The Helpful Pointer

Your child has autism and you’ve been told that social skills deficits are to be expected. So what can you do to help your child learn how to behave properly, make friends, and get along in the world?

Like me, you may have been told that your child needs to be in a school setting with other children to be socialized. Let’s consider for a minute what kind of social skills a child with autism may learn in school.

1. In a school or classroom setting, your child is exposed to both positive and negative socialization. This isn’t really debated by any of us who have been in school. The question is whether or not the “good” socialization outweighs the “bad” socialization.

2. There are typically two placements for children with autism when it comes to schools. Each comes with its own drawbacks as far as social skills are concerned.

For those who are lower-functioning, there is the special ed classroom. If your child is placed in a special ed class, they may actually pick up negative behaviors from the other students. Children who have never said a bad word in their lives come home with all sorts of words that the parents know they didn’t teach their child. Or maybe a child who wasn’t aggressive previously starts imitating the hitting, biting, or screaming of a classmate. That’s not what I think most parents are hoping for when they are told to put their child in school to learn social skills.

If your child is higher-functioning, they may be mainstreamed in a regular ed classroom. Will the typical behaviors of their peers be the positive socialization you hoped for? Unfortunately, many times children with autism become an easy target for bullies who cause them physical and emotional harm. Other classmates, who may be nice enough themselves, may still go along with cruel jokes or name calling at the expense of a child with autism just because they don’t want to be ostracized from their peers. Whether it’s bullying, teasing, or isolation, children who are “different” and don’t possess the same social abilities as their peers often experience great difficulties just trying to survive a day at school. These children often exhibit signs of tremendous stress and anxiety, depression, and some even contemplate suicide.

So are there any alternatives? Families who are concerned about the educational and social well-being of their children often choose to teach them at home. Home-schooling offers a better opportunity for positive socialization while drastically limiting the possibility of negative social experiences. Home-schooled children are not isolated or “unsocialized”. Home-schooling simply provides the opportunity for parents to expose their children to a variety of social situations when they feel their child is ready to handle them. Most communities have home-school groups that offer park days, sports teams, special classes or lessons, as well as informal get-togethers for home-schooled children.

It must be noted that children with autism do not learn social skills simply by being with typical peers regardless of the setting — school or home. In order to master social skills, autistic children require specific instruction and opportunities to practice skills first in settings with one other child, then with two children, then in small groups, and then in large groups. To place a child with autism into a classroom situation (or any group situation) and assume that they will learn beneficial social skills just because other children are present is not supported by research or real life (See point #4 in the open letter from Dr. Ivar Lovaas, autism expert, at http://featbc.org/why_lovaas/letter.html).

Common sense tells us that we don’t teach a child with autism to swim by throwing them into the deep end of a swimming pool and telling them to start swimming. Likewise, if we want children with autism to “swim” in the social world, we can’t just put them in a situation that virtually ensures their failure. We must teach them step-by-step and give them plenty of time to practice their social skills in a supervised setting. We can accomplish this via one-on-one play dates with peers, social skills small groups, sibling/parent relationships, community outings, etc.

So the next time someone suggests that you should put your child with autism in school simply because of their need for socialization, consider exactly what that means for your child. There’s not much compelling evidence to suggest that inclusion in school settings is accomplishing positive socialization or excellence in education for most children, especially children with autism. We can do better at home.

Ergonomics is a term dating only as far back as the 1940s. It well describes the science of adapting work and working conditions to suit the worker instead of the other way around - the worker adapting to the machine.

One of the most interesting things about the science of ergonomics (or perhaps the most frustrating) is the fact that all individuals are of different height, weight, arms and hand size, etc. People have so many different dimensions that the combinations are practically endless. So ergonomics can be seen as a sort of an ongoing convoluted puzzle with missing pieces.

With the immense expansion in the use of computers and associated equipment in the workplace comes the need for less injury and stress to the workers themselves. The long hours many of us spend interacting with our office equipment affect us in many ways - and not always in a positive way.

Unfortunately, gone is the physical variety in our work tasks, as almost all we need is within reach at our desk. And thus comes work-related injuries and other stresses.

Think office-related injuries are a joke? Think again. The 5 main injury sites for an office worker include the neck, shoulders, lower back, wrist and yes, the ankles and legs. If pain is impeding your ability to go to work - that affects your weekly paycheck which in turn, affects your creditors, which in turn affects your whole family’s lifestyle.

That’s why office furniture manufacturers have stepped in to offer more ergonomically correct chairs and workspace equipment for a healthier work environment.

Aeron chairs were designed for long-term seating for computer work, general office work, and casual or formal meetings by using the principles of ergonomics to minimize back pressure and strain on all areas of the torso.

Reggie Andersen is a home business office advocate. He recommends persistence and a healthy work environment including a strict schedule, good ethics and comfort. Aeron Chairs and Ergonomic Computer Chairs and Health Articles

Probably the most famous psychic today is John Edward who is the
star of the amazingly popular show seen on the Sci Fi channel,
“Crossing Over With John Edward.”

