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December 26, 2001        News Morgue Search  www.feat.org/search/news.asp

AWARENESS

·        Despair of Loving an Asperger’s Husband

TREATMENT - COMMENTARY

·        Parents of Autistic Children Need Clarity On Therapy

EDUCATION

Books

·        Learning to Cope With Students’ Disabilities

·        Stop The Bullying

Despair of Loving an Asperger’s Husband

[This writer quotes a 1 in 250 incident rate for Asperger Syndrome.

For the rate to be this high, it would have include a grouping of those not

clinically diagnosed, such as those with the off-the-spectrum, non-disabling

latent autistic personalities (Parlor Aspergers). –LS. By Helen Rumbelow in

the Times, UK.]

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-2001595499,00.html

Christmas is a notorious flashpoint for marital arguments, when women

complain that their men do not understand their feelings and men claim that

they do not know what all the fuss is about.

By Boxing Day [the day after Christmas] most rows are forgotten. But

for the thousands of British women married to men with autism this state of

tension is an extreme and lifelong problem leading to loneliness and despair.

One in 250 people has Asperger syndrome, a type of autism that affects

people of normal to very high intelligence. It affects about ten times as

many men as women.

Although the stereotype of autism is of isolated loners, many people

with Asperger’s get married without realising that they have the condition.

They often have so little concept of emotions that they do not realise that

their partner is sad, even if they are sobbing, and then ignore it because

they have no idea how to offer comfort.

About half such marriages have no sexual contact because the Asperger

partner finds physical affection unnatural and many can cope with their fears about the world only by being verbally and sometimes physically abusive.

The emotional intimacy of a relationship, for many the reason that

they married, is barely there. Some women feel as if they are going mad.

The National Autistic Society desperately needs money to offer

diagnosis and support to couples affected by Asperger’s and to transform the

lives of their children.

One of the biggest problems for those new to the condition is to understand how it differs from “typical bloke” behaviour involving selfishness or egotism, according to Maxine Aston, the only Relate counsellor specialising in Asperger’s.

“The male chauvinist, or man behaving badly, has a choice: he can sit

down and empathise with his wife, and he doesn’t have to go to the football

match. If he has been inconsiderate he has the capacity to recognise it and

show remorse,” she said. “A person with Asperger’s doesn’t have a choice. It

’s not that they won’t empathise — they can’t.”

Ms Aston was once married to a man with Asperger’s, with whom she had

three children. “The Asperger’s caused a complete breakdown of communication

which prevented us from sorting out the problems we had,” she said. “But my

husband was not diagnosed until the divorce. Awareness is crucial.”

A first step in diagnosis is getting a Partner’s Pack from the

National Autistic Society, she said. “It is the sense of loneliness which is

the worst.”

Rachel Kruft Welton, 31, had been in a relationship with her husband,

Nick, 41, for five years before they realised what was wrong. “Right from

the first I knew he was a bit eccentric. He was the stereotype of an

absent-minded professor, incredibly intelligent, but very absent-minded and

lacking life skills,” she said.

When his awkwardness became difficult, a GP referred him to a specialist who made the diagnosis.

“If we hadn’t had the diagnosis our marriage would have broken up,”

she said.

“Before, if I was crying he would have sat on the other side of the

room and just looked at me, and I’d think: ‘How can you pretend to love me

and be so cruel?’ “Now I’ve taught him that if I’m obviously upset he should

hug me, although if I’m looking just a bit down he may or may not notice.

“He is a very loving man, but he found it hard to show it. Now he

works incredibly hard at making me happy.” Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers

Ltd.

* * *

COMMENTARY

Parents of Autistic Children Need Clarity On Therapy

[This first appeared in the Oregonian. By Susan M. Stewart. Thanks to

Kathy Harris.]

http://www.oregonlive.com/commentary/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html

_standard.xsl?/base/editorial/1009198507376727.xml

My 10-year-old son, Eric, has autism, a neurological disorder that

impairs communication and socialization.

Because of Eric, I have been involved in the autism community for the

past eight years. During that time, I have been encouraged to try:

Vaccine-reduction, wheat-free diets, high-fat diets, acidophilis,

milk-free diets, applied behavioral analysis, facilitated communication,

large amounts of vitamins especially B6, flax-seed oil, Omega-3 oils,

sugar-free diets, dye-free diets, immune-regulating drugs, SSRIs, Ritalin,

secretin therapy, music therapy, rhythmic enhancement, auditory training,

horseback riding therapy, sensory integration therapy, chelation therapy and

swimming with the dolphins.

Only a couple of these therapies, most notably applied behavioral

analysis and immune-regulating drugs, helped my son. None of them provided a

cure.

The National Institute of Health is the federal research organization

that should help confused parents like me make informed decisions about treatments that have been proven to help children like ours.

Unfortunately, the NIH and its branch that includes autism research,

the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, have

lately been focused on basic research projects that are not directly related

to people with disorders. Much of the recent research has focused on animal

models and genetics.

The mission statement of the NIDCH states that its grants to outside

researchers should be balanced equally between basic research and clinical

research. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, an organization

of speech-language pathologists and audiologists, has found that the institute no longer maintains this balance between basic and clinical research.

I am worried that too much money is being spent on genetics and animal

models studies. I am worried that other clinical research projects, which

might have a more immediate and forceful impact on individuals with disabilities, are being ignored.

We need to contact our congressional leaders so they can encourage the

institute to return to its original mission statement and balance its research dollars between basic research and clinical trials.

I need to know which treatments have been scientifically proven to be

effective, and my son needs help now. He is already 10. He cannot afford to

wait. Susan M. Stewart of Lebanon is a graduate student in speech-language

pathology at the University of Oregon. She can be reached via e-mail at sstewie@proaxis.com.

