"Explosive Child" Greenes has web site for "Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder" kids and caregivers
#1 and I went snowboarding today. Which doesn't sound like much except that for him snowboarding has been more aspirational than real, and I'm a 50+ Dad.I knew he needed me doing it with him, and what we both needed was bunny hill time. Not lessons, we did some of those years ago -- a borderline fail then. We needed sliding time in decent conditions.Which we got. There were some anxieties of his I had to work around, some on the fly strategy invention, and of course I had to learn to snowboard (yay quick iPhone wikihow consultation) -- but we succeeded. Good runs on the greens for both of us. We stopped when he wanted to q...
Source: Be the Best You can Be - December 21, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: ADHD adolescence autism brain and mind cognition Explosive Child Source Type: blogs
Today's kids are falling behind. In bullying.
Today's kids just don't measure up. Back in the day we did more bullying in a day than this generation can manage in a month.That's not the impression we get reading stories of bullying on social networks, or NYT articles on girls at war (or maybe not). It also doesn't match the scary graph on this Guardian article. So it's my anecdote against the world.Still. It's what I see with my special needs kids, and it's what other parents (usually younger than me) comment on. We see high school sports teams not only tolerating special needs "managers" and athletes, but making conversation, exchanging polite greetings, even bei...
Source: Be the Best You can Be - December 21, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs
Special needs in Minnesota - notes from an ARC and family sponsored meeting
I joined a meeting tonight hosted by Arc Minnesota [1] which was both an opportunity to learn from the work of the local Bender family and a chance to chat with a few local politicians (all of whom I voted for of course).Unfortunately I was delayed and missed part of the meeting, but I'll share some of the issues that came up. There's much more on these topics in a post from last year - Transition and employment - notes from a Minnesota presentation. I heard some good things about the Legacy Endeavors, I think they'd be categorized as a "supported Employment Service Provider" though I'm fuzzy on the divisions.Arc is pu...
Source: Be the Best You can Be - November 15, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: transition legal housing Twin Cities disability law Source Type: blogs
The person with the hardest job in education is paid minimum wage and has had minimal training
I've mentioned this in prior posts, but it deserves periodic attention.In most school districts special ed students are "mainstreamed" for several classes. #1, for example, takes Algebra - though he reads and writes at a 3rd-4th grade level [1]. (#2 is also "special ed", but his needs are different. He takes advanced coursework.)Curiously, and this is why mainstreaming works better than one might imagine, #1enjoys his algebra and seems to get some of concepts, particularly those with visual analogues. (DragonBox helped). He'll never use Algebra in later life, but then neither will most of his neurotypical peers.Of course h...
Source: Be the Best You can Be - October 28, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: education Source Type: blogs
Explaining disability to a boy who won't go to College - truth and hope
I wrote the end of High School, the end of dreams six months ago. Before and since I've been thinking about how to explain to #1 why he isn't going to get a (true) High School diploma, and why he won't be going to any of the Colleges he loves to dream about.I think most would agree that this is not an easy conversation.Fortunately he has given me time to think. He approaches the topic from time to time, but usually veers off. I think I now have a story that is true but leaves some hope and a direction.The key is that he has many cognitive and behavioral disabilities. Some are more amenable to improvement than others. T...
Source: Be the Best You can Be - October 6, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: education prefrontal adolescence ADHD cognitive impairment autism Source Type: blogs
ADHD, CDD, and Related Conditions - what I wrote in 2002 holds up pretty well today
I started this blog in 2004, Best You Can Be, when #2 (Asperger) was 5 and #1 was 7. Since that time I've written about my thoughts on the nature of brain disorders and the limits of our medical classifications -- among other topics.Today I rediscovered one of my last pre-blog classic personal web pages -- it was largely written in 2002 and when #2 was not-quite diagnosed and we were getting our heads around how to work with a 5 year old #1. In some ways the hardest times (to date!) were behind us -- but I'd had time to think about the nature of cognitive disorders and disability. I put some of those thoughts into a web ar...
Source: Be the Best You can Be - October 5, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: Explosive Child ADHD Source Type: blogs
Apple's iOS 7 is a big improvement for special needs community - parental controls that work
It hasn't gotten much attention outside of some Christian conservative and geek blogs, but iOS 7 has fixed the longstanding parental controls webkit hole. I first wrote about this problem back in August 2010, when I was particularly enthused about the benefits of iOS for #1 son's use.That enthusiasm was muted by years of struggle with adolescence, impulse control, and the webkit access flaw he exploited mercilessly.Now, with iOS 7, the struggle appears to have ended. With my permission #1 attempted, vigorously, to bypass the new controls. He failed, indeed he has had to sheepishly ask me to grant permissions for webkit ho...
Source: Be the Best You can Be - September 21, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: technology Source Type: blogs
Special needs and population health management
Buried in a discussion of improving care of patients who spend a lot of time in emergency rooms, and who cost health care systems a lot of money, is a very interesting phrasePracticing Award-Winning Population Health | McKesson Better Health... HCMC decided to open the Coordinated Care Center after its internal studies showed that 3 percent of its patients were responsible for about half of its total costs. To ensure a focus on those high-cost patients, the care center has admitted only patients who had been hospitalized at least three times in the previous 12 months.... HCMC realized that drug use, homelessness, mental he...
