Special Education Law Blog

Common Psychiatric Drugs Linked to Weight Gain and Possible Elevated Cardiac Risks

Some of the most common psychiatric drugs, Abilify, Risperdal, Seroquel and Zyprexa, have been linked with significant weight gain in children. These drugs have also been linked with elevated levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and diabetes and possible long term cardiac risk.  Schools often pressure parents to have students begