Music Game For Children with Autism

Music Game For Autistic Children Unveiled At The University Of Abertay Dundee

A musical computer game to help children with autism learn and relax has been unveiled to the public at the Abertay Digital Graduate Show.

John Steven, a Creative Sound Production student at the University of Abertay Dundee, built a game designed to help autistic children learn about colour and shape recognition while also helping to keep them calm and focused.

The game works in a similar way to popular musical titles like Guitar Hero: different coloured shapes appear on screen, prompting the child to press a matching key.

Each of the different shapes plays a different chord, and when the right buttons are pressed a flower grows on the screen. The calming music and the positive reinforcement of showing success on screen is designed to be enjoyable and help autistic children develop independent learning skills.

John said: "I really wanted to use the creative skills I learnt at Abertay University to help children with learning difficulties, and giving them the opportunity to use music to learn and relax at any time felt like a really important thing to do.

"There's very little available in terms of interactive games for children with autism, which is a huge shame. By bringing together shape and colour learning with relaxing music and interactive play, I hope this project can make a real difference.

"Even though this is the end of my degree, I don't see the project ending at all. There's so much more work to do, from testing and developing the game further to finding a company to work with to build a prototype controller. This is just the start."

More ... http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/226661.php

VIRTUAL Dolphin Therapy for Autism

BBC News - East Yorkshire man invents dolphin therapy device

A marine engineer has invented a substitute for swimming with dolphins.

The device, called the Dolphin Dome, uses video screens and the sounds of the sea to recreate the sensation of being in the ocean with the animals.

Interacting with the aquatic mammals is claimed to have a beneficial effect for people with certain conditions, such as autism and cerebral palsy.

Paul Obernay hopes his invention will offer a cheaper and more accessible therapy for people with special needs.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-13544115

Related:

• Is Dolphin Therapy Dangerous? (Great Penn and Teller Video too)
• Call for Ban on Dolphin Assisted Therapy
• Dolphin Assisted Therapy Does Not Aid Recovery
• Miracles Of Dolphin Assisted Therapy Research
• A contribution to the science of Dolphin-Assisted Therapy
• Is Dolphin Assisted Therapy Research The Answer?
• Dolphin Therapy For Autistic Children
• Controversial Dolphin Assisted Therapy (DAT): A Note from Ann Novek
• The Promise Of Dolphin -Assisted Therapy
• Dolphins and People...
• Dolphin Assisted Therapy
• Swimming With Dolphins May Not Have Any Health Benefit
• Dolphin Experience 2008
• Swimming With Dolphins An Aquatic Adventure
• Dolphins and Kids
• Something's Fishy
• Does dolphin-assisted therapy really work?
• Swimming With Dolphins Doesn't Confer Any Benefits
• Dolphin Disappointments
• Healing yourself in the new earth
• Dolphin Assisted Therapy
• Dobbs defends dolphins rights to interact with people.
• Dolphin Therapy Smells Fishy
• Dolphin way of life

Rethink Autism Reader: Too Old for ABA?

Rethink Autism Reader: Too Old for ABA?

Can you be too old for ABA? It’s universally acknowledged that younger brains have more elasticity and receptivity to learning new patterns, so they will likely experience faster results. It is also true that the older the child, the more entrenched their problematic behaviors.

That said, we should look at the main tenets of ABA to determine whether any child can truly be too old.

• Skills are broken down into a series of manageable steps that are easier to learn
• Students are provided multiple opportunities to practice and perfect each step of the skill
• Success is rewarded with positive reinforcement, maintaining high motivation for improvement
• Goals are targeted to meet the needs of the individual learner
• Teachers track progress through systematic collection and evaluation of data
• Skills are taught with an eye toward their use and integration into a learner’s daily life

(For more info, see our ABA Page) There is clearly nothing intrinsically “young” about this teaching strategy.

New Research Study On Most Effective Seizure Treatments For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

New Research Study On Most Effective Seizure Treatments For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Roughly 25-35% of individuals with autism eventually develop seizures and many of the remainder have subclinical seizure-like brain activity. However, little is known about which traditional epilepsy treatments and commonly used non-traditional alternative treatments are effective for treating seizures or epilepsy in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder.

