Today's Fresh Blogs...

• Whether it's Britney or Lindsay, Let's Once Again Blame Mothers

  Published: July 28, 2007, 8:33 pm

  Tags: Cause, Psychiatry, Parenting, Psychology, Stereotypes, Asd, Aspergers, Autism, Britney Spears, Children, Dina Lohan, Education, Family, Lindsay Lohan, Mother Blame, Mothers, Parenting, Pdd Nos, Psychology, Sigmund Freud

  “Sometimes mothers can do no right” proclaims a July 29th New York Times article targeting Dina Lohan for the foibles, addictions, and recent arrest of her daughter, Lindsay Lohan. Mother blame? Nothing new if you’re the mother of an autistic child. Though widely discredited, the “refrigerator mother” theory of

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• Autism is Not a Mental Aberration

  Published: July 28, 2007, 12:18 pm

  Tags: Autism Lit, Psychology, Books, Asd, Aspergers, Autism, Book, Children, Education, Family, Literature, Novel, Parenting, Pdd Nos, Psychology

  I am more than looking forward to reading Up High in the Trees (and here is chapter 1), the recently published novel by Kiara Brinkman. It has been suggested that tha 8-year-old narrator, Sebby, is on the autism spectrum: Brinkman’s webpage describes him as an “unusual little boy” and novelist Cristina Garcia refers to him as

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• What's Important or, Why I Didn't Have Any Ziploc Bags on Me Today

  Published: July 28, 2007, 1:45 am

  Tags: Travel, Toys, Parenting, Weblogs, Airplane, Asd, Aspergers, Autism, Blogher, Chicago, Children, Education, Family, Internet, Mother, Networking, Parenting, Pdd Nos, Travel, Weblogs

  At Chicago’s O’Hare airport, security finds “something” in my bag and calls me over to go through the contents. “You muat have lotions or perfume,” says security. He pulls out a cardboard box in which is another box. “Uh, maybe,” I say. I explain that the box in question was included in a

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• 11 hours away

  Published: July 27, 2007, 4:23 pm

  Tags: Medicine, Health, Weblogs, Airplane, Asd, Aspergers, Autism, Blogher, Chicago, Children, Education, Family, Internet, Mother, Networking, Parenting, Pdd Nos, Travel, Weblogs

  When I checked the weather at 5am I saw four straight days of storm clouds and lightning—-so I was not surprised when my plane was delayed, with the result that, after taking the CTA and a bus that stopped about every 2 blocks, I had to run down to the end of the Navy Pier. I was only some 17 minutes late to speak with other bloggers about

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• There's Something About That Thomas the Tank Train

  Published: July 27, 2007, 2:13 pm

  Tags: Sensory, Toys, Technology, Movies, Media, Education, Asd, Aspergers, Autism, Bob The Builder, Children, Family, Parenting, Pdd Nos, Shrek, Thomas Tank Train

  Craegmoor Healthcare reports on a new study commissioned by The National Autistic Society (NAS) according to which it was found that watching the Thomas the Tank Train television show had a positive effect on autistic children. Moreover, as many as 99 percent of the children surveyed said that Thomas & Friends characters were their favorite

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• 20 Hours

  Published: July 27, 2007, 5:27 am

  Tags: Charlisms, Q Amp Amp A, Parenting, Weblogs, Work, Airplane, Asd, Aspergers, Autism, Blogher, Chicago, Children, Education, Family, Internet, Mother, Networking, Parenting, Pdd Nos, Travel, Weblogs

  20 hours is how long I’ll be away from home today, this Friday the 27th of July. I’m attending the 2007 BlogHer conference in Chicago; I was invited to participate in a focus group at the kindly invitation of Revolution Health. Yes, I am not staying overnight in Chicago—-I’m taking a 5.30am train to the Newark airport,

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• What took so long? 6-yr-old boy drowns at camp

  Published: July 26, 2007, 7:25 pm

  Tags: Water, Safety, Asd, Aspergers, Autism, Children, Drowning, Education, Family, Lake, Parenting, Pdd Nos, Safety, Summer, Swimming

  A 6-year-old autistic boy, Lucas Beaupre-Vallieres, drowned yesterday, July 25th, at Lac-St-Joseph, which is outside of Quebec Cuty. Beaupre-Vallieres was attending a day camp with some 100 other children and went missing soon after arriving at the beach. Camp supervisors only notified lifeguards after Beaupre-Vallieres was missing for two hours.

