Autism from a different angle

A father photographs the world of his autistic son

This is the title to the article on the photos taken by Timothy Archibald of his son Elijah. The project, Echolilia, documents some of the behaviours that Elijah engages in. Truly amazing photos. You can see a selection of the photos on this webpage

This project was done in 2010 and is available in a big, coloured photo book which are signed by both father and son. Check out this website for more details: http://timothyarchibald.blogspot.sg/2010/05/echolilia-book.html

Who knew Heathrow had a heart?

(photo copied from the BBC website where this story was reported. See link for the full story)

This is such a great story to wake up to. No Heathrow airport did not have to do any of what they had done to assist Aaran Stewart. Yet they went out of their way, time and again just to assist a passenger. I agree with some of the critics out there that no one can go to such lengths to assist everyone with a disability but it is heartwarming to know that Heathrow for one- is trying.

Read the full story here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23989422

“Forget what you know”

http://tedxteen.com/talks/tedxteen-2012/111-jacob-barnett-forget-what-you-know

Check out this video! Very cool talk by Jacob Barnett who offers his own insight about how we views some very complex stuff! He also talks about how what people could ‘see’ was very different from what was happening inside him.

Jacob Barnett is an American mathematician and child prodigy. At 8 years old, Jacob began sneaking into the back of college lectures at IUPUI. After being diagnosed with autism since the age of two and placed in his school’s special ed. program, Jacob’s teachers and doctors were astonished to learn he was able to teach calculus to college students…

Talk in Singapore- 19 July (Friday) 3 – 5pm.

I will be presenting a talk hosted by Asian Women’s Welfare Association (AWWA) on:

Inner Speech – What is it and Why it is Important in Autism:
Presenting Results from the Study in Singapore and New Zealand

• Friday 19 July 2013
• 3 – 5 pm (Registration starts at 230pm)
• Address: AWWA Resource Centre, Level 3
  11 Lorong Napiri,
  Spore 547532

There will be a $5 charge (by AWWA) for refreshments. Have a look at the poster for more information.
Do come by if you are interested and there will also be a Question and Answer session at the end.

CLICK BELOW:

Inner Speech – FLYER

I would suggest you email them to register your attendance and then pay the $5 when you arrive if you do not want to send a cheque. All collections are done by AWWA and will go directly towards offsetting the cost of refreshments. Also, if you have any specific questions that you would like me to address during the talk, please send them to me at drpennytok@gmail.com.

Release of DSM-5 and changes to the definition of autistic disorder

Taken from the Facebook feed of the National Autistic Society of UK published on 20 May 2013.

“The fifth edition of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) will be released this weekend.DSM-5 is a very important American manual (guide) that talks about what autism is and what its symptoms are. We will keep you informed with the latest information so that you know exactly what’s happening in the UK. We will also be holding a live chat soon about the issue – more details shortly.

DSM-5 is very influential worldwide. However we don’t expect that there will be changes made right away to the way that autism and Asperger syndrome are diagnosed in the UK. This is because the main document used in the UK is the World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and not the DSM. The ICD is due to be updated in 2015. However, in the long term, DSM-5 may well influence how we describe autism.

From what we understand, DSM-5 will include some changes to how autism spectrum disorders are defined. For example, some of the words used today such as autistic disorder, Asperger disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder and PDD-NOS (pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified) will no longer be used. Instead a single term will be used – autism spectrum disorder. When people go for a diagnosis in the future, instead of receiving a diagnosis of one of these disorders, they would be given a diagnosis of ‘autism spectrum disorder’.

Everyone who has a diagnosis on the autism spectrum, including those with Asperger syndrome, will keep an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. No one will “lose” their autism spectrum diagnosis because of the changes.

We’ll be publishing more about the latest information from DSM-5 and how it will affect people in the UK on our website soon. We’ll post to Facebook and Twitter (@autism) when that’s available.”

