What line of work are you in?

[the simple life]

The book Beekissed is talking about Look Me in The Eye is written by John Elder Robison.
Its a fantastic book that is suppose to become a movie.
There are several books written by
Stephen Shore and Temple Grandin
Stephen is a great guy who writes of his experiences growing up with autism/aspergers.
He wrote about school and getting fired from various jobs.
I was lucky enough to meet him and we hit it off and he is now my son's music teacher.
He does speaking engagements all over the world so if he is in your area I would make sure to see him.
His books are Autism for Dummies which is more of a reference guide and
Beyond the Wall Personal Expriences with Autsim and Aspergers Syndrome.Its a really great book.
It describes all the misunderstandings that can happen with this disorder and life experiences.
Temple Grandin is a scientist and writes about her life as well. Thinking in Pictures is a good one of hers
In fact she had developed most of the machines that are now used in the cattle industsry.
Annabel Stehli wrote a book called Sound of a Miracle and edited two books that are all short stories written by parents with firsthand experience with autsim and aspergers.
They are The Sound of Falling Snow and Dancing in the Rain, alot of the stories in there describe the sensory disorder that alot of people on the spectrum have.

For anyone who is interested in Aspergers PLEASE go and rent or buy the movie Jonah and the Whale with Josh Hartnett. You will LOVE it!!
You will not believe how much you will recognize yourself ,loved one, friends or anyone you suspect or know has aspergers in this movie.
Its a movie of this man named Jerry who has aspergers and Josh Hartnett did an amazing job in this film. Jerry is also a friend of Stephen Shore's and a doctor I met from Children's Hospital Boston and they said he did such a good job with Jerry's mannerisms and tone of voice that its scary.
I was fortunate to attend the screening of the film where several people sat on the panel and answered questions about the disorder, Jerry and the film after it screened.
You have to listen very closely to this film or you will miss some really funny comments. I went out and bought this movie, you can order it online or have a franchise like Blockbuster Video order it for you if you have one near you.
If anyone goes out and gets this movie, let me know what
you think of it. I would love to hear your comments.

Beekissed this means you!! I know you will get this movie now and I want to hear back from you!!

 

[krjwaj]

The first I heard of Aspergers's was on (beleive it or not) America's Next Top Model. Teo seasons ago. Heather had Asperger's and she had a little bit of a tough time with the other models in the house.

 

[the simple life]

and I just recently learned to talk to folks (look 'em in the eyes at all, and not lookin like I'm tryin to stare 'em down LOL) and I still caint quite tell when folks is gettin mad at me until there in my face yellin at me, but I'm gettin better.

wow. just wow. I can't even begin to wrap my brain around all of this. I almost never look people in the eyes. I hate to. Hate it. Not b/c I'm being disrespectful either. I just don't ever do it. I don't know when someone is mad at me either until they are visibly and obviously pi$$ed.

I don't know about your situation, but most of the time the reason why people don't look others in the eyes is because they cannot think and form a reply to a question, much less carry on a conversation at the same time as looking at someone in the eyes.
Its too much, they can either look at you or listen to you and answer your question, but not do both.
I always tell my son he only has to look at people's chins so that they don't think he is being rude.
I would never force him to look at anyone in the eyes like so much of society does with these kids.

 

[the simple life]

This is a study I read recently.


Eye Contact Triggers Threat Signals In Autistic Children's Brains

The work deepens understanding of an autistic brain's function and may one
day inform new treatment approaches and augment how teachers interact with
their autistic students.

Tracking the correlation between eye movements and brain activity, the
researchers found that in autistic subjects, the amygdala - an emotion
center in the brain associated with negative feelings - lights up to an
abnormal extent during a direct gaze upon a non-threatening face. Writing in
the March 6 issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience, the scientists also
report that because autistic children avert eye contact, the brain's
fusiform region, which is critical for face perception, is less active than
it would be during a normally developing child's stare.

"This is the very first published study that assesses how individuals with
autism look at faces while simultaneously monitoring which of their brain
areas are active," says lead author Kim Dalton, an assistant scientist at
UW-Madison's Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior. Dalton
measured eye movements in conjunction with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI),
a sophisticated technology that allows researchers to "see" a brain in
action.

Notably, the UW-Madison study overturns the existing notion that autistic
children struggle to process faces because of a malfunction in the fusiform
area. Rather, in autistic children the fusiform "is fundamentally normal"
and shows only stunted activity because over-aroused amygdalas make autistic
children want to look away, says senior author Richard Davidson, a
UW-Madison psychiatry and psychology professor who has earned international
recognition for his work on the neural underpinnings of emotion.

"Imagine walking through the world and interpreting every face that looks at
you as a threat, even the face of your own mother," Davidson adds.
Scientists have in the past speculated that the amygdala - which has been
implicated in certain anxiety and mood disorders - plays a role in autism,
but the study directly supports that idea for the first time.

