I Speak of Dreams

I Speak of Dreams celebrates 1000 Ausome Things #AutismPositivity2013

What is this all about? Autism Positivity explains

Last year hundreds of bloggers came together in a show of support and solidarity in response to an anonymous person’s Google search “I wish I didn’t have Aspergers”. The posts that came flooding in from all over the world were a beautiful example of the power of strength in numbers. With so much negativity still surrounding Autism and the misinformation and misconceptions that continue to abound, we invite each of you to share one, or two, or more “Ausome” things!

I've been turning this over in my mind for the last month. I hear many adult autistics writing about how April is a hard month, like Karla Fisher on Facebook

IRL Status: I have come to the conclusion that April is not a month for me to do Autism stuff. ;) I am not strong enough. The good news is that there are significantly more of us autistics speaking against the flood of crappy Autism messaging and they are strong enough. The parent allies are also increasing in numbers. The bad news is there is still a flood of crappy messaging and we are in a place as a people where acceptance is so far away. It makes life for those of us living it, so hard every day and still it continues...

I thought I would focus on gratitude. Here is a sampling (not a complete list by any means!)

I am grateful to (say) Judy Endow for waking me up, and making me see the many, many assumptions I have about social skills and the "hidden curriculum".

I am grateful to (say) Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg for many things, but this month, for her sense of humor

Image source: http://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/2013/04/10/they-need-your-help/

I am grateful to Landon Bryce and all the work that he does for autism advocacy at  ThAutCast.  For we neurotypical folk, it isn't always easy to read, but I am still grateful.

I am grateful to Brian R. King for his words of wisdom on relationships, and his shattering honesty, like this post http://brianraymondking.com/2013/04/we-all-fall-apart-sometimes/

I am grateful to Kassiane S. for sharing her joy and fierceness, all over the internet but especially at Radical Neurodivergence

I am grateful to Steve Summers for sharing with me what "eye gaze demand" feels like for him: https://www.facebook.com/notes/steve-summers/eye-contact-and-autism/589026277774684

That is my short list.  What about you? 

Read more at

• The blog: http://autismpositivity.wordpress.com/
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• Also read http://autismacceptanceday.blogspot.com/

FYI Webinar Teaching Written Expression to Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders May 16 2013

Teaching Written Expression to Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Non-Member $114.00
Other Member Fees $89.00
Retired $69.00
Student $69.00
Thursday, May 16, 2013
4-5 p.m. ET


Register

This webinar will address the difficulties that many individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders have in acquiring the writing skills necessary for success in the classroom and on the job. Evidence-based interventions for teaching writing to students across the autism spectrum will be reviewed, to enable participants to identify the practices that will be effective with their students. Drs. Delano and Pennington also will present instructional strategies shown to improve writing skills, including response-prompting procedures and computer-assisted instruction. They will discuss evidence based practices for assisting students in developing basic writing skills (e.g., labeling, sentence writing), as well as strategies for developing more complex writing skills, such as composing stories and writing essays. In addition, they will discuss the process and techniques involved in monitoring student progress.

Wonderful post on math failure and anxiety

By the author of the blog,  Math with Bad Drawings, What it feels like to be bad at math

It’s surprisingly hard to write about this, even now. Mathematical failure – much like romantic failure – leaves us raw and vulnerable. It demands excuses.

I tell my story to illustrate that failure isn’t about a lack of “natural intelligence,” whatever that is. Instead, failure is born from a messy combination of bad circumstances: high anxiety, low motivation, gaps in background knowledge. Most of all, we fail because, when the moment comes to confront our shortcomings and open ourselves up to teachers and peers, we panic and deploy our defenses instead. For the same reason that I pushed away Topology, struggling students push me away now.

 

I think I'm about to read a whole new blog

Total Trivia: Lunching at the Cheesecake Factory

OK, total trivia.

I had lunch on April 27 with my darling oldest granddaughter, Drummer Girl #1, who is now EIGHT!! Eight, I tell you. It was her birthday, celebrated with her parents, her younger sister, her wee brother (who slept the whole time) her Tia (my Jumper Girl) & Wruee (JG's beloved), DG#1's Buie Janet and me, Buie Liz. Happy Birthday, darling girl

The trivia part is that we ate at The Cheesecake Factory. The first time I had ever, ever, darkened the door of that establishment.

I had never seen a menu that...extensive. Or a menu with advertisements for other enterprises.

Wruee, being a manly man, choked at ordering items from the SkinnyLicious® menu, but then he manned up.

JG & I shared a SkinnyLicious® Grilled Artichoke, which was about the best grilled artichoke I'd ever had, to my surprise. I wondered if they'd soaked it in a herb brine.

