How to Create an Optimal Learning Environment for Your Child with Autism

Understanding the way your child's brain works is crucial to being able to provide an optimal learning environment. Below is a brief overview of some of the research about the brains of people with autism. Then you'll find easy, practical ways to implement this knowledge and create an optimal learning environment at home.

The Science
Autism is referred to as a "spectrum disorder" because there is such a wide variation among people with the diagnosis. Researchers using technology that allows them to be able to see how our brains are structured also see that the brains of people with the label 'Autism' are vastly different from one another. Because of this, some scientists have suggested we need to look below the level of the brain's structure to the way individual neurons (brain cells) are wired to find the "miss-wiring" that affects all people with autism. Researchers have found evidence that the way some neurons are connected in the brain of people with autism may lead to a low signal-to-noise ratio. This means that many of the signals brain cells are sending to each other may be accompanied by "noise", like static in a radio signal. This is one explanation for why children with autism become hyper-aroused (overwhelmed) by sensory information and why they may find it more challenging to choose between two different sources of information. For example, it is often more difficult for a child with autism to be able to listen to the teacher when other children in the class are making noise. Studies recording brain electricity in autistic people have shown that even when they are trying to ignore certain aspects of their environment (such as noise in the classroom) their brains respond to this information in the same way they respond to the information the child is trying to attend to (the teachers voice). The problem for many children with autism seems to be one of "filtering", that is, they are less able than typical children to filter out sensory information that is irrelevant to what they are trying to focus on.

The result of this is that all stimuli are given equal priority by the brains of those with autism, causing an overwhelming flood of sensory information that the child must handle. The brains of typical children learn to filter out irrelevant stimuli early on in life, so by the time that they go to school, children are able to focus their attention on what they are asked to focus on. It is very hard for many children with autism to learn in environments where there is a lot of competing sensory information (including noises, sights, touches, smells, etc.) such as a classroom.

Children with autism are taking in a lot of information all the time; this means that at some stage, they have to sort through this information to see what they really need. Studies have seen that people with autism tend to do the sorting through at a much later stage in processing than neurologically typical people. This is like going down the aisles in the supermarket and putting one of everything into your cart, then arriving at the checkout and discarding what you do not want to buy. This causes a "processing bottleneck". Studies using technology that allows us to see which parts of the brain are being used in particular tasks help us to see that this is what is happening inside the brains of people with autism. There is more activity in the brain regions designed for lower-order processing (going through the supermarket aisles) than in brain regions for high-order processing (moving through the checkout and going home with the items on your list). This may explain why children with autism often show significant challenges in areas of high-order processing (e.g. memory, attention, organization, language, etc.), because they spend so much time trying to deal with the basic incoming sensory information that they don't get time to practice the high-order thinking processing other children their age are practicing. Thus the brain of the child with autism starts to develop differently than the brain of his typical brother. There is some evidence that this processing style is already present when children with autism are born, even though the concurrent behaviors may not be recognized until 18-24 months later.

Psychologists call this style of processing (over-relying on lower-order processing) "weak central coherence." Central coherence describes the ability to process incoming information in context, pulling information together for higher-level meaning often at the expense of memory for detail. Weak central coherence then is the tendency of those with autism to rely on local feature processing (the details) rather than taking in the global nature of the situation. For instance after viewing identical pictures and then being asked to remember what was in the picture a typical person might describe the scene as "a forest at sunset" while a person with autism might remember "shiny leaves, orange light and a branch you could hang a swing from". This processing style is the reason people with autism outperform people without autism on specific tasks. One of these tasks is The Embedded Figures task. In this task, people might be shown a line drawing of a car which everyone can identify as such. When asked to point out the three triangles in the picture, people without autism are much slower than those with autism. This is because the typical people can not see "past" the car to label all it's constituent parts. The people with autism will identify the three triangles quickly because this is how they are practiced at seeing the world.

Research involving people with autism ranging from studies of how individual brain cells are connected to how people perform in psychological tests paints a picture of the world occupied by those with autism as fragmented, overwhelming and filled with "noise". This is corroborated by autobiographical reports from people with autism. Understanding the autistic child's fragmented and overwhelming world shows how important a child's external environment is when designing treatment and education for children with autism. It also explains why children with autism crave order and predictability in their physical environments.

Physical environments with higher amounts of sensory stimulation (e.g. bright visual displays, background noise, etc.) will add to the "noise" in an already overloaded sensory system making any new learning extremely challenging--like trying to learn Japanese in a shopping mall. The extent to which rooms can be tailored to meet the needs of these children is highly limited in a typical classroom setting, mainly due to the presence of other children and the subsequent size of the room. Even fluorescent lighting has been shown to affect the behavior of children with autism. These environmental considerations are either overlooked and their importance underestimated when placements are suggested for children with autism or it is beyond the scope of the school district to provide any other type of physical environment.

The Easy Part
The FIRST STEP along the road to building a comprehensive treatment program for your child is providing him or her with an appropriate environment in which to learn. Usually this means SIMPLIFY! Here's what to do:

1. Dedicate one room in your house to you child with autism. It could be your child's bedroom or another room (not too big, 12' x 12' is plenty, and smaller is fine depending on the age of your child). The room might even only be dedicated to your child with autism for part of the day (for instance if he or she shares a bedroom with a sibling) this is OK too. Do the best you can with the situation you have.

2. Remove all electronic toys from the dedicated room. This includes televisions, video-games, and anything battery powered (including singing / talking books and things that flash!) These toys can be over-stimulating for a child with autism and do not encourage social interaction.

