Autism is a very big continuum, from severe (nonverbal) to brilliant to (scientists). The kids growing up now can be the next great inventors.

There is a fine line between nerd and someone with Asperger’s. Many times, these ‘nerdy’ types or kids that can’t get focused on their assigned lessons in school get pushed aside because teachers just don’t know how to deal with them. They don’t know what to do with them and they don’t have the resources to help them flourish. Temple’s deep concern is expressed “…one of the things that really worries me is where is the younger version of those kids going today? They’re not ending up in Silicon Valley, where they belong!” (Grandin, 2010).

The autistic mind is a ‘specialist’ mind. Some are visual, photo realistic thinkers and are poor at algebra, They see thoughts or words just like “google for pictures”. The autistic brain picks out the details, but the ‘normal’ brain ignores a lot of details. She says if a bridge designer ignores the details, it will crumble and fall!

There are pattern thinkers, who are good at math and often have problems with reading. There are verbal thinkers, which are poor at drawing, but know every fact about everything.

Temple learned very early that she had to sell her work, not herself. Social people sell themselves in a job interview, more so than their work. Temple showed her amazing drawings! She also learned the importance of manners at an early age, through intensive mentoring as a young child.

It’s important to show kids on the spectrum interesting stuff to get them excited about learning whatever their specialty is. A mind can be social or ‘geeky’. The autism mind is less social, to the severity of being non-verbal. To take art, drafting, music out of the schools is a critical mistake, as autistic kids need to have these programs to nurture their ‘fixation’. These kids are really smart, and teachers need to know how to direct these kids.

We need to get these kids ‘turned on’. Take notice on what they fixate. If they can’t get their mind off horses, then center the [math] lesson around horses. Maybe they should skip math altogether, if they aren’t pattern thinkers! Temple cannot emphasize enough the importance of  a good mentor for helping a child develop his or her autism special talents

I am honored that you reach out to me regarding my writings which is a chronicle of my experiences both happy and sad and from the perspective of a father who is committed to his family and wish to do his very best. I am so affected by my son’s epilepsy and autism and I am trying to do all I can to help support and encourage my son to be the very best he can.

I am trying to write in a diary format for my wife and son and express my feelings as it is a way of getting through the difficult times. I need to express it rather than keep it bottled up inside. I welcome the opportunity of sharing my writings. I am sure you know of my blog. I also have a page on facebook called Autism Insight where my writings post to.

You certainly are welcome to view my facebook page Autism Insight.

I wish to continue writing for the rest of my life for my love for my wife and son is eternal and I am inspired.

Thank you for your support and guidance.
Edward D. Iannielli III

One of the most special books I have ever had a hand in bringing to realization is Chicken Soup for the Soul, Children with Special Needs. Though I approached Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield in the late 90’s to bring these heart-warming, inspirational stories to the world, it wasn’t until much persuasion and convincing of the importance of this book that it came about. Over 5,000 stories were submitted and we had to narrow it down to less than 100 touching accounts from all walks of special needs children and their significant others.

Since the beginning of time stories were told around the campfire! When we share these stories, we heal each other because we come to understand and share another’s joy, sadness, pain, trials and tribulations. We will be offering you a place to share your stories with the world so others can be touched and feel better. I will let you know more as this plan unfolds.

Sincerely,
Karen Simmons, mother, author, founder CEO Autism Today

My feelings about hand biting is that the student realizes that it is improper for him to hurt other people. The student hurts the only person he feels he can hurt, himself. For this procedure to work he has to do it in front of an audience that cares. This student reverted to perform once for his new teacher. He started to bite his hand and to make sure he had her attention head butted the teacher. Ignoring the hand biting and self hitting is hard on his audience and on the student. If you pretend not to care about his biting and hitting himself, the student will stop doing this self injurious behavior.

There are two problems that have to be addressed when the student is biting his hand. What was happening immediately before he started biting and why did the student object to this occurrence. You then have to give the student a way to express his displeasure that does not involve self injurious behavior. Hand signals, sign language, grunts or whatever you can get the student to do that gets your attention. You have to pay attention when he makes these gestures. You may have to explain to the student that he will have to participate even though he does not want to. You have acknowledged his position, and given hi the opportunity to express his feelings.

This student no longer had calluses on his hands. His hands were absolutely smooth. He still has trouble communicating but his communication is working well enough that he no longer has to bite himself to express his displeasure.
Ken

Originally utilized to treat a life-threatening condition known as the ‘bends’, in divers, its therapeutic use has expanded to include carbon monoxide poisoning, gangrene, osteomyelitis, and, more recently, autism.
HBOT enhances blood flow to the brain, reduces inflammation and oxidative stress, and mobilizes stem cells from the bone marrow.  Deficits in all of these have been implicated in the development of autism.
A typical treatment for autism consists of breathing pure oxygen for sixty minutes at 1.3 to 1.5 ATA, which corresponds to a depth of ten to seventeen feet of seawater (FSW).
A substantial majority of patients experience benefits with HBOT.   These include improvements in language, eye contact, socialization, appetite and digestion.  It can also reduce the intestinal inflammation associated with bacteria, fungus and parasites.
Current research and case studies will be presented.

Read More About Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Remember, learning styles:  All people learn in different ways.  Whether they process their world through sight, sound or touch, determines the quality of their communication.  Since generally people with autism are visual learners, it is important to communicate with pictures and words.  For example, while preparing for this talk, I needed to see the details outlined for our trip down here while Pat needed for me to tell her over the phone what was going on! And when it comes to learning, remember that as all kids do!

