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Autism Vox

Archive for the ‘Adolescence’ Category

May 23rd, 2008

Excluded Again: A 14-year-old and Boy Scout Troop 223

Discussion/debate/dissent about Adam Race and the parish of St. Joseph’s continues—–and here’s another case involving an autistic child and a discrimination suit. Over a year ago, the parents of 14-year-old Casey Reilly, who has Asperger’s, filed a lawsuit against Pacific Palisades Boy Scout Troop 223. As reported in the May 22nd Palisadian […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 16 comments

May 20th, 2008

So Is It Really Autism?: The search for medical signs

According to Dr. Fernando Miranda of the Bright Mind Institute, maybe not. A report in the May 19th Good Morning America/ABC News describes some children who were initially diagnosed with autism, and later found to have Landau-Kleffner Syndrome. For some of the children, anti-seizure medication has produced dramatic results and Dr. Miranda is said […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 26 comments

May 8th, 2008

Antipsychotics in Kids, Weight Gain, and Parental Worries

The decision to put an autistic child on medication is never easy for a parent to think about. When the medications in question are antipsychotics (like Risperdal) and antidepressants (like Zoloft), and when the child is disabled and has little or no language to explain how he feels while on the meds, a parent has […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 11 comments

May 4th, 2008

Too High-Pitched to Hear

It was a couple of months ago that my son Charlie started—for the first time in his life—to show sensitivity to sound by putting both hands over his ears. We’ve known autistic children and adults who’ve found the sound of merry-go-round music, clapping, sirens, and much more unbearable, but never (we thought) Charlie. And then […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 19 comments

April 18th, 2008

Change and Change Again

Marla who blogs about life with her daughter Maizie wrote recently about Maizie’s uncertainties about change and preference for things to stay the same. This is a topic I have thought about a lot: My son Charlie, like many (most?) autistic children, is hesitant about change and doing things differently. He’d like me to always […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 17 comments

March 27th, 2008

It’s Time for the IEP (if we could just find a time)

We’re still going back and forth with Charlie’s case manager about a time for his IEP and annual review—-the district seems to want to have students’ meeting by the end of April (although it is possible for any member of the Child Study Team (CST) to call an IEP when that member wishes to; […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 8 comments

March 26th, 2008

Don’t Forget the Breakfast

Eat your breakfast and (if you’re an adolescent) you’re less likely to become overweight, according to a recent study in Pediatrics (March 2008) of adolescents from Minneapolis-St. Paul public schools (here’s a write-up in the New York Times, too.) Charlie definitely eats, and definitely needs, his breakfast—but he’s never ready to eat it before getting […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 11 comments

March 20th, 2008

Lego Therapy

Read about it here in the March 15th Philadelphia Inquirer. The therapy has autistic children build with Legos and animate what they make by taking a sequence of digital photographs. Members of the “Lego Club” meet for one hour a week at the Center for Neurological and Neurodevelopmental Health in Voorhees, N.J. under the supervision […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 10 comments

March 14th, 2008

Study on Adult Sexuality in Autistic Individuals: Response from the Researchers

A post here on adult sexuality in autistic individuals led to a very interesting exchange, including critique of the survey itself. The survey is being conducted by the North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System is and the University of New Brunswick and the researchers have sent me a response (see below, after […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 8 comments

February 21st, 2008

In the Nation’s Service

To be “in the Nation’s Service and in the Service of All Nations” is the “informal motto,” of Princeton University, where I went to college. On Tuesday, Princeton announced that it hopes to create an “international ‘bridge year’ program,” in which “would allow newly admitted undergraduates [can] spend a year of public service abroad […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 7 comments