Author name: Ahmad

Chapter 1: Autism and Visual Thought Dr. Temple Grandin I THINK IN PICTURES. Words are like a second language to me. I translate both spoken and written words into full-color movies, complete with sound, which run like a VCR tape in my head. When somebody speaks to me, his words are instantly translated into pictures. Language-based thinkers often find this phenomenon difficult to understand, but in my job as an equipment designer for the livestock industry, visual thinking is a tremendous advantage. Visual thinking has enabled me to build entire systems in my imagination. During my career I have designed all kinds of equipment, ranging from corrals for handling cattle on ranches to systems for handling cattle and hogs during veterinary procedures and slaughter. I have worked for many major livestock companies. In fact, one third of the cattle and hogs in the United States are handled in equipment I have designed. Some of the people I've worked for don't even know that their systems were designed by someone with autism. I value my ability to think visually, and I would never want to lose it. One of the most profound mysteries of autism has been the remarkable ability of most autistic people to excel at visual spatial skills while performing so poorly at verbal skills. When I was a child and a teenager, I thought everybody thought in pictures. I had no idea that my thought processes were different. In fact, I did not realize the full extent of the differences until very recently. At meetings and at work I started asking other people detailed questions about how they accessed information from their memories. From their answers I learned that my visualization skills far exceeded those of most other people. I credit my visualization abilities with helping me understand the animals I work with. Early in my career I used a camera to help give me the animals' perspective as they walked through a chute for their veterinary treatment. I would kneel down and take pictures through the chute from the cow's eye level. Using the photos, I was able to figure out which things scared the cattle, such as shadows and bright spots of sunlight. Back then I used black-and-white film, because twenty years ago scientists believed that cattle lacked color vision. Today, research has shown that cattle can see colors, but the photos provided the unique advantage of seeing the world through a cow's viewpoint. They helped me figure out why the animals refused to go in one chute but willingly walked through another. Every design problem I've ever solved started with my ability to visualize and see the world in pictures. I started designing things as a child, when I was always experimenting with new kinds of kites and model airplanes. In elementary school I made a helicopter out of a broken balsa-wood airplane. When I wound up the propeller, the helicopter flew straight up about a hundred feet. I also made bird-shaped paper kites, which I flew behind my bike. The kites were cut out from a single sheet of heavy drawing paper and flown with thread. I experimented with different ways of bending the wings to increase flying performance. Bending the tips of the wings up made the kite fly higher. Thirty years later, this same design started appearing on commercial aircraft. Now, in my work, before I attempt any construction, I test-run the equipment in my imagination. I visualize my designs being used in every possible situation, with different sizes and breeds of cattle and in different weather conditions. Doing this enables me to correct mistakes prior to construction. Today, everyone is excited about the new virtual reality computer systems in which the user wears special goggles and is fully immersed in video game action. To me, these systems are like crude cartoons. My imagination works like the computer graphics programs that created the lifelike dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. When I do an equipment simulation in my imagination or work on an engineering problem, it is like seeing it on a videotape in my mind. I can view it from any angle, placing myself above or below the equipment and rotating it at the same time. I don't need a fancy graphics program that can produce three-dimensional design simulations. I can do it better and faster in my head. I create new images all the time by taking many little parts of images I have in the video library in my imagination and piecing them together. I have video memories of every item I've ever worked with -- steel gates, fences, latches, concrete walls, and so forth. To create new designs, I retrieve bits and pieces from my memory and combine them into a new whole. My design ability keeps improving as I add more visual images to my library. I add video-like images from either actual experiences or translations of written information into pictures. I can visualize the operation of such things as squeeze chutes, truck loading ramps, and all different types of livestock equipment. The more I actually work with cattle and operate equipment, the stronger my visual memories become. I first used my video library in one of my early livestock design projects, creating a dip vat and cattle-handling facility for John Wayne's Red River feed yard in Arizona. A dip vat is a long, narrow, seven-foot-deep swimming pool through which cattle move in single file. It is filled with pesticide to rid the animals of ticks, lice, and other external parasites. In 1978, existing dip vat designs were very poor. The animals often panicked because they were forced to slide into the vat down a steep, slick concrete decline. They would refuse to jump into the vat, and sometimes they would flip over backward and drown. The engineers who designed the slide never thought about why the cattle became so frightened. The first thing I did when I arrived at the feedlot was to put myself inside the