3. Make sure you have incandescent light bulbs not fluorescent one. Fluorescent light bulbs flicker at a rate most of use tune out but that can be highly over-stimulating for people with autism.
4. Clear some space. Ideally you want the floor to be a free, clear open space on which you can play with your child. Have the minimal amount of furniture you can in the special room. Also simplify the amount of toys you have in the room and if possible put them all on shelves or in a closet.

These are the first step towards creating an optimal learning environment in which to work with your child. Parents running a home-based Son-Rise Programs are coached further on how to create a customized learning environment and Son-Rise Program playroom. The simple measures described here will aid in soothing your autistic child's over-active nervous system by making the world digestible and manageable and set the stage for social interaction and subsequent learning.

Kat Houghton is an autism treatment consultant specializing in The Son-Rise Program, a relationship-enhancement method of approaching autism. She is the founder and director of Inspired by Autism Consulting http://www.inspiredbyautism.com, director of research at The Autism Treatment Center of America and completing a PhD in Psychology at Lancaster University in the UK.

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Managing Tantrums in Autism Spectrum Disorders

When dealing with tantrums and difficult behaviors in autism spectrum disorders, using behavioral approaches alone can sometimes fail. What is the missing piece to managing these behaviors that a behavioral approach alone may not address?

To start, we need to look at the reasons for behavior. According to behavioral approaches, most of the behavior we see results from one of three reasons: a request, seeking attention, or a sensory reason. Let's look deeper at these three reasons for behavior and the ways we currently handle them.

Handling a request is fairly straightforward. To put it very simply, a request is usually something externally controlled by both reinforcing appropriate requests and not reinforcing inappropriate ones, such as a tantrum.

For negative attention-seeking behaviors, we can eliminate the behavior by not giving the negative behavior attention and give attention for desired behavior - very straightforward, and again, usually externally controlled.

The sensory reasons arise from both the external and internal events that a child experiences through the five senses, and may or may not be externally controlled.

In all of these situations, our internal responses - our feelings and thoughts about events fire us into action. In stressful situations, the resulting "knee jerk" reactions are often difficult to manage with a purely behavioral approach for a few reasons:

1. Thoughts and feelings are often lightning-fast, internally-controlled events, therefore difficult to manage through external behavioral modifications.

2. Thoughts and feelings can't be measured, and as a result, behavioral approaches simply don't address them. It doesn't mean that these things don't exist or aren't important. It just means that they're left out of the equation.

3. Behavioral approaches address the cause and consequence of behaviors - the beginning and the end. But internal responses (ie thoughts and feelings) happen in the moments between the cause and the consequence. By not dealing with thoughts, feelings and solutions at these moments, we leave a child to figure out solutions on his or her own.

4. Children on the autism spectrum have a limited ability to adapt to new or changing situations, solve problems, compare past to present, or see possibilities. Because of this, if a child never learns how to think through a challenging situation during the emotional moments, when faced with it again, the same behavior will probably repeat itself, no matter what the consequence, or how many times they've been through it before.

This situation calls for tools to deal with overwhelming thoughts, feelings and strategies in the moment before the tantrum, not just consequences after.

In the book The Explosive Child , Ross Greene talks about this situation. This book applies to any disorders that have limitations in problem solving and executive thought, including all PDD's, including Asperger's Syndrome, PDD-NOS, and all autism spectrum disorders, ADD, ADHD, and various other developmental disabilities.

In the book, first we pick our battles carefully, and then talk through our thought process out loud. This way our children can hear us think through situations before tantrums. This also creates a memory of how they triumphed in the situation without resorting to negative behaviors.

Progress is made in small increments, but as time goes on, tantrums should decrease, and you can even start to ask your child to contribute ideas about solving problems during those emotional moments. In doing this, you help your child learn how to solve problems and become confident about handling new, changing, or challenging situations. You'll combine the best of all worlds, to the benefit of your child.

Sandra Sinclair is a parent of a child with PDD-NOS. She is author of "Newly Diagnosed Autism Spectrum"- A free mini-course with 7 clear steps you can take to help your child. http://www.autismvoice.com/blog/7StepstoHelpChildrenwithAutism

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Eleven Back to School Strategies to Reduce School Anxiety for Autistic Children

Transitions are very difficult for most children on the autism spectrum to make and going back to school may be the most challenging one there is. Preparing an autistic child for change can be time consuming and emotionally draining for any family. We all hope for a stress free and easy shift into a new school routine but don't always get what we want. If despite all your preparation the new school year did not get off to a good start, don't despair because it is never too late to turn things around. All parents want things to go smoothly and when they don't it is all too easy to place blame on yourself. But wait!

Before jumping to conclusions that you did something wrong or that your autistic child will never settle into a peaceful back to school routine let's approach this from a different perspective. When an airplane pilot develops problems flying an aircraft or a sea captain experiences difficulty with his ship the trouble could stem from a number of things. Most likely both of these skilled professionals will run through a checklist to assess the situation and determine the cause. The first step towards solving any dilemma is assessment and a checklist is a great way to examine most potentially problematic situations.

Having a checklist also helps one tackle a challenge with more confidence and less stress.Depending on the qualities that make your child unique and where he or she falls on the autism spectrum, your back to school experience will differ from every other parent. If you are experiencing turbulence or rough seas in your household as you try to settle into a stress free back to school routine here is a checklist for you to refer to that may help you identify some adjustments that will make for a smoother transition.

___ Are you paying attention to your child's sleep patterns and bedtime routine?If you weren't able to address changes in daily routines, such as bedtime, well enough in advance this could be the cause of any stress related behaviors that might be occurring. One cannot stress the importance of sleep and its impact on brain development, mood and attention span which many studies support. In addition to helping your child be more successful at school, making sure she receives the required amount of sleep will also improve her behavior at home.

