Special-Needs Kids Eat Right

Good news for parents of special- needs kids: a proven approach to everyday meals that fosters learning and development.Any parent of a child with autism, Asperger?s, ADHD, sensory processing disorder, or other developmental disabilities knows that special-needs kids often have food sensitivities and can be very fussy eaters. Plus, they?ve been told to avoid such common ingredients as gluten and casein, making it even harder to give them the balanced, healthy meals all children need.Now, Judy Converse, a registered, licensed dietitian, offers new advice and guidance on how to use food as an essential tool for development. Based on the latest research, Special-Needs Kids Eat Right includes:? Simple substitutions that can be easily customized to suit any child?s needs? Advice for helping the whole family?along with school staff and caregivers?adjust and take part? Strategies and tips for staying on track at restaurants, holiday gatherings, school parties and lunches, and overcoming obstacles? Shopping and resource guides? A long-term program for measuring progress and making adjustments
Special-Needs Kids Eat Right

"Embrace Engage Enable Expand Express" Autism Wristband

Protect Your Loved Ones From Wondering

Bring them back with LoJack® SafetyNet™.

Nothing could be more frightening than the thought of a loved one with Alzheimer’s, autism, or another condition, wandering away. That’s why LoJack now offers LoJack® SafetyNet™ and is working with Project Lifesaver International to provide the most effective solution for rescuing people at risk who’ve gone missing.

Upon enrollment in the LoJack® SafetyNet™ system, your loved one is outfitted with a Personal Locator Unit (PLU) on his or her wrist or ankle. Should your loved one go missing, local law enforcement and public safety agencies are trained and certified on search and rescue procedures by Project Lifesaver International and will use digital LoJack Search and Rescue Receivers to track the radio signal being emitted from the PLU on your loved one’s wrist or ankle. Your loved one will be located, rescued and returned to you.

By working directly with law enforcement and using the world's most successful recovery technology, the LoJack SafetyNet/Project Lifesaver International solution is the best way to bring your loved ones home. Safely. Visit the Lojack website for more information.

Generation Rescue

Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey's Autism Organization - Generation Rescue

Generation Rescue is an international movement of scientists, physicians and parent-volunteers researching the causes and treatments for autism and mentoring thousands of families in recovering their children from autism. Visit the site for more information and you decide.

CNN LARRY KING LIVE

Aired April 3, 2009 - 21:00 ET

LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Tonight, exclusive Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy, partners in life and partners in the search for answers to autism, see how Jenny's son diagnosed with the condition is doing. What is the cause? Is there a cure? Medical experts studying the mystery are here, the pain, the puzzle, the war on autism.

See the video here

Autism and Eating Habits

Should I Be Concerned That My Child With Autism Will Only Eat Hot Dogs And Pizza And Chicken Nuggets?

Answer: Many children with autism have such selective diets that parents worry that they're not getting adequate nutrition. The question comes in the form of, "If my child is only eating chicken nuggets or pizza, is that okay?" And it's a very common question.

Children with autism do have their dietary preferences.
Click here for the full article and video.

Autism Textbooks

AAPC Textbook Division
enhances the teaching of undergraduate and graduate courses

For ten years, the Autism Asperger Publishing Company has published cutting-edge resources for parents and professionals living and working with individuals on the autism spectrum.

We now bring our expertise and well-earned reputation to the textbook market to fill a need for up-to-date, well-designed, and comprehensive textbooks that get to the core of the nature of autism spectrum disorders as well as best-practice interventions and strategies.

We are proud to announce our textbook division, Autism Textbooks. To learn more about AAPC's textbooks, which are all aligned with current standards and the latest research, visit our web site.

Written by experts in autism spectrum disorders, AAPC's textbooks will help make teaching your class easy and convenient while adhering to the gold standards in the field by offering with each textbook ...