By Marcus Leroux Ten-year-old Francesca Winful seems distracted. She is darting between a computer screen and the table where Anya, her younger sister, is waiting quietly for her to return to the board game they are playing. Only the occasional request for a hug or high-five from Anya, 7, draws her back. And then off she goes again, back into her own world, impervious to her mother's gentle coaxing. Francesca, like 90,000 other school-age children in the country, suffers from autism. She goes to Treehouse School, in North London, which was set up ten years ago by parents dissatisfied with the provision for autistic children in mainstream schools. The parents' determination and hard work has led to the school growing from a single room in a Swiss Cottage library to a nationwide charity. The school has already revolutionised the teaching of autistic children. Now it is turning its attention to the overlooked victims - the brothers and sisters - by organising an initiative to help them relate to their autistic siblings. "I feel far away from her sometimes. She doesn't want me to play with her and that makes me feel a bit sad," Anya explains later. "You just have to be patient and do what she wants to do. I don't want to invade her space or anything." Anya, who goes to a nearby mainstream school, says that Treehouse has already helped her relate to her sister. "It's really helped me get along with Francesca. When my mum is dropping her off at school, the teachers will come over and tell me what they are doing at school and what activities they are doing and then we can go home and do them together." Anya enthuses about a day spent at Treehouse that the school organised to let brothers and sisters see what their siblings did. "It was really unlike any other schools," she said. "There were groups of about four or five people, and all of the attention would be on one person at a time. There are 31 in my class at school. I was doing all the activities that Francesca was doing: drawing, sticking, cutting out, making pictures." Anya finds common ground where she can with her sister. They do jigsaws and play board games together, but the contrast between the two is stark. Were it not for the difference in size, Anya would appear to be the protective older sister. "I was playing in the school yard after school once, and a boy just came up to me and said, 'Your sister's stupid'. I was upset, but I couldn't be too upset with him because he didn't really know what autism is. If you don't know about autism, you would just think that," she says. Anya's mother, Wendy Meteyard-Winful, beams with pride as her daughter recounts the story. Anya has an eloquence beyond her years, as though she has developed a precocious vocabulary to compensate for the thoughts and words locked inside her older sister. For Francesca, even a lost toy can lead to a 15-minute ordeal to work out why she is upset. Their mother says that Anya, a natural extrovert who loves singing and dancing, copes with and understands her sister's disability with a compassion and patience beyond her years. "She's learnt that by herself and by being very determined. There are times when I've heard something going ballistic in the next room, I'll want to go in and sort it out. But I know I can't. She said to me the other day, 'Mum, I have been doing this for seven years and I don't need you to help me'." She adds: "The very idea that Treehouse is doing sibling workshops is fantastic. Kids learn as they go along but it would be fantastic to give them a head start. "I wonder whether, had it been done earlier, Francesca might have played more with Anya."

By RITA GIORDANO "OK!" Ashawn Brewer powers his Formula One racer onto the track. He almost loses it on a fast curve but -- yes! -- he recovers with a hard swerve to left. Some wise guy throws a watermelon in his path and he outmaneuvers the mess, only to find a purple speedster blocking his lead. No problem; a butt to the fender, and Mr. Purple is out of there. Ashawn beams. "I like it when I run the other cars off the road," he says. Sharp driving for a 7-year-old -- and his wheelchair has nary a scratch on it. Ashawn does his racing at the Voorhees Pediatric Facility in Voorhees, N.J., for special needs children, one of a growing number of health, education and youth programs using virtual-reality games and programs to achieve a varied array of goals. On any given day, Ashawn and his friends at the pediatric center, most in wheelchairs, play soccer, volleyball, ride snowboards or collect treasure under the sea in the virtual world. They actually see themselves on the screen, as opposed to a generic character as in the popular Nintendo Wii. And because they need to move their bodies, not just a game controller, to play, what looks and feels like fun is actually physical therapy. "It's in a play setting, so it doesn't seem as tedious to them," said Frank DiBacco, a recreation therapist at Voorhees Pediatric. Interest in the therapeutic use of virtual reality is on the rise. After a lot of attention in the early 1990s, the excitement hit a lull, according to James Westwood, a program coordinator at the 15-year-old Medicine Meets Virtual Reality conference, an annual gathering of doctors, scientists and computer experts. But, he added, the interest is resurging with the development of actual products. "The serious games stuff is growing, and growing fast at our conferences," Westwood said. Much of the development is at universities, with systems too expensive to be available to clinical patients at the moment. But that, researchers say, likely will change over time. "It's certainly emerging as one of the new technologies of interest," said Judith Deutsch, director of the Research in Virtual Environments and Rehabilitation Sciences Lab of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Some studies show promising results. Deutsch's lab helped develop the Rutgers Ankle Rehabilitation System in which stroke patients use their feet to navigate through one of two virtual worlds, an airscape and a seascape. "We find they try longer. They improved more," Deutsch said. "They actually walked faster than the group that didn't use the virtual reality." "I-C-Me," the commercially available virtual program used at Voorhees Pediatric and many other institutions, was developed by a Bensalem, Pa.