___ Are you using a back to school calendar?If not, consider creating a special back-to-school calendar. Depending on your child's interest in arts and crafts, this can be a fun process that the two of you can do together. You may want to use words or pictures to indicate what will happen on each day of the week, if you need more room and can't find a calendar big enough, such as a wall calendar, make a book that has a page or two or for every day of the week. Reading the book or looking at the calendar can you're your child transition better from day to day.

___ Have you used other school related resources to your advantage?If you have any books or movies about school this would be a good time to read or watch them repeatedly. If your supply of school related resources is scarce consider a trip to the bookstore to purchase a new book or the more economical option of the public library which allows you to take home more than one book or video. One can always find books about going back to school, such as "Amelia Bedelia Goes Back to School," by Herman Parish.

___ Have you been talking about school in a positive manner?When talking about school with your child on the autism spectrum, it is always important to set up a positive attitude for the upcoming school year before and after it begins. Talking to them in the affirmative regarding teachers, friends and schoolwork will help them maintain a positive perspective and relieve any anxieties that might exist. If despite your positive attitude, your child is not enthused about the school year, focus on activities and events they find interesting, such as sports, arts, clubs, field trips, etc. If you really need to dig deep try to find something positive to say about what will happen after school.

___ Did you and your child have a private meeting with the teacher?If your child is exceptionally anxious about the start of a new school year and the changes that are involved, making a fifteen to twenty minute appointment to talk to the new teacher before or after school might help. The opportunity to have a private audience with the teacher to go over schedules and expectations as well as the chance to ask questions without other students around can give any child a gigantic jumpstart and sense of relief.

___ Have you reviewed previous school years by looking at pictures?If you don't have any pictures, start taking them now or if your school has a yearbook, make sure to purchase one when it is published. If using your own pictures consider putting them in a scrapbook this year, which may be fun to create together. Next year you can take the yearbook or scrapbook out at this time and look through it together, it can be a useful transition tool for returning to school the following year.

___ Have you held a family meeting about school?In addition to talking about school to your child individually, it's great to hold a family meeting so that everyone gets a chance to share their thoughts and feelings as well as discuss and plan for the week ahead. Meeting as a group sends the message that you are all in this together and that you care about each individual's experience. If you have never held a family meeting before, this is good time to start.

___ Have you and your child met with the school bus driver?If taking the bus, it can be very beneficial for you to meet with the bus driver and provide him or her with helpful information about your child. A school bus is a very sensory stimulating environment - bus fumes, noise, temperatures, stops and starts, etc. - not to mention an atmosphere that could be socially intimidating to your children with autism. You may even want to consider creating a driver tip sheet, especially if you suspect the bus ride is causing high-anxiety or sensory overload for your child. A tip sheet might include important information about your child and how best to communicate with him, simple strategies that work, tactics to avoid, seating preference or activities that will maintain his interest.

___ Have you addressed screen machine use?If you have allowed TV viewing, video games and computer use privileges to increase over the summer and haven't had a chance to cut back yet, begin now. Technology is important and useful but must be balanced with other activities that create an atmosphere where the brain is encouraged and allowed to think for itself. Quiet time for reading, homework and social interaction is vitally important for helping your child be successful in school. Once you adjust TV, video and computer use rules it is important to communicate them clearly and stick to them.

___ Are you encouraging social interactions for your child?A child on the autism spectrum often struggles with making and keeping friends, which is an important component in creating a positive school experience. If possible, invite old or new classmates that may have moved into the school system and invite them over so your child can get to know them better and practice her social graces. It can help your child immensely if you rehearse back to school conversation starters and group social skills with them to use with their friends, teachers and other adults.

___ Are you communicating clearly with your child?It is important to remember that all the preparation, planning and practice in the world won't get you to where you want to be if you aren't communicating effectively with your child - verbally and non-verbally. It is important to know what works best to effectively communicate with your child. Does your autistic child communicate best with words, or visuals and how can you tell when your message has been received and you have made a good connection?

Before you think about making changes to your back to school schedule, take the time to review this checklist and note what comes to mind. Be open and honest in assessing your current routine and then choose a few things to work on as you tweak your original approach. In order to create a more productive and enjoyable back to school routine for you and your child, make changes gradually and keep track of what works and what doesn't. Before you know it, you and your child will be experiencing a stress free school routine.

Imagine less worries and less concerns as a parent with a child on the Autism spectrum... and more happiness and joyful times as a family. That's what you get when have the support of Connie Hammer, expert parent educator and coach. For more than twenty years, this licensed social worker has worked with families to uncover abilities and nurture family opportunities that bring more love, more fun and more contentment, regardless of disability, into their lives.

For more great information on back to school strategies that work, visit http://www.parentcoachingforautism.com/back-to-school-course

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About Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders

Most people have heard about autism and it is a recognizable childhood constraint that is not so uncommon that you are never likely to come across somebody who suffers with autism: in fact, as many as 1 in every 110 individuals is autistic, with a higher incidence of males to females. There is no need to avoid people with autism, however, as they can't pass it on to you and you can't catch it from them no matter what you do or how close you get. Autism is something sufferers are born with. It is regarded as a disorder that affects the child's development due to the activities of the brain being affected.

In fact, autism fits into a group of developmental conditions that has become known, in recent years, as PDD, or pervasive developmental disorder. The best known one of these PDDs is autism which is the reason that this group of developmental disorders is often referred to as ASD, or autism spectrum disorder. This often causes problems with communication and the normal childhood milestones. It also results in a person with autism having problems with social interactions, sometimes having an intelligence that is lower than average, or having an intelligence that is higher than average. People who are known to be autistic have great difficulty relating to people at an everyday level, with children often experiencing hindered language development.