• Chapter Highlights
• Case Study Ideas
• Recommendations for In-Class Activities
• Project Ideas
• Paper Topic Ideas
• Chapter PowerPoint™ Presentations
• Chapter Tests
• Comprehensive Tests
• Syllabi
• Supplemental PowerPoint™ Presentations

Visit today to learn more and to request desk copies and order books.

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AAPC currently offers three textbooks covering your program needs related to:

• characteristics and foundations
• program development and interventions
• social interaction skills

Editors: Kari Dunn Buron and Pamela Wolfberg, Ph.D.	by Ruth Aspy, Ph.D., and Barry G. Grossman	by Scott Bellini, Ph.D.

Wii and Wii Fit

As a teacher of students with Autism, I highly recommend using the Wii and Wii Fit as a great way to help with sensory needs. The Wii and Wii Fit are both very easy to set up. They can be used by people of all ages and needs to help promote better physical activity and to refine motor skills.

Autism Movement Therapy

As seen on abc7 Eyewitness News! NEUROPLASTICITY through SENSORY INTEGRATION "Joanne Lara knows that the brain needs the body to move. In this DVD she gives the gift of her artful knowledge to children with autism, helping them to fulfill their wholeness and their potential." - Martha R. Herbert, Ph.D., M.D. Professor Neurology Harvard Medical School (Portion of sales to Dr Martha Herbert & TRANSCEND Foundation @ MassGeneral Hospital for Children) Sensory Integration - One father of a child with autism say's, "Wow. My son loves this DVD." Autism Movement Therapy is the first simple, FUN step-by-step instructional DVD to integrate music and movement for individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Autism Movement Therapy combines structured movement with music connecting the left & right hemispheres of the brain for a 'whole brain' cognitive re-mapping approach.

Read more by clicking below.
Aut-erobics Autism Movement Therapy

Dr. Temple Grandin Video

Perhaps one of the most noted high-functioning individuals with autism in the world, Temple Grandin, Ph.D. is an active speaker around the world on autism and the author of two books, Emergence: Labled Autistic and Thinking in Pictures. In addition to her career designing livestock handling systems, she has helped thousands of parents and professionals understand how to help individuals with autism/PDD/Asperger's.

In this video, Temple describes to us the way she and many others with autism "think in pictures" and how to adjust for this specific learning style.

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY TACTILE DISCS

TACTILE DISCS Challenges children's sense of touch of both hands and feet. Large disc for positioning on the floor. Small disc for child to hold in his/her hands. Set offers innumerable possibilities in play ranging from a fundamental sensing of tactile structures to blindfold games based on memory and recognition. Available in 5 or 10 piece sets. Each set comes with both small and large pieces.
* Sensory Integration at its finest.
* Most diverse sensory device produced today.
* US Distributor of this product.
* Full 1 yr Warranty.
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY TACTILE DISCS FOR AUTISM AND SENSORY INTEGRATION

A Must Read

The story is written in the first-person perspective of Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15-year-old autistic boy living in Swindon, Wiltshire. Although Christopher's condition within the autism spectrum is not stated explicitly within the novel, the summary on the book's inside cover describes it as Asperger syndrome.

What is autism?

Autism (sometimes called “classical autism”) is the most common condition in a group of developmental disorders known as the autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Autism is characterized by impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, and unusual, repetitive, or severely limited activities and interests. Other ASDs include Asperger syndrome, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (usually referred to as PDD-NOS). Experts estimate that three to six children out of every 1,000 will have autism. Males are four times more likely to have autism than females. Visit NINDS site for more information.

Autism News

The latest Autism News articles published daily. Includes news on Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), Rett Syndrome, Child Disintegrative Disorder, and Asperger's Syndrome. Information is also provided about social interaction problems, lack of communication skills and emotional interpretation difficulties - causes and how to overcome them.

Web Site

I have found a great website that supplies DVD movies for Special Education. Visit RobertsDVDs.com for for a variety of Special Education Videos. Spectrum Connection Videos are available on here. This site also has a link for thousands of educational and just for fun items.