-based company, VTree Inc. Chuck Bergen, company president, worked for the U.S. Navy as a software designer for 19 years. He made his first game, a roller-coaster simulator, to amuse himself and his colleagues. "It hit me if I was a child in a wheelchair, this would be phenomenal," said Bergen, who admits to playing his own games. Bergen also developed "City of Life Skills," a virtual program that allows patients to learn how to manage their way through a simulated cityscape before they tackle the real thing. I-C-Me, which also lets patients play musical instruments and pop magical balloons, has been used by disabled children and adults for therapy and rehabilitation, as well as by autistics to help them learn social inclusion. Cathy Adams, special education coordinator at the Philadelphia Academy Charter School, has found it useful with autistic students, as well as others. "I think it's the wave of the future to do more and more things with virtual reality," said Adams. "It's even a sneaky way to get therapy in." Occupational therapists at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Magee Rehabilitation Hospital have found the game popular with patients. "There are definitely some patients who get bored of the same thing or they are depressed because of their condition," said Mary Ann Palermo, an occupational therapist at Magee. "We bring them in there and you see them really engaged in it. People are laughing when they use it." Nevertheless, people in the field say the therapeutic use of virtual reality merits more study. Others note it's an aid to conventional therapy, not a replacement. Some benefits seem more than virtual. Hunter G. Hoffman, director of the Virtual Reality Analgesia Research Center of the University of Washington, wanted to see if virtual reality could help distract burn victims from their often excruciating pain. They created "SnowWorld," a game in which the player glides through a virtual canyon, lobbing snowballs at penguins, snowmen, igloos and robots. Patients who were medicated as usual reported less pain, Hoffman said, and tests showed less pain-related activity in their brains. Hoffman said he and colleagues have also used virtual reality and exposure therapy to help a woman with a spider phobia and people suffering post-traumatic shock from the Sept. 11 attacks and terrorist bombings in Israel. For a long time, virtual reality seemed the stuff of hyped-up science fiction. But with advancing science, Hoffman predicted even more breakthroughs. "Now what's happening," he said, "is the technology is catching up with the hype -- and wow!" Back at Voorhees, Ashawn Brewer has trounced his therapist, Frank DiBacco, by a score of 8-4 in virtual volleyball. But snowboarding, Ashawn says, is his favorite. Shifting from side to side in his wheelchair, Ashawn, who has very limited use of his arms and legs, is off -- whizzing down, down the mountain. He gets creamed by a tree, but the kid is tough. Before you can say icicle, he's back with a grin, zipping around one rock, then another, ready to take on the virtual world. Pity the snowman that gets in his way.

[By Dawn Ziegenbalg in the Winston-Salem Journal, AP] Winston-Salem, N.C. - Seven little boys sit cross-legged on the floor, wiggling in their places and raising their hands as their teacher holds up flash cards. "A stands for ... what?" the teacher asks, calling on one boy. "Ac-know-ledge my an-ger," the child sings out. He is just 5 years old. He's here because he's had a tough time behaving in kindergarten. Teachers and day-care workers can refer 3- to 5-year-olds to the Therapeutic Classroom, run by CenterPoint Human Services, for a variety of behavioral problems. Some children throw chairs at their teachers, fight with their classmates or have frequent temper tantrums; others can't sit still for 30 seconds and don't listen to directions. The children are so little that their behaviors hardly seem threatening. "But wait until they get older," said Chris Barger, the program's director. "This is the prime time to catch these kids before it gets bigger and badder." The program started as the Preschool Enrichment Program about 20 years ago, but since then it has focused more on behavioral therapy. Now, it works to identify children's difficulties in an effort to improve their behavior. The program also offers education and counseling to the children and their parents. Some of the children act out because they struggle to deal with a parent's death, drug abuse or mental disabilities, Barger said. Others are abused, neglected or have difficulty dealing with stress. And still more have teen-age parents who are not equipped to deal with the challenges of raising them. Over the years, as the number of children facing these kinds of problems has grown, the program has struggled to keep pace. It doubled its capacity two years ago, with money from a federal grant administered by the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, and it now serves 32 children. Teachers easily could fill another classroom with the need that exists, Barger said. "The biggest complaint is that we can't get kids in fast enough," she said. Rochester Damon Jr., one of the program's teachers, opens his class every day with a song. Sometimes, he personalizes each verse for the children. "Christopher, Christopher. Christopher, Christopher," he and the children sing. "We like you. We like you. "You are very special. You are very special. "Hip hooray. Hip hooray." The boys beam and giggle as, one by one, they enjoy their moment of fame. "We do a lot to build self-esteem," Barger said. "All these kids have been screaming children in other classrooms, but here, in