Sensory perception is also affected, with altered states of awareness, lighter and brighter colors, louder sounds and more intense smells: in fact, everything experienced appears to be at a more profound intensity than individuals without this developmental disability. Another well-known condition that comes within the aegis of PDD is Asperger syndrome, whilst Rett Syndrome and CDD [childhood disintegrative disorder] are two lesser known developmental disorders within this particular spectrum of medical disorders.

Is it Known how Autism Occurs?

Autism affects each sufferer differently and, for every person with autism, there is a different degree of affliction, some having autistic symptoms that are very mild whilst others are very profoundly affected. It is this wide spectrum that causes doctors to believe that autism is partly due to genetics and partly due to influencing environmental aspects. So far researchers have established that autism is not caused by any viral infection and, although a family with one autistic child is more likely to have another, they know autism doesn't occur as the result of anything the parents have done when raising their children.

Within our brains there are 100 billion neurons. These neurons, or nerve cells, carry electrical impulses that jump across little gaps between the many thousands of connections. These gaps are called synapses. The way electrical currents can jump across synapses is due to a biochemical process that lowers the number of potassium chemicals [potassium ions] on one side of the synapse whilst, at the same time, increasing the number of sodium ions. This is referred to as 'opening the gateway'.

When the gateway opens, there is an exchange of ions from one neuron to the next, enabling the electrical impulse to jump across the gap. The gateway then closes behind it and another gateway opens in front of it. In this way an electrical impulse leaves the brain and will travel to different parts of the body. All our senses depend on these electrical impulses, including communication and how we behave. The gateways are affected by the quantity of chemical messengers the brain sends out: these are called neurotransmitters and they are chemicals as well.

There are lots of different kinds, such as dopamine and serotonin, although there are many more. Each one interacts with another one and they all rely on a very delicate balance between all of them, so it is hardly surprising that, sometimes, things don't go exactly according to plan and something gets mixed up or misfires. This can cause problems such as autism.

Other from that, research continues. At present doctors and researchers still don't know for sure why some children develop autism and why some children don't. Furthermore, there are no tests that can identify whether a child is exhibiting autistic symptoms or not. Usually, autism is identified when a child is aged between 18 months and 4 years, often by doctors ruling out other causes for the child's lack of spontaneity or development.

The diagnosis eventually rests on experts' observation of the child's behavior and presence or absence of communication. Eventually, the diagnosis is established by listening to the parents' observations of how their child responds within the home environment, along with reports from neurologists, child psychologists and pediatricians. Ultimately, these reports are considered along with the known childhood milestones, enabling a pattern of persistent behavior to emerge.

Living with Autism

Autism is a developmental disorder for which there is no cure. However, the effects of the autism can often be minimized by teaching the child how to cope with it. The child develops specific skills for coping with the problem, eventually learning how to minimize the effects of autism in their lives and their surrounding family. Despite this, there is no getting away from the potentially devastating effects autism can have on how the surrounding family is able to cope. Some families manage better than others, but the sooner treatment begins the sooner a child with autism can begin to adapt to the incomprehensible world they have found themselves in.

As the child grows it becomes evident how the autism is affecting them: this will affect the kind of treatment they will be offered. Treatment will be managed within the team allocated as being responsible for that child. This team will be made up of child psychologists, pediatricians, neurologists and probably social workers, as well as other ancillary professionals such as speech therapists and behavioral therapists amongst others.

Treatment for an autistic child will be organized to make the most of the skills they have, and maximizing the skills they need to have to be able to cope with their lives. Such therapies may include speech therapy, occupational therapy and even music therapy and may, or may not, also include course of medications as well. Another therapy that is becoming particularly popular due to its efficacy is art therapy. Although many children with autism eventually succeed within mainstream education, some autistic children are better suited to being educated at a special school that can cope with behavioral difficulties.

Behavioral Difficulties

A person growing up with autism will always be aware that they are living in an incomprehensible world. Hopefully, however, by the time they are adults they should have developed the skills to deal with most problems they may encounter, although this isn't always the case. It is important to remember that the brains of people with autism function differently to everybody else, including many of the fellow sufferers. Social cues such as body language and facial expressions can cause them perplexity, causing them to behave in a manner that may seem strange. Their behavior may even make you feel uncomfortable and prefer to avoid them. Basically, however, somebody growing up with autism doesn't have the social skills to pick up the unspoken cues that people around them provide all the time.

Frustration can be a big problem for children with autism because they are unable to express themselves adequately. They may want to make friends but be unable to do so because they don't know how to go about it. This can cause tantrums or behavior that could be perceived as aggression, or they may behave in ways that could be interpreted as inappropriate, causing the recipient of such behavior to feel very uncomfortable indeed. Although people with autism don't experience emotions and want to show affection, their interpretation of how this affection should be shown is an individual experience. It is one that could probably not be accepted as the 'norm', perhaps if you hug them they will pull away because they don't like the experience of being touched.

Sudden noises can cause people with autism to become easily startled as their senses are greatly heightened. They respond best to routines as changes in their daily pattern of living can cause them to become extremely anxious: rigorous routine helps them to maintain a degree of control over their lives that, in many ways, are dominated by the will of somebody else's control. There are some individuals with autism for whom repetitive movements represent their fragile control over their lives and, to them, mean that the world will be all right that day. Different objects and ideas can represent real occurrences in their lives: perhaps avoiding all foods with a certain color, or counting the number of red cars they pass on the way to school: a certain number meaning it will be a good day and a different number resulting in a bad day, with all subsequent emotion and behavior stemming from these arbitrary encounters.

Anne is a full-time, professional writer, educated to MA level. Her specialist field is medical and healthcare subjects, as well as a profound interest in the latest technology and scientific research.

Anne is currently re-developing her website, [http://writtenbyanne.com].

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A Definition of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autistic Spectrum Disorders are written about more readily in today's society. This may be due to better identification of Autistic Spectrum Disorders and at an earlier age.

