iPad Gives Voice to the Autistic

As technology expands and we see the latest gadgets grow, it is rewarding when we hear about the positive effects they are having with special needs children.

Over the past several months, there have been a number of ways the iPad is helping to enhance the lives of individuals with special needs and/or medical issues. The technology won't fix autism, a developmental disorder that affects the brain. But it's a leap forward.

iPad's are one of the most popular wanted gadgets among teens and adults today.  Did your teen put one on their holiday list?

Keystone Academy in Jacksonville, recently opened to accomodate students pre-K through 12th grades with special needs.  Instruction at The Keystone Academy is based on the tenets of behavioral education, which is designed to give each child the skills they need in order to benefit from their educational placement in the least restrictive environment possible.

"The iPad definitely has benefits, applications, that can be used with children, teens and adults that are autistic," noted one of the therapist's at Keystone Academy.

Children with autism aren't the only ones who will benefit. The new applications are also showing promise for kids with other language and communication disorders.


Learn more about the iPad and autism, watch the video.

Autism: What to do when the iPad is not in your holiday budget?  Click here.

 

Pricing and more information on iPad's, click here.

 

Be an educated parent, you will have smarter kids!

Read more.

Sue Scheff: We've Got Issues - Children and Parents in the Age of Medication

What a fascinating new book by Judith Warner.  Here are some highlights:

• Extraordinary stories from parents that reveal, in a very visceral way, the lived reality of having children who struggle with bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, autism, Asperger’s, ADHD, and other disorders.
  

• Why there is such a widespread perception that many of the treatments and services related to children’s mental health—whether medication, therapy, special education, or school accommodations—are basically a sham, a way for some parents to help their kids get a leg up on everyone else.  Warner also explores a much larger and darker reality behind this perception: Only parents with considerable means (and the time and the savvy that usually accompany such means) are able to navigate our school systems to get the services and accommodation to which kids with issues are entitled.  The startling truth is that for most kids in America, mental health care is nonexistent.
  

• Since the early 1990s the number of children receiving diagnoses of mental health disorders has tripled.  This vast increase has fed enormous skepticism, prompted talk of “epidemics,” and serves as a mainstay of the so-called naysayer position—namely that there were virtually no kids with mental health issues in the past, but somehow, suddenly, they’ve sprung up from nowhere.  Warner looks at key factors driving this widespread perception, including increased visibility and profound changes in how parents, teachers, and doctors look at and label kids who have problems.
  

• A look at what the author considers the true epidemic in this country when it comes to children’s mental health: the lack of quality care.  Says Warner, “At a time when we have treatments that actually work, when there’s more research than ever before, more knowledge, better understanding, more support in the schools, and more public awareness of the dangers of untreated mental illness, the actual caretaking that kids with mental health needs receive, is for the most part, really poor.”
  

• A look at what Warner calls “the new face of mental health stigma in our time”—a web of belief that combines doubts that mental health problems are real and aspersions cast on parents of children with problems with a tendency to conflate children’s disorders with bad behavior. The net result is that children are viewed symbolically—as canaries in the coal mine, showing the frontline symptoms of the toxicity of our pathological age—instead of as real people.  This so-called “naysayer” position, says Warner, “is voiced as concern, as a desire to save children, and as a wish to give childhood back to kids, but what it really is, most of the time, is prejudice.  And it’s a poison.”
  

• Why people have a hard time acknowledging that children’s disorders are common, impairing, at least in part genetic, and very real.  Warner also looks at what the latest scientific research has to say about the interplay between genes and environment in causing the kinds of disorders we’re seeing in kids. And she shows how this complex and nuanced way of thinking opens up avenues for understanding that are very different from those dictated by the more black-and-white terms in which children’s mental health issues are typically painted in the public debate.
  

