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AUTISM FIRST STEPS
AUTISM DAILY NEWSLETTER
Monday December 24, 2001
INDEX:
* U.S. Commentary: Sen.
Jim Jeffords on Why He Opposes The New
Education Package"Back to School"
* THE MICHIGAN FAMILY SUBSIDY ACT
* Creative Communicating: StoryTime Tricks
* Creative Communicating: Teaching Tips
* Pray for Lost Boy in the woods of Possum Kingdom State Park in
Texas
* Genius
May Be an Abnormality: Educating Students with Asperger's
Syndrome, or High Functioning Autism
******************************
U.S. Commentary: Sen. Jim Jeffords on Why He
Opposes
The New Education Package"Back to School"
By JIM JEFFORDS, New York Times, 12-13-01 WASHINGTON --
A year ago, when I was chairman of the Senate Education Committee, I joined
several senators and representatives from both parties and traveled to Austin,
Tex., to meet with George W. Bush, the president-elect, to discuss education
reform. At that time, we all pledged to work together to pass an education
reform bill that would raise school accountability and improve student
achievement. With budget surpluses projected as far as the eye could see, it
seemed that this nation was on the verge of making a significant investment in
education. For me, it was a time of optimism and hope.What a difference a year
makes. Today we face a very different economic reality. We also have an
administration unwilling to support the financing necessary to carry out its
own education initiative.There is no question that we need to improve our
schools. National tests show only one in five American high school seniors
proficient in math and science, and only two in five in reading.Now I fear we
may pass legislation that will do far more harm than good. As currently
drafted, the education bill requires our schools to make significant
improvements in a short time — without providing the necessary resources.State
and local education budgets throughout the country are already facing severe
cuts. This bill will make matters worse. Various estimates indicate we will
fall several billion dollars short of covering the new bill's mandates. History
all too often repeats itself. Unless we support the bill's requirements with
adequate funds, I am afraid we will be repeating a mistake we made 26 years
ago.When I arrived in Congress, one of the first bills I worked on created what
is now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. We wrote the
legislation to ensure that children with disabilities receive the special
education and related services they need and to which they have a
constitutional right.We recognized that children with disabilities often
require specialized services and that educating children with disabilities could
be twice as costly as educating children without disabilities. Therefore, in
1975, we authorized the federal government to pay up to 40 percent of each
state's added expenditures for educating children with disabilities. Yet now
the federal government still provides only about 15 percent.Special education
has been an incredibly important program for millions of children. Graduation
rates have increased, and the number of young adults with disabilities
enrolling in college has more than tripled. Special education has helped people
with disabilities become independent, wage-earning, tax-paying contributors to
our country. But special education is very costly, and by not providing the
federal funds we promised, we force states and local school districts to increase
property taxes and shift funds from other programs.Earlier this year the Senate
agreed without objection to a bipartisan amendment introduced by Senators Tom
Harkin and Chuck Hagel that would require Congress to fund the 40 percent of
special education costs in full. This was a great victory for all of our
children. I am outraged, however, that a majority of my colleagues on the
conference committee voted not to include this amendment.I am deeply concerned
that this bill will further saddle our school systems with federal requirements
they cannot afford to meet. I have been in Congress for more than 25 years and
have never voted against an education bill. But to pass this bill as it stands
would be counterproductive. It is better to approve no bill than to approve a
bad one.Jim Jeffords, independent of Vermont, is chairman of the Senate
Committee on Environment and Public Works.
