Vaccines

Newsweek Magazine published an article on February which states basically that vaccines for children are safe and that many scientific studies had found that they are safe for children.

Many parents believe that the measles vaccine causes autism in children and that the issue has not been taken seriously. Vaccines are link with autism, but it has not been proved. The truth is that every child is unique and perhaps some children are more hypersensitive to others to the mercury in the vaccine. The makers of the vaccines keep saying that the issue takes time and money away for other types of research to find the real causes of autism in children, parents will keep questioning , but what is also true is that money is everything and that the makers are not willing to loose any.

It is hard to sit down

It is hard for autistic children to sit down when their minds is going 300m/h. Its commons for some autistic children to suffer from hyper- activity disorder. I always try to give people the visual just by imagining if you pour a jar of aunts on your head, how does it feel? Well the same is for children with autism. People tell them sit down and be still, easy to say, but in their minds the simple act of sitting down for a period of time is impossible. In my class they get a special pillow which makes them feel relax, but it does not last long.

A weighted vest is also used to help them reduce anxiety and attention to task. It is difficult for people to understand children with this problem, teachers and professionals work together so the children can have a better productive life in school.

Fear of the internet

Xenophobic is an abnormal fear or hatred of the strange or foreign.
The piece I saw in utube today showed the rapid grow of the Internet and technology in general. It talked of how fast technology is going and how many people are depending on it for their everyday life. So, are we xenophobic? I would say I am. On the other hand, for young people they grew up with it. Talking to my daughter the other day about the topic she goes, "well mommy I would be lost without my computer, I grew up with it" and she is right. I used computers because I have to, in today's world everything is on line, it facilitate people's life, but before we used to go about without some much technology and we did just fine.

Technology is growing a fast rate and its scary, whenever something comes up, a year later is old and outdated. Just going through my things the other day I found my old Polaroid camera and I was "omg" I used to love it, I would hate to get rid of it, digital camera the size of deck of cards is what is in now, so I still learning how some things work when already something new is out, "all of this is too fast for me"

The short video relates to the readings because it has evolucionated the same way as the radio did. When the radio came out there were not regulations from the government, so was the Internet, but copyrights and restrictions have made difficult for people to have access to every sites there are.

group support

Babysitting a 5 years old boy is not an easy job. For the past 4 days I have been taking caring of my sister's son, he is a wonderful kid. He has lots of energy as a normal kid his age, me on part part I am exhausted. It has been 4 days of going to the movies, going out to eat, play dates and watching cartoons. Its an enormous job, but for someone with an autistic kid and no knowing the language its even harder.

Lucy came to this country with her husband and had a son, he is autistic. He is now 7. Then they had a beautiful girl. She is a wonderful parent, every time she has to come to school for meeting about Jose's progress she needs a translator. She is very involved on her child education, but she needs lots of help. Not only she does not know the language, but she does not know anybody with whom she can vent, plus she has to take care of the little girl, she said that at the end of the day she is burned down. Concerned with the case I started to search to see how Lucy can be helped. I found some support groups where she can call and meet other parents. Autistics children can have sleep difficulty, hyperactivity and tantrums, so being in contact with other parents that are going through the same situation would be a great help for her. The groups offer support for nyc families during the evenings and some are in spanish.

Autism and OCD

What is OCD? Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a "neurological disorder that causes obsessive thoughts and behaviors and can greatly disrupt a person's life" This disorder is commons among autistic children, for instance: I been working with Joseph for two years, all Joseph wants to do is to make a list of all the TV channels there are. He would start writing them in a particular way which is always the same ( in columns), we have no idea how he is able to remember hundred of channels, the idea is that every time he has to do it in the same pattern if not he will throw a tantrum. Another thing he does is when he comes in the room every morning he will look around the classroom just to see if anything has been changed and if so he would fix it according to how for him it supposed to be. He does not responded very well to changes at all.
Joseph's behavior is a way to deal with stress, that how he copes with situations, he finds comfort by doing the repetitions of the same thing every time. Autistic children are unaware of the ocd instead they use it as a calming mechanism. Again it comes down to understanding how their minds work and how we are able to help them by providing other tools in which they can occupy their time.