• A look at the irresponsible marketing practices of Big Pharma; its control of published research; and its co-opting of government regulators and institutions, including the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health.  Warner also looks at the damage done to the psychiatric profession by individual psychiatrists who have enriched themselves by becoming what amounts to shadow employees of the drug companies.  “For many people, the revelation of psychiatry’s extensive ties to the pharmaceutical industry are just proof of the inner corruption of the whole psychiatric enterprise in the age of biological psychiatry.”
  

• A debunking of the commonly held belief—fostered by a dizzying array of damning numbers that have made headlines over the past ten years—that kids are being given meds virtually like candy, by parents and doctors.   Warner shows that the total number of kids taking antidepressants and psychotropic drugs is far smaller than most people think.  Even after decades of rapid increase, the percentage of American kids taking medications—5 percent—is still just a fraction of the number of kids with diagnosable “issues.”
  

• The romanticization of mental illness.  Warner reflects on the harm done when depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, autism, and other disorders are treated as quirks of personality to be cultivated and preserved, even celebrated as expressions of individuality and a highly refined sensitibility.  She also explores the widespread, unthinking trivialization of mental health disorders in our public discourse and shows how it can lead parents to minimize their children’s problems and not seek help for them.
  

• A look at the seductive belief that our toxic world is either producing symptoms in children or classifying children as abnormal when they don’t conform.  Warner argues that the pathologies of our out-of-whack society just can’t provide a sufficient explanation for why some children develop disorders like autism, ADHD, Asperger’s, bipolar disorder, and so on, while the overwhelming majority does not.
  

• How the bottom line—cost control measures decided upon by health insurance companies—is driving the mental health care of kids today.  Says Warner, “There should be gatekeepers within our health care system shepherding parents toward getting the best treatments.  There should be protocols for what these best treatments consist of.  There should be safeguards against profiteering and quackery.  There should be affordable access.  There should be guidance, and protections in place to make parents feel that they can trust whatever care their children receive is safe, necessary, and of proven efficacy.  None of this is happening.”
  

WE’VE GOT ISSUES concludes with a look at how we, as a society, can bring an essential and much-needed humanity to the treatment of kids with special needs.  The way to start, according to Warner, is by advocating for better care.  Among other things, she argues for health care reform that will allow annual or semiannual extended visits with pediatricians to talk about children’s lives and screen for mental health issues; the passage of long-stalled legislation to address the appalling shortage of doctors who specialize in child and adolescent psychiatry; better incentives to get more child psychiatrists and psychologists to participate in health insurance; and a legislative mandate that requires insurers to provide mental health services.  Warner also looks at the ways in which medical schools and academic research institutions, to greatly varying degrees, have started taking steps to reduce the influence of the drug companies, or at least avoid the appearance of conflict of interest.  She reflects on various efforts to change the way drug research is conducted and funded.  And she advocates for putting a stop to, or at least tightly regulating, the pharmaceutical industry’s direct-to-consumer advertising.        


Above all, Warner insists, it’s time not only to rethink our commonly held beliefs about “labeling” and “drugging” children but also to become more aware of what the lived reality of having children, or being a child, with special needs is.  Says Warner, “Those parents you see, going from doctor to doctor and trying pill after pill?  They’re scared.  They need help.  And so do their kids.”


Order on Amazon today.

Sue Scheff: Teen helping ADHD and Autistic Children

Danielle Herb (also known as The Horse Listener), 15, is a young social entrepreneur on a mission to improve the lives of 1,000,000 ADD/ADHD and Autistic children. The first item on her agenda is to raise $50,000 by Oct 1, 2009 to secure a world class training facility in Ocala, FL where she will be able to provide free horse therapy to kids.

The rapid growth and expansion of Danielle’s company has been inhibited by her current geographic location, which lacks accessibility. Nicknamed “The Horse Capital of the World,” Ocala lends itself to being the perfect location for Danielle to give and receive support, as well as to set up alliances and collaborate with other equine facilities. Danielle is asking for your support via a private donation of any amount at http://www.dropyourreins.com/ or the promotion or purchase of "Awaken the Social Capital in Your Business 10 Week Course", from which 100% of proceeds will be donated to her cause.