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• Autism and genetic accidents

  Published: July 26, 2007, 1:34 pm

  Tags: Metaphor, Cause, Genetics, Classics, Accidents, Asd, Aspergers, Autism, Children, Disasters, Dna, Education, Family, Genes, Genetics, Parenting, Pdd Nos, Train Wrecks

  Autism cases due to genetic accidents and, indeed, “freak genetic accidents,” in a Zee News (India Edition) article about the recently published study on spontaneous genetic mutations and autism. Autism compared to a freak accident? Sounds a bit in the category of referring to autism as, for example, a train wreck. To some degree, one

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• Reading the News, Thinking about Charlie

  Published: July 26, 2007, 5:59 am

  Tags: Toys, Food And Diet, Charlisms, Living Arrangements, Health, Neuroscience, Animal Rights, Animals, Asd, Aspergers, Autism, Children, Dora The Explorer, Education, Elmo, Family, House, New York Times, News, Newspaper, Obesity, Octagon, Parenting, Pdd Nos

  Once upon a time, when I sat down to read the newspaper, I just read it: Front page, arts, book reviews, world news, skip the sports. Now I sit down in front of my laptop to read, and get up mid-story if I hear Charlie calling—-and, inevitably, much of what I read is through the lens of Charlie, and of autism. For example: Eating

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• The Any Year Itch

  Published: July 25, 2007, 6:30 pm

  Tags: Sensory, Health, Genetics, Science, Asd, Aspergers, Autism, Children, Dna, Education, Family, Genes, Genetics, Health, Itch, Parenting, Pdd Nos

  Another discovery in genetics besides the new study on spontaneous genetic mutations an autism may not get as much attention, but could bring some real relief. Scientists at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have foun the first gene connection to the sensation of itching. Science Daily reports: The “itch gene”

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• Ballpark Figure

  Published: July 29, 2007, 2:30 am

  Tags: Charlisms, Sports, Asd, Aspergers, Athletes, Autism, Baseball, Berkeley, Children, College, Dads, Education, Family, Fathers, Fordham, Friends, Ipod, Parenting, Pdd Nos, Penn, Saint Peters, Sports, Statistics

  Almost a year ago to date, Charlie sat through two innings of a Phillies game, then pulled at our friend Hal’s hand and said, “Black car!” On Saturday night, Charlie and Jim went to see the Phillies play the Pittsburghs Pirates. (Jim’s team: I don’t know what it says that, in all the time I have known Jim, the

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• Boy's Best Friend

  Published: July 29, 2007, 1:01 pm

  Tags: Animals, Animals, Asd, Aspergers, Autism, Children, Dogs, Education, Emotions, Family, Friends, Parenting, Pdd Nos

  My son Charlie remains wary, if very curious—fascinated, even—-about dogs. In a new book, Nuala Gardner tells of how a golden retriever named Henry (after one of Thomas’ friends) helped her now 19-year-old autistic son, Dale. Notes the July 29th Times Online: Why did Henry succeed when so much else had failed? Dale, who has

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• Lists of 10

  Published: July 29, 2007, 4:19 pm

  Tags: Parenting, Weblogs, Asd, Aspergers, Autism, Children, Education, Family, Lists, Memes, Parenting, Pdd Nos, Top Ten

  Just over a week ago I posted a list of 10 ways in which Charlie and I are the same: Many of you posted a list of ways in which you and your child(ren) are the same. Here is the list so far—-please let me know if I have not included you and your list, or if you post a list! Hard Won Wisdom’s 10 ways (by Hard Won Wisdom) Karen’s

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• Who is to blame for Tim Whattler's death?

  Published: July 29, 2007, 8:33 pm

  Tags: Psychiatry, Asperger S Syndrome, Asd, Aspergers, Autism, Children, Coroner, Depression, Education, Family, Parenting, Pdd Nos, Psychiatry, Suicide

  In February of 2006, 17-year-old Tim Whattler hung himself from a doorknob in his room in a psychatric unit Beech Court in Bridgwater, in England, just six hours after he had been admitted. Whattler had Asperger’s syndrome and had a history of difficulty with both educational and psychiatric placements; he had attempted suicide before and he

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• Who is to blame for our son’s death?

  Published: July 29, 2007, 8:05 pm

  Tags: Aspergers, Psychiatry, Suicide, Autism, Mental Health, Parents

  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?xml=/health/2007/07/30/hasper130.xml&page=1 This story is so sad and so avoidable. My son is not so different from Tim Whattler. He is doing OK at the moment. But this was not always the case. We are not so different from Tim’s parents. We fought similar battles on our son’s behalf.

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