ZAC Browser

ZAC is the first web browser developed specifically for children with autism, and autism spectrum disorders such as Asperger syndrome, pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), and PDD-NOS. Children touch it, use it, play it, interact with it, and experience independence through ZAC.
ZAC is the zone that will permit your child to interact directly with games (a LOT of games) and activities (focused on MANY interests) that cater specifically to kids who display the characteristics of autism spectrum disorders, like impairments in social interaction, impairments in communication, restricted interests and repetitive behavior. ZAC has been an effective tool for kids with low, medium and high functioning autism.

Top 50 Autism Articles-Abstracts and PDF

The 50 Most-Frequently Read Articles
in Autism during April 2008 -- updated monthly

Most-read rankings are recalculated at the beginning of the month and are based on full-text and pdf views.

1.	Eve Müller, Adriana Schuler, Gregory B. Yates
		Social challenges and supports from the perspective of individuals with Asperger syndrome and other autism spectrum disabilities
		Autism Mar 01, 2008; 12: 173-190. (In "Article") [Abstract] [PDF]

Genetics Link to Autism-US NEWS

On Parenting: Genes—Not Vaccines—Linked to Autism

New studies reveal a genetic cause and find no connection to shots containing thimerosal
Two major new studies grapple with the conundrum at the core of autism, the often-devastating disorder that can make it difficult for children to connect with their fellow humans. This news brings us two big steps further down the path of understanding this complex, enigmatic disease. And it reassures all parents that childhood vaccines do not appear to increase the risk of autism. (cont.)

Rolling Stone Autim Article

In a ground-breaking piece of investigative journalism published in the June 30-July 14, 2005 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, the noted environmental activist, author, and radio show commentator, Robert Kennedy Jr., has written about how United States public health officials, including the Centers for Disease Control, pharmaceutical companies, members of the Bush administration, including Bill Frist, and other public officials fudged numbers and refused to release the epidemiological raw data conclusively proving that vaccines caused an epidemic of autism in the United States. Currently, all but a handful of the children and adults diagnosed with autism were born before 1989, when the number of mercury-laden vaccines given children increased and vaccinations began to be given at birth.

Kennedy also noted that the mercury-based preservative, thimerisol, is still being allowed in pediatric flu vaccines, other pharmaceutical products, and in vaccines shipped abroad, causing millions of children in around the world to develop autism (including 1.3 million children in China alone, where autism did not exist until they started receiving vaccines). In an independent study of autism amongst an Amish population in the United States which does not allow vaccinations, there is virtually no autism - of the four Amish children out of the entire population studied who were diagnosed autistic, all had been vaccinated, some prior to adoption.

There also appears to be an epidemiological link between mercury and other neurological conditions in children and adults, including ADD, ADHD, Parkinson's and Alzheimers. According to Kennedy, "If, as the evidence suggests, our public-health authorities knowingly allowed the pharmaceutical industry to poison an entire generation of American children, their actions arguably constitute one of the biggest scandals in the annals of American medicine." Kennedy's full article can be accessed on-line here.

ABC News has now joined the effort initiated by our public institutions and the pharmaceutical industry to under-report and hide the link between vaccinations and autism. Rolling Stone had an exclusive agreement with ABC News for Robert Kennedy to discuss his findings on Good Morning America this week. Executives at the highest levels of ABC News made the decision to not air his taped interviews because they were "too politically controversial." If you wish to contact ABC and let them know what you think of their decision to deliberately censor news of importance to millions around the world, they can be emailed at: netaudr@abc.com. A parent's organization, generationrescue.com, also has considerable information on this issue.

Help AutismSpeaks.org

Chevrolet and Autism Speaks Team Up to Drive Autism Awareness
Spread the word: Chevrolet has teamed up with Autism Speaks to drive home the message of autism awareness. During April -- Autism Awareness Month -- visitors to the Autism Speaks website (http://www.autismspeaks.org), can click on the "Help Chevy Help Autism" icon and take a virtual test drive of the 2008 North American Car of the Year -- the all-new Chevy Malibu. Chevrolet has committed to a minimum contribution of $500,000, but every virtual test drive taken gets Chevrolet closer to its goal of donating up to $1 million to Autism Speaks to support its mission of increasing awareness of autism and raising money to fund autism research. Those who complete the virtual test drive will receive a free 30-day online trial of XM Satellite Radio.