A study just published in BMC Pediatrics by Dr. Richard E. Frye from the University of Texas in Houston and Dr. James B. Adams from the Arizona State University in Tempe has now provided insight into which traditional and non-traditional medical treatments are most beneficial for individuals with autism spectrum disorder and seizures. These researchers surveyed 733 parents of children

Social Communication Emotional Regulation Transitional Support (SCERTS) Model

List of Interventions - EM Autism

Social Communication Emotional Regulation Transitional Support (SCERTS) Model(originated by Dr. Barry Prizant and colleagues) is a family-centered support for children with autism across age groups. Using social-communication, positive behavior, and visual supports, this model helps improve the core challenges in autism (i.e. social communication emotional regulation and transitional support). Also, this model believes that children with autism should learn in natural and inclusive environments through natural routines in home, school, and community contexts. This model considers the family as the “expert” and creates goals for the child based on his/her strengths and weaknesses.

For more information, see http://scerts.com/

Insurance Coverage for ABA Services - Lovaas Blog - ABA Treatment for Children with Autism - Lovaas

Insurance Coverage for ABA Services - Lovaas Blog - ABA Treatment for Children with Autism - Lovaas

The small subgroup of families that even have ABA services included in their health insurance plans are now finding out that the only ABA services authorized require 100% implementation by licensed clinicians. Now as a licensed clinical psychologist myself, I know that it is unrealistic for me to be present for every hour of a child's intervention. Not only is it cost-prohibitive for a licensed provider to be present for every hour of ABA intervention, it isn't evidence-based practice! The data on intensive ABA programs has historically relied on the undergraduate student implementers of the intervention, not licensed professionals.

Autism Treatment – Spring Allergies, Regression and Autism, Part 1 of 2 | Autism Recovery Treatment

Autism Treatment – Spring Allergies, Regression and Autism, Part 1 of 2 | Autism Recovery Treatment

Autism Treatment – Well, it’s that time of year again, spring is upon us and for many kids on the Autism spectrum, spring brings on yeast. It’s interesting, I’ve seen this pattern over the past many years where kids who are susceptible to yeast overgrowth or they have a yeast overgrowth issue and it’s been well controlled, whether through supplements or medications, all of a sudden spring hits, the pollens are out, the flowers are blooming and all of a sudden kids start to regress into yeast behavior, the goofiness, the giddiness, the silliness, the inappropriate laughter, the self stimulatory behavior just odd types of things that we often associate with yeast overgrowth come about.

Special Report: Horse Therapy - KYTX CBS 19 Tyler Longview News Weather Sports

Special Report: Horse Therapy - KYTX CBS 19 Tyler Longview News Weather Sports

Medical marijuana for Autism

Medical marijuana: I give my autistic son pot. - By Marie Myung-Ok Lee - Slate Magazine

For two years now, my husband and I have been using medical cannabis—legally—to help soothe our autistic son's gastrointestinal pain and decrease his concomitant violent behaviors. As I've been chronicling in a series of columns for DoubleX, pot has allowed us to bypass the powerful psychotropic drugs that are often used to dull such aggressive outbursts but have a host of serious potential side effects—including permanent tics, diabetes, and death—and did nothing to address J's pain.

Some of the responses to these columns suggest that I will not be up for Mother of the Year any time soon. "No poor child deserves to be attacked by marijuana when it is SUPPOSED to be protected!" read one such response on the parenting site Babble.com. But I've received vociferous support from parents who say that, were they in my situation, they would do the same thing in a heartbeat. I've also heard from parents who've started using cannabis for their own autistic children, with mostly good results and no serious side effects.

In our case, I would call our experiment a qualified success. Not because cannabis has cured J, who's now 11, or anything near it. But it's alleviated some of his severest symptoms so that he, my husband, and I can actually enjoy each other, rather than being held hostage by his autism in a house full of screams, destruction, and three very unhappy people.

Over the years, we've experimented with dozens of marijuana strains to find the ones that work best for J, and we continue to fine-tune the formula. Our grower has figured out how to extract the plants' active properties into an olive oil tincture, which we can administer in precise amounts from a dropper. With more experience, we've learned to finesse the dose: more when J appears to be in a lot of pain, less when he's okay. When the dosing is perfect, J spends three or four hours much more relaxed and engaged than he was before; at night, he sleeps peacefully.

What is most exhilarating—and frightening—about this venture is the feeling that I have to reinvent the wheel for my son, and often have to re-reinvent it every day. Certainly no one is saying, "Pot for your kid, what a great idea!" There is no cannabis-autism doctor-expert, no book, no protocol for me to follow. The best I can do is get tips from J's grower, who has helped other patients, and puzzle out the biochemical aspects with help from J's neurologist.