Teams of speech and language therapists will see many children who are diagnosed or at the early stages of diagnosis of an Autistic Spectrum Disorder also seeing young adults who are living with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

Working with local multi-disciplinary teams, to help families consider a diagnosis at an earlier age. This has more recently involved, joint nursery visits with Pediatricians and Educational Psychologists to consider the child's presenting needs in a range of settings. Through such joint assessments the team of professionals have been able to more consistently support families considering a diagnosis.

It is our experience that families report they would have preferred a much more unified approach from the differing disciplines supporting their child. It is also crucial when considering such a diagnosis that the family is able to build up a rapport with the professionals and that information is shared readily and sensitively along the way. We are sad to hear if parents report that information has been shared insensitively and without due time and care to explain their findings further.

It is important to find Speech and Language Therapists who have a special interest in children and adults with Autistic Spectrum Disorders who can offer some extensive experience in supporting the assessment procedures and providing a therapy program to support the individual.

Managers of speech therapists will have a specialist interest within this group of children and young adults and take pride in striving to ensure that they know about the latest approaches so that therapists are informed to use a personalized combination of these approaches to suit the child, young person and their family.

-- What is Autistic Spectrum Disorder?

People with autism have difficulties communicating, forming relationships with others and find it hard to make sense of the world around them. Autism is a life-long brain disorder that is normally diagnosed in early childhood.

Repetitive behaviors are common across the spectrum, which includes Asperger's Syndrome. This is a form of autism in which speech development and IQ are normal, but in which social disability can be compounded by depression or other mental health problems.

Autism is a spectrum disorder varying in symptoms, severity and impact from person to person and ranging from those with no speech and limited cognitive ability to those of high IQ and typically highly-focused interests and abilities.

Some people with autism demonstrate significantly challenging behaviors.

A distinction is made in assessing the needs of people with autism between those who have an IQ of less than 70, who are described as low functioning and classified as having a learning disability, and those who have an IQ above 70 who are often described as high functioning.

Some interesting facts about ASD;

Boys are four times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls.

In total more than half a million people in the UK have an autistic spectrum disorder.

Autism affects people of all racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.

There are estimated to be around 540,000 people with an autistic spectrum disorder in the UK.

Chris Tyrrell writes for Integrated Treatment Services who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders. Visit the website to learn more about this subject.

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Applied Behavior Analysis Treats Numerous Autism Spectrum Disorders

When asked to describe a child with autism spectrum disorder, it can be difficult. There are a number of different conditions that fall within this line of diagnoses, and children can experience the disorders to remarkably varying degrees. The common thread between children with these disorders, however, is that there is a fundamental difference in the way that they interact and learn. For virtually all children with an autism spectrum disorder, a different method of teaching is important. ABA therapy is proven to offer great benefit to students who have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.

Applied Behavior Analysis therapy works by encouraging behavior patterns and repetitive actions in order to teach basic tasks. These exercises also help teach the mind how to learn by developing new neural connections that allow children to literally learn how to learn. These new pathways help children learn to connect the various parts of a task or concept together so that they can understand how and why things work. This is an essential part of learning, but many teachers fail to understand that autistic children do not innately have this ability.

When a school system makes use of a DVD training course and supplemental tools and materials to teach educators how to employ ABA therapy, it can prove highly rewarding for students. A large percentage of children with an autism spectrum disorder can be taught how to function normally within a classroom setting. It is not that these children are incapable of learning or performing well, only that they need extra help in order to be able to do so. Through proper Applied Behavior Analysis therapy, these students can often be afforded all of the same opportunities for education as their peer group.

While typically called a treatment for autism, it is important to realize that ABA therapy is effective for treating the entire range of conditions listed on the autism spectrum disorder diagnostic chart as well as many other behavioral conditions. The result of ABA therapy will be different for every individual child, but studies show that skills learned through early ABA are carried with the child for the rest of their life. ABA is an excellent way of preparing children for a lifetime of learning and social interaction. Employing the technique in schools and ensuring that educators are equipped to handle children with autism spectrum disorder is certainly the best method of ensuring that these children are properly taught from the earliest age possible.

Garrett Butch is the father of a 6 year old with autism and the founder of Maximum Potential Group.

Maximum Potential has developed courses that train parents and school systems how to work with children with autism.

http://www.maximumpotentialkids.com

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Autism Spectrum Disorders - What Does the Term "Autism Spectrum Disorder" (ASD) Mean?

Medical professionals often use the term Autism Spectrum Disorders (or ASD for short) to explain the large variety of symptoms, signs and characteristics associated with a diagnosis of Autism.

As we all know, more and more children are getting diagnosed with Autism everyday. According to the Center for Disease Control, Autism now occurs in one out of every 150 individuals. Some researchers account for the increase in Autism due to us better understanding the entire Autism spectrum.

The Autism spectrum, however, is sometimes difficult for parents to understand. Some parents say things like: "My child has Autism, but he does not do that!" or they will ask "My child will interact with other kids, does he still have Autism?" The answer is simply that Autism is a spectrum, but what exactly does this mean?

A spectrum means that there are children with Autism symptoms on one side, the other side, and everywhere in between. For example, let's take a look at communication and the Autism spectrum. You might have one child on one end of the spectrum that is non-verbal and will only use gestures to tell his or her needs. Then, you might have a child on the other end of the spectrum that can tell you every small detail and then some about his favorite dinosaurs. Both of these children have Autism, but they are on opposite ends of the Autism spectrum for their communication skills.

All of the fundamental deficits of Autism are a spectrum: communication, social skills, and behavior. Each child with Autism has skills that vary on each of the spectrums. Also, all of the types of autistic disorders make up this "Autism spectrum". The different types of autistic disorders include: Autism, Asperger Syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS).

