Autism News Potpourri II

by Dora Raymaker · 2009-02-02 16:00:00 UTC
Topics:

Autism News Potpouri II

a bowl of potporri from aboveOnce more I'm looking back through fragments of draft and saved news stories from last week, closing browser tabs, seeking anything important I missed reporting on--I find a lot of nearly nifty stuff and none of it manifesting into an entire post. If this pattern keeps up a "Monday Potpourri" may become a regular feature here... Last week's items:

1. A Massachusetts teen has been creating picture cards for autistic children to use with first responders, as reported in the Patriot Ledger. The teen is also working on a binder to help police find lost autistic children (what about other kids who may wander?). Training is also being provided "to first responders so they were able to recognize situations involving children and adults with autism." This issue of emergency personnel re. autistics is truly a critical issue, and the reason why this article never made it into a main post is that I ended up creating these horrible multi-page out of control drafts on it. Clearly, emergency response is something I'll need to address coherently in the future (and in multiple small, actually readable, pieces).

2. The New Jersey Adults with Autism Task Force (AATF) has put up an online survey with the stated purpose, "The purpose of the NJAATF is to develop a comprehensive and actionable plan for meeting the various needs of adults with autism living in the State of New Jersey. This survey will provide valuable insight in forming the recommendations included in this plan." Super nifty idea (but you can only take the survey if you live in the state of New Jersey). Perhaps an a usable idea for other states?

3. In a little interview for the Orange County Register, UCLA education professor Connie Kasari discussed her recent research showing, "The best way to help autistic students fit in at school is by training the child's typical peers." I did go looking for the primary source but the research does appear to have been published yet (likely one of the "in press" articles listed on Kasari's site), so there's not a whole lot else to say (yet).

Dora Raymaker
PREVIOUS STORY:
My Son Is Not a Monster
NEXT STORY:
Why I'm Asking Aetna to Cover My Surgery

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.