Jay was close to the fence and walking down to the gate. Right then my fear turned into rage. It made the anger I had felt earlier seem like a fluffy pillow fight. This was full on, can’t see straight, think clearly rage. That kid was going to get himself hurt or killed. I spun around and ran hard back to the car.

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The daughter of Burt Bacharach and Angie Dickinson committed suicide. The story states Nikki Bacharach had Asperger’s Syndrome.

“She quietly and peacefully committed suicide to escape the ravages to her brain brought on by Asperger’s,” the statement said. Full story

I never thought of Aspergers ravaging the brain. I have been told by Jay’s psychologist that many people with high-functioning autism have depression and are at high-risk for suicide.

To be incredibly open about it -- Jay already has suicide ideation.... more

Jay stomped faster the closer I got. The panic that had subsided earlier came back with walloping thumps. What if Jay walked right through the park gate and took off into a neighborhood? We were at the fairgrounds in an unfamiliar town. I got the impression this wasn’t exactly the safest area.

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Jay furiously and swiftly stormed away from us. I figured we’d meet him back at the car. I felt no need to chase him down or keep my gait even with his. He needed some space. I could understand that.

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I admit that I approached Fast ForWord with some trepidation. I have been told by professionals and parents alike that it can be incredibly challenging and frustrating for children with processing problems. Knowing that LuLu’s frustration level is very low and that triggering it leads to huge meltdowns…well, I just wasn’t looking forward to it. Consulting with her occupational therapist and speech therapist, it was recommended that we start with Interactive Metronome, proceed to The Listening Program and... more

We’re off and running and in our second week of Fast ForWord. Billed as a “neuroscience approach to reading intervention” this little piece of software (with a hefty price tag) is based on brain plasticity. You know about brain plasticity…the discovery that the brain grows and changes throughout our whole lifetime, instead of reaching it’s full growth in early childhood, which was thought to be true until just about a decade ago.

Well about a decade ago, Scientific... more

I was first introduced to the idea that a child could have a complex interwoven group of disorders versus just one definable disorder about five years ago when we did a neurofeedback intensive with a therapist in Utah. On the first day there, we conducted a quantitative EEG (QEEG) to measure LuLu’s brainwaves and do a statistical analysis on the electrical activity in various parts of her brain. As the therapist was downloading and reviewing this data to send to the neurologist for analysis, he couldn’t help but take a peek. He declared (and... more

The topic comes up time and time again when adoptive parents ask whether a child has Reactive Attachment Disorder or autistic spectrum disorders instead. Adoptive parents of traumatized children, especially those coming from institutions where neglect, poor nutrition and lack of stimulation seem to also be a part of the child’s history, often question the diagnoses they receive from professionals. Or the professionals question what other professionals have previously said. And the parents are left wondering who is correct and what the true “answer” is.

I’m... more

Scientists at Vanderbilt University announced yesterday that they have isolated a genetic mutation that doubles a person’s risk for developing autism. This study is the first to definitively link genetics to autism, even though many scientists have believed for some time that genetics played an important role. Check out the whole article here.

But before we all go off believing that autism is a genetically-caused disease, we need to know that Dr. Pat Levitt, head of the researchers on this... more

“She may benefit from some pragmatics language training.” The suggestion seemed so casual and minor that until I began to explore just want pragmatics is, it sounded simple. But problems with pragmatics are anything but simple.

Pragmatic language refers to language used in social context. There are basically three components to pragmatic language:

--using language for various purposes – such as the difference between greeting, informing, or requesting. -- knowing how to adapt your language to meet the needs/expectations of the listener.... more