The show premiered in July of 2000. It’s a half hour program
that has Edward appearing in a dark theater surrounded by risers
that are packed with audience members, all of which would pay
enormous amounts of money just to be in the same room with this
man. The typical show features Edward walking around the risers
making comments like, “I am getting very strong vibrations about
a guy named Dave over here. I don’t know what it means. Maybe
Dave is someone who has recently left this world…” And the
spiel goes on and on. Ultimately there will be someone in the
audience who nods in response to these statements, possibly
signifying that Edward is right on the mark about something.
Sometimes they will even shout or break down in tears. It’s
great television but many sceptics feel that’s all it is.

The truth is, Edward’s show is nothing new. He is just one in a
long line of many who have done this sort of thing, from the Fox
sisters in the 1800’s to current celebrates like Rosemary Altea,
Sylvia Browne, and James Van Praagh. What is unique about Edward
however is that he seems to be the right kind of psychic, who
just happens to be in the right place at the right time.

Part of his success probably has a lot to do with the public’s
fascination with the occult. A recent Gallop pole indicates that
20% of Americans believe in one form of the occult or another,
many believing that you can communicate with the dead, which
just happens to be John Edward’s specialty. Oddly, 24% of women
believe in communicating with the dead while only 16% of men
believe this can be done. This may or may not be a comment on
the gullibility of women and men. As for religions, 27% of
Catholics believe in talking to the dead as opposed to only 16%
of Protestants and 9% of Jews.

Whatever the reasons are for these numbers, Edward has cashed in
on them. His show is on 5 days a week and the money that he
makes from this can only be guessed at. His show is said to be
responsible for a 33% increase in the Sci Fi channel’s ratings
to a daily average of about 533,000 households. More
importantly, the program is attracting more female viewers to a
station that previously was male dominated viewing. The audience
for Crossing Over is over 60% female.

Between his TV show and national exposure from appearances on
The Today Show, This Morning, and Dateline, this has made his
book “One Last Time” a national best seller.

And of course with all of this the question most asked is, “Is
he the real thing?” Critics who have charted his predictions
have estimated that his accuracy is only about 10 to 20%. Of
course they also noted that the volume of his predictions far
exceeds any modern day psychic. Whether John Edward is legit or
just another great entertainer there is no denying that he has
become one of the most popular psychics of all time.

NATIONAL DEPRESSION WEEK

17th APR 2006 - 24th APR 2006

What is National Depression Week?

National Depression Week (or NDW) is a key time of the year in event calendars for many charities or campaigners whereby they try to promote awareness of depression. This could be in the form of newsletters, newspapers, articles, campaigns, advertising and fund raising. With depression being such a debilitating condition funds need to be raised to support the work of charities like Depression Alliance to enable them to continue their work long into the future.

It is important to recognise that depression affects approximately 1 in 5 people at any one time. Anyone can suffer from depression at any time in their life. Usually depression affects people after they have gone through a traumatic life experience. Issues build up, problems are not resolved and minds dwell on negative thoughts.

Depression affects people in numerous ways. A person suffering from depression can find it hard to get into the day-to-day activities that life has to offer them. They lack motivation, energy and enthusiasm, relationships can breakdown, jobs can become extremely difficult to do, concentration levels suffer and the isolation felt by a depressive becomes paramount. If left untreated the illness can develop to such a severe extent that a person can consider suicide as their last resort to a way out of he pain they are suffering.

There are many cures and options available to assist a person who may suffering with depression, but these tools need to be made available to people in the first place. So by providing support to the charities that need it the most, you could actually be saving a life.

So how can you help?

You could organise a fundraising event…
Whether it be a walking challenge, a party, a month without chocolate, a day without talking (sponsored silence)… use your imagination and come up with something interesting and exciting whereby other people will be happy to sponsor you.

You can then create a sponsorship page at http://www.justgiving.com/depression/raisemoney This is a safe environment. You do not need to worry about cash or cheques as the money is sent electronically.

You could make a donation…

Charities are just that, charities. They receive little or no government funding whatsoever and in order to continue to provide their services, they usually rely heavily on membership and donations. Every penny raised will go towards raising awareness of depression and contributing towards the continual service of charities that rely so heavily on people’s generosity. To make a donation visit www.depressionalliance.org.

You could put up posters around your workplace, school or collage… You can be inventive and create your own designs or you could download the poster from depressionalliance.org (available from beginning of march). Either way you will be providing awareness of depression and National Depression Awareness Week.

Go on - do your bit today… you never know, one day it could be you who needs the support!

Author reserves all rights to this article
(c) Samantha C Weaver

Samantha Weaver is the Author of Saving Samantha: A Young Woman’s Escape from Childhood Hell, due for release 17 Apr-2006. Find out more about Sam and her experience of depression by visiting her website at: http://www.samanthaweaver.com