Then I had the Seared Tuna Tataki Salad -- again from the SkinnyLicious® (urk) menu, which was pretty darned good. The wasabi vinagrette gave me ideas for future salads.

I have to say, the service was excellent.  The only one to have dessert was the Birthday Girl, who was served a mini hot fudge sundae, with "Happy Birthday" written out on the service plate with hot fudge.  A nice touch. 

EdRev 2013: My City School, San Francisco

My City School (San Francisco) is a brand-new start-up.  I believe it is set to open in Fall, 2013.  It's a middle-school program for students with learning disabilities.  I gathered from the woman I talked to at EdRev that there were students with unmet needs, so a group of parents decided to start a program.

EdRev 2013: Stellar Academy, Newark, CA

There were a number of schools for students who learn differently exhibiting at EdRev 2013 that were new to me.

One is Stellar Academy for Dyslexics, which is located a few miles south of the Dumbarton Bridge on the east side of the San Francisco Bay. (In other words, might be within commute distance for students from Palo Alto and Menlo Park, as well as East Bay communities

The mission of Stellar Academy, located in Alameda County, is to assist children with dyslexia overcome academic challenges through the Slingerland® approach.

The school is evidently rather new, and small (37 students, according to this Great Schools review).

Celebrate Health! It is National Infant Immunization Week

From Shot of Prevention

State health departments, health care professionals, immunization partners across the country and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are all working together this week to  promote National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW).  From April 20th through April 27th various efforts will be made to highlight the positive impact of vaccination and bring attention to our many immunization achievements.  The ultimate goal is to continue to reduce infant death and disability caused by preventable diseases in the United States, and to emphasize the ways in which immunizations provide the power to protect.

While there may be specific actions to highlight immunizations throughout the week, we want to begin by acknowledging the important accomplishments we’ve already achieved.  For instance,

• Immunization advances currently enable us to protect infants and children from 14 different vaccine-preventable diseases before they reach age two.
• Routine childhood immunization of all children born in just one year in the U.S. prevents about 20 million cases of disease and about 42,000 deaths.
• Immunization saves our nation about $13.6 billion in direct costs each year.
• The National Immunization Survey has consistently shown that childhood immunization rates for routinely recommended vaccines remain at or near record levels.

Every immunization advocate should be proud to know that their hard work contributes to these important milestones.  But of course, this doesn’t mean we can rest easy.  There is always room for improvement.  Children in the United States can—and  do—still suffer and sometimes even die from vaccine preventable diseases.   For example, in 2012, more than 50 people were reported to have measles.  In addition, preliminary data from the CDC reports more than 41,000 cases of whooping cough (pertussis) in the United States alone last year - the highest number of pertussis cases in any one year in the U.S. since 1955.  Sadly, these cases resulted in 18 deaths, most of which were among children younger than a year old. Read more…

I remain a staunch advocate of public health and immunizations

Autism Self Advocacy Network: Let's Talk (Katie)

This is a PSA from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN)

Help us change the national conversation on autism from one that largely occurs without autistic people to a conversation that frames our voices as central. Acceptance is an action, as we've been saying all month, and now it's time for us to take action and reclaim our seat at the table.

Transcript

I'm autistic. I'm not a tragic figure. I'm not broken. I work. I'm happy. I love my family. I'm an artist. I grew up. I like most people! But... some people, I dislike. Especially people who say they speak for me. Because they don't. I can speak for myself. So let's talk. We may even become friends.

I Salute These Soldiers from the Massachusetts National Guard and Their Friend, Carlos Arredondo

Yesterday, I saw this:

(click to embiggen -- from Militiary Friends Foundation)


And I wondered in passing who the men in fatigues were, who were tearing down the metal barricade.

Mother Jones has the complete story.  Those fellows in fatigues were volunteers from  The Tough Ruck, a fundraising activity for The Military Friends Foundation.  Founded in 2003, The Military Friends Foundation supports Massachusetts National Guard and Reserve families who have faced hardships related to active service.

So at 5:00 am, the Tough Ruck group left the Boston Marathon starting line, lead by Lieutenant Stephen Fiola of the 1060th Transportation Company.  One of the Tough Ruckers was marching in honor of Lance Cpl. Alexander Arredondo, who was killed in  died in action in Iraq in 2004. 

(click to embiggen -- from Militiary Friends Foundation)

The elite female runners started at 9:33 am, and were expected to finish around noon. The elite male runners started at 10:00 am, and were expected to finish around 12:15.

The fastest of  Tough Ruck group crossed the finish line sometime after 11 am.   The pre-arranged plan was for the Ruckers to wait for all to finish near the medical tent at the finish line.  Lance Cpl. Arredondo's father, Carlos Arredondo, joined the Rucker group at their meeting place. 

The bombs went off at approximately 2:50 pm. 