Yeast Free Cooking E-Book

Get Your Cooking E-Book Here

More and More research is being done about yeast, and other food allergies and intolerance's. And, more and more symptoms are being identified. Symptoms that for years were attributed to other causes. Eliminating Yeasty foods will improve your health and could lessen or even eliminate some or all of these symptoms of many health issues.

• You will learn time saving tips

• You will also learn handy substitutions that you can use to convert other recipes to allergen free along with substitutions for wheat and other grains, dairy, eggs, yeast, vinegar and more

• All recipes are free of yeast, mold and fermented foods

• All recipes are free of refined sugar and refined grains of any kind

• Most recipes are wheat free, dairy free, gluten free, and casein free

• There are even many egg free recipes

• There are many vegetarian recipes

• And, best of all the recipes are delicious - You and Your Family will love them!

Get Your Cooking E-Book Here

Vocal Smoke Alarm-safety for your family

Kids can sleep through pretty much anything, which can be good. You certainly don't want them sleeping through the smoke alarm! Protect the youngest members of your family with a smoke detector directly targeted toward them. The Vocal Smoke Alarm uses three different alarms to awaken your child, and since you can record the audio message in your voice, your child will hear his name spoken in a recognizable tone. Watch the video below.

Vocal Smoke Alarm

This is an amazing news story on how these type of fire alarm can save you and your children.
The below comment comes from a leading seller of these alarms.--
THOMAS from SPOKANE, WA Date: 10/7/2005
Comment: "This was a perfect product for a developmentally disabled child who becomes frozen in fear at a regular alarm. His mother's voice will be the only thing he responds to. I have passed this on to the professionals I know, but I encourage you to market specifically to this segment of the public, as this would be a great service to these challenged families".
Thank you, Tom W, Student Nurse

Autism Speaks Web Site

100 Day Kit For Parents of Children Newly Diagnosed with Autism Now Available
Autism Speaks' new 100 Day Kit, a personalized resource to assist families in getting through the critical time following an autism diagnosis, is now available online. Families can register for a kit with information specific to their child's age and city, or can access a general guide online. A member of Autism Speaks "Autism Response Team" will follow up with each family that requests a kit.

Learn more about Autism Speaks Family Services team and access the 100 day kit here at Autism Speaks.org

IAN Project

IAN, the Interactive Autism Network, is an innovative online project designed to accelerate the pace of autism research by linking researchers and families. Anyone impacted by an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can become part of IAN's online community to stay informed about autism research, provide feedback, and make their voices heard.

In addition, families of children with an ASD can share information in a secure online setting and become part of the nation's largest online research effort. As a result, researchers will obtain valuable data, explain findings, and collaborate with families and one another. This dynamic exchange could lead to new discoveries about causes, diagnosis, treatments, and a possible cure for this puzzling group of disorders.

Very Heart Warming

This story is an absolute inspirering one, from Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly. Go to the following link, I promise it is worth your time. SI Article

Circle Time

Circle Time

I have set up a power point presentation that can be used during group "circle time". I use this for my students that have special needs at school and my own children at home. Just click here and choose the Group Circle.ppt listed under My Quick Links. Please feel free to view it and take any ideas or pages you want from it.

Autism E-Book

Autism Guide
Everything anybody ever wanted to know about autism can be found in this book. The Essential Guide to Autism is an great way to get correct information about all of the different aspects of autism. Click on the following link to find out more.
Autism E-Book

TIME Magazine Article

For those of you that missed an oustanding TIME Magazine article, here is the link.
TIME

Autism and Thimerosal

ROBERT KENNEDY JR.
Autism, mercury, and politics

By Robert Kennedy Jr. | July 1, 2005

MOUNTING EVIDENCE suggests that Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative in children's vaccines, may be responsible for the exponential growth of autism, attention deficit disorder, speech delays, and other childhood neurological disorders now epidemic in the United States.