For more information on Autism Spectrum Disorders including signs, symptoms and treatment options, you should download our Free Special Report on Autism. This popular, jam-packed resource guide is available for download right now at http://www.AutismSymptomsChecklist.org

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Autism Is a Gift!

Too often, we tend to think of autism as a disability. However, the word "disability" is typically defined as "lack of ability." It may be true that people with autism can lack some abilities, such as speech, the ability to potty train, empathy, withstanding touch or emotional control. Additionally, children with autism spectrum disorders often cannot tolerate everyday situations such as shopping, eating out or driving due to the inability to filter sensory input. These issues can be frustrating and downright depressing for parents, family and friends.

We must remember, however, that autism is not a disability. Autism grants its own gifts to those who have it. Those gifts can manifest themselves as stellar mathematical abilities, memory, creative writing, visual arts, or even acting. Some individuals with autism spectrum disorder even make fantastic teachers. In this role, the communication abilities of the individual shine in ways that parents, families and peers initially thought would never happen.

One organization, The Huckleberry Project Foundation in Oklahoma City, aimed to showcase the talents of autistic individuals through animation, storyboarding, voiceover work, and creative writing. Although Huckleberry was unable to maintain funding, the lesson learned was that the talents of autistic people are frequently as creative if not more so than neuro-typical individuals.

Many people with autism -- especially those with Asperger's or other high-functioning forms of autism -- gravitate to the fields of math and/or science. Some think that many of our greatest scientific minds had autism. The autistic brain often thinks of ordinary, mundane things in our world in entirely different ways and also grants extreme focus. These gifts sometimes allow the autistic individual with the ability to grasp the intricacies of physics, engineering and subjects such as quantum mechanics that neuro-typical individuals might find impossibly daunting.

With neuro-typical children, parents have the luxury of focusing on the child's gifts, because the parent is not having to deal with other behavioral issues such as the lack of potty training. As a result, parents of autistic children tend not to have as much time to nurture the gifts that autism bestows on their children. This is tough, and there is no way around that. However, focusing on the remarkable abilities of the autistic child must be done. Doing so is healthier for the child and, quite frankly, for the parents.

People with autism spectrum disorders can be quirky, profane, socially inappropriate, loud, emotionally uncontrolled and absolutely, undoubtedly talented beyond belief. As one autistic young lady put it: "We are NOT retarded. We are autistic, quirky, awesome f***ing people!" Somehow this seems to sum up the issue better than any Ph.d.'s assessment or scholarly paper ever could.

Shawn Garza is founder of http://LoveMyAutism.com and is current president of the Autism Society of Central Oklahoma http://www.asofok.org

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Brain Training for Functional Disconnect Syndrome and Other Disabilities on the Autism Spectrum

We have discussed the way nerves communicate and how they decide when they are going to send impulses to other nerve cells. We know that groups of nerves collect information and fire together in pathways that stimulate distant parts of the brain. We also know that it is essential for different areas of the brain to communicate well with each other for us to be able to do the amazing complicated things we do with our brains.

The brain is divided into the left and right hemispheres. In these hemispheres the vast array of jobs that must be done are divided up and organized. Each hemisphere is also separated into special sections or lobes. These are the frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobes. The parietal lobe is mostly concerned with sensation of the body and locating where things happen. There is a map of the opposite side of the body inside each parietal lobe. So the left parietal lobe of the brain feels everything on the right side of the body and vice versa. The same type of thing happens for the occipital lobes sensing vision, the temporal lobes sensing hearing and the frontal lobes controlling muscle movements on the opposite side of the body. The frontal lobe is also what we call the executive center because it is responsible for making decisions and carrying out actions.

Now, imagine you are in a toy store. A train on its track is making its way around the store chugging and whistling. You turn your head to see where it is. As it comes into view you see an egg on one of the cars and you want to pick it up. It sounds like a simple thing but when you really think about it, it involves the whole brain and is quite complex. First, the ears are stimulated, changing the sound vibrations in the air to electrical impulses traveling along nerves. The impulses are sent to the temporal lobe so we can know what we are hearing and to the parietal lobe so we can know from where we are hearing it. The temporal lobes compare all the different frequencies in the sounds and their relative volumes and figure out what that whistling sound is. At the same time both parietal lobes take information from the ears and compare between the two sides which one hears the sound louder and if the volumes are changing to figure out where the sound is coming from.

The temporal and parietal lobes then send their perceptions forward to the frontal lobe so it can decide what they are, what they are doing, whether the sounds are dangerous or not and what to do about it. The frontal lobe then fires the muscles in the neck and moves the muscles in the eyes in perfect sequence to pinpoint the position of the toy train and then track its trajectory. In order to do this, it needs the occipital lobe which is now receiving visual stimulation from the eyes and forwarding it to the frontal lobe. The sound from each ear, the sight from both eyes, and the position sense in all the muscles involved must be synchronized by an internal timer so that differences in lengths of nerves and processing times do not confuse the frontal lobe like watching a movie where the sound is delayed so you see the lips moving but the words don't make sense. I haven't even started to talk about what it's going to take to judge the speed of this train, time the movement of the arm, sequence the firing of the muscles in the arm and hand, and judge and re-judge the pressure on the egg so we don't break it.

Without communication, timing and sequencing within the brain we simply can not operate smoothly in the world. As we know many of our children are experiencing functional disconnections of these different parts of their brains that we may have previously described as "sensory integration problems", clumsiness, poor eye contact, unusually high pain threshold, difficulty following directions or so many other things. The Listening Program, the Integrative Metronome, the other therapies we do in our office and the exercises we have patients do at home are intended to connect or reconnect the different areas of the brain in the proper sequence so our kids can perform the majestic complexity that we all take for granted.

