Here is another start-of-the-school-year story. Jodi Lynn of the Poughkeepsie Journal (NY, US) has a column of tips for parents. In a post dated 28 August, she published this question:
I have a 5-year-old who has been kicked out of school. He is unruly and mean. The school sent him to a reform school for kids who act out, but this year he can go back to regular school. They have already called me to come pick him up.
What would you do? There are recommendations about how to respond from a couple of people. Neither of the two that were there when I checked suggested doing anything with the school. May be an EBDBlog reader could make some suggestions.
Link to the column by Ms. Lynn.
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As Jim has noted (see here and here), many are reluctant to provide services to children because doing so requires that we identify an individual—label him or her as in need of services—and there is a risk of false positive labeling. In my tour through some of the blogosphere (ahem; sorry), I came across a post by a parent of a young child who doesn’t appear to be afraid of false positives, but who clearly has her son’s interests at heart.
Molly_g, who lives in Denver (CO, US), describes her blog as being “about mothering a child who didn’t come out of the cookie cutter. This a child who is more: more excitable, more exuberant, more emotional and sometimes more fun.” She comments on an experience she has shared with many other parents in the last few days or weeks: The first day of school. Here’s an excerpt:
Our first day went pretty good. The Kid immediately required everyone’s full attention, playing the comedian whenever he could. Everyone knew The Kid by the end of the day. The Teacher knew there was more comedy (heh) in store for the rest of the year, and asked me at the end of the day if we could talk. Of course, I started crying. I don’t know if it was the pressure of school starting, knowing how important our relationship was going to be, the embarrassment of being the mom-of-the-kid-in-the-center-of-attention thing, I can’t explain it, but I exploded and couldn’t get an intelligent word out of my mouth. So, I promised we’d talk another day, and that I’d e-mail her what I would say had I the presence of mind.
Ms. G. continues with excerpts from her message to the teacher, describing her child, her concerns, and the efforts she has made to find help. Several professionals, who may or may not have seen the boy, have counselled her to wait until her son is more mature before conducting assessments. Arrrgh. I hope Ms. G. can find some professionals who will help her and her son.
Link to Ms. G.’s post about the first day of kindergarten.
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Research at the University of Washington shows that some young children with autism appear to be developing normally but regress. Researchers reviewed home videos of children at one and two years of age; some of the childen had been identified as having “regressive” autism, some as having “early onset” autism, and some as typically developing. Although their behavior appeared relatively normal at the their first birthday party, by their second birthday party todlers with regressive autism appeared different.
According to Julie Davidow of the Seattle (WA; US) Post-Intelligencer:
Experts have recognized autistic regression for at least a decade, but they’ve previously relied on parents’ recollections of a child’s backslide.
Now, a new study from the University of Washington documents regression using videotapes of children’s behavior during their first and second birthday parties.
“We were pretty sure there was a phenomenon of regression, but this (study) documents it … in a much more objective way,” said Sally Ozonoff, an autism researcher at the MIND Institute at the University of California-Davis.
Researchers reviewed homemade videotapes and talked to the parents of 56 children: 15 with regression, 21 with early onset and 20 children without autism.
On their first birthday, the children later diagnosed with autism had reached the same developmental milestones as those never diagnosed. They babbled in long strings of sounds, used single words, pointed out objects and people and responded to their names.
By their second birthdays, the same children looked very different when compared with their peers without autism.
Sources:
- Link to the University of Washington Autism Center’s Web site.
- Link to the abstract in Archives of General Psychiatry.
- Link to Ms. Davidow’s story.
- Link to the USNews story covering the research.
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