a small classroom, they do well." The program, which moved into rented space in an open wing at Cook Elementary School this year, offers two morning sessions and two afternoon sessions for eight students each -- most of them boys. Two teachers and an assistant work in each class because so many of the children need highly individualized attention. They spend a lot of time teaching anger-management techniques. The children can recite the strategies by heart -- "ignore distractions," "stay on task," "when you're getting mad, walk away." When the children get frustrated in class, the teachers help them apply the techniques. In one activity, children use breathing exercises to blow their angry feelings into an imaginary balloon that they release into the air. In another, students jump around to "get their wiggles out." Teachers alternate the games with traditional class work including handwriting practice and vocabulary lessons. "My goals are different for each individual child," Damon said. "For some, it could be to sit in their seat for 30 seconds. For some, it's to stay on task or to walk in class instead of run. For some, it's to express how they feel. My goal, truly, is to plant seeds and water those seeds and have other people nurture them as time goes by." Some of those nurturers will be the children's parents. The program offers counseling and classes to teach parents how to reinforce their children's positive behavior at home. "If we have us working, the parents working and the teachers working, the children can do well," Barger said. "A lot of times these kids just need socialization. They're bright kids who develop bad habits." But not all parents are involved, and some of those who are involved may also struggle with overwhelming family problems or poverty. One boy came to class last week wearing pants that he couldn't zip because they were a size too small. The boy's teacher gave him a new pair from a closet stocked with donated clothes. Principals say they've seen the program work wonders. "It's real cute to see the children come back and share what they've learned with other children in their classes," said Tobie Arnold, the principal of Old Town Elementary. "They'll say, 'You could have made another choice,' or 'That's not right to say that to your teacher."' The children attend the program Monday through Thursday and then go to their own schools Fridays. The program's teachers visit them there and work with them in their classes. "It helps them deal with some issues that we can't deal with as well here," Arnold said. "But with a little bit of extra help in smaller classes, they can express their feelings and learn different tools on how to get along in class. "There are so many children that could benefit from the tools they're learning. Sometimes we just have to say, 'Who needs this the most?"' The program already needs more money to meet the need that exists, directors say. This year, it has a $502,000 budget. Most of that comes from tax dollars, fees and Medicaid reimbursements for children's mental-health treatment. More than $140,000 comes from an annual federal grant from the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative, administered by the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. The grant runs out after this year, and the classroom will need additional money to continue operating at its current capacity, said Ron Morton, the director of CenterPoint. Morton says he is confident CenterPoint will

In my work with persons with autism, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities I am often asked to explain how to provide "structure." The dictionary definition of "structure" as a noun is "the way in which parts are arranged or put together to form a whole." As a verb, to structure something means to "bring order and organization to. As an adjective, structured means "highly organized, arranged in a definite pattern." A skeleton is a structure that everything else is built upon. Scaffolding is a structure with platforms that allow you to work from outside to renovate a building. In behavioral support, structure means doing the same thing, in the same order, in the same manner (with the same cues and prompts) and with the same expectations. These are the "rules." Structure of this sort "anchors" a person. Making routines and expectations predictable stabilizes life. It is like a sea anchor in rough weather that stabilizes a boat and prevents it from being blown totally over. Taking a structured approach to providing support is neither restrictive nor intrusive. Providing structure to assist the individual to overcome neurodevelopmental disabilities provides dignity by assisting the individual how to achieve their goals. For those who require intensive structure, "being intrusive provides for the dignity of the person." The functions of structure in persons with neuro-developmental disability. Structure provides predictability: Following "rules" substitutes for "understanding." Even if they don't "understand" what to do, when the individual has a "rule" to follow they can act in a manner that will be successful. Using step-by-step guidance allows the supported individual to always know what is coming next, and what they are expected to do next. This assists in overcoming their neuro-developmental difficulties in sequencing and organizing their own actions. Structure provides concrete guidance: Physical props substitute for having to remember what to do. Physical props substitute for the individual's inability to self-cue. Even if they don't independently remember what to do, placing physical cues and visual reminders in their environment allow an individual to "see" what they need to do. Props allow a person to physically recognize in the immediate moment, what they have to focus on and what they need to do to be successful. Structure provides positive expectations: Expectations of support person substitute for individual's inability to organize their