******************************
THE MICHIGAN FAMILY SUBSIDY ACT
The policy of deinstitutionalization and, more important, community
integration, has achieved support on a state level in Michigan. As articulated
by the Governor and the Department of Mental Health, Michigan adopted a goal of
returning all children from state institutions and specialized nursing homes to
local communities by 1986. Towards this purpose, Michigan established an
innovative family subsidy program that provides direct cash subsidies to
families with severe disabilities. The program was piloted in a single region
prior to the passage of the Family Subsidy Act to provide subsidies on a
statewide basis. The subsidy is designed to help parents pay for the extra
expenses incurred in having a child with severe disabilities (for example,
equipment, respite, home renovation, diapers, and other services and
materials). The subsidy amounts to $255 per month, an annual subsidy of $2,700
for eligible families. The eligibility criteria for the family subsidy program
are: 1) the family's annual income must be less than $60,000; 2) the child must
be 0 to 18 years of age (after that age, they are eligible for Supplemental
Security Income); and, 3) the child must have a severe disability. Support for
the Act was gained by appealing to philosophical and economic grounds. As a
philosophical rationale, supporters pointed to the needs of children with
severe disabilities and their families. As an economic measure, they argued
that the passage of the legislation would result in cost savings to the state
by preventing out-of-home placements and encouraging families to take their
children home from institutions and other alternative placements. By
encouraging, rather than discouraging, families to maintain their children at
home, reversing the traditional pattern of developmental disabilities services,
and placing increased control over services in the hands of direct consumers,
the Michigan Family Subsidy Act is an important step in the right direction
******************************
Creative
Communicating
Velcro
Creative Communicating's Forgetful puppet comes with Velcro-sensitive hands,
allowing him to hold props or anything with loop Velcro. But the many uses of
Velcro do not stop with what you can do with Forgetful's Velcro-sensitive
hands. If taken advantage of, Velcro can be as good a friend to teachers as
Tang is to astronauts. We've compiled a list of many uses that Velcro has in
the classroom.
Velcro your pen and other items that are easily lost to your desk
Velcro toys to a table for stability
Create a Velcro-sensitive wrist band; children stick props to the wristband for
a wrist puppet
Velcro props to a storybook for a 3D effect
Velcro children that are driving you nuts to the wall (just kidding!)
Place Velcro on the bottom of a wooden dowel to pick up toys
Velcro props onto SoftKeys for IntelliKeys CLICK HERE to go back to Storytime
Tricks and find out more about props.
Create a Velcro-sensitive glove for children to pick up toys
Place Velcro on book pages to make it easier for kids to turn the pages
Velcro a talking photo frame closed making it easier for students to use
Use Velcro to attach books to a laptrap, which keeps the book steady (line
laptrap with loop Velcro and attach hook Velcro to the back of the book)
Create a Velcro vest by using a section of tempo-loop material, cutting a hole
for the head, and attaching the sides with two strips of Velcro
Velcro toys onto a tempo-loop display vest
Velcro interactive symbols onto a tempo-loop display vest
Create easy-on, easy-off dress-up clothes by cutting out the front of clothes
and adding a Velcro strap to the back
Velcro student¹s individual schedules to the wall
Velcro communication devices to your student¹s laptray
Use Velcro straps for hanging toys from swings and car seats
Velcro supplemental communication symbols on a communication device
Velcro toys onto switches
Use Velcro to attach different textures to a book and create overlays so
students can match texture in the book to the communication device
Velcro symbols onto switches
Velcro a talking photo frame into a book for a repeated line insertion
Velcro name plates onto the wall for attendance and sign-in activities
Velcro recipes on a board to demonstrate literacy
Print out appropriate vocabulary words and mount them onto Velcro; students can
manipulate the words to create their own poetry, stories, etc.
Velcro your keys to the wall so that they are never misplaced
Hang tempo-loop material (or indoor-outdoor carpeting) on the wall and Velcro
activity-specific symbols on the wall (Goosens' activity-specific symbols means
that food prep symbols are placed in the kitchen, Storytime symbols are placed
in the Storytime area, etc.)
Velcro choices onto a choice board
Adapted books
Books can be adapted by placing each page of the story book in page protectors.
A piece of card board cut to size can be placed in between each story page. All
of the pages can be placed in a notebook. "Page fluffers" can be used
to add spaces between each page for easy page turning. Page fluffers can be
made out of ethafoam materials, chip bag clips, clothespins, etc. Further
details can be found in any of the Storytime books. Click here to find out more details
about the book Books Made Easy.
