Posted by Susan Moffitt on Friday, June 10th, 2011
Previously, I wrote an article guiding parents towards the best iPad apps for expressive language that I discovered during the course of doing some research. Today, while browsing my same source for that article, I discovered that on Saturday, June 11, 2011, beginning at 9 a.m. EDT, there will be an "App Party" at http://www.facebook.com/a4cwsn. [...]
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Posted in Autism Awareness, Autism Products, Events, Facebook 
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Posted by Susan Moffitt on Thursday, June 9th, 2011
Parents and caregivers of children with autism know that dealing with meltdowns is a part of life. We become adept at calming down our child as quickly and as best we can, whether at home or in public. It’s hard to surrender a child to environments where we are not present, knowing that others won’t [...]
READ MORE Posted in Autism Advice from Parents, Autism Awareness, Autism Behaviors 11 Comments »
Posted by Susan Moffitt on Monday, June 6th, 2011
Last week, one of our authors posted an article about some sensory challenges her child experienced while on a trip at Disney World. With these types of issues common for special needs guests at theme parks, San Antonio-based philanthropist Gordon Hartman recently opened “Morgan’s Wonderland,” a 25-acre amusement park designed for special needs children, while [...]
READ MORE Posted in Autism Activities, Disney World, Families 2 Comments »
Posted by Susan Moffitt on Sunday, June 5th, 2011
In a previous article, I discussed how girls with undiagnosed Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) often manifest eating disorders. Researchers at the Maudsley Hospital in London compared and contrasted autism and anorexia for several years and found that while patients with autism struggle to connect with people in the outside world and anorexics are obsessed with other [...]
READ MORE Posted in Aspergers Syndrome, Commentary, Medical Conditions, Studies 46 Comments »
Posted by Susan Moffitt on Saturday, June 4th, 2011
Repetitive behaviors in those with autism have long been viewed as something to be eradicated. My own son’s problems in school began with his teacher’s intolerance for his incessant rocking and pencil tapping in class. These compulsions got him habitually thrown into the hall, and eventually out of school. But times are changing and so [...]
READ MORE Posted in Autism Awareness, Autism Communication, Autism Treament, Commentary 13 Comments »
Posted by Susan Moffitt on Friday, June 3rd, 2011
Anecdotal stories pore in about the wonderful and therapeutic effects that animals have on children with autism. Reports from Thailand about children on the spectrum riding elephants leave me wishing our elephants weren’t confined to the zoo. But Hippotherapy and Therapeutic Riding are available for our children to benefit from riding a large animal — [...]
READ MORE Posted in Autism and Animals, Autism Therapy, Treatment 11 Comments »
Posted by Susan Moffitt on Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
Summer can be a time of stress for a child with autism and parents are mindful of not wanting their children to lose ground educationally over the long break. Reading is an important element of the summer structure and you’ll want to create a pleasant experience outside his or her usual routines. A great way [...]
READ MORE Posted in Autism Activities, Autism Advice from Parents, Education 2 Comments »
Posted by Susan Moffitt on Sunday, May 29th, 2011
As we all know, the vaccine-autism debate can often be as virulent as the diseases the vaccines are intended to prevent. But equally as rancorous is the debate of whether autism is a disability or a disorder. The question cuts to the heart of issues from allocation of funding to how individuals with autism want [...]
READ MORE Posted in Autism and Politics, Autism Speaks, Neurodiversity 6 Comments »
Posted by Susan Moffitt on Thursday, May 26th, 2011
By now, we’ve all heard that iPads can be very helpful to children with autism, allowing them to communicate desires and feelings in ways not otherwise possible. Gone is the keyboard and mouse as the child now has direct control over the entire interface. The devices are considered “cool” and don’t call unwanted attention to [...]
READ MORE Posted in Autism Activities, Autism Communication, Autism Products, Product Reviews 12 Comments »
Posted by Susan Moffitt on Thursday, May 26th, 2011
DIR/Floortime is one of the many time tested therapies available to treat autism and other developmental disabilities. The stated objectives of DIR/Floortime are “to build healthy foundations for social, emotional and intellectual capacities, rather than focusing on skills and isolated behaviors." DIR stands for Developmental, Individual, Relationship-based, a model that enables clinicians, parents and educators [...]
READ MORE Posted in Autism Services, Autism Therapy, Autism Treament, Treatment 3 Comments »