own behavior. Even if the individual is not able to plan or analyze what they need to do, a support person's positive expectations ensure that individual always knows exactly what to do RIGHT. Individual is certain they will succeed by following routine. Positive expectations are clear, explicit, and set at the individual's level of ability. Individual is certain they will gain acceptance by following routine. Structure provides continuity: Routines substitute for individuals lack of "time sense." Even if the individual is not able to really understand "how long" it is till three o'clock, habitual routines overcome memory deficits and difficulty with time concepts. Routines allow individuals to connect prior actions to present and future actions. Routines can become automatic "habits" and don't have to be "remembered" to be done. Structure provides trust: Attaching to a support person substitutes for individuals "learned helplessness" Some neuro-developmental disabilities lead to "unsuccessful independence." Even if the individual feels that it wouldn't make any difference if they tried or not, they gain a sense of safety and security from relying upon a trusted support person to always give individual the "right answer." "Positive dependence" overcomes individual's lack of personal continuity and inability to orient self in time. "Positive dependence" overcomes individual's sense that the world is a random, chaotic and overwhelming place. Structure provides flexibility within a range of choices: If something else has to happen it can happen. Even if there needs to be a break in routine, the supported individual always knows what's going to happen after some momentary change in routine. After an interruption in routine, with structure, the plan is to carry on with the earlier established routine. Individual doesn't totally lose orientation, because they can go back to where they left off, and "catch up." Nathan E. Ory, M.A. Registered Psychologist 24 February 2006 Island Mental Health Support Team Nathan.Ory@viha.ca

The epidemic of autism, Aspergers, PDD-NOS, ADHD, ADD, learning disabilities, food allergies, juvenile onset diabetes, and asthma exactly parallels the increase in ethlymercury administered through Thimerosal-containing vaccines beginning in 1990 and 1991. Between 1992-2002, the Department of Education estimates that there has been a 714% increase in the number of autistic children. In the 1970s, autism was estimated to occur in 1 in 25,000 children. Between 1970 and 1990, that number increased to about 1 in 2,500. Today, the CDC acknowledges the number is about 1 in 166, even Eli Lilly says it's 1 in 150, and many believe it is closer to 1 in 125. 1 in 68 families in the United States now has an autistic child. The epidemic appears to have begun right around the time of the 246% increase in the amount of Thimerosal children received through vaccines. Asperger's, PDD-NOS, ADHD, ADD, and many learning disabilities have all exploded in numbers as well and all exactly during this same time period. Here is a quote from Dr. Mark Geier, a world-renowned geneticist: "This is from the Department of Education Data. In the middle 1970s the estimate of autism rate was 1 in 25,000. In the 80s it was 1 in 2,500. In the 90s it was about 1 in 250. Currently the estimate in the United States is about 1 in 150 and incidentally, that estimate is by Eli Lilly who makes thimerosal. This is an enormous rise. It's a meteoric rise, but worse than that, it's not limited to autism. Reading disorders are up 30 fold. Speech disorders are up - currently 1 in 8 children in the United States are in special education. You have to be six years old to be in special education so, we're all shaking to see what the next figure will be for the next 6 years and we already have some early indicators. It's going to come out between 1 in 6 and 1 in 5."

Some time back I heard from a parent about her adult daughter with Autism. This young woman with Autism does not have functional verbal language and really struggles horrendously with social involvement and physical closeness and was prone to very aggressive daily violent outbursts. She is an extremely solitary and vigilant person, unable to switch off her self protective buttons and showing some signs that would point in the direction of 'social phobia'. Let's call her Janet for the sake of this story. Janet had improved a lot since the family and Janet's workers because aware of Exposure Anxiety and how to be socially more 'cat' like, less 'dog' like around her, not watching, waiting, wanting, eager to save, fix, solve... to give her the autonomy her vigilant nature needed, the solitude her solitary nature needed. She was still not sociable and snuggly but she stopped having daily aggressive rages, as though she felt the environment was now less invasive and socially threatening and could relax. Janet developed a dry cough, which could possibly even have been a Tourette's tic brought on by excitement, overstimulation, agitation, distress as compulsive coughing and compulsive throat clearing are two of the most common involuntary tics and very often confused for someone having a real cough. Anyway, she was put onto a cough mixture. The cough cleared up (and had it been a Tourette's tic the relaxation effect of the cough mixture may well have reduced anxiety to a degree as to have such an effect even if the cough was only a tic). Anyway, not only did the cough clear up but Janet became remarkably different. She became sociable and snuggly with those around her, able to sit and enjoy TV with others, to enjoy physical and social contact. Clearly, this makes this story very interesting from an Autism perspective. After two weeks on the cough mixture it was questioned whether the cough mixture itself could have done this. I looked up the active ingredients of the cough mixture and was stunned. On examination of the cough mixture it was found its active ingredients were