Autism

'M*A*S*H,' 'Church Basement Ladies' actor, wife devote themselves to sonActor William Christopher, who will appear in a play in Aberdeen next month, has been researching the Hub City on the Internet.He and his wife, Barbara, who is also coming, have looked at pictures of the Capitol Theatre and the Johnson Fine Arts Center.They know that the Hub City used to be called a "frog pond."Christopher knows that during the early days of the railroad, Aberdeen "was sort of a center, a hub."They've learned quite a bit."One of the things that su .... More »

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The language of music transcends every obstacle, and a new program in Richmond will reach out to children with autism in grades K-5 so they can benefit from music's transformational and soul-soothing power.Vivo classes were developed locally by Da Capo Institute and completed a successful pilot debut in the spring of 2008. This fall, Da Capo will offer weekly Vivo classes at three local churches (Bon Air Presbyterian, River Road Presbyterian and Huguenot Road Baptist) beginning the week of Sept. 22. The 10-week sessions and concluding .... More »

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FARGO, N.D. (AP) -- When a 13-year-old Minnesota boy was banned from church after parishioners complained about his behavior, it exposed a painful truth so politically incorrect that some people feel guilty just saying it out loud: Some autistic children can be annoying and disruptive in public.The case of Adam Race and others like him has laid bare conflicted feelings -- among both parents of these children and other people -- over autistic youngsters in public places. And it has stirred debate over how much consideration one side ow .... More »

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The number of children getting diagnosed with autism is rising at an alarming rate. For decades before the 1990s, about 4 to 5 out of every 10,000 children in the United States were believed to be autistic. Today, that number has soared to one in every 150 children, or nearly 67 out of every 10,000.The numbers locally correlate with this national trend. According to Denise Burich, the autism consultant for Independent School District 318, there are approximately 35 students diagnosed with .... More »

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Contact: Wendy Fournier (Portsmouth, RI), +1-401-835-5828, or Lori McIlwain (Cary, NC), +1-919-741-1646, both of National Autism AssociationNIXA, Mo., Aug. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Autism Association announced today that its recently launched FOUND program has received an anonymous $15,000 donation to fund additional counties with Project Lifesaver equipment.Project Lifesaver is a nationwide tracking program established to quickly locate and rescue missing persons, namely those with cognitive impairments and developme .... More »

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BATON ROUGE - State Rep. Patrick Williams, D-Shreveport, says he has not given up hope of establishing an autism center in Shreveport. But his anger over Sen. Lydia Jackson snatching funding for the center isn't going away, either.Williams, who walked from Shreveport to Baton Rouge to raise attention to the state's growing autism and childhood obesity problems, secured $2.2 million in a supplemental appropriations bill that utilized unspent funds.But when the House-passed bill got to the Senate Finance Committee, Jackson, D-Shreveport .... More »

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Tori Tuncan didn't know Logan Rogers or his mom, but she posted their request on her blog:Logan, 10 years old, is unable to ride his bike because he has "absolutely no muscle tone." He needs occupational therapy. Insurance will cover it, but his mom needs $250, immediately, to pay for the evaluation up front.Can you lend his mom the money?Within eight hours, Tori had raised the funds for Logan's mom, thanks to five strangers who agreed to the loans. For Tori, it was on to the next kid.A month ago, Tori quietly launched a very ambitiou .... More »

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Dear Abby: I just finished reading your June 9 column and am shocked at what I read. Your response regarding autism was way off base. You said, "Autism is a mental health disorder ... some people consider ... to be shameful."Autism is a neurological disorder, not a mental health disorder. Families who have a child with autism have many challenges ahead of them as they try to bring normalcy to their child's life and to their family. I am very surprised that you got this one wrong! Autism is reaching epidemic proportions. These families .... More »

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TEMECULA - There's no magic bullet for autism, but family and friends of children who have the condition learned Tuesday about various health therapies, research and communication methods.Hundreds of people attended the area's first Autism Summit at Rancho Community Church in Temecula. The event drew more than 50 vendors, both local and from nearby counties.There were tables from schools such as Oak Grove in Murrieta, lawyers specializing in special education, nutrition information and autism research centers."We're just making everyt .... More »

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ScienceDaily (July 23, 2008) - Papers delivered at three conferences in the US and Europe this summer report on new research at the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering studying interactions of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) with bubble-blowing robots.The preliminary studies, by Professor Maja Mataric and PhD student David Feil-Seifer of the USC Interaction Laboratory, confirm what has been widely reported anecdotally: that ASD children in many cases interact more easily with mechanical device .... More »

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DEWITT, N.Y. -- Ryder Park in DeWitt was home to a picnic Sunday. It was put on by the Central New York Chapter of the Autism Society of America.Organizers say they wanted to give something fun to the people who they help and help them out. There was music, food and games designed to raise awareness of autism."Everywhere you go, there you hear that someone is affected by autism. If it's their immediate family, their neighbor or someone their child goes to school with and we just want to promote awareness and you know it's just a part .... More »

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NEWARK, N.J., July 20 (UPI) -- U.S. parents such as Sandra Devlin of Denville, N.J., say they are becoming increasingly concerned about their children being diagnosed with autism.The mother-of-four says while she was never concerned with autism when her eldest children were young, she has grown fearful of the developmental disorder while watching her two youngest age, The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger reported Sunday.Devlin says she now checks her youngest children's eye contact on a regular basis for any sign of the brain disorder."I ne .... More »

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Was the young doctor autistic?He didn't think so: "I don't walk on tippytoes or get hypnotized by Wheel of Fortune," he explained.But he did get upset when people didn't say what they mean. He loved math. "And then there's this odd thing I do with my hands and my nose when I'm excited and I think nobody's looking," he once wrote in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.He thinks he may be on "some distant end" of the autism spectrum. At the other end are people like the man who organized his wife's CDs by the composer's date of bir .... More »

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Unique Member Sites for Autism CommunityIt seems that I am joining a new community on a daily basis. These communities are great for supporting each other, sharing resources, asking specific questions, learning about systems in various parts of the country, finding a common bond with another parent, gaining insights into different aspects of the spectrum and realizing you are not alone.1. Foggy Rock was created by Steve and Shannon Johnson. The logo "When autism is your mountain, you will never have to climb alone", is uplifting. The .... More »

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He plays his Wii like any other 12 year old. He reads comic books and has an iPod.If you ask his mother, its a miracle. "Most people, in the community and public, they think 'Rain Man.' They don't know because there's all levels of severity for autism," said Kirstine Harner, the mother of Mason Harner, who is autistic.Mason has been treated for autism since he was three. Early on, it didn't appear he would live a normal life. "You get that initial shock, and you go into 'okay what do I do? What are our local resources?'" says Harner.N .... More »

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