Source: Be the Best You can Be - September 16, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: medical care cognition health adult cognitive impairment Source Type: blogs
Special needs update Sept 2013: High School again
Quick notes that might be of interest to caregivers ...#2 son ("aspergers", college-bound, grade 9) has started high school at a local teache-run project-based granola-heavy charter school program. This will be an interesting experiment. Our primary concern will be college requirements and getting passable scores on college entry exams. #1 son (various, not college, grade 11) did quite well over the summer learning Algebra via DragonBox. He's excited about his Algebra 1 text; he does better at algebra than he did with arithmetic. It's a relief to have him finally "allowed" to use a calculator and forget trying to do long ...
Source: Be the Best You can Be - September 14, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: education Twin Cities sport Asperger's adolescence ADHD autism Source Type: blogs
Special Olympics Minnesota has a summer sports camp
We've always known of the great Special Olympics sports opportunities in the Twin Cities, but until this year we had too many other activities going on to participate. This year though #1 wanted to start playing tennis, and, as it turned out, Special Olympics was a great way for him to start (he won state in his division - gotta brag for him).Despite his tennis participation we didn't know of the basketball, tennis, flat football and bowling summer camp that just passed:Summer Sports Camp | Special Olympics MinnesotaJune 12-15, 2013St. Olaf College, Northfield, MNTraining will be offered in the sports of basketball, bowl...
Source: Be the Best You can Be - July 20, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: athletics Twin Cities sport Source Type: blogs
Come a long way
As long as I can remember we've done somewhat crazy things with our special needs kids, neurotypical daughter, and our dogs (Molly, then Kateva). We pushed the envelope. Public meltdowns echoing down Main Street, activated contingency plans, parental distress -- we kind of expect that [1]. You can see those expectations in a 2010 post on our first trip to a Nordic (cross country) ski resort. Long before that outing there were bicycle rides, crazy outings, stuff I don't know how I did.Today was in that vein. We took a lovely bike ride on a hot steamy day. There were challenges - besides the the heat our destination ice crea...
Source: Be the Best You can Be - July 7, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: Twin Cities Asperger's adolescence ADHD recreation autism Source Type: blogs
One day autism may be treatable
It's good that some researchers are asking these questions ... Progress toward treatments for synaptic defects in autism. Nat Med. 2013 Jun;19(6):685-94Delorme R, Ey E, Toro R, Leboyer M, Gillberg C, Bourgeron T... There is currently no cure for ASD; however, results from mouse models indicate that some forms of the disorder could be alleviated even at the adult stage. Genes involved in ASD seem to converge on common pathways altering synaptic homeostasis. We propose, given the clinical heterogeneity of ASD, that specific 'synaptic clinical trials' should be designed and launched with the aim of establishing whether phen...
Source: Be the Best You can Be - July 7, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: brain and mind research therapy autism treatment Source Type: blogs
My son learns algebra on his iPhone via DragonBox
Friggin awesome.That's what I got from the look on #1's face when he solved an equation with x on one side, and a numeric expression on the other. He was doing algebra, he knew it, he was proud.Damn, that was the best $6 I've ever spent.#1 is entering 10th grade next year in the special needs modification program. He reads at about a 4th grade level (perhaps less) and struggles with basic arithmetic and time calculations. Despite years of practice he can't do long division by hand. Despite this reality, he declined the standard transition programs for a regular junior high academic schedule -- though we worked him down fro...
Source: Be the Best You can Be - June 22, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: education technology cognition school Asperger's adolescence computer Source Type: blogs
Your child has autism. Now what?
I write this blog to help other parents and families, but I also write it to record my own notes and ideas. It's a reference for me. Today, while looking for another post, I found an unpublished draft from around 2004-2006. It was an ambitious post - intended to be a guide to parents with a newly diagnosed "autistic" child.I never got past the introduction and an outline of topics. Rereading it today, I think it's still worth sharing. Some of my thoughts have changed, but I mostly agree with my old comments.I suppose if I got enough requests I could fill out the topics, but really this could turn into a book I don't have t...
Source: Be the Best You can Be - June 8, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: diagnostic definition autism Source Type: blogs
Status June 2013
#1, #2 and #3 (neurotypical) made it through another school year. By our standards it went well for all. For #3 some encouragement and routine parental attention was needed; I sometimes wonder what parents of neurotypicals do with all their spare time. Joking! I don't know if there really are any neurotypicals, and even an average adolescent can be a heavy challenge.Managing school for #1 and #2 required rather more effort. That fell largely upon E; a small part of those challenges have been noted here. This is why E and I cannot both work full time; this burden is why so many families of special needs children suffer e...
Source: Be the Best You can Be - June 3, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: education school Asperger's adolescence ADHD Source Type: blogs