dextromethorphan- DXM- what equates to 'Ectasy'. DXM is the same ingredient in the Clubber's drug that increases sociability and is widely used in night clubs but also long term is believed to cause some real brain problems. DXM can cause dizziness and drowsiness, which could concieveably help someone acutely vigilant and solitary to relax but DXM has effects far beyond this. On the internet ( http://www.dextroverse.org/whatis.html ) I found this description of its effects... please note this info is from a site created by recreational users of DXM and not doctors, but given that it discloses insights into the first hand experience of the effects of this drug I felt it was useful just to hear what people experience when taking it: DXM is short for Dextromethorphan. In small amounts its a very effective cough suppressant, but in large amounts it is a very powerful dissociative drug. This can be found in many over-the-counter cough medicines, and the psychedelic effects begin somewhere over 120mg, but becomes toxic around 20-30 mg/kg. This drug has been used for recreational purposes for around 30 years. When taken recreationally the "trip" usually lasts around 5-6 hours. Thats including the come-up, peak and come-down. Also, most people who take it expirence an "afterglow" the next day which is the slight after-effects of the drug. The feeling of an afterglow is hard to explain, because you can usually definately tell its there, and yet you can usually do everything normally, and its hardly noticable. The afterglow isnt usually very strong but can vary on the person's metabolism, and their dosage and weight. Some users say it can become physically addictive after prolonged daily/semi-daily use. The type of DXM in Janet's cough mixture was Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide here's what the internet article had to say about it.... Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide: This is what you get when you react DXM with hydrobromic acid. This is what is most commonly used for cough suppressants and for recreational use. This produces different effects on different doses. We refer to them as plateaus, and there are 4 of them. PLATEAUS DXM has notably different effects at different dosage levels. There are 4 distinctive levels, and we call these levels "plateaus". Most recreational use happens during the first and second plateau. Doses are measured in mg/kg or milligrams per kilogram. So to find your dosage take your weight in kg (pounds divided by 2.2), and then divide it by how many total milligrams your taking. • 1st Plateau: 1.5-2.5 mg/kg This is the weakest level. This feels slightly intoxicating, a little light headed. Some music euphoria is noticable • 2nd Plateau: 2.5-7.5 mg/kg This level is often compared to being stoned and drunk at the sametime. When this might seem true, there is also a noticably strong "mental" high also. You can have trouble talking with slurring, and can have a hard time carrying on an indepth conversation, because your short-term memory can be temporarily impared. And occasionally you can have mild hallucinations. • 3rd Plateau: 7.5-15 mg/kg This level has strong intoxications and hallucinations. Things can become very confusing as your thinking processes are disturbed. You can sometimes daze-off into your own world, and get lost in your own mind. Trips in this plateau can sometimes be unpleasant. • 4th Plateau: +15 mg/kg This is the strongest level. This is a sub-anesthetic dose, and can be compared to a high dose of Ketamine. Your mind and body become seperated at this level and it can become dangerous psychologically, and physically. Personally I say that you should never have to go this high, it can be very dangerous. But whatever you do, NEVER go past 20 mg/kg (about 2000mg for a 220lb person), this can become very toxic and kill you. Let me make it clear I do not support the use of DXM in helping people with Autism. I do,

Article By: Patrick Colucci Article Date: 08/31/2010 The voice within...by Patrick Colucci I am the voice within The child who recoils From your horrific world, Filled with confusion and pain. I whisper "stay out", Lest you disturb my holy contemplation. With your sharp intrusions of chaos and dissonance, Weapons of your world of illusion and strife. I seek only the security of this beating heart , The pulsing of warm blood through these supple veins, The interior light which glows with each breath. The memory of my unanimated past Where suspended and nurtured, I knew love. I have neither the desire nor ambition to be wrenched forth Into the cold winter of pain and indifference. I cleaves to my idea of self Safe and secure, in the here and now. Lest you cast me into your woeful existence , of hunger, pain and sorrow. Teaching me envy, jealousy and greed, the grim realities of survival. I yearn to remain in this warmth without want, Where the serenity of pastel colors and soft sounds gently caress the pillows of my mind. Yet the wolves circle, his vulnerability painfully apparent. If he remains unguarded The evil of the world will devour his pure heart, Lest someone of goodness can nurture him. I can only bring him thus far, I need to know I can trust you, To take us both in your arms with love. To be our buffer and support, To listen to us when we speak, To comfort us when we hurt. To clothe us with the armor of love. For this I pray and offer thanks, That my precious cargo be safe and nurtured. Into your hands I commend my liege. For among the wicked are the good, Those who remember my voice, Those who know the way back, And the perilous journey ahead. For you alone have not forgotten The pure state of innocence and have Dedicated yourself to returning to the truth. AKA Christopher Cole

