SPECTRUM CONNECTION

By Toni Lapp
There have been times that I doubted whether my 16-year-old son with Asperger’s, intelligent as he is, would be destined for college. When he reached the age when his teachers started giving out homework, I began receiving notices that assignments had not been turned in. Heck, sometimes I’d get notices that assignments that he’d completed in class hadn’t been turned in; they somehow got lost between his desk to the teacher’s inbox.

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By Jeanne Holverstott

Q: When we go out to dinner with friends and family, my teen-age son often regales the table with political discussions on topics that are usually out of reach for most kids his age. When he was a preteen, this would elicit chuckles from our friends. Now it’s starting to make me uncomfortable. Sometimes these friends will take the bait and debate him, and it never seems to turn out well. Other times they’ll wave off his precociousness, but he’ll persist. Sometimes he’ll even make political comments to the wait staff. It’s like he doesn’t know how else to engage people. I’m not sure how to handle these situations: by nipping it in the bud, playing along with him and hope it doesn’t go too far, or trying to change the subject.

What are your thoughts?
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By Toni Lapp

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

Namely, those of House Speaker Ron Richard, R-Joplin, who successfully scuttled Senate Bill 167 last spring. That legislation would have required insurers to cover up to $55,000 a year for autistic children under 15 to receive Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy – an effective, evidence-based treatment.
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By Toni Lapp
Over the weekend I attended Johnson County Community College’s conference on autism spectrum disorders, where I met several other parents, who, like me, were there to find more ways to support adolescents with Asperger’s syndrome.

I’m raising a teen-ager who attends mainstream classes at an area high school. One concern of mine has long been for him to have a social network.
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By Toni Lapp

Bill Robinson, longtime leader at the Autism Society of the Heartland, has stepped down as president of the group.

“Our bylaws said I shouldn’t have been president that long, and it was time,” said Robinson, noting that he is looking forward to a retirement that will allow him to travel.

“This was my life for the last three to four years,” he said. “At some point in time you have to let others take over.
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By Toni Lapp

My son has applied for a job as a sacker at Hen House. When he turned his application in, the clerk joked about his poor handwriting, quipping “were you born in 1443 or 1993?”
This is a bright, polite young man, but his handwriting looks like that of a 6-year-old.
Should Mom do some behind-the-scenes explaining or let the kid fend for himself?
Still awaiting a call for an interview.
Read on for responses..

By Julius Karash

Health insurance coverage surfaced as a key issue at a hearing Tuesday by the Missouri House of Representatives Interim Committee on Autism Spectrum Disorders. The 3-hour hearing was held at UMKC School of Medicine.

Much of the testimony, by parents and experts in the field, focused on lack of insurance coverage for therapies such as Applied Behavior Analysis – an effective, evidence-based treatment. ABA treatments are expensive, costing tens of thousands of dollars a year. But the improvements derived from these treatments can save more than $2 million in care and special services over the life of a person with autism.

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By Kate Duffy

People on the spectrum often resist change, even change that might be good for them. They don’t have a lot of motivation to try new things and sometimes can get stuck in patterns that aren’t particularly good for them. This is not a character flaw, just a byproduct of brain wiring and temperament.

But one thing we know about life is that change is what it’s all about. So how do you learn to adapt well enough to hold down a job or start a small business?
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By Julius Karash

Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt of Glendale said Saturday that he will press on with the fight to obtain health insurance coverage for autism treatments.

“What we’re fighting for with these therapies is the difference between whether or not a dad can take his son to a baseball game, or the difference between whether or not that child can have meaningful friendships with other kids,” Schmitt, the father of a five-year-old boy with autism, said at an autism insurance reform rally at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Nursing.
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