Latest finding on vaccination and autism- NO link found

This is great news. A latest study has found that there is NO link between vaccination and autism. It is very understable that parents are afraid that vaccinations will cause autism in their children although scientists have all along stated that there is no such link. Thanks to media hype and scaremongeringby various TV personalities, this fear has unduly risked children’s health and lives around the globe. Have a look at this news link by CBS, and the link to the article “Increasing Exposure to Antibody-Stimulating Proteins and Polysaccharides in Vaccines Is Not Associated with Risk of Autism” by Stefano, Price and Weintraub (2013) can be found on the CBS site (click Journal of Pediatrics on that website). Yo umay also like to see my previous post on this same topic.

Autism Awareness events in Singapore

The National University of Singapore Rotaract Club is hosting their event titled Waves of Hope Swimathon. With this event, they hope to raise both awareness of autism as well as funds for Pathlight School. (Singapore’s autism-focused school that offers mainstream curriculum). Last year the group raised over $20,000 for the Singapore Children’s Society and Children’s Cancer Foundation.   So if you like to swim, know someone who likes to swim orwould simply like to help by making a donation or to help out in any other way, do check out their sites.

have a look at their Facebook page and their webpage for more information.  The event will be held on 7 September 2013.  (Image taken from Waves of Hope Facebook page)

Animated Movie- Mary & Max. About autism and …. friendship.

I have just watched this movie last night called Mary and Max. It is a movie about Mary (an 8-year-old Australian girl and a 44-year-old man named Max who lives in America). Mary and Max is a movie that deals with some tough and real issues but is also a movie filled with many happy insights, inspirational moments and simple pleasures. However, if you are as sensitive as I am- you should have a box of tissues with you. Oh, did I mention that the animation was also superb???

I was drawn to this movie for obvious reasons- it involved autism, but also because it was a story about… friendship. Anyone who works with autism or knows anything about autism, knows that these two concepts are often mutually exclusive. Interestingly though, this movie touches on the difficulties in making friends not just for people with autism but how it can also be extremely difficult for people without autism. It deals with family life, maturity, trust, mutual understanding and mutual acceptance. Without giving too much away, the movie also portrays a different view of autism. Max was born at a time when autism was not even known yet, thus making acceptance and understanding of his condition even more difficult for those around him.  The movie cleverly depicts the struggles faced by an adult with autism in the different aspects of daily life. Mary and Max the movie also show the happy moments in Max’s life which many films about autism tend to neglect.
Mary and Max definitely has its laugh out loud moments and any hard issues are usually depicted with an ironic sense of humour. It is a very simple, down to earth movie that will no doubt tug at your heart strings and set you thinking. As it is a movie made for a mainstream audience, I am sure some people might think that some moments in the movies are exagerrations or broad generalisations but I think the movie still hits its mark. I definitely recommend this movie to others.

Do you have any other good movies to recommend?

Religion and autism

While I am embarking on a new area of research of religion, rituals and autism, I stumbled upon this relatively old article. It was very disturbing on a number of levels. I was really disturbed to hear about the low levels of understanding of autism in our community. The death of Terrance Cottrel Jr. should NOT have happened. Not especially in the current day and age with advances in Science. Most mainstream religious groups are wise enough to differentiate between religious beliefs and idiocracy. Most reilgious groups offer valuable support for families who are undergoing trying times raising their children with special need but sadly superstitious hocus-pocus still prevails in some parts of the world… Public education CANNOT be undermined and efforts to help people understand more about disabilities and mental health issues need to be reinforced.

Read more about this at http://www.autismsupportnetwork.com/news/autism-and-god-factor-887623

A new way to diagnose autism- at 6 months

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/ami_klin_a_new_way_to_diagnose_autism.html

In this TED Talk, Dr Ami Klin shares with us he and his team’s new breakthrough in identifying differences in eye gaze patterns in infants as young as 6 months old. He shares with us what he calls a ‘developmental chart’ of eye gaze development and explains the differences in patterns between typically developing infants and those with autism. He also pushes for a universal provision of services to provide support to those with autism from as early an age as possible.

Definitely worth listening to.