Dr. Martin Rukeyser DC, is a Chiropractor who lives and practices in Port Saint Lucie, FL. He maintains a solo chiropractic office called Life Chiropractic http://www.lifechiropracticpsl.com and is also one of the co-founders of the Brain Training Center of the Treasure Coast http://www.flbraintraining.com - a practice dedicated to improving the lives of children and adults with Autism, ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia, Aspergers, and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Marty has long held a personal and professional interest in brain function and development and the connection between a healthy body and brain.

Dr. Rukeyser graduated Magna Cum Laude from Life University Chiropractic College in 1998. Prior to coming to Florida, he directed two clinics in a medically under-served community in in rural Mississippi. Dr. Marty, was raised in Long Island, NY and met his wife Ashley while in Mississippi. They have two sons, Ben and Jonah.

Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Consists of Five Neurodevelopmental Disorders Including Autism

Pervasive developmental disorder is a number of neurodevelopmental disorders classified under one umbrella. They are called either pervasive developmental disorder or, as they are more commonly known, autism spectrum disorders. There are five disorders included in this group. The most common one is known as autistic disorder, or Kanner's autism, and is considered the most severe. Asperger's syndrome is the milder form. They both share the same symptoms, verbal and non-verbal communication difficulties, lacking the ability for imaginative play with repetitive play instead and poor social interaction skills.

A third is Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise specified. This one is for all the people who have many of the symptoms of these neurodevelopmental disorders but not enough symptoms to be definitely placed in one category or another. So, as they are not specifically sufferers of either Asperger's syndrome or Kanner's autism or either of the regressive autisms, they get lumped into this category.

The regressive autisms are more frightening because the child starts out making normal progress, which then not only stops but also disappears. All the progress made by the child is gone in a short period of time leaving the child to start again and the parent's completely bewildered. Both of these are very rare but they do occur. Rett Syndrome has another oddity; almost all those that suffer from this disorder are girls. The other autism disorders are more likely to affect boys, though girls do have autism too. The regression with Rett Syndrome begins as early as six months of age and not later than a year and a half. The child stops any of the developmental progress she has made, stops being that cuddly baby and pulls away, then begins to show the signs of autism. She also loses control of her feet and constantly wrings her hands.

The other regressive type of autism is called Childhood Disintegrative Disorder. This is worse to watch as the child meets all their milestones including speaking until they hit the age of three or at the latest four years of age. Then in the space of a few months it's all lost. They lose their sunny disposition, the ability to talk, and they can no longer control their bowels or bladder despite having already been potty trained. This regression can be very confusing for the child and earth shattering for the parents who watch their smiley child lose all interest in normal physical contact.

No matter which pervasive development disorder your child has early intervention is a must to give them the best chance in life. This should include occupation, speech and physical therapies.

If you think that there is "something not right" with your child you must find out as soon as possible if autism is the issue. Treatments are less effective with each passing day as we grow older, so find out now with the complete autism resource for determining symptoms and goes into depth about ALL treatment options for autism, natural AND medical. So do your family a favor and check out the information at Autism Symptoms.

You can also make extra money to help pay for treatment and training by telling people about this helpful resource. You earn $26.30 for each book sold, so start making money by clicking Autism Symptoms Affiliates

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Colostrum For Autism

Autism, better known today as autism spectrum disorders (ASD), is a pervasive development disorder (PDD). Through the introduction of colostrum into the daily regime with its many "whole food" constituents can have a major beneficial impact on the varying degrees of impairment in communication skills, social interactions, and restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior.

The autism spectrum disorders are more common in the pediatric population than some better-known diseases, like diabetes, spinal bifida or Down syndrome. A recent study in the United States estimated that 3.4 of every 1,000 children 3-10 years of age have autism. Males are four times more likely to have autism than females.

The hallmark feature of autism is impaired social interaction. As early as infancy, a baby with autism may be unresponsive to people or focus intently on one item, to the exclusion of others, for long periods of time. Some affected children appear to develop normally and then withdraw and become indifferent to social engagement. Children with autism also usually fail to respond to their name and often avoid eye contact with other people.

Many children with autism engage in repetitive movements, such as rocking and twirling, or in self-abusive behavior, like biting or head-banging. They also tend to start speaking later than other children and may refer to themselves by name instead of "I" or "me". Some affected children speak in a sing-song voice about a narrow range of favorite topics, with little regard for the interests of the person to whom they are speaking. In addition, they ordinarily do not know how to play inter-actively with other children.

Children with autism spectrum disorders also have a reduced sensitivity to pain, but are abnormally sensitive to sound, touch or other sensory stimulations. Some sounds - a vacuum cleaner, a ringing telephone or a sudden storm - can cause some of the children to cover their ears and scream. Many of the affected children find the feel of clothes touching their skin to be unbearable. These unusual reactions may contribute to behavioral symptoms, such as resistance to being hugged or cuddled.

The most severe forms of autism spectrum disorders are Rett syndrome and childhood disintegrative disorder. Rett syndrome almost exclusively occurs in females, with the frequency being one per 10,000 to 15,000. After a period of development, usually between 6 and 18 months, the child's mental and social development regress - she no longer responds to her parents and pulls away from any social contact. If she has been talking, she stops; she cannot control her feet; and she wrings her hands.

In addition to the behavioral and social impairments, children with autism spectrum disorders often have one or more of the following associated complications.

• Mental retardation. Some areas of ability may be normal, while others may be especially weak. • Seizures. One in four affected children develops seizures, often starting in early childhood or adolescence. • Fragile X syndrome. A defective segment of the X chromosome is the most common form of inherited mental retardation and affects 2-5% of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. • Tuberous Sclerosis. 1-5% of individuals with autism spectrum disorders have tuberous sclerosis, a rare genetic disorder that causes benign tumors to grow in the brain and other vital organs.

