skip to main |
skip to sidebar
News brings life changes
By Jayne Boykin - The Duncan Banner
DUNCAN — Having a child diagnosed with autism is somewhat like a traveler who plans a fabulous vacation in Italy, only to hear the flight attendant say upon landing, “Welcome to Holland.”
Edee Girod, whose son, Rusty, is autistic, treasures a yellowed newspaper clipping she found years ago that expresses what many parents of autistic children feel:
“Holland? What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life, I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.
“But there’s been a change in the flight plan,” the flight attendant explains. “You’ve landed in Holland, and there you must stay. The important thing is they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.
“So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met ...
“And, for the rest of your life, you will say, ‘Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.’
“The pain of that will never, ever, ever go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.
“But if you spend your time mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.”
When Rusty was about 3, Girod realized her son was falling behind other children his age. Although his motor skills seemed normal, and he liked to ride his bike like other children did, there was something not quite right. But she had no idea at the time of the voyage of tears and laughter upon which her family was embarking.
At a child study center in Oklahoma City, Rusty was diagnosed with a handful of conditions, including retardation and autism, and other terms unfamiliar to Girod at the time.
“There was nowhere to turn in those days. People didn’t talk about autism like they do now, and everything we did was breaking new ground. I found maybe three paragraphs on autism in a library book. We didn’t have the Internet back then, either. I thank God every day that we have been able to find the teachers and caregivers and other resources that have helped us with Rusty. Autism is a different world, slower-paced and really unique.
“God has blessed us with the ability to see the uniqueness of Rusty’s world and to live in it with him. Rusty has a lot to offer, but you have to get on his level. You cannot expect him to come out and meet you on your level,” his mother said. “Like the traveler who planned to go to Italy and wound up in Holland, no one plans to have an autistic child, but if we had spent time mourning the fact that he is different, we would have missed out on knowing the wonderful person that he truly is.”
Rusty attended school in Lawton his first year, then transferred to Duncan, where he completed 12 years of public schooling with teachers who provided the structured environment his condition requires. He enjoyed playing basketball and participated in Special Olympics for a number of years.
The middle child of Edee and Mike Girod’s three children, Rusty likes to be with his close-knit family — sister, Mika Savage, brother, Daimon Girod, and his six nieces and nephews, all of whom live nearby.
“He loves babies, and when we’re out in public and he hears a baby cry, he gets very concerned about it,” his mother said.
Rusty enjoys listening to music, and has a collection of favorite songs he listens to over and over again. He can sing most of his favorites from beginning to end, humming a bit when the words escape him, then picking up the lyrics again further along in the tune. He exhibits many of the traits of a savant, as portrayed in the film, “The Rain Man,” and can tell a visitor who hands him an unmarked cassette tape not only what the tape is, but what song is queued up to play next. If the tape is then placed in the cassette player, the designated song does, indeed, emanate from the player, just as Rusty predicted.
Autism is an ever-changing state. In his younger days, Rusty exhibited some compulsive behaviors that have now subsided, only to be replaced by others. Now 38, his needs are different from what they were when he was a child, but with autism, the needs of the person affected can change almost with the speed of light, and families and caregivers must be constantly in tune with those changes.
Rusty has a collection of well-loved stuffed animals and keepsakes, and decorates his world according to what seems right to him. He gets agitated when objects are moved or changed, even to dust them, Edee Girod said.
“He has a need for sameness. What he wants. He appears to live in isolation, but he loves to get out in the world, too. He loves to ride escalators and Ferris wheels, though with the back problems he has developed, he can’t do some of the things he likes to do any more,” she said.
Asked his favorite thing to do, Rusty said, “Ride Daddy’s boat!” with a big smile.
He also listed his favorite restaurants and what he liked to eat there. He can communicate his thoughts and wishes, but on his own terms. He can spell some words, including his name, but doesn’t like it when others spell words in front of him. Unlike many people with autism, who do not like being touched and who will not make eye contact with others, Rusty looks a visitor in the eye and extends his hand to shake.
“He speaks ‘Rusty.’ People who are around him for very long learn to speak fluent ‘Rusty.’ Even his brother’s friends who visit with him know how to speak on his level and he can communicate very well at times,” Girod said.
Other days are more difficult, and Rusty retreats into an inner world that no one else can fully experience. He laughs, he cries, he rocks to and fro in his chair and makes an assortment of noises and sound effects that have meaning only to him in that moment. It is those times that can try the patience of his family and his caregiver, Annette Bounds, who was featured in Part 2 of this series.
