Posted by Susan Moffitt on Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
With all of the attention the autism-vaccine debate has received, often overlooked is another source of infighting within the autism community that involves neurodiversity vs. disorder. Neurodiversity is a movement commonly seen among those with high functioning autism and adheres to the notion that people with autism experience the world differently, not pathologically. As such, [...]
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Posted in Aspergers Syndrome, Autism Awareness, Autism Causes, High Functioning Autism, Neurodiversity, Temple Grandin 
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Posted by Susan Moffitt on Monday, February 21st, 2011
This month, a shocking claim was made by the former chief of the American Journal of Psychiatry, Nancy Andreasen, when she published her findings that antipsychotic drugs, such as Risperadone, actually shrink the brain over time. Ms. Andreasen began a long-running study in 1991 on schizophrenia patients taking antipsychotics, periodically measuring their brain volumes with [...]
READ MORE Posted in Autism and the Media, Autism News, Autism Treament, Medical Conditions, Studies 8 Comments »
Posted by Susan Moffitt on Saturday, February 19th, 2011
The Autism Society of Minnesota recently hosted an "Autism and Employment" conference in which managers from 3M, Cargill and Best Buy took to the stage in praise of their employees with autism, counting them "among their very best." With a looming shortage of workers due to the retirement of baby boomers, more companies are [...]
READ MORE Posted in Autism and Employment, Autism Awareness, Events, Minnesota, Temple Grandin 5 Comments »
Posted by Susan Moffitt on Friday, February 18th, 2011
In the Spring of 2004, an Australian group known as The Vines quickly became one of the hottest bands in the world, topping charts and mentioned in the same breath as bands such as Nirvana. Lead singer/songwriter Craig Nicholls was well-known for his unpredictable behavior and marijuana smoking, as well as his unhealthy burger-only diet. Rude [...]
READ MORE Posted in Aspergers Syndrome, Autism and the Media, Diagnosis, High Functioning Autism 7 Comments »
Posted by Susan Moffitt on Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
The New York Daily News reports that Brandon Strong, a ten-year-old student with autism and ADHD, has been systematically punished at a New York charter school for exhibiting symptoms of his conditions. He has reportedly been detained during lunch and after school for behavior that includes talking to himself, failing to look teachers in the [...]
READ MORE Posted in Autism Advice from Parents, Autism and the Law, Autism News, Commentary, Education, Families, New York 5 Comments »
Posted by Susan Moffitt on Sunday, February 13th, 2011
The Windsor Star reports a great idea coming from our neighbors to the north in having local police departments create a voluntary online registry of citizens with autism in their community. A successful pilot project exists in Ottawa, where last year, police teamed with the their local autism chapter to give officers quick access to [...]
READ MORE Posted in Autism and the Law, Autism Awareness, Autism Safety, Commentary 3 Comments »
Posted by Susan Moffitt on Saturday, February 12th, 2011
John Robison admits to being a problem child. Often sad, lonely and unable to make friends, he was shuffled from school to school and therapist to therapist, all while his Asperger’s Syndrome went undiagnosed. An electronics savant who saw wiring in patterns of color, Robison dropped out of high school and started working with rock [...]
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Posted by Susan Moffitt on Saturday, February 12th, 2011
Advocates for low-income, minority students and students with special needs, including the Rhode Island Disability Law Center and The Autism Project of Rhode Island scored a major victory in Providence last week when Education Commissioner Deborah Gist announced she would scrap a plan for a three-tiered high school diploma system tied to standardized test scores. [...]
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Posted by Susan Moffitt on Thursday, February 10th, 2011
Residents of the United States will be facing the peak of flu season (which runs from October through May) in the coming few weeks and it’s likely that a portion of children who get sick will require hospitalization during that time. Every child is anxious when they have to stay in the hospital, but for [...]
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Posted by Susan Moffitt on Wednesday, February 9th, 2011
Last year, autism rights activist Ari Ne’eman was appointed to the National Council on Disability as the first openly autistic presidential appointee in American history. Ne´eman points out that both the law and an overwhelming body of empirical evidence support the notion that children with autism benefit most from an inclusionary model of education: "Research [...]
READ MORE Posted in Autism and the Law, Autism Awareness, Commentary, Education No Comments »
