Autismconnectcanada

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. The parents of a Missouri man with autism who was shocked several times with a Taser during a confrontation that began when he stopped to tie his shoe lost their lawsuit over how his arrest was conducted. A federal grand jury on Thursday did not award damages to Ernest and Ellas Kramer, who sued the city of Maryville and two police officers after their son, Christopher, was arrested in Maryville in 2016. They sought $2 million in damages for wrongful detention and excessive use of force. The Kramers’ attorney, Arthur Benson, said he was considering filing a motion for a new trial, Kansas City radio station KCUR reported.

Hotel clerk's act of kindness to boy with autism goes viral .... They are going to attend an autism awareness event together, where Colin will be Hill's ...

It looks at first glance like any other Friday at Legoland Discovery Center in Grapevine, Texas: About half a dozen children line up for the colorful rides or pose with life-sized Lego figures. They bear a striking resemblance to one another with mops of curly hair, wide-set eyes and broad, thin-lipped smiles. Some have flown here from as far away as Australia, and their parents embrace warmly as they spot one another. When the group heads to lunch at the nearby Rainforest Cafe, Jasey Miller, 12, balks at the entrance: The restaurant is festooned with faux vines and loud, gesticulating robot animals. Noticing her hesitation, 15-year-old Abby Ames takes her by the arm and ushers her in.

The Surrey School District is pleased to host its first-ever Youth With Autism Conference. The Youth With Autism Conference will welcome students in Grades 4-7 to explore and engage with topics of interest and listen to shared and new experiences. The event will include keynote speaker Michael McCreary (The Aspie Comic), break out sessions, and conclude with a discussion panel. About 112 students from various Surrey and White Rock schools were chosen to attend by integration support teachers and parents. Registration is now closed.

Alterations in social cognition (SC) are hypothesized to underlie social communication and interaction challenges in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The aetiological underpinnings driving this association remain unclear. We examined SC in 196 twins with ASD, other neurodevelopmental disorders or typical development using the naturalistic Movie for the Assessment of social Cognition. autism and its severity were assessed with the autism Diagnostic observation Schedule-2, and a...utistic traits with the social Responsiveness Scale-2. Using within twin-pair regression models, controlling for age , sex, IQ, and unmeasured familial confounders such as genetic background and shared-environment, SC correlated with ASD diagnosis , autism severity, and autistic traits. Our findings highlight the importance of SC alterations in autism and suggest a non-shared environmental impact on the association. See more

In late March I was a judge at the Bay Area Science and Engineering Fair (BASEF 2019, presented by ArcelorMittal Dofasco). Mohawk College is to be lauded for providing a venue for the fair, year after year, despite the fact that the several days' use of the facilities costs them income. BASEF was, as usual, a highlight of my year. I think it's my 28th year as a judge at our regional science fair, and when I started it had a different name. It's had several names in its 59 years of existence; I think it was the Hamilton-Wentworth District Science Fair when I was first associated with it.

After five years of proven success with Charisma(TM) for Youth - an evidence-based virtual training program to learn and practice social skills in real time with trained clinicians - the Brain Performance Institute at the Center for BrainHealth has taken the program online. Regardless of where they live, kids struggling socially can now access this science-based social skills training. To date, more than 350 children have participated in Charisma for Youth. A majority have been kids with autism and ADHD; however, the program has evolved to benefit kids facing self-assertion challenges (i.e. bullying situations) and other social learning deficits (i.e. not recognizing social cues, difficulty working in groups, extreme shyness).

Scientists at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science (CBS) have discovered that when a normal cellular cleanup process is disrupted, mice start behaving in ways that resemble human symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia. They found that loss of normal autophagy--the process used to recycle damaged cellular components such as proteins-- influences how brain cells react to inhibitory signals from each other and contributes to the behavioral changes. This intricate signaling pathway could be a new therapeutic target for neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders.

We're losing the fight against measles. In this day and age, that's an amazing statement. Three years ago we talked about them being almost eradicated. Now we're losing the battle. This week Ottawa reported measles cases. There have been outbreaks in British Columbia, in several U.S. states and in Europe. In New York City, a health emergency has been declared. And the worst part is that we know exactly why. A relatively small group of so-called anti-vaxxers is making effective use of what else social media to spread misinformation, which is leading to more and more parents not getting their kids vaccinated, and to more adults choosing not to be revaccinated.

I am the proud parent of a 23-year-old daughter with autism. When she was diagnosed at two years, nine months, I struggled to find treatment after a social worker came to my home and said that my daughter would end up in a special home with others like her because her disability was so severe. I discovered that a treatment for autism existed that could help my daughter develop and grow, but it was neither provided by our public health care system nor covered by medicare. Th...e treatment is Applied Behaviour Analysis. We had to resort to the private sector. My husband left, saying he did not want to spend his retirement savings on a treatment. So I emptied my bank accounts, sold everything of value at a pawn shop, slept on my living room floor and rented out rooms in my house, and worked excessive overtime to pay for my daughter’s treatment. See more

"Are you happy?" Dan Beaulieu and his wife ask their six-year-old son Adrian who has autism, as he revels in his brand-new sensory room in the family home basement. "Happy," their son responded. Adrian jumped up and down and clapped his hands as he soaked up the space, which has some of his favourite things: a train set, a trampoline, and a tent. ... The sensory room project was made possible thanks to donors.

An evaluation of 11 tests of social skills has identified 8 that give credible results in autistic adults1. People with autism often have trouble with social skills, including with perceiving and interpreting social information. However, training programs for these skills are difficult to evaluate because there is no standard way to measure improvement in autistic adults. Not a single test of social cognition has been validated for use in adults with autism. The researchers administered 11 such tests to 103 autistic adults and 95 controls. The tests cover four aspects of social cognition: the ability to read emotions in faces and voices; to understand social rules and interpret social cues; to infer others’ thoughts and emotions (theory of mind); and to explain social situations. Participants also took an intelligence quotient (IQ) test.

La mère d'une fillette autochtone atteinte d'un trouble du spectre de l'autisme dénonce le fait que l'école que fréquente sa fille lui demande de la transférer dans un autre établissement. C’est en larmes que Jeannelle Mandes s’est adressée aux médias, lors d’une conférence de presse tenue jeudi par la Fédération des nations autochtones souveraines de la Saskatchewan (FSIN), à l'Université des Premières Nations du Canada, à Regina. La jeune femme dénonce le fait que sa fille Sharlize, âgée de 10 ans, ne soit plus la bienvenue à l’École Jack-Mackenzie en raison de crises d’agressivité .