Props
Props can be used to enhance the stories. Real objects can be used that match
key concepts in the stories or you can make your own props with ethafoam
materials that are secured with velcro to the stories. Each of the storytime
books provide you with a prop page and specific directions. Props can be used
with students to maintain attention and motivation in story readings. Props
keep little hands busy. Students can pull props from a choice board to reinforce
matching or identification skills during readings and place in the book.
Students can pull a selected prop from the book and place it in an external
prop (e.g. clothing in washing machine, animals in old lady's mouth, Halloween
items in the brew.) In addition, props or 3D photos can be used for
communication boards. See beloe These type of photos have been used
successfully with students who have visual impairments, autism, cognitive
impairment and/or young children. The 3D effect makes the photo look more like
an object than a photo. To make the props use ethafoam™ available from Creative
Communicating. The foam is a flexible and easy to cut (with scissors) material.
It comes in (9"X12") sheets. Hot glue the photos, symbols or pictures
directly to the foam. Cut out the shape with scissors. Add a small piece of
velcro to the back. Notice in the photo below props are used with the
IntelliKeys™. The selection on the keyboard are backed with foam. The students
pull the prop from the book and place on the the IntelliKeys to activate the
computer program. The sudents can also activate the keys by pulling the props
directly from the IntelliKeys. To secure the display on the InteliiKeys try
adding a small piece of FunTac at the four corners. Props can be added directly
to the SoftKeys ® . This is sometimes helpful for younger children or older
children whose grip is too strong, this will prevent the display form sliping
out of place. Props can also be used to reinforce concepts being learned. Here
the student is learning how to use th emouse on the computer. The teacher uses
the 3-D props to reinforce the concepts he is learning on the computer. He
matches the props with the graphics on the screen. 
Pull off symbols
Pull off symbols are a duplicate of the symbols found on the bottom of each
story page. These are ready to print out on the Storytime Revised CD. Below is
a brief description of how they are used. I read the book first pointing to the
words, next I might pull off the symbols holding them in front of the student
(what I call "in your face" communication) but place them back in the
book. They are used as a teacher tool to maintain attention, direct students
and reinforce and model symbol use. Next I might have the students pull the
props (see above) from the book (student tool) typically I allow student to
manipulate the props but place them somewhere (e.g. on the choice board, in
another larger prop like a washing machine for "Dirty Duds") so they
are not too distracting. I may vary the order of using the pull off and props
it really depends on what feels natural or makes since to you or the individual
student. For independent practice the students may may use "pull off"
symbols as a manipulative during independent book readings
. 
Choice Boards
Choice boards can be used for a variety of purposes, displaying the symbol
sequence for a song, presenting choices for students or as a schedule board.
Click here to find more info about choice boards.
http://www.creativecommunicating.com/storytime-tricks.html
******************************
Creative
Communicating
Making Language and Literacy Visible
The idea behind the concept of making language and literacy visible is to
provide an environment that is both language and print rich for children. This
language and print rich environment stimulates and enhances the emergent
literacy experience for individuals at risk for language and literacy failure.
The teacher utilizes pictures (or whatever system compliments the students
understanding of language) and the printed word paired with spoken language to
talk about and emphasize learning throughout the day. The main emphasis is
placed on the individuals receptive language learning or input, with the
understanding that over time students will better comprehend events, activities
in their surroundings, make sense of the world, ease their anxieties and thus
begin to use expressive language. How is this different from an engineered
classroom or Aided language Stimulation as defined by Goossens, et.al. It
really isn't, the main difference is that we have simplified the aided language
stimulation process (click here for more info) (teachers, parents or
facilitators begin manipulating only 4-6 symbols to establish a "comfort
zone" with the materials and gradually work up to manipulating more and
more symbols until they are mediating the 16-36 symbols recommended by Goosens,
et.al. The process has also is broadened by adding bold print words to the
majority of pictures to capitalize on the literacy benefits. Will the process
discourage speech production from children who have low verbal skills or who
are not speaking yet? Download
the Topic Starting Early with Augmentative Communication. Go the YAACK
website to learn more about this at http://www.mrtc.org/duffy/yaack/b2.html.
