacles, so you only need to change one pair of lenses as your eyesight worsens. Two popular brands are Fitovers and Cocoon.

Scientists Uncover Trigger for Most Common Form of Intellectual Disability and Autism

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A key brain signaling protein, seen here in green, that is normally lost in Fragile X syndrome neurons is restored by an experimental drug. Image: Dilek Colak

A new study led by Weill Cornell Medical College scientists shows that the most common genetic form of mental retardation and autism occurs because of a mechanism that shuts off the gene associated with the disease. The findings, published today in Science, also show that a drug that blocks this silencing mechanism can prevent fragile X syndrome — suggesting similar therapy is possible for 20 other diseases that range from mental retardation to multisystem failure. [quote from the article]

Read more at the Weill Cornell Newsroom.

Some Autistics May be More Rational Than Neurotypicals

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There is evidence that people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, depression, or autism are, in some contexts, more epistemically rational, that is, more responsive to evidence and more likely to form true beliefs, than people without any psychiatric diagnosis. People make more accurate predictions when they are depressed, because the statistically normal way to make predictions is characterized by excessive optimism. People with autism score higher in social interaction games (such as Prisoner’s Dilemma) and are more logically consistent than control participants when making decisions involving possible financial gain, by not responding to emotional contextual cues in the same way as controls (see Tateno 2013 and De Martino et al. 2008). People with schizophrenia are also less vulnerable to a statistically normal but irrational tendency to gamble when faced with a certain loss (Brown et al. 2013) [quote from the article, emphasis added]- Read more at: The OUP Blog

Autistic Brains “Generate 42% More Information While At Rest”

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Photo by BOOM ud83dudca5 Photography on Pexels.com

Researchers from the University of Toronto and Case Western Reserve University found that autistic brains generate more information while at rest than neurotypical brains. The scientists used brain scanning technology to measure the difference, and they postulate that it explains why autistics tend to be withdrawn. If the brain is busy processing information while ‘idling’, it may not be able to cope with additional external stimuli. This conclusion supports the “Intense World Theory” of autism. Read more at Medical Daily.