EBD Blog

In a move that I hope other states will emulate, the US state of California has establish an advisory committee to address the education of students with Autism. The state department of education announced that the committee convened its first meeting 26 February 2007. The committee is charged with developing means for disseminating research findings including establishing a clearinghouse for educationally relevant research on Autism.
Continue reading ‘CA Autism Advisory Committee’

Roni Rabin reports that older males may be contributing to the incidence of disorders such as Autism and schizophrenia. Writing in the New York (NY, US) Times on 27 February 2007 under the headline “It Seems the Fertility Clock Ticks for Men, Too,” Ms. Rabin covers some of the same evidence Leslie Feldman covered here for EBD Blog. This is Ms. Rabin’s lead:
Continue reading ‘NYT on paternal age’

Wednesday 21 February 2007 the US Federal Drug Administration ordered that medications for treating ADHD must carry warnings about possible risks associated with taking them. The drugs place people taking them at risk for cadiovascular problems and adverse psychiatric reactions. Here are the first paragraphs of the press release:
Continue reading ‘ADHD medication risks’

I came upon the Web site and blog of Rayna and Andrew Houvouras, and I was glad to see it. “Applying Behavior Concepts” is a resource for those interested in the application of scientific understanding to problems of students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, Autism, Mental Retardation, and related disabilities. The Hourvourases are licensed to practice behavior analysis by the Behavior Analysis Certification Board, which is a substantial stamp of quality.
Continue reading ‘Houvourases resources’

In a segment about Autism that aired 18 February, the US television magazine 60 Minutes got some things right but misrepresented some other things. Gina Green, an eminent authority on Autism wrote a letter to 60 Minutes explaining the misrepresentation and encouraging the show’s producers to correct it. Gina generously agreed to let me publish the letter here.

Dear “60 Minutes:”

Having worked with “60 Minutes” producers several years ago on a story on the bogus autism intervention Facilitated Communication, I know that yours is one of the few network news programs that makes an effort to present accurate information based on sound evidence. That was confirmed in the portion of your February 18 segment on autism that featured a scientist who spoke to the lack of objective evidence that there is an “epidemic” of autism. But the portion of that segment that dealt with early intervention was not up to your standards. The discovery that early intensive intervention using the methods of applied behavior analysis can produce normal functioning in a large subset of children with autism was not made recently by the MIND Institute, as your program implied, but by Dr. Ivar Lovaas back in 1987. That finding has been replicated several times by other behavior analysts, as documented in published studies (see the attached reference list). It would be great if “60 Minutes” could do a followup story on that very exciting science and some of the wonderful human success stories that have resulted from it.

Sincerely,
Gina Green, PhD, BCBA

Link to the 60 Minute Web site that provides access to some of the show’s contents.

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If one surfs about looking for sites providing comments about pediatricians and about ADHD, Autism, and other childhood disorders, it’s easy to find dozens (scores? hundreds?) of recommendations for vitamins, herbs, exercises, chiropracty, martial arts, and such. It’s a lot harder to identify sources of sensible, scientific information. Here are a few. Please feel free to contribute others by commenting.
Continue reading ‘Some pediatricians’

In a popular press article entitled “Ped Med: Autism myths abound” that is unusually well-informed among articles in its genre, Lidia Wasowicz of UPI describes some of the misinformation about Autism that is circulating. Here is a snippet from Ms. Wasowicz’s story:
Continue reading ‘Autism myths exposed’

Last September I reported on a study indicating that older fathers were more likely than their younger peers to have children who have autism. The story elicited comments about the potential importance of this matter. Since then, I’ve corresponded with Leslie Feldman, who left comments on this and other posts about the topic. Ms. Feldman sent me a document that discusses the relationship between paternal age and the chances of offsrping having autism or schizophrenia.

Despite my sloth, I finally managed to review and format Ms. Feldman’s observations, and I am glad to make them available to readers of EBD Blog as a Web page. Ms. Feldman’s document is entitled, “Fathers’ Age as Contributor to Risk for Autism.” Interested readers may view the document, including references and links to many resources on this topic, by following this link or by clicking on the page in the side rail (look under the heading “pages”).

My thanks to Ms. Feldman for her patience with me in the process of publishing this document and, more importantly, for taking the time to assemble this important content so that it can be communicated to the readers of EBD Blog.

The Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders has issued a Call for Presentation Proposals for its 7th Biennial Conference to be held in Dallas (Irving), Texas on October 4-6, 2007 at the DFW Westin Hotel. The deadline for submitting proposals is March 1, 2007. The conference theme is Ensuring a Brighter Future for Troubled Children and Youth: Challenges and Solutions. Please refer the Web site for more information on the conference: http://www.unt.edu/behavioraldisorders

Project Forum, a Web site aimed at US special education administrators, released a report in January about how US state education agencies are adressing Autism spectrum disorders.

This In-Brief Policy Analysis clarifies terminology and reports findings gathered from a survey of state special education staff. Findings are reported in the following areas: state-level staff time and responsibilities; specific services for Part C eligible children; specific services for students with Asperger Syndrome; types of professional development activities offered; taskforce roles; how states measure outcomes; barriers to providing services to this population; and more. The most mentioned barrier to serving this growing population was the lack of educational professionals with ASD expertise.

Learn more about US states’ approaches to serving students with Autism.

Over on Mentor Matters, Mrs. Ris has a quick post that captures an almost-forgotten element of teaching students with Emotional and Behavioral Disoders (and, likely, just about any students). One day what a student does can seem nearly endearing and a source of wonder, but an experienced teacher knows that those same behaviors will not be acceptable in the longer run. It’s a good lesson about what it’s like to teach and see children day-in and day-out..