Click here to find out more
information about the Making Language Visible CD. Click here for information
concerning classroom-engineering materials.
Click here for more
information about the Making Language and Literacy Visible Intensive Training
Projects.
To See The Full Story on Teaching Tips it is located:
http://www.creativecommunicating.com/teaching-tips.html
******************************
Pray for Lost Boy in the woods of Possum Kingdom State Park in
Texas
There is a 6 year old boy lost there is a 6 year old boy lost in
the woods of Possum Kingdom State Park in Texas. He has been lost since
Saturday at 11:30 am. With temperatures in the 20's at night and only getting
lower his chances of being found alive are getting slimmer. There were several
hundred people looking for him today and yesterday. On horseback and with dogs.
When we left today one of the search and rescue dogs was lost. They have called
off the search for tonight. Will begin searching again in the morning. I'm
asking everyone to pray for his safe return and for the search and rescue dog
that was lost to still be lost and be with the boy tonight to keep him warm.
This is asking for a miracle but that is what is going to take for this boy to
be returned home to his family. His name is Ira.
Thank you for your prayers
******************************
Genius May Be an
Abnormality: Educating Students with Asperger's Syndrome, or High Functioning
Autism
Temple
Grandin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
I am becoming increasingly concerned that intellectually gifted
children are being denied opportunities because they are being labeled either
Asperger's or high functioning autism. Within the last year I have talked to
several parents, and I was disturbed by what they said. One mother called me
and was very upset that her six-year-old son had Asperger's. She then went on
to tell me that his IQ was 150. I replied that before people knew about
Asperger's Syndrome, their child would have received a very positive label of
intellectually gifted.In another case the parents of an Asperger teenager
called and told me that they were so concerned about their son's poor social
skills that they would not allow him to take computer programming. I told her
that depriving him of a challenging career in computers would make his life
miserable. He will get social interaction by shared interests with other
computer people. In a third case, a super smart child was not allowed in the
talented and gifted program in his school because he had an autism label.
Educators need to become aware that intellectually satisfying work makes life
meaningful.It is essential that talented children labeled either high
functioning autism or Asperger's be trained in fields such as computer
programming, where they can do intellectually satisfying work. Click here to read my paper
entitled 'Choosing the Right Job for People with Autism or Asperger's
Syndrome.' For many people with Asperger's, and for me, my life is my work.
Life would not be worth living if I did not have intellectually satisfying
work. I did not fully realize this until a flood destroyed our university
library. I was attending the American Society of Animal Science meetings when
the flood occurred. I first learned about it when I read about it on the front
page of USA Today, a national newspaper. I grieved for the
"dead" books, the same way most people grieve for a dead relative.
The destruction of books upset me because "thoughts died." Even
though most of the books are still in other libraries, there are many people at
the university who will never read them. To me, Shakespeare lives if we keep
performing his plays. He dies, when we stop performing them. I am my work. If
the livestock industry continues to use equipment I have designed, then my
"thoughts live" and my life has meaning. If my efforts to improve the
treatment of cattle and pigs make real improvements in the world, then life is
meaningful.I have been reading, with great satisfaction, the many articles in
magazines about Linux free software. People in the business world are not able
to comprehend why the computer people give their work away. I am unable to
think about this without becoming emotional. It is no mystery to me why they
download their intellectual ideas into the vast, evolving and continually
improving computer operating system. It is because their thoughts will live
forever as part of the "genetic code" of the computer program. They
are putting themselves into the program and their “intellectual DNA" will
live forever in cyber-space. As the program evolves and changes, the code they
wrote will probably remain hidden deep within it. It is almost like a living
thing that is continually evolving and improving. For both me and for the
programmers that contribute to Linux, we do it because it makes our lives more
meaningful.
