LEAD STORY

  • Brain Balance’s truth in advertising put to the test

    By Toni Lapp
    A variety of interventions are frequently pitched to parents of special-needs children. One program, Brain Balance, has a 12-week-long program that has been packaged as a therapy for kids with Asperger’s, autism, PDD-NOS, dyslexia, Tourette’s and ADHD.

    Brain Balance’s latest email advertisement hit my mailbox recently. “We help kids with academics, behavior, and socialization,” states the flier. Then the writer made this claim:

    A recent independent study showed over 80% of kids
    that spent three months in the Brain Balance program
    no longer met the qualifications for ADHD.

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  • Eyes on Autism: Study Looks at Pupil Function

    By Toni Lapp

    Computerized binocular infrared pupillography measures light reflex in a study participant at MU Thompson Center.

    It’s oft been said that the eyes are the window to the soul. Now researchers are wondering whether the eyes can offer insight into a person’s brain functioning. They suspect that pupil response times can indicate whether a person has autism.

    Researchers as far back as 1961 noted that children with autism had sluggish pupil changes when attempting to track objects. Building on these observations, University of Missouri researchers at the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders are conducting a study of pupil response times in individuals with autism compared against response times of neurotypical individuals.

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  • Autism Alliance Cancels Walk, Says it Will Fine-Tune Mission

    By Toni Lapp

    The last time the Autism Alliance of Greater Kansas City held an awareness walk at Unity Village was in 2009; at the event, officials said the Alliance planned to merge with ASH. An Alliance event scheduled for May was recently canceled.


    The Autism Alliance of Greater Kansas City, which has organized autism awareness walks and resource fairs since at least 2003, has canceled its latest scheduled event. In early February members had set a date for May 7, but less than a month later the group decided to cancel. Organizers made this announcement on their website:
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  • Tips for a Successful IEP Meeting

    By Toni Lapp

    If you’re the parent of a student with an autism-spectrum disorder, you have most likely participated in an individual education program (IEP) meeting for your child.

    For many families, the annual meeting is a stressful event in which educators converse using unfamiliar acronyms and bewildering jargon, and parents rubber-stamp their signatures to a document that they don’t understand and didn’t have a hand in developing.

    It needn’t be that way.

    As the legal education decision maker for the student, parents often do not realize the power that they wield.

    As a result, parents may fail to fully exercise their influence at these meetings, says Jeanne Holverstott, an Overland Park autism specialist. Sometimes parents just don’t know what they can ask for.
    » READ MORE

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DEVELOPMENTS

  • Missouri House Passes Autism Bill

    By Toni Lapp
    Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is calling the bipartisan passage of House bill 1311 “a major step forward for children with autism.”
    On Thursday, representatives voted 135-18 in support of the bill, which would mandate insurance coverage of behavioral therapy for children with autism.
    Last year, a measure that passed the Missouri Senate would [...]

  • MU Thompson Center Extends Recruiting in Landmark Autism Research Project

    By Toni Lapp

    Anyone who has a child with autism has at least a passing interest in research of the disorder, so I assume we are all now familiar with the 1998 study published in The Lancet medical journal by British researcher Andrew Wakefield. His work purportedly linked the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine — or [...]

  • Town Hall Meeting Focuses on Needs of Adults with Autism

    By Julius Karash
    How can we map out better futures for adults with autism? An initiative by Advancing Adults with Autism brought together 1,000 folks at 16 satellite sites as part of a national townhall meeting to discuss the issue.
    There were 66 of us at the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center in Kansas City, Mo. The event [...]

EDUCATION

  • Modifications to Ease Anxiety at School

    By Jeanne Holverstott, M.S.
    One of the most common co-morbid conditions within ASD is an anxiety disorder. Whether anxiety is part of the diagnostic make-up of the spectrum or whether anxiety warrants an “additional” diagnosis (hence becoming a co-morbid condition) is akin to the “chicken or the egg” dilemma. Because anxiety rears its ugly head in [...]