Prior to 1989, American infants generally received three vaccinations (polio, measles-mumps-rubella, and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis). In the early 1990s, public health officials dramatically increased the number of Thimerosal-containing vaccinations without considering the cumulative impact of the mercury load on developing brains.

In a 1991 memo, Dr. Maurice Hilleman, one of the fathers of Merck's vaccination programs, warned his bosses that 6-month-old children administered the shots on schedule would suffer mercury exposures 87 times the government safety standards. He recommended that Thimerosal be discontinued and complained that the US Food and Drug Administration, which has a notoriously close relationship with the pharmaceutical industry, could not be counted on to take appropriate action as its European counterparts had. Merck ignored Hilleman's warning, and for eight years government officials added seven more shots for children containing Thimerosal.

Mercury is a known brain poison, and autism rates began rising dramatically in children who were administered the new vaccine regimens. A decade ago the American Academy of Pediatrics estimated the autism rate among American children to be 1 in 2,500. Today, the CDC places the rate at 1 in 166, or 1 in 80 boys. Additionally, one in six children is now diagnosed with a related neurological disorder.

In 2000, the CDC met with pharmaceutical companies and the FDA in secret to review its findings linking Thimerosal with the dramatic rise in neurological illnesses. According to transcripts, participants were alarmed about the undeniable links between the Thimerosal and widespread brain damage in children. Dr. Bill Weil told the group, ''You can play with [the results] all you want. They are statistically significant." Dr. Richard Johnston admitted he feared his grandchild getting a Thimerosal-containing vaccine. But the group was most concerned with keeping the findings secret. ''Consider this embargoed information," said Dr. Roger Bernier, a senior director at the National Immunization Program, at the meeting's close. The CDC now says it has ''lost" the data that supported the crucial study and has persistently defied congressional requests and federal law requiring it to open up the federal Vaccine Safety Database to scientists and the public.

Numerous animal, DNA, epidemiological, and other studies point to Thimerosal as a culprit in America's epidemic of neurological disorders. Autistic children have been shown to have higher mercury loads than nonautistics, and there have been reports of significant improvements in some brain-injured children by removing mercury from their brains. Most of the symptoms of autism are similar to the symptoms of mercury poisoning. Scientists have been able to induce autism-like symptoms in mice by exposing them to Thimerosal. A recent study by an FDA scientist, Dr. Jill James, found that many autistic children are genetically deficient in their capacity to produce glutathione, an antioxidant generated in the brain that helps remove mercury from the body.

Government health agencies who green-lighted Thimerosal have turned a blind eye to the hundreds of studies linking Thimerosal to a wide range of neurological disorders and joined the pharmaceutical industry to gin up a series of flawed European studies to exonerate Thimerosal. Those studies examined children exposed to a tiny fraction of the Thimerosal given to American kids and took advantage of the autism spike that resulted from deceptive data-gathering in Scandinavia to argue that autism rates are unrelated to Thimerosal use.

Drug makers wary of liability reduced Thimerosal in most children's vaccines in recent years, but the preservative remains in flu shots, tetanus boosters, and over-the-counter drugs. Mercury-laced vaccine stocks were given to American children until the end of 2003.

Government officials who continue to champion Thimerosal should recognize that this is not just a theoretical exercise in bureaucratic face-saving. Their wrong-headed defense of Thimerosal safety in the face of overwhelming science is discouraging testing of promising treatments which may be effective. They are depriving vulnerable populations from being identified to avoid Thimerosal. They also cannot escape responsibility for their failure to warn international health agencies and governments who, based upon American assurances, are now injecting the developing world's children with this brain-killing chemical.

Robert Kennedy Jr. is senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.