Children with autism also change dramatically from year to year.  One year you may think they will never “get” a concept and then the following year they totally understand it.  One example was when Jonny as twelve he said “I think I’ll take my kids to Disney World when I have them” I was shocked he was even thinking about having kids!  I immediately said “where are you and your wife going to live when you get married?”  He replied “well, here mom!”  I then explained that he would have to get a job and have his own house if he was going to have kids.  I wasn’t going to be taking care of his family.  The next year he totally knew this was the case!  Remember to live in the now. Be in the now.  After all, we are human beings, not human doings or human dones.

Everyone evolves, including people with autism.

At the age of 2 1/2 years old, our daughter was evaluated and we were told she had “autistic tendencies“. This was 20 years ago when they did not necessarily want to label a child. She did not receive the diagnosis of PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified) until age 9. Her language skills were that of a 4-16 month old at that initial evaluation. We were told after one year that perhaps we should consider institutionalization as she might not be teachable nor even trainable. This of course, was not a consideration for us. We knew in our hearts that everything was going to work out somehow in the long run.
We did then and still do continue to have a great deal of hope for her future. After two years in special needs pre-school programs with intensive one-on-one teaching and speech therapy, her language was still very limited and had a tendency to be “muffled”. Her speech sounded as though she were talking through a glass.

One day I arrived to take her home from her school and the staff greeted me with, “Your child said a whole sentence today, clear as a bell”. Well, I can tell you I was so excited! An entire sentence??? That had never occurred. Words all strung together that made sense and in a sharp crisp manner? That was so wonderful! I couldn’t wait to hear what she said. Was it in regards to her day or maybe she actually noticed what other kids or adults were doing and made a comment about someone else. Wouldn’t that be wonderful if she made eye contact and followed through with a comment about something she saw or felt! My heart plummeted after the next comment from the staff members. “Yes, she spoke in a full sentence, clear as a bell, but we simply cannot have her talking like this”.
Now, I was confused–she spoke, a full sentence, something she hadn’t done in four years of life and they didn’t want her to do it again? The “incident” happened when they were finger painting. All the children were being asked to cover their hands with red fingerpaint and then make a picture of their choice. Well, another area that she was very loudly vocal was when textures were not to her liking—usually screeching was her way of expressing herself. However, on this particular day, in front of all the teachers and the other twelve students, she decided to proclaim loudly and clearly, “I am NOT sticking my hands in that red sh__t”.

I was speechless at that point myself! I was thrilled that she had felt something with such emotion that she had to strongly object, however, I knew that “cussing” was not the way to go about it! I promised that I would try to work on her “language problem at home”.
As I left with her I was cheering internally while smiling and trying to explain to a child who I wasn’t sure could understand me, how it was not polite to use certain words at all, ever.
To this day, she has not used an “improper” social word in my presence.

Find out more about Children with Autism

It is used widely as a cough suppressant.  Previously, other ingredients that were opiates were used in over-the-counter cough medicines, but that is no longer the case in the US.  ??The way that dextromethorphan works is by blocking a fast excitatory neurotransmitter, known as glutamate.  There are several types of glutamate receptors, and the one that is affected by dextromethorphan is known as an NMDA receptor.  In this way, it is similar to a drug of abuse known as ketamine, which has a similar mechanism.

The doses effective at cough suppression and that are present in cough syrup are, of course, much lower than you would need to get “high” from, and I can not personally imagine the idea of drinking 10 or 15 bottles of cough syrup to have a dubiously mild sedative effect, but addicts are what they are. Dextromethorphan has recently been investigated as a potential therapeutic agent in a numerous different and seemingly unrelated fields, ranging from autism, Tourette’s to stroke.  The reason for this, to oversimplify, is that in healthy brains excitation and inhibition are balanced.  Damage (such as stoke) can cause levels of excitation that can be toxic.  Some diseases may, at least in part, manifest some of their symptoms because some pathways controlling certain behaviors are over-excited, or are not inhibited properly.  The nerve pathway that controls coughing (via the vagus nerve) actually controls a lot of other involuntary motor behaviors, for example.  The hope is that some of the involuntary repetitive behaviors in autism and Tourette’s might be reduced by this treatment.

Maria Gulinello, Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience

More about children with autism

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Genetic variations of the immune system, inborn errors of metabolism, or adverse reactions to immunizations lead to recurrent infections that are commonly treated with antibiotics. A yeast overgrowth of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract occurs following the elimination of the GI normal flora with antibiotic treatments. Yeast produce abnormal compounds called gliotoxins and other immunotoxins harmful to the immune system.

Because the immune system is weakened, the child gets another infection and more antibiotics until a vicious cycle is established. The yeast produces a number of harmful effects on the child’s metabolic and neurological functioning, including impairing gastrointestinal functioning, production of excess oxalates, inhibiting energy production, and eliciting food allergies that may manifest as behavior disorders.   Dr William Shaw will include why high oxalate foods may contribute to negative effects including formation of crystals in tissues.

Learn about the most common metabolic causes of autism and developmental disorders: intestinal dysbiosis, cholesterol deficiency, food allergies, industrial pollution, heavy metals intoxication, mineral imbalances and high levels of oxalates. There will be a discussion on how IgG food allergies affect behavior and how to detect the most common allergens. Find out how the mechanism of opiate peptides affect the brain, their connection with allergies, and the importance of a gluten and casein-free diet.

During the presentation there will be a focus on the damaging effects of heavy metals, such as mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, aluminum and others, the mechanism of their effect on human development and ways to detect and treat high levels of these metals.  Learn about the correlation between low cholesterol and brain function. Dr. Shaw will introduce the concept of cholesterol supplementation for certain patients,\ and review many other effective ways of correcting or reducing abnormalities with biomedical interventions.

Read more about what Dr. William Shaw has to say on immunizations.