It's a Puzzle

April is Autism Awareness Month.
Last Tuesday's post was about what
Autism is.

Gayle at Garden of Daisies asked
why boys are more affected than
girls. I checked into this and found
many theories on this topic but the
one I agree with and found mentioned
many times was that the *gene or genes
for autism are located on the X chromo-
zome. Girls inherit X chromosomes from
both parents, but boys only only inherit
one from their mothers. For girls--it is
thought that the X from the Father is
"protected" thus making girls less
likely to develop the condition than
boys.* There is more to this but I'm
going to stop with this it could get long
and drawn out and I am not a scientist. 
(If you would like to know more-check
your friend Google)
*Info from the internet

Last Tuesday I mentioned  three areas
that are affected by Autism.

Today we will touch on:
Verbal and Nonverbal
Communication
Communication issues vary from
individual to individual. Some may
have a delay in expressive language
and some may never develop
meaningful speech.
Their language can seem rote
or scripted, repetitive, or lacking
meaning--talking about something
that does not relate to "right now."
Most do not use gestures or give
any indication of their wants and
needs. This is where our "Sherlock
Holmes" skills come into play. We
learn to "read our kids.
Most do not have the ability
to carry on a verbal conservation.

In my class I have three boys
with Autism, two who are
nonverbal, they are able to
follow directions with lots
of verbal prompting and
gestures that we do. My boys
do not do a lot of gestures on
their own but we are making
baby steps in that area.
We have communication devices
for the kids to use and they are
their voices. These are very
helpful during "meltdowns" due
to frustration becasue they can't
say what they want or what the
problem might be.

Our third student has limited
language. He does gesture and
most of the time we can satisify
his wants and needs. Some of
what he says is "his own
language", and we have to
pick up his meaning for things.
example: Cheerios are Yoyos.

I would say that having a lack of
speech or limited speech is one of
the most frustrating things these
individauls deal with. My students
would agree with this.

Next time we will touch on
Social Interaction.

~Keep on Dreaming~