By Karin Chenoweth in the Washington Post Parents haven't even begun to realize their new power under the No Child Left Behind Act, pushed by President George W. Bush and approved by Congress last year. Parents whose children attend schools that receive federal Title I money (there are 65 in Prince George's County) will be notified if their child has a teacher who is not properly certified or qualified, and that teacher is in the classroom for at least four weeks. The first such letters should go out fairly soon in Prince George's County. Maybe that wouldn't seem revolutionary to someone who hasn't spent much time around schools, but it is. "It will make some waves," schools chief Iris T. Metts told me. A typical situation is a Title I classroom where a teacher has a provisional certification or where a long-term substitute has been hired to fill in for a teacher who is ill. About 19 percent of all teachers in Prince George's County have a provisional certification. Parents will learn by letter of such situations after the teacher has been on the job four weeks. In addition, parents in any Title I school will be able to find out the teachers' qualifications-their major in college and their level of state certification, for example. These are two ways the new law offers information to parents in hopes of getting them to push for improved schools. Ron Peiffer, assistant state superintendent for school and community outreach, said he recently met a parent from Howard County who had received a letter that her child had had a long-term substitute for more than four weeks. She went to the school, asked about credentials and was satisfied that the teacher would be suitable for her child. "That is what is supposed to happen," Peiffer told me. Parents don't have to assume that a substitute teacher or a teacher with provisional certification is unqualified or "bad." Sometimes certification is provisional becausethe teacher recently moved from a state with different certification requirements and is working to fill a small gap, such as by taking a couple of courses. Sometimes highly qualified people work as substitutes to maintain flexibility in their schedules. But parents are perfectly justified in looking closely at a provisionally certified or substitute teacher. They should ask the teacher for examples of how the child has progressed in the time they have had together. If the child began writing three-word sentences and now writes paragraphs of several sentences, that would be evidence the teacher is doing a good job. If parents are not satisfied with what the teacher demonstrates, they have the right to ask that their child be moved to the classroom of a highly qualified teacher. That is because of another provision in the new law that allows parents in Title I schools that are not improving to transfer their children to better-performing schools. I've used the term "highly qualified" several times now as though it were self-explanatory, but of course it isn't. People who care about education have been struggling for a long time with the question of what constitutes a highly qualified teacher. The U.S. Department of Education now defines the term by saying that new teachers must have a degree in a "core" subject: math, English, foreign language, science or some other academic subject (not simply "elementary education"), and have either full certification or a passing score on the Praxis test, a national instrument used to see whether teachers know something about teaching. Senior teachers must have a satisfactory evaluation on a statewide evaluation system or meet the above requirements. The rub for teachers already working in Maryland is that it, like most other states, does not have a statewide evaluation system. So it looks as if fully certified teachers who have been teaching for some time might have to get a degree in a core subject, if they don't have one, to comply with the new law. Being "highly qualified" as defined above is no guarantee that someone is a good teacher. But it's a start. "It's no guarantee, but let's back up and look at the evidence," Peiffer said. "The most experienced and most qualified teachers are in the schools with the least number of needs and the least number of challenges. The schools with a high number of challenges and needs generally have the teachers with the least experienced and least qualified teachers, and this is a practice that has been going on for 100 years." Many experts have long noted that teaching is one of the few professions where we put our most expert practitioners where they are least needed, and give our rawest and newest recruits the biggest challenges. No beginning engineer would be allowed to build the new Woodrow Wilson bridge. Yet our neediest kids get our newest and least qualified teachers. The new law is at least an attempt to rectify that situation by giving parents the power of information and the questions to ask. "It's medicine," is the way Metts described the law. "The patient is sick, there's no question about that. We have historically had a problem with certification. The solution, of course, is money." Even people who support the new law worry that it is actually a covert attempt to destroy public schools by giving parents the right to pull their kids from classrooms and schools and, ultimately (if the voucher folks get their way), the public school system altogether. That's the danger. But I am hoping parents in needy schools will live up to the challenge and pull together with their schools to help recruit and attract highly qualified teachers. "It's how you use that information to improve the system," Metts said. There are very needy schools and school districts where parents attend job fairs to demonstrate to teaching applicants that even if the kids are needy, the community is warm and welcoming and will support them in bringing kids to high levels of achievement. Another

