By Jeanne Holverstott, M.S.
An initial clinical interview with a parent of a child with an ASD commonly follows this script:
Me: “Can you tell me about your child?”
Parent: “Yes. Well, he’s high-functioning. He…..”
Pause Script.
Question to Reader: Have you heard this before? Said this before? If so, complete the sentence with what you have said or heard.
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Fourth graders from Ridgeview Elementary School in Liberty take the stage in "No Such Thing As Normal," Monday night at the Liberty Community Center.
In the first performance its kind, Liberty fourth graders took to the stage in the production “No Such Thing As Normal,” a musical about autism on Monday at the Liberty Community Center. The play was produced by VSA arts of Missouri and funded in part by CVS Caremark, The Jellybean Conspiracy, Autism Alliance of Greater Kansas City and the Missouri Arts Council.
The play is intertwined with information about the autism spectrum while the students tell the story of a not-so-typical school field trip to a history museum. Throughout the play, the main character searches for his friend Josh, who has autism. Read more to see photo gallery.
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By Toni Lapp
An estimated 1,000 people braved rain and sleet to participate in the Autism Alliance of Greater Kansas City's walk at Unity Village in 2009. The walk will not be held this year.
The event, which had been held since 2003, had drawn over a thousand participants in recent years despite wintry conditions that inevitably developed on walk day. A Unity Village staffer said they were all set to hold the walk this April and had talked with the Alliance about possibilities.
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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.
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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 [...]
By Toni Lapp
With the new year, efforts are under way in both Kansas and Missouri to pass legislation mandating insurance coverage of autism treatment. Activists in both states are redoubling their efforts after seeing proposals go down in defeat in 2009.
So far, 15 states have laws requiring insurers to provide coverage for the treatment of [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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.
Our son’s service dog changed his life.
Let’s face it, romance on the silver screen often follows a plodding, predictable format that’s given a nice, big red bow at the end to help insure that everyone leaves satisfied.
“22 Things a Woman Must Know: If She Loves a Man with Asperger’s Syndrome”
“Play & Imagination in Children with Autism”
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 [...]
As Missourians prepare for another round in the push to pass autism legislation, they might better scrutinize the actions of their lawmakers.
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.
Advertise on SpectrumConnection.net and reach bistate families affected by autism.
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.
» READ MOREBy 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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By Toni Lapp
There have been times that I couldn’t picture my teen-age son Ryan maturing into a responsible adult. When he entered high school he would converse about communism and the Bolshevik revolution to strangers, he had few friends, and he was frequently the target of his peers’ jokes. Seldom did a week go by that I didn’t get the dreaded Parent@School notice apprising me of missed assignments.
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By Toni Lapp
Several people have asked me for updates on my son Ryan’s job-hunting quest. To date, he has not been called for an interview at the grocery store where he applied, but then, there are probably lots of teens without Asperger’s syndrome who are waiting for a callback, too.
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By Jeanne Holverstott, M.S.
As I sat at my laptop tweeting (@JHolverstott), e-mailing, reading, instant messaging (or IM’ing if you prefer), monitoring Facebook and watching TV a thought struck me. The only one of these activities most of my clients do is watch TV. I have clients who “talk” on XBOXLiv (which costs $50 per year, not to mention the cost of the XBOX and all of its games). I have clients who I can coax into texting “hi” to mom while she is in the kitchen and they are at the dinner table. I even have a few clients who “duel” YuGiOh cards over the phone with friends from our social skills group. So, why don’t I have anyone IM’ing?
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By Toni Lapp
You would think that everyone affected by autism would be united in their views on the subject, but that is far from the case.
Should researchers continue to look for a link to vaccines or should they investigate genetic testing? Should taxpayer money fund employment incentives? Should health insurers be mandated to cover ABA therapy?
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By Toni Lapp
A couple months ago, I wrote about my son’s attempt to get a job at a nearby grocery store. To date, he hasn’t been interviewed. Ryan attributes the lack of response to the poor penmanship on his application. When he turned it in, the employee at the customer service desk quipped, “Were you born in 1493 or 1993?”
I’m considering acting as a sort of “job coach” and going directly to the hiring manager to make a case for hiring Ryan. He’s closing in on 17, gets good grades, and a job could help round-out the much-needed social component in his life. Plus, I truly believe he’d be an asset to any business operation: He’s friendly, polite, does chores around the house without complaint and is honest to a fault.
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