An increasingly publicized developmental disability, autism greatly weakens
the capacity to socialize and communicate normally. The tendency to avoid
eye contact is one of the most pervasive traits among autistic children,
says Dalton. The characteristic is a problem because eyes, in particular,
are a crucial source of "subtle cues that are critical for normal social and
emotional development," Dalton says.

Dalton's work comprised two studies. In the first, researchers placed
autistic children inside an MRI scanner and showed them pictures of faces
with both emotional and neutral expressions. The children had to press one
of two buttons to indicate whether a face showed a blank or expressive face.
Throughout the process, the researchers used precise eye-tracking technology
to measure exactly which parts of the face study participants were looking
at and for how long. Normally developing children far outpaced the autistic
study participants in identifying expressions correctly.

During the second study, the researchers again placed subjects in MRI
machines and showed them photographs of both familiar and unfamiliar faces.
They monitored eye movements and brain activity, and once again, autistic
subjects performed considerably more poorly than normally developing
participants.

In the future, the findings could help scientists "train autistic children
to look at a person's eye region in a more strategic way, like when the
person may not be looking directly at them," says Davidson. Researchers
eventually could assess whether such approaches improve the ability to make
eye contact and whether they might even induce positive developmental
changes in the brain.

Because autism is more inheritable than any other psychiatric condition,
researchers also could start to explore the genetic mechanisms underlying
hyperactive amygdalas - "a completely uncharted research territory," says
Davidson. And if the autistic amygdala is found to be overactive from
infancy, the knowledge could help doctors implement intervention approaches
right from an early age.

 

[shareneh]

Good information everyone. I have never heard about this disorder either and I think I will look into it. After reading the symptoms I wonder if my step son has it. He has a lot of trouble even talking to me or his dad and when he does talk he won't look at us and he mumbles.

Oh, I am a police and fire dispatcher for the past eight years, before that I was a college student, before that I worked as a plane dispatcher for a flight service on the southeastern panhandle in Alaska, before that I worked in a factory.

I am the mother of three grown children, one step son and a proud grandmother of two married to the man of my dreams.

 

[Beekissed]

Simple Life, I will definitely look into the movie! I can't believe that man is your music teacher now! Isn't he rather famous for all the work he has done on musical instruments and sound equipment? That is the coolest thing!

Joel doesn't have the eye avoidance as badly as did John, but he can't maintain eye contact in a stressful situation very well. He definitely has the problem of being unable to read people's emotions and will often try to joke with someone who is very angry. On the other hand, he cannot take a joke on himself and gets angry and thinks everyone is always "picking" on him. Makes for very poor relationships at school and work, not to mention at home.

Thank you for sharing the information on this. I, personally, like to think Thimerosol is the cause for a lot of the autism that is evident in this generation. Its just become too widespread and there has been a study that connects the preservative with a number of behavioral problems.

 

[Woodland Woman]

I am a stay at home homeschooling mom. In the past I have had a landscaping business and a painting business.

A year ago, I put my myself and my kids on a gluten free diet. One of the results is my kid that could never look anyone in eye now has no problem looking you in the eye.

 

[jkm]

I have been a nurse for 25 years,,,, my favorite job was step down trauma, neuro , ENT cancer,, did Occ health for the past ten years,, that job ends in four weeks. praise god. have been a tour leader to Itlay and Turkey, taught travel classes, and bread baking classes.
Am a professional dogtrainer, and my business is booming,,, you can see my dogs at www.justineleo.net

have 6 chickens in the backyard, three shelties, two old cats, live with mother and sister with cancer,,,, some plumbing problems in the hosue tongith,,,, but better in Sept than jan!!!
made diiner from 90 % of my backyard , small veggie garden, have a date with a freind for a great bike ride on the willamette river this week,, life is good.
cheers

 

[the simple life]

Beekissed, I KNOW that thimerisol is the cause of autism, without a doubt.

 

[heatherv]

Wow! Quite a turn this thread has taken! Exciting! My 8yo has high functioning autism.... almost completely similar w/ Asperger's except that HFA comes on earlier than AS (or vice versa). My 2.5 yo has been showing social/emotional delays since she was 1 and has been followed by developmental specialists since then. They suspect she has the same thing. My DH also shows signs of Asperger's, so our family is very chaotic (too many hard to read emotions from each other).

Any of you hear of the Autism Summit? www.autismsummit.org I may be going, and really hope I can make it happen to go.

something else I didn't mention in my other post that we do for jobs is lead up parent support groups, and sometimes teach workshops at conferences. Mostly dealing w/ early childhood, and children w/ disabilities.

I'll definitely look into that movie, can't wait to see it w/ the family!

I'm also considering (ok, well have been since the spring) putting everyone on the GFCF diet. It just seems like so much work, but I know it's more of just learning a different way of cooking for my family. I had to do that b4 when I was a nanny for a family who ate only Kosher, so I suppose I could learn a new way for my own family. <moan, whine> We KNOW that milk products set off our 8yo, he gets pretty wild behavior from it.