“God has blessed us with Annette. She is very graceful and forgiving of the things Rusty does sometimes. It truly has been our deep faith that has gotten us through the bad times and allowed us to see the uniqueness of Rusty’s world. It takes a lot of faith to keep going. If we didn’t have God in our lives, I don’t know what we would do,” Girod said.
She encourages any parent who suspects a child has a problem to speak to his or her family doctor as soon as possible. The doctor can then make referrals for further testing and treatment. If the child is then diagnosed with autism or a similar disability, she implores parents to reach out to others for the support and encouragement they will need.
“Autism is a lifelong thing, and the earlier the diagnosis, the better. Early intervention can help keep the whole person whole — not allow him to slip through the cracks — and can help the family through the difficult times. I would encourage any parent who would like to talk about autism to call me. We’ve been in insurance and real estate in Duncan for many years. People can find us easily, and I would be more than happy to share experiences with them,” Girod said.
Source: http://www.duncanbanner.com/local/lo...108164651.html
Please share this news with friends, family and also with your contact list on Facebook and MySpace.
By United Press International
SACRAMENTO, April 16 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers suggest melatonin may help children with autism or Fragile X syndrome sleep.
The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, linked melatonin treatment to lengthening mean sleep duration by a mean of 21 minutes, decreasing sleep-onset latency -- the length of time it takes to fall asleep -- by 28 minutes and shortening sleep onset by 42 minutes.
Study senior author Beth Goodlin-Jones of the M.I.N.D Institute at the University of California Davis Health System in Sacramento suggests treatment with over-the-counter melatonin supplements might help alleviate some of the stress that parents of special-needs children experience.
Sleep problems, she says, are reported in up to 89 percent of children with autism and 77 percent of children with Fragile X syndrome -- the most common form of inherited mental impairment ranging from learning problems to mental retardation.
"Sleep onset problems at the beginning of the night are very troublesome for children and their families," Goodlin-Jones says in a statement. "Sometimes children may take one to two hours to fall asleep and often they disrupt the household during this time."
The study included information from 12 children who met diagnostic criteria for autism or Fragile X syndrome or both between the ages of 2- 15. Sleep quality and quantity were measured both objectively and subjectively. Participants were given two weeks' supply of either melatonin or a placebo.
Source: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/...3031239918127/
Please share this news with friends, family and also with your contact list on Facebook and MySpace.
Daniel Paul Tammet is a British high-functioning autistic savant gifted with a facility for mathematical and natural language learning.
By Celeste Biever - New Scientist
Savant-like skills, such as astounding memory, perfect pitch or the ability to multiply very high numbers together, may be much more common among people with autism than previously thought.
A new study of about 100 adults with autism shows that one third have skills that stand out, both in comparison with their other abilities and with the skills of the general population. Previous studies put the prevalence of savantism in autistic people as around 1 in 10.
"People often focus on the things people with autism can't do," says Patricia Howlin of the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College in London, who led the study. "One of the things our study illustrates is that these are people who do have special skills but they are not being used."
The notion of the savant – someone who has a skill that is exceptional both compared to the general population and to that person's other skills – has long captured the imagination of cognitive scientists and the general public alike. But despite this fascination, the connection between autism and savantism remains mysterious.
Some studies indicate that there are more savants within the autistic population than among the general population and among the populations of people with other mental difficulties. Putting an exact figure on the prevalence of such special skills among people with autism, however, has proved difficult.
Outstanding skills
In an attempt to quantify this, Howlin's team looked at two different measures of exceptional ability in a group of people with autism – all now adults – who the team have been studying periodically since they were first diagnosed between 1950 and 1985. They found that 39 met criteria for either what they call a "savant skill" or an "exceptional cognitive skill".
To identify savant skills, the researchers sent the parents of the autistic adults a questionnaire asking them to identify and describe, using specific examples, any outstanding skills and talents that were present "at a level that would be unusual even for normal people".
Of almost 100 parents who replied, about half (45) claimed that their child had a special skill. But only 24 of the hundred met the researchers' tough criteria for what constitutes a savant skill: both exceptional in terms of population norms and above the individual's overall level of ability.
Relying on parents' anecdotal reports of skills could be risky. However, Francesca Happe, also at the Institute of Psychiatry but not involved in the study, says that the team's criteria were "pretty strict": "They didn't count anything that could conceivably be considered a normal skill. I don't think the parental reports are inflated."