Autistic child killed his mother

The story of this 18 years old autistic boy has stunned everyone. This is a story of how an autistic eighteen year old boy, is convicted of killing his mother. It is unbelievable how someone with a mental disorder can face up to the same amount of time in jail as a mentally stable person. According to neighbors and friends of mother Professor Walker, she was found beaten to death on the kitchen floor.
The American population has to be more aware of circumstances such as these. Parents and guardians need more support from the outside public when dealing with children with certain disabilities. All of this is new information to many people, which is why more research needs to be done in order to find a preventive cure for it. In my opinion, autistic children are not violent. Working with children with such disabilities, it has taught me that children like this need more guidance, patience, and understanding from everyone around them.

Autism and vaccines

A judge found on February 12,09 that there is not connection between autism and vaccines. The article was published on The Chicago Tribune and it says that after years of scientific studies there is not link between autism and the measles vaccine.

The news is no welcome among parent of autistic children, many of them say that it has to be a connection since they saw the changes after their children had the vaccine. The vaccine has mercury as a preservative which is to believe to cause autism in children.

I think is still early and that more studies have to be done, autism is such an issue today that it says that 1 of every 150 children is diagnosed autistic, to me the numbers are alarming something has to be done about it.

What causes autism?

The causes of autism are not known, many attribute the disorder to genetic factors because it runs in the family. It is believe that some children are more prone than others to be autistic because it has to do with the way that the brain develops and how the cells communicate among each other. Another theory is pollutants in the air are the one to blame for autism and kids and for these reasons the environment in which the kid live in has a lot to do with the phenomenon.

Another big theory is the vaccine.The mercury in the measles-mumps-rubellahttp://mayoclinic.com/health/autism is being blamed for the disorder, but researchers do not agree with the theory and more research are being done in these aspect.

All of these are just theory, no one knows for sure what the real cause is. Perhaps is a combination of factors involve in it. What is for sure is that the makers of the vaccine are not going to come forward and say that the mercury is the real problems, why? Money says all and they are not willing to lose their big business over it. The key is research and more study in the field.

Autism in America

Working with autistic kids is very challenging, but at the same time is rewarding. Not a day goes by that I do not feel lucky because in many ways I am able to help them reach their goals and somehow be able to help them become independent and perhaps, be on their own as adults.

What is autism? Autism is a developmental disorder; it is usually detected before the age of three. It affects their language skill, some are verbal, but they are not able to make the connection which makes it difficult to communicate their needs and wants. Others are non-verbal and lack facial expressions to communicate. According to an article published on the “Health encyclopedia” www.healthscount.com , autism also affects their social skills. A vivid example of this phenomenon is that in a recent trip to the children museum, my class and another autistic class had to share a school bus with a behavior challenged class. The behavior challenged students were all chatting and singing children tunes all the way to the museum, but for the two autistic classes the situation was different, they were quiet during the trip and did not interact among each other. They have a hard time socializing with other people even with their parents.

The article also said that 1 in 150 children is born autistic. The generic composition of boys make them more susceptible to be autistic than girls. They also could flap their hands for hours or could wander off having to be reminded to focus on anything they were doing at that specific moment. OCD is also present in autism; they follow what is called rituals or repetitions. The have a routine which they have to do at the same time every single day as a way to feel oriented, if not, they have meltdowns.

What causes autism? There are many theories; it could be environmental or genetic. Others believe that the mercury in the vaccine is the one to blame for the disease. As the population of autistic children is growing more studies need to be done to somehow stop this terrible disease from stilling our children. The earlier the disease is found the better chances children have to make progress.

First blog

I read the New York Times every day.

I found this picture at FLICKR.