  • Commentary: The Wall of Fame or The Wall of Shame

    By Jeanne Holverstott, M.S.
    A parent of a client e-mailed me a copy of the school newsletter and asked me to look at the “Wall of Fame” students on page 6. Placement on the “Wall” was based on the Eight Keys of Excellence: Commitment, Flexibility, Balance, Speak with Good Purpose, Integrity, This is it!, Ownership, and [...]

  • Picking One’s Battles at an IEP Meeting

    By Jeanne Holverstott, M.S.

    A recent IEP meeting made it apparent that ignorance is only bliss from the perspective of the ignorant. For the rest of us, ignorance is torture. And, for those individuals on the autism spectrum, ignorance is disastrous.
    The principal of a local school attributed the social and emotional struggles of my client to [...]

THERAPY

  • YMCA Challenger Program Wins Grant from Autism Speaks

    By Toni Lapp
    Thanks to a grant from Autism Speaks, a YMCA program that benefits children on the autism spectrum will be expanding.
    The YMCA of Greater Kansas City Challenger Athletics program already provides year-round opportunities for children with disabilities to participate in sports, recreation and social integration activities. Activities that have paired children with disabilities [...]

  • Deconstructing the Meltdown

    Behavior analyst Baker Wright vividly recalls the first time he was called in to consult on a child with Asperger’s syndrome. A school had referred a sixth-grader for behavioral services because of his disruptive behaviors – ranging from refusal to follow directions to crying and yelling in class.

  • How Service Dogs Help Kids on the Spectrum

    Our son’s service dog changed his life.

MEDIA REVIEWS

  • Buy Sunglasses, Support Autism Org

    High-end sunglass maker Oakley, Inc. has partnered with Talk About Curing Autism (TACA), an organization that supports, empowers and educates families living with autism. Oakley has created unique renditions of two of its popular eyewear designs and will donate $20 to TACA with each sale of these special editions. This is the final week to take [...]

  • A Primer for Girls on the Spectrum Entering Middle School

    By Toni Lapp
    Think back to when you were preparing to make the transition from grade school to middle school (or junior high, if you were like me). Chances are, your social interactions gave you an inkling of what to expect. Perhaps you had older friends who were in upper grades, or maybe you had friends [...]

  • Books Offer Insights from Siblings

    By Toni Lapp
    Looking for a book to help a youngster in your life understand autism? There are a few new books out written for kids on the spectrum or who have siblings with autism.

    The newest is “My Brother Charlie,” (Scholastic, April 2010) written by actress (and “The Apprentice” contestant) Holly Robinson Peete and her 11-year-old [...]

COMMENTARY

  • Picking One’s Battles at an IEP Meeting

    By Jeanne Holverstott, M.S.

    A recent IEP meeting made it apparent that ignorance is only bliss from the perspective of the ignorant. For the rest of us, ignorance is torture. And, for those individuals on the autism spectrum, ignorance is disastrous.
    The principal of a local school attributed the social and emotional struggles of my client to [...]

  • Can Mo. Pass Autism Legislation if its Lawmakers are for Sale?

    As Missourians prepare for another round in the push to pass autism legislation, they might better scrutinize the actions of their lawmakers.

  • Does “Adam” Get It Right?

    First of all, kudos to director and writer Max Mayer for attempting to bring to the silver screen a story that probably has limited interest for the general audience.


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Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's

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Games to Enhance Turn-Taking, Sportsmanship, Social Skills

By Jeanne Holverstott, M.S.

Q. I read that when Temple Grandin was a young girl, her mother hired a nanny to play turn-taking games with her to improve social skills. What sort of games do you recommend? Are there any that you don’t recommend?