Lt. Fiola described what happened next, 

 "I did a count and told the younger soldiers to stay put," Fiola says. "Myself and two other soldiers, my top two guys in my normal unit, crossed the street about 100 yards to the metal scaffoldings holding up the row of flags. We just absolutely annihilated the fence and pulled it back so we could see the victims underneath. The doctors and nurses from the medical tent were on the scene in under a minute. We were pulling burning debris off of people so that the medical personnel could get to them and begin triage."

(Click to embiggen. Image credit: Charles Krupa / AP)
Arredondo jumped into action as well, going to the aid of a grievously injured man, supplying material for tourniquets for the man's mangled legs and assisting safety personnel in transporting the man to an ambulance.   The injured man was later identified as Jeff Bauman Jr. in an Associated Press report.  He was waiting at the finish line for his girlfriend, a competitor in the race.

(Click to embiggen. Image credit: Darren McCollester / Getty Images)

Arredondo was photographed as he left the blast area.  The flag, given to him by Lt. Fiola, was soaked in blood.  

He was interviewed yesterday by The Washington Post. “I did my duty,” Arredondo said the next morning.

When his son was killed in 2005, Arredondo reacted very differently.  Overcome with rage and grief, he set himself on fire.

Now, there's this.  Dave Smith writes, 

I served with Carlos' son Alex in Najaf, Iraq where he was shot and killed by an enemy sniper while checking on the safety of his team. He received a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Carlos' other son Brian committed suicide just before Christmas last year. He is no stranger to tragedy. But he IS an exemplary citizen.

Dave Smith is asking for our signatures to a petition to the White House, Award Carlos Arredondo the Presidential Citizens Medal for exemplary deeds at the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013.

On April 15, 2013 an improvised explosive device attack was made on the Boston Marathon causing deaths and injuring over one hundred specatators. Peace activist Carlos Arredondo, the father of a Marine killed by a sniper in Iraq in 2004, was present supporting a runner who was racing in honor of his son who died for this country. When the attacks occured, Mr. Arredondo rushed to the scene with no concern for personal safety to help responders gain access to the victims to render aid to the injured. Once there he used his own clothing to stem blood loss, with his own bare hands applying pressure to the wounds of gravely injured citizens, and soothing words in their time of need, clearly meeting the required "exemplary deeds or services" for his fellow citizens. 

 Please sign.  I have. 

Another Patsy of The Daily Mail's Sorry Continuing Contribution to Vaccine, Autism Fear

The UK's Daily Mail (or the Daily Fail) continues to be a primary contributor to the outbreak of vaccine-preventable disease in the UK, and the thoroughly discredited notion that autism is somehow connected to recept of the measles vaccine. 

An example of the Daily Mail's continuing malign influence popped up just today. There's a gullible, science-rejecting UK organization called Treating Autism, which has a Facebook page.  Here's what they posted on Facebook today:

Sadly, the article posted is over 10 years old. One would expect that an organization called "Treating Autism" would have recognized Melanie Phillips's old, debunked spew, but perhaps the Facebook page is in the hands of a parent new to this issue.

Here's a clue.  As I wrote two years ago, the Daily Mail does not accurately date-stamp articles online. It's the Daily Mail eternal present.
Here's an image of article that Treating Autism linked to. 

A few seconds' research shows that Melanie Phillips' article was published the week of March 11, 2003.

I really wonder why the folks at Treating Autism didn't bother to check if the Phillips article was new.  It only took me a few seconds to find Michael Fitzpatrick's article

Phillips' encouragement for the increasingly irrational and irresponsible anti-MMR campaign is likely to compound the unwarranted anxieties of parents whose infants are due to be immunised and result in a further decline in vaccine uptake. It will also intensify the distress of parents of autistic children, whose burden is now increased by feelings of guilt for having them immunised.

While ill-advised parents of autistic children pursue litigation against vaccine manufacturers - with negligible chances of success - doctors apprehensively await the return of serious infectious diseases that we only recently believed were on the verge of disappearance.

10 years on, and the measles epidemic in Wales shows that Dr. Fitzpatrick was right

Here are some questions for Melanie Phillips.

If Dr Wakefield has 'evidence that he thinks will prove that he was right all along', then why does he choose to disclose this in the Daily Mail rather than in a medical journal in which it can be properly evaluated by his peers?

Wakefield has repeatedly promoted claims in public - at congressional hearings in the USA, on a BBC Panorama programme in 2002 - which have not held up to subsequent scrutiny. It would appear that Wakefield, having consistently failed to convince his peers of his case, has decided to present it directly to the public, via compliant journalists who lack the scientific expertise to assess the validity of his claims. The result is that, while Wakefield is no longer taken seriously in the world of medical science, he is still effective in provoking public anxiety.