Gluten Free Foods

Gluten-Free Mall has a great selection of gluten-free, wheat-free, casein-free and other allergy-related health foods and special dietary products on the Internet! All of the products are specifically designed for people who need to eat gluten-free foods due to celiac disease, autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD, ADHD) or other health reasons. Get a huge variety of gluten free foods at the Gluten-Free Mall - Gluten-Free Foods for Celiac Disease

Research and Consulting

Special Needs
IdealLives.com will help you find the answers and information you need to ensure your child with special needs gets the highest quality education and care available. IdeaLives.com is an excellant online research and consulting practice that is devoted to individuals with special needs and their advocates.

Special Needs
CLICK HERE FOR THE WEBSITE Click Here!

Special Education Books; Carol Gray

The following web sites provide great sources for any special education books, including Carol Gray and her many books on Social Stories.

Metal Toxins in the Body

Metal Toxins in the Body

Autism has many different therapies including that may help people with autism. One such therapy is chelation therapies to remove toxic metals from the body with the use of a "clay bath". "LL's Magnetic Clay is a form of bentonite clay that has a very high negative ionic surface charge; when you add the clay to warm water, it pulls the toxins out through the pores of the skin like a magnet. It is a very special type of bentonite that has no toxic metals (most bentonite clays on the market, even the ones in health food stores, have a very high aluminum content) and no added chemicals or emulsifiers. Detoxifying the body of harmful metals and chemicals is as simple as taking a bath with LL's specially formulated clay baths!"-Evenbetternow, LLC
click here for the www.clayforautism site

Research for Disabilities

Do some people with disabilities act out for the adrenaline rush?I believe that there is some link in aggressive/violent behaviors that are exhibited and the feeling that is received from the release of endorphins on the brain (runners high). I have worked with people with disabilities that have had aggressive/violent outbursts. I took there pulse before and after the behavior. In some cases the heart rate was 200 beats per minute. As I take a look at each individual behavior I started to think outside of the "box" on why some of the behaviors may be occurring. I feel that the rush that a person gets from acting aggressive/violent can be addictive. Does anybody have any knowledge of research that has been done in regards to this?
Research for Disabilities

Accessories

With no hassels and sales people to deal with, the best online store for all of your handicapped accessories is located at Wheelchair Accessories

Magazines

There is now just one place to go for all of your magazine needs.
Magazineline offeres the best place to shop for any type of magazine. From educational to children's, Magazineline has it.

Supplements

Supplements

Let's face it, there are so many laboratory made drugs being pushed people with autism and the long term side effects are yet to be really determined. Why not try a natural approach. This following link will take to the best online supplement stores. It has any natural supplement that a person could want. The following links offer great sources for natural supplements. After all a variety to choose from offers nothing but a benefit for you to compare prices. These links can vary from prices so check each one out and compare.

Autism Teaching Methods

Autism Teaching Methods

The ABA vs. TEACCH dilemma will always be argued. Applied Behavior Analysis is a very good way of educating children with autism. It provides very good data on what is to be worked on, the progression that child goes through, and what steps may be taken next. The student can work on becoming very successful at a variety of education tasks and social skills, as well as daily living skills. The one thing that I believe to be a negative of ABA is if people are working with a student that are not “on the same page” it can create inaccurate data.

Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication handicapped Children (TEACCH) is also a very good way of working with a child of autism. It provides a set schedule of icons that is followed. It is a very good way of building independence and can be easily learned no matter what level the child may be at.

In my experience with teaching children with autism and having used both methods, I feel that I like using the TEACCH method better. I am not saying that ABA is not a good method, but I believe in the basis of the TEACCH method. Keep it highly structured use picture representations, build on there strengths towards independence.

In closing, I urge parents and educators of autistic children to become familiar in both methods. This will allow for the people that are closest to the child to be able to make the best decision for the needs of that child. That it really is not ABA vs. TEACCH, but all of us just trying to do and believing that what we are doing is best for our sons, daughters, or students.

Autism Teaching Methods