Continuum
of Traits
There is a continuum of personality and intellectual traits from normal to
abnormal. At what point does a brilliant computer programmer or engineer get
labeled with Asperger's. There is no black and white dividing line. Simon
Baron-Cohen, an autism researcher at the University of Cambridge, found that
there were 2 ½ times as many engineers in the family history of people with
autism. I certainly fit this pattern. My grandfather was an engineer who was
co-inventor of the automatic pilot for an airplane. I have second and third
cousins who are engineers and mathematicians.At a recent lecture, Dr.
Baron-Cohen described three brilliant cases of Asperger's Syndrome. There was a
brilliant physics student, a computer scientist, and a mathematics professor.
It is also likely that Bill Gates has many Asperger's traits. An article in Time
Magazine compared me to Mr. Gates. For example, we both rock. I have seen
video tapes of Bill Gates rocking on television. Articles in business magazines
describe his incredible memory as a young child.There is evidence that high
functioning autism and Asperger's Syndrome have a strong genetic basis. G. R.
DeLong and J. T. Dyer found that two thirds of families with a high functioning
autistic had either a first or second degree relative with Asperger's Syndrome.
Sukhelev Naragan and his co-workers wrote, in the Journal of Autism and
Developmental Disorders, that educational achievement of the parents of an
autistic child with good language skills were often greater than those of
similar parents with normal children. Dr. Robert Plomin at Pennsylvania State
University states that autism is highly heritable.In my book, Thinking in
Pictures, I devote an entire chapter to the link between intellectual
giftedness and creativity to abnormality. Einstein himself had many autistic
traits. He did not learn to speak until he was three, and he had a lack of
concern about his appearance. His uncut hair did not match the men's hairstyles
of his time.
Genius
is an Abnormality?
It is likely that genius in any field is an abnormality. Children and adults
who excel in one area, such as math, are often very poor in other areas. The
abilities are very uneven. Einstein was a poor speller and did poorly in
foreign language. The brilliant physicist, Richard Feynman, did poorly in some
subjects.A review of the literature indicates that being truly outstanding in
any field may be associated with some type of abnormality. Kay Redfield
Jamison, from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, has reviewed many studies that
show the link with manic depressive illness and creativity. N.C. Andreason at
the University of Iowa found that 80 percent of creative writers had mood
disorders sometime during their life. A study of mathematical giftedness,
conducted at Iowa State University by Camilla Persson, found that mathematical
giftedness was correlated with being near-sighted and having an increased
incidence of allergies. I recently attended a lecture by Robert Fisher at
Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. He stated that many great
people had epilepsy, people such as Julius Ceasar, Napoleon, Socrates,
Pythagoras, Handel, Tchaikovsky, and Alfred Nobel. An article in the December
2001 issue of Wired magazine discussed the link between autism and
Asperger’s, and engineer and computer programming. The incidence of autism and
Asperger’s has increased in the children of technology company employees. A
little bit of autism genes may provide an intellectual advantage and too much
of the genetic may cause a severe case of autism.
Types
of Thinking
There appear to be two basic types of thinking in intellectually gifted people
who have Asperger's or high functioning autism. The highly social, verbal
thinkers who are in the educational system need to understand that their thought
processes are different. The two types are totally visual thinkers like me; and
the music, math and memory thinkers which are described in Thomas Sowell's
book, Late Talking Children. I have interviewed several of these people,
and their thoughts work in patterns in which there are no pictures. Sowell
reports that in the family histories of late talking, music math and memory
children, 74 percent of the families will have an engineer or a relative in a
highly technical field such as physics, accounting, or mathematics. Most of
these children also had a relative that played a musical instrument.Every
thought I have is represented by a picture. When I think about a dog, I see a
series of pictures of specific dogs, such as my student's dog or the dog next door.