Recognition of autism as a medical syndrome more than 50 years ago led to a search for causative risk factors. Various research organizations came to the conclusion that mercury poisoning due to the use of thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, in childhood vaccines was the responsible agent. Thimerosal was never used as a preservative in some childhood vaccines (measles, mumps, polio) and was removed from others (DPT) several years ago. Despite the fact that no childhood vaccines have contained thimerosal for several years, the incidence of autism rose from 0.3 per 1,000 births in 1993, to 1.5 per 1,000 births in 2003; to current estimates of 3.4 per 1,000 births.

It is now believed that genetics and the environment both play a role. Recent studies strongly suggest that some people have a genetic predisposition to autism. In families with one autistic child, the risk of having a second child with the disorder is approximately 5%, which is greater than the risk for the general population. A number of genes linked to the disorder have been identified. A recent study at the University of Chicago identified a micro-deletion on a particular chromosome in affected families. The micro-deletion represented the loss of about 25 known genes, with 12 of them being part of a single genetic network that includes genes involved in cell-to-cell signaling and interaction. At least three of these genes are primarily expressed in the brain and are thought to influence behavior. Studies at other institutions have identified micro-deletions on other chromosomes with similar consequences in affected families.

Other studies of people with autism spectrum disorders have found irregularities in several regions of the brain. It has also been shown that affected individuals have abnormal levels of certain chemical neurotransmitters, like serotonin and glutathione, in the brain. The combined abnormalities suggest that autism spectrum disorders could result from early disruption of brain development in the fetus caused by defects in genes that control brain growth and that regulate how neurons communicate with each other. It is possible that sudden, rapid head growth may be an early warning signal that will lead to early diagnosis and intervention.

The life of an individual with an autism spectrum disorder can often be further complicated by allergic reactions to various foods. At one time, it was believed that such allergic reactions, particularly to gluten and certain proteins found in dairy products were the cause of the disorders. As a consequence, specialized diets were developed and falsely touted as "cures" for the disorders. A further complication can be frequent occurrences of gastrointestinal infections with organisms that are part of the natural flora, particularly yeast (Candida species). These issues appear to indicate that the immune system may also be compromised in some, if not all, individuals with autism spectrum disorders.

The Benefits of Bovine Colostrum

Colostrum is an amazing material that, like many other things in nature, reflects the evolutionary development of a unique composition that will serve the needs of the offspring for which it is intended. The most unique of the colostrums from mammalian species occurs in bovines, where transfer of biological substances across the placenta to the developing fetus does not occur and everything required for the development of a healthy, productive offspring is provided in the colostrum. As such, bovine colostrum provides a specialized resource that offers the broadest possible spectrum of biologically active substances that can promote the development of a sound body mass, assure effective and efficient metabolism and support the activation and maintenance of a fully functional immune system capable of combating potential insults from microorganisms and other deleterious sources. Bovine colostrum is also compatible with almost any species and can readily convey its full benefits to humans by routine dietary supplementation without any significant adverse effects.

The active substances found in high quality first milking bovine colostrum may afford significant benefits to individuals with autism spectrum disorders.

Glutathione Deficiency

In addition to its role as a neurotransmitter, glutathione is the most significant antioxidant produced by a cell. It participates directly in the neutralization of free radicals and reactive oxygen compounds and maintains other antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E, in their active forms. In addition, glutathione can interact with many organic and inorganic substances and assist the body in detoxifying them.

Glutathione ingested by mouth has negligible uptake and, thus, it must be manufactured inside of the cell. It is a tripeptide made up of three amino acids, cysteine, glycine and glutamic acid. Both glycine and glutamic acid are readily available in the diet of most individuals, but cysteine is not, making it the rate-limiting substance for glutathione formation within a cell. As the free amino acid, cysteine is potentially toxic and is broken down in the gastrointestinal tract and the blood. The most stable form of this amino acid is as cystine, which is two cysteine molecules linked together by a disulfide bond. Cystine is not broken down by stomach acid or proteolytic enzymes and is readily absorbed. It is rapidly reduced to two cysteine molecules when it enters a cell. In addition, cystine can cross the blood/brain barrier.

The proteins albumin, lactoferrin and lactalbumin found in substantial amounts in first milking bovine colostrum are excellent resources for cystine. The amount of albumin is highest in first milking colostrum and diminishes with time after birth. Transitional milk, obtained at 96 hours (4 days) after birth of the calf, contains only about 20% of the albumin found in first milking bovine colostrum taken within 6 hours after birth. Thus, first milking bovine colostrum, obtained within 6 hours after the birth of a calf, contains approximately 5x more albumin than milk and, therefore, contributes at least 5x more cystine from albumin than milk.

Immune System Deficiency

Very early in life, the foundation of the immune system is established within a small gland-like structure in the upper chest, the thymus. It is within this structure that cells mature that will determine the appropriate type of response that the immune system should mount after an insult, whether from an invading microorganism or via an allergen. Cells from the thymus will also regulate the quality and intensity of that response.

Colostrum is an amazing resource of substances necessary to strengthen and support the immune system, potentiate the development and repair of cells and tissues; and assure the effective and efficient metabolism of nutrients. However, it is very important to recognize that all colostrum products are not the same and, despite the claims made by their manufacturers, they do not all contain every beneficial component at an optimum concentration. In many cases, they have been manipulated and may be missing some of the essential components. When choosing a colostrum product, one needs to be certain that it is made from only first milking bovine colostrum collected within 6 hours after birth of the calf and that the colostrum is "complete" and that none of the components have been removed, including the fat.

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