Technique more common in treating those with physical and other disabilities By Caryn Meyers Fliegler The sound of scales being played on pianos, cellos and violinsfilled the hallways of Michigan State University's music practice building. In a spacious practice room in the basement of the building, Celina Stanaway had her own private concert going. "Fruits and veg-tables, orange and banana," the 12-year-old sangwith oomph. "Fruits and veg-tables, orange and banana! Ooh, aah." Stanaway sang the melody, which sounded like a mix of a Chiquita Banana commercial and the blues, with a smile on her face. Her body swayed with the upbeat rhythm. The Jackson resident with shiny brown hair and big expressive eyeshad come up with the words and notes for the song on her own. She clearly hadan ear for music. But Stanaway wasn't just playing -- she was participating in music therapy, a kind of therapy that can work on a range of personality and physical issues and has been known to create miracles. Breaking through autism Stanaway was diagnosed with autism at age 2, and music therapy has helped her break out of the isolation that the disorder can create. "It's really hard to get through that autistic aloneness," said Stanaway's mother, Cindy Seppa. "If she feels success in working musically with things, maybe she'll have success in conversations." Such success was evident during one of Stanaway's recent musictherapy sessions. Stanaway would come up with a melody, whether it be bluesy orwith a tinge of salsa, then have her therapist Cindy Edgerton play the melodyon the piano. Stanaway would make jokes and encourage her teacher to keep up with her as she played on an electronic keyboard. "In her music, she's very social," Edgerton said. Communication tool Whether used to help children with disabilities communicate, or Alzheimer's patients remember, music has a unique therapeutic power. It can change behavior, bring out personality traits, teach skillsand even heal, according to those who work with the ill and disabled. "People can connect and communicate through music, even if they'renot able to communicate in other ways," said Kim DeHart, program director for the Alzheimer's Association Michigan Great Lakes Chapter. Music can help with socialization, cognitive development, emotional healing, or gross- or fine-motor development, according to therapists. It provides a comforting, motivating vehicle for change. "I think music gives us the nonverbal means of communication and self-expression," said Edgerton, who is co-director of music therapy clinical services at Michigan State University's Community Music School. Years of therapy Edgerton has been providing music therapy to Stanaway for six years. Starting when she was a little girl, Stanaway would sit in front ofa mirror to sing nursery rhymes to herself. When she was diagnosed withautism at the age of 2 -- when she stopped using words and talking to others -- music became the key that could open Stanaway's personality. At the age of 6, Stanaway started receiving music therapy from Edgerton after Seppa attended a seminar about the impact music could haveon autistic children. The therapy would range from having Stanaway repeat patterns to allowing her to express feelings through rhythm. She is now interactingwith others more than ever, according to Seppa. "She acquired language really quickly, I think, once she started getting music therapy," Seppa said. "I know it's that musical foundationof interaction that led her to communicating verbally. She learned that give and take. ... She learned how to describe what she wanted." Several universities in Michigan -- including Michigan State,Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan -- offer programs in music therapy, and the field is growing. When Edgerton started working at the Community Music School in East Lansing in 1993, she worked for a half-hour a week. Now she works full-time, and the school employs one other full-time and two part-time music therapists. Used at Torrant Katie Chappell-Lakin works as a music therapist at the Lyle Torrant Center in Jackson. She uses instruments as well as her own voice to draw students out of their shells. "Music is a unique stimulation for kids," said Chappell-Lakin,sitting at a desk during a lunch break at the Torrant Center. "It works especially well because it's patterned, predictable, repetitious. Those make it motivating." Many students who have cognitive and physical impairments respond to Chappell-Lakin's music therapy with bright eyes and laughter. "I see a lot of smiles," she said. On a recent afternoon, Chappell-Lakin stood at the center of aTorrant Center classroom and played a melody on a keyboard. Mike Grohalski, 20,went up to the keyboard and carefully pressed down on the keys asChappell-Lakin played a rhythm beside him. After Grohalski finished playing, he pumped his fist in the air with excitement. Chappell-Lakin then lifted up a drum and started going around to the students, singing each one's name, encouraging a few taps on the drum. The music brought out different personalities. Some students played carefully, while others banged the drum with glee. One student, Chase Krygowski, 15, warmed up to the drum as Chappell-Lakin sang to him. "Last year, he didn't participate at all; he just sat in his chair with his head covered up in his shirt," Chappell-Lakin said. "This year he has blossomed. I don't know if it's a change in the environment, it could be a number of things, ! but I do know that in music he's participating a lot more." Training rigorous Such progress has inspired many people to support the concept ofmusic therapy. MSU established the first music-therapy program in the country in 1944; now, more than 70 colleges and universities offer programs in the field, according to Al Bumanis, director of communications for theAmerican Music Therapy Association. "It's a tough degree, and it's rewarding in the sense that it's a helping profession," Bumanis said. Music therapists such as Chappell-Lakin take years of coursework in music and psychology and complete more than 1,000 hours of clinical training. Certified music therapists complete specific requirements to gain approval from the Certification Board for Music Therapists. Informal use While