There is no generalized verbal 'dog' concept in my mind. I form my dog concept
by looking for common features that all dogs have, and no cats have. For
example, all of the different breeds of dogs have the same kind of nose. My
thought process goes from specific pictures to general concepts, where as most
people think from general to specific. I have no vague, abstract,
language-based concepts in my head, only specific pictures.When I do design
work, I can run three-dimensional, full motion "video" images of the
cattle handling equipment in my head. I can "test run" the equipment
on the "virtual reality" computer that is in my imagination. Visual
thinkers who are expert computer programmers have told me that they can see the
entire program "tree," and then they write the code on each branch.It
is almost as if I have two consciences. Pictures are my real thoughts, and
language acts as a narrator. I narrate from the "videos" and
"slides" I see in my imagination. For example, my language narrator
might say, "I can design that." I then see a video of the equipment I
am designing in my imagination. When the correct answer pops into my head, it
is a video of the successful piece of equipment working. At this point, my
language narrator says, "I figured out how to do it." In my mind
there is no subconscious. Images are constantly passing through the computer
screen of my imagination. I can see thought processes that others have covered
up with language. I do not require language for either consciousness or for
thinking.When I learned drafting for doing my design work, it took time to
train my visual mind to make the connection between the symbolic lines on a
layout drawing and an actual building. To learn this I had to take the set of
blueprints and walk around in the building, looking at the square concrete
support columns, seeing how the little squares on the drawing related to the
actual columns. After I had "programmed" my brain to read drawings,
the ability to draw blueprints appeared almost by magic. It took time to get
information in, but after I was "programmed," the skill appeared
rather suddenly. Researchers who have studied chess players state that the
really good chess players have to spend time inputting chess patterns into
their brains. I can really relate to this. When I design equipment I take bits
of pictures and pieces of equipment I have seen in the past and re-assemble
them into new designs. It is like taking things out of the memory of a CAD
computer drafting system, except I can re-assemble the pieces into
three-dimensional, moving videos. Constance Mibrath and Bryan Siegal at the
University of California found that talented, autistic artists assemble the
whole from the parts. It is "bottom up thinking," instead of
"top down thinking.”
Teachers
and Mentors
Children and teenagers with autism or Asperger's need teachers who can help
them develop their talents. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of
developing a talent into an employable skill. The visual thinkers like me can
become experts in fields such as computer graphics, drafting, computer
programming, automotive repair, commercial art, industrial equipment design, or
working with animals. The music, math, and memory type children can excel in
mathematics, accounting, engineering, physics, music, translating engineering
and legal documents, and other technical skills. Unless the student's
mathematical skills are truly brilliant, I would recommend taking courses in
library science, accounting, engineering, or computers. Learning a technical
skill will make the person highly employable. There are few jobs for mediocre
mathematicians or physicists.Since social skills are weak, the person can make
up for them by making themselves so good at something that people will hire
them. Teachers need to council individuals to go into fields where they can
easily gain employment. Majoring in history is not a good choice because
obtaining a job will be difficult. History could be the person's hobby instead
of the main area of study in school.Many high functioning autistic and Asperger
teenagers get bored with school and misbehave. They need mentors who can teach
them a field that will be beneficial to their future. I had a wonderful high
school science teacher who taught me to use the scientific research library.
Computers are a great field because being weird or a "computer geek"
is okay. A good programmer is recognized for his/her skills. I know several
very successful autistic computer programmers. A bored high school student
could enroll in programming or computer-aided drafting courses in a local
community college.To make up for social deficits, autistic individuals need to
make themselves so good that they are recognized for brilliant work. People
respect talent. They need mentors who are computer programmers, artists,
draftsmen, etc., to teach them career skills. I often get asked, "How does
one find mentors?" You never know where a mentor teacher may be found. He
may be standing in the checkout line in a supermarket. I found one of my first
meat industry mentors when I met the wife of his insurance agent at a party.
She struck up a conversation with me because she saw my hand embroidered
western shirt. I had spent hours embroidering a steer head on the shirt. Post a
notice on the bulletin board at the local college in the computer science
department. If you see a person with a computer company name badge, approach
him and show him work that the person with autism has done.
December, 2001
http://www.autism.org/temple/genius.html
******************************
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