Asperger's Conversations

Exercise and Asperger's/Autism

Another new study shows the benefits of exercise for executive functioning in overweight children ages 7-11.  The report at the Annual scientific conference of the Obesity Society made by researchers at the Medical College of Georgia state:

"Regular exercise may be a simple, important method of enhancing children's cognitive and academic development. These results may persuade educators to implement vigorous physical activity curricula during a childhood obesity epidemic," the researchers concluded.

While this study did not involve kids with spectrum disorders, I have personally observed a variety of benefits for those kids, too.  Individuals with a broad range of developmental problems are at higher risk for being overweight, which not only makes them feel lousy and adversely affects their health, but also further isolates them socially.  We've tried yoga in the past as well, but I think exercise deserves a close look for affected kids and adults.

Interview with John Elder Robison

In a previous blog entry I pointed to an interview with John Robison about his new book.  John Schnaars pointed me today to an interview with Robsion on Treatment Online.  Robison talks about problems in labeling and social skills development, among others.

Digital Ethnography at Kansas State University

C'mon, it's not just kids with Asperger's who are bewildered by how college profs run their classrooms.  Michael Caulfield and Jon Udell point to this interesting video by Michael Wesch and 200 of his students at Kansas State University:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

You don't have to be on the spectrum to be bored to tears by "talk chalk" and autistic-like lecturing by College Profs who don't get how web 2.0 can enrich their classes!  But a lot of kids are moving ahead anyway...I coach the Gilsum/Surry/Sullivan 10 and 11 year old soccer team who, up until this week, had never won a game (we beat Alstead 3-2 with excellent play...staying in position, passing and centering the ball).  Along with fellow coach Doug Thornton (he's the head coach, I'm the assistant), we keep in touch with our kids from the country schools by email to discuss strategy, share youtube links on great soccer plays, and review screencasts on strategy:

http://www.techsmith.com/community/blog/movies/soccer3.html

These kids do powerpoint presentations with embedded media files, podcast reports on passcode protected blogs, and some know more about producing mixed media than I do.  So if little kids can do it, why not college profs?  The time on your watch is now!

ASD Video Glossary is Helpful

The new ASD Video Glossary shows a series of video clips comparing "neurotypical" and "autistic" behaviors for each DSM category (e.g., communication, repetitive and restricted behaviors).  It is a ramped up and much improved version of what Linda Baker and I were trying to do for Asperger's when we released our video of clinical vignettes in 2000.   While I am anticipating stern warnings from the medical community about parents diagnosing their own kids using information off the web, I would hope that the appearance of this helpful material will be a call to pediatricians and family docs to ramp up their own knowledge, especially about early diagnosis and intervention.  I've been doing some teaching at the Antioch ASD Certificate Program, which has a top-notch faculty and is filled with students from education (mostly special education teachers and rehab professionals)...but where are the psychiatrists, pediatricians, and psychologists?  We need these folks to know more.

Supreme Court Decision on IEP's

From E-speaks today:

WASHINGTON, DC (October 10, 2007) -- By a vote of 4-4, the Supreme Court today upheld the Second Circuit Court decision in the case of Board of Education of City of New York v. Tom F., 06-637, thereby affirming parents' statutory right to challenge a school district's Individualized Education Plan (IEP) without first “trying out” the school district's proposed placement. The New York City Department of Education had argued that even if the child's IEP is demonstrably inappropriate, a parent should not have standing to challenge their child's IEP unless the parent has first “tried out” the school district's IEP.

This is a good call for parents and kids with Asperger's or Autism who often are forced to endure months of poor IEP plans, even though it is obvious that a school is just wasting time.  The argument that "gee you haven't given this plan a chance" seems absurd to psychologists and parents who know the child and have a reasonable idea of what will work and what won't.

I'm still puzzled, though, why schools can't write more thought out IEP's with clear goals and objectives and with clear ways to measure success or failure.  I have talked before about using Behavioral Tests (BAT's) as independent tests of the success of an intervention.  I've sat at school meetings and urged IEP committees to adopt more scientific approaches to planning, mostly for naught.   What's funny is that it's not hard to do and it would certainly keep districts from getting sued (and they'd be helping the child with AS at the same time).

And so it goes.  The original IEP generation is grown up.  How are colleges handling all these students who now want to attend college?  There are some positive stories here at Keene State College and other places, such as Boston University or St. Norbert's College, but I get calls all the time from parents seeking places that will understand their kid.

Labeling, Medication, Co-morbidity and Child Mental Health

I spoke over the phone this week with Scott Shannon, MD who has published a new book, "Please Don't Label My Child."  Scott is a former president of the American Holistic Medical Association and a practicing child psychiatrist in Colorado.  We talked about the potential dangers of labeling and how therapists and pediatricians often miss important information.  This lead to a discussion of how co-occuring problems (co-morbidity) is crucial to understanding what's going on with a person, and also how the pharmaceutical industry has promoted overuse of medication to solve childhood mental health problems, including ADHD and Asperger's.

You can listen to today's podcast by clicking on the MP3 link below:

Download ShannonPodcastMP3.mp3 (10mins20secs; 2.54MB)

Stephen Wiltshire: Art and Autism

Stephen Wiltshire has videos worth checking out that show how he can view an entire city at a glance and then recreate a beautiful hand drawing of that image he holds in his head.  And, the Silenced Majority Portal Blog shows art by a 7 year old boy from the Phillipines who recreates drawings of the Twin Towers from 9/11.

Asperger's, Fraternities, and Personal Digital Legacy

How nice it was this week to be awarded a "Professor of the Month" Award by Phi Sigma Sigma, a sorority on the campus of Keene State College:

I immediately worried: Would the students involved discover by googling around that I was the prof on campus urging the college to shut down all frats?  Despite my occasional rants about the "Greek" system on campus (why support poorer grades and more source of conduct problems?)...I will say that at least one of my Asperger students, an engineering student now attending a well known engineering school in the U.S., is blossoming socially, in large part to his membership in a campus fraternity.  For all their downsides, Frats do provide instant "social networks" ...friends who accept you and hang out with you.  A therapist's dream come true, isn't it?  This is why we believe that colleges should adopt "peer mentoring" programs, in which college mentors serve as "social navigators" and friends to college students with AS.  You can read a free PdF copy of our chapter on Peer Mentoring if you don't feel like buying the entire book.

Augesten Burroughs interviews his brother on Youtube

The power of the net to spread the word about Asperger's still amazes me.  Only a few hundred have seen this to date, but I'm sure the numbers will grow:  Well known author Augusten Burroughs grabs a camera and interviews his brother, John Elder Robsion, about Robison's new book, "Look Me in The Eye" about his life growing up with Asperger's.  No edits, nothing fancy, just some funny but poignant talk about the trauma of being bullied and teased, along with a message of hope..check out the video on youtube.