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* * *

Learning to Cope With Students’ Disabilities

Teacher’s new book aims to help other educators and parents identify student

problems

[We have not yet seen this book, and it is not yet on Amazon.com. By

Maria Cook in The Ottawa Citizen. Pembroke Publishers.]

http://www.canada.com/ottawa/news/story.asp?id={7626F68B-0E70-4469-A3FE-E333

94ABC47D}

The educational trend of placing children with disabilities and

behaviour problems in regular classrooms creates challenges for teachers,

and puts the children at risk of falling behind, says the author of a new

book that aims to help teachers cope.

“Kids who may previously have been in special education classes now

have to be taught by the regular teacher in the regular classroom,” says

Cheryll Duquette, a professor at the University of Ottawa faculty of education.

“It’s not unusual for 30 per cent of the class to have exceptionalities.”

Ms. Duquette’s book, Students at Risk: Solutions to Classroom

Challenges, Pembroke Publishers Ltd., 128 pages, $18.95, is a how-to guide

for teachers whose classrooms now include a wide range of students—from

the highly gifted to those with developmental delay, attention deficit

hyperactivity disorder, physical disabilities, impaired hearing or sight and

disruptive behaviours.

“It’s not easy being a teacher these days,” says Ms. Duquette, a

special education expert who has taught at Merivale and J. S. Woodsworth

high schools and at Greenbank, Manordale and Kars primary schools.

“They’ve had a new curriculum and insufficient training in the new

curriculum. They’ve had more and needier children in their classroom. There

are some teachers who could use some support.”

She was recently speaking with a Grade 1 teacher in the

Ottawa-Carleton District School Board who has 29 students. They include a

child with autism, a number of children on ritalin, youngsters who are

exceptionally bright and need an enriched program, as well as children who

are lagging behind and require extra attention.

“For the most part, kids with learning disabilities are placed in the

regular classroom, regardless of the severity, and without much assistance,”

she says.

Over the last 20 years, there has been a movement to integrate most

children into regular classrooms.

This is driven by budget cuts, ministry policy, lobbying by parents,

and a philosophy that all children have a right to have their academic and

social needs met in a regular classroom, and that exposure to diversity breeds tolerance among children.

Due to funding cuts, there are fewer special education classes, educational assistants, opportunities for teacher training, and special education consultants.

“Not every child’s needs can be met in a regular classroom,” says Ms.Duquette. “I think each board has to ensure that there are a range of placements for children.”

While some teachers have upgraded their skills, many others have not

had training in working with special-needs children, she says. Five years

ago, the University of Ottawa became the first education faculty in the province to introduce a mandatory special education course for student teachers.

At the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, more than 9,000 children

out of 80,000 have been identified as having an exceptionality.

In her book, Ms. Duquette describes strategies for working with

children whom teachers suspect are at risk of developing an academic or

behavioural problem, as well as those who have been identified by the school

system as having special needs.

Ms. Duquette suggests that a caring and alert teacher can make a

difference by observing students, keeping notes on strengths and weaknesses,

and developing an informal plan for addressing them.

“Instead of saying ‘Gosh, there’s something going on with this kid,

but I don’t know exactly what it is,’ I have presented a plan for teachers

to observe the child and start planning some strategies.”

She gives the following case study:

Andrew was a Grade 9 student who was considered a “behaviour problem”

for arriving late for English class or skipping it altogether. He handed

assignments in late and refused to complete some assignments.

The teacher took notes of his strengths over two weeks, (expresses

ideas well orally) and weaknesses (written assignments too short and

handwriting very messy.) He told her he disliked writing because he found it

hard to organize his thoughts.

The teacher decided to work privately with Andrew on formulating his

points, allow some assignments to be done orally, encourage him to type assignments, and to keep a log-book recording his late arrivals and absences.

By the end of the semester, Andrew’s mark in English had risen to 64

per cent from 52 per cent, and attendance was no longer a problem. The

teacher suspected a mild learning disability, and referred him for testing;

however that would not take place until April.

Andrew’s attempt to hide his weakness had been turning into a behaviour problem.

Ms. Duquette argues in favour of really seeing the child and figuring

out the underlying issues.

“Sometimes we are so ‘stuck’ in our ways that we automatically blame

the student when we could act to improve the child’s behaviours,” she writes.

Other methods that work include breaking work down into smaller

components, and a multi-sensory approach: For example in counting, the child

sees a number line, hears numbers counted orally, and points to the numbers

as they are being said to establish a link.

Ms. Duquette says that parents can also use the book to learn more

about problems their children may be having, and to make sure that teaching

techniques that could help them are being used.

“Parents have to be vigilant and advocate for their children,” she

says.

© Copyright 2001 The Ottawa Citizen

* * *

Stop The Bullying

[Not reviewed. Written by: Ken Rigby, Pembroke Publishers.]

http://www.pembrokepublishers.com/homeresult.html?1-55138-137-0

This practical and researched-based book helps teachers appreciate the

actions they can take to stop bullying. Stop the Bulling will help

teachers — find out what is really happening in their school — develop sound

and well-supported anti-bullying policies — work effectively with children

in classrooms to gain their support in dealing with bullying — deal

appropriately and constructively with children who bully — support and help

children who are victimized by peers at school Teachers will find

reproducible activities that help students recognize and effectively deal

with a variety of issues related to bullying. This timely book will help

teachers work with colleagues and parents to make schools safer places for

all. ISBN: 1-55138-137-0  $18.95

Lenny Schafer, Editor@feat.org  •  CALENDAR EVENTS@feat.org Michelle Guppy

Catherine Johnson PhD  •  Ron Sleith  •  Kay Stammers  •  Edward Decelie

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