May 4, 2010
By Toni Lapp
As I leaf through the 164 pages of Missouri’s new autism guidelines (written about here), a thought occurs to me:
The typical well-child visit with a primary-care physician is not rigorous enough to detect signs of moderate or high-functioning autism in toddlers. At least not the well-child visits I remember, but then my oldest son was born in 1993, and nary a pediatrician had heard of Asperger’s syndrome then.
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March 25, 2010
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.
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March 10, 2010
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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February 23, 2010
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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February 15, 2010
By Jeanne Holverstott, M.S.
Q: I frequently find myself explaining to new acquaintances what Asperger’s Syndrome is. Sometimes the reaction I get is, “I know an adult who is just like that,” or “that could be my sister.” Recently a woman told me that her adult daughter (a twenty-something) has struggled to bond with people all her life, and has narrow fields of interest. She said she’d only heard of Asperger’s Syndrome recently, and learning about it “explained so many things.”
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September 2, 2009
By Michael D. Smith
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. It may upset some apple carts, but the new romance Adam pushes the crayons outside the lines with a colorful, heartfelt presentation of a complicated relationship.
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August 25, 2009
By Brian McTavish
A participant in the Mission Project, Lauren Stern -- who has Asperger Syndrome -- is holding down a job and living independently.
The young woman plants her hands on her hips and peers affectionately at the dozen small dogs barking and frolicking around her.
“Annie! Annie-ba-nannie!” she calls to a black miniature poodle hanging out with Bubby, a black-and-silver Silky Terrier.
“Who loves Bubby? Is that your boyfriend, Annie?” she says, before the feisty yip of another of her furry charges demands notice.
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