Danielle is the author of the forthcoming book, Drop Your Reins: Peaceful Transformation Techniques for ADD/ADHD and Autisic Children Through Natural Horsemanship.

Take 7 minutes of your time to get to know Danielle Herb. Feel her passion, hear her devotion, and experience her dedication to create a better world for millions of children today. WATCH VIDEO NOW.

Horses are amazing because they are sentient animals that mirror our personalities as well as our fears. -Danielle Herb

For more info: Contact Marianne St. Claire. You can follow Danielle Herb on Twitter and join her Facebook Fan Page.

Also on Examiner.com

Sue Scheff: Parents helping Parents

As with my organization, Parents’ Universal Resource Experts, I created it to help other parents that are struggling with today’s teens. After going through a difficult time with my own teenage daughter, I made some major mistakes, however I wanted others to learn from my mistakes: more important - gain from my knowledge. I firmly believe that parents helping parents and parents learning from other parents firsthand - can be priceless!

Rhonda Spellman is a proud mother of a beautiful son - who happens to have autism. She has made it her mission in life to share with other parents and expanded her information into wonderful children’s books.

Here are some of her parenting tips and please take a moment to visit her website.

Quick tips: 9 Keys of Parenting

Children with Asperger’s Syndrome benefit from an environment that helps to build upon their strengths and builds their confidence and self esteem. What interests them? Help them to gain greater knowledge about their areas of abilities and interest. This helps to build their confidence.

To help them develop their social skills it is a good idea to talk with them frequently, inquiring how they feel about certain situations. Vary their exposure to a wide range of experiences. Observe their reaction to each and talk about their feelings.

Was the trip at the park better than the trip to the mountains? Why? What made one better or worse than the other? Try to avoid large crowds, too much noise and too many sensory impulses at one time. People with Asperger’s Syndrome are simply unable to assimilate too many variables at one time and you are setting them up for a ‘meltdown.’

It helps a person with Asperger’s Syndrome to broaden their interests and topics of conversation. Try introducing something new and different, in small steps and in small time slots. For example, visit a new location that offers a perspective that may enhance an ability they already possess. Go to a new planetarium if astronomy is “their thing.” Different settings can help them to learn what is and what isn’t socially appropriate.

Keep in mind that it is a critical element to ensure that they are in a safe, supportive, and strength-based group setting. Children with Asperger’s Syndrome unfortunately tend to act out inappropriately and become targets for bullies.

Because children with Asperger’s Syndrome are already fearful or otherwise resistant to socially interact with others it is paramount to begin working on their social skills as early as possible. They already have difficulty communicating with others and are often excluded in their schools by their peers because they appear “different” or “weird.” Involving them in small group settings in a familiar environment not only exposes them to “accepted” behaviors but it also gives them a feeling of acceptance among their peers.

*At my house we often have as many as 11 extra neighborhood children playing in the backyard with my two boys. My almost eight-year-old son has Asperger’s Syndrome. My just turned six-year-old son does not. They both are involved with the play at times. Sometimes my older son is an observer… and that’s okay. Sometimes he prefers to just play in the sandbox or paint with sidewalk chalk. *He gets the chalk wet and “paints” wonderful pictures.

I make popsicles by the dozen and the children take turns passing them out. I am firm on fairness and each knows the unwritten rule that no one is ever left out. Yes, the extra children can be exhausting… yes, the extra children can make a mess… yes, making the popsicles takes some time and it costs me a few extra dollars… Can I afford the extra time and effort? The way I see it: The interaction for my son is therapy I can’t afford NOT to do!

A child with Asperger’s self esteem is greatly enhanced when they are given opportunities to participate with and / or help others. Allowing them to pitch in and help with chores and to have responsibilities is a great start. Making sure that they are recognized and rewarded is the second step. Watching them grow into happy, stable and productive people is the always the goal.
I learn from my very different boys every day. I aim to teach them to love and accept those differences, in each other and in all others, every day.