Searching for savants
Among those skills considered at the savant level were: being able to name the elevation of both the sun and the moon at any time of day, on any specified date; being able to name the day of the week for any date in the distant past or future (a fairly common savant ability known as calendrical calculation); perfect pitch; and the ability to say, from a single chord, which piece of music it came from.
To identify exceptional cognitive ability, Howlin's team also examined the volunteers' scores on standard intelligence tests consisting of a range of subtests aimed at different aspects of IQ, such as arithmetic, spatial and motor skills and memory span. They found that 23 had an ability on at least one of these subtests that was well above the general population's average score on that subtest.
Eight of these 23 had also been identified as a mathematical or calendrical savant according to the first criteria, and the team concludes that overall 28.5% – or almost one third – of their volunteers had either a savant skill or an exceptional cognitive ability.
"I think it is a surprisingly high number, but believable," says Happe. She says that the study opens a window into the mind of a child with autism and recommends using these isolated, exceptional abilities as a way to motivate people with autism to learn other skills – such as social or communication ones – that might not come as easily.
One in ten?
Darold Treffert, a psychiatrist based in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin who studies savants, says that he sticks by an earlier estimate of the prevalence of savantism as being one in ten among people with autism. This is based on previous studies and backed up by his own observations.
He says this is partly because he is mistrustful of parental reports, and partly because he does not think that the peak ability in the intelligence subtests qualifies someone as a savant. "Some autistic savants do well on IQ subtests, but not all autistic persons who do well on IQ subtests are savant."
But he says the study is interesting, because it underscores the failings of IQ tests to measure overall intelligence.
"We are all made up of a series of intelligences, especially the savant, and IQ measures one component," he says. "Savants starkly challenge our definition of 'intelligence' and require us to look for ways to measure other 'intelligences'."
"We need a more reliable definition of savant syndrome, and a more reliable definition of intelligence," he adds.
Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/...th-autism.html
Please share this news with friends, family and also with your contact list on Facebook and MySpace.
Picture by Seattle Times
By Nancy Shute - U.S.News & World Report LP
Teenage social life can be frustrating in the best of circumstances, and it's even harder for teenagers with autism, who report feeling lonelier and having poorer-quality friendships than their typically developing classmates. But social skills can be learned, according to researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles. They have created a new class that lets autistic teenagers practice key social skills, from asking someone to get together to brushing off teasing with a "That's so lame."
Social skills classes are common for young children with autism, because problems with social interactions and communications are a hallmark of the disorder. However, there is little help for teenagers and young adults, despite the fact that teenage life is all about communicating with peers. "Because autism research is in its infancy, we're just starting to set these things up," says Elizabeth Laugeson, a clinical instructor of psychiatry at UCLA who also is associate director of the UCLA Parenting and Children's Friendship Program. She and her colleagues created a series of twelve 90-minute classes, taught weekly, in which high-functioning teenagers with autism spectrum disorders work on practical social skills. They include how to pick the peer group that's right for them (jocks, nerds, gamers); how to join and leave a conversation; how to host a get-together; how to handle bullying and teasing; and how to change a bad reputation.
Parents of the teenagers take separate classes in which they learn how to support their child's social efforts and help with "homework." At the end of 12 weeks, 33 teenagers ages 13 to 17 who participated in a study group were having more peer interactions outside of school and had increased the number of get-togethers they hosted. Their parents reported a significant increase in the children's social skills, and both parents and children reported better friendships, compared with a control group of teens who did not attend the classes.
"We could literally see a dramatic improvement in these kids' behavior," says Laugeson. "A lot of our kids came into the program with virtually no social contact outside of school. We saw a dramatic increase in the amount of get-togethers with friends. They weren't so socially isolated anymore." That research is published in the April Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. A second study, which is tracking whether teenagers maintained the improved social skills three months after classes ended, has just been completed. It found that the kids continued to have more get-togethers, including invitations to others' homes.
The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills, or PEERS, isn't yet available outside UCLA, although Laugeson's group has adapted it for schools, where it will be tested starting this fall. A training manual for mental health professionals is also in the works, and Laugeson hopes there will be a do-it-yourself book for parents in the near future.
Although social skills classes for autistic teens might be hard to find, my colleague Meghan Johnson recently wrote about summer camps that teach social skills for teenagers with ADHD and other special needs. Advocacy groups are pushing hard for more real-world skills training for teenagers with autism. And here's the story of Joe Steffy, a 23-year-old with autism and Down syndrome who runs a popcorn business with the help of his family and employees.
Source: http://health.usnews.com/blogs/on-pa...e-friends.html
Please share this news with friends, family and also with your contact list on Facebook and MySpace.
Posts