A. After every holiday meal, my family would gather around the dining room table with a game purposefully selected by my mother for this occasion. I remember Taboo, Scattergories, Trivial Pursuit, Outburst. No matter the age of the player, the expectations were the same: follow the rules, win with humility, lose with grace, do your best, and never, ever complain. Games make up the fabric of a childhood and, perhaps, a lifetime, and appropriate game play opens doors to respect, friendship, and fun.

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DEVELOPING TALENTS

Intervene, Intervene, Intervene

By Kate Duffy

A while back, Toni, the SpectrumConnection editor, asked me to write about how far parents should go to help their teens on the spectrum land a job. Since then, several of our Hot Topics parents have shared their kids’ job search stories with me, and I realized there was no easy answer to her question. For the most part, though, their stories revolved around the kids’ inability to accurately read situations, to remember instructions and to multitask to make a deadline. Looking at that list, it sounds like business as usual on the job for most of us — which is why it is so very important that our kids start learning about the world of work as soon as they can.

That’s why the short answer to Toni’s question is this: do what you need to do.

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EVENTS

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PERSPECTIVES

  • April 28, 2011
    Autism in Journalism

     By Toni Lapp

    Having recently attended the Health Care Journalism conference in Philadelphia on a fellowship from the Association of Health Care Journalists, I’m impressed with how prominent an issue autism has become in the media.

    One of the big draws at the event was British reporter Brian Deer, who meticulously dissected the work of Andrew Wakefield, the scientist who purported to establish a link between the MMR vaccine and autism.   In his comments as a panelist on investigative journalism, Deer was as critical of the medical establishment for failing to properly vet Wakefield’s research as he was of Wakefield himself. Deer, who recently won the Specialist Journalist of the Year award from England’s Society of Editors for his series in the London Sunday Times, wryly commented that the honor was akin to being named a British tennis star.
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  • March 30, 2011
    Can it Help to Disclose Aspergers?

    Here’s a dilemma: My son is applying for a college scholarship offered by my employer to its employees’ dependents. On his essay he makes no mention of having Asperger’s syndrome. In my mind, disclosing this would help explain why his 2.7 GPA — earned from attending mainstream classes (including Physics!) without a para — is really more of an accomplishment than it would appear on the surface. He resists this, not wanting to be labeled. Is it unethical for me to edit his essay?

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  • December 10, 2010
    When Kids’ Behaviors Are Labeled ‘Manipulative’

    By Jeanne Holverstott, M.S.

    “Explain to me,” a person requested, “the line between his manipulation and his Asperger’s.” This question has been posed to me several times, and that might be an understatement. My usual response is a careful explanation about how so-called manipulation can be better understood as an indicator of skill deficit that needs to be addressed.

    But tonight, I realized something. What is manipulation? In my mind, manipulation is a synonym for escape or avoidance of a non-preferred activity. It is pejorative because manipulation implies volition, purpose, planning, forethought. Some little voice saying, “Yes, if you throw yourself on the ground, you will be granted escape from that horrible math class.”
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  • April 2, 2010
    Science?! Ba Humbug!

    By Toni Lapp

    I was recently at a gathering that included other parents with children on the autism spectrum, and one of the parents declared loudly that he hated it when people faulted autism treatments that were not supported by science. Given that it was a social setting, I didn’t say anything… then.

    At risk of being called a cynic, I’m going to offer my thoughts now. After all, if you are paying thousands of dollars for an experimental treatment and your child is showing a lessening of autistic symptoms, why listen to naysayers?
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  • March 25, 2010
    The Special Role of Siblings

    By Toni Lapp
    I have two sons, and each frequently complains about the other. No doubt, parents for time immemorial have wrung their hands over sibling squabbles.

    But the sibling dynamic is set on its ear when one child has Asperger’s and the other is neurotypical, which is the case with our family. Further complicating our family hierarchy is the fact that Ryan (the Aspie) is two-and-a-half years older than his brother, but he does not always demonstrate the authority one would expect of the older sibling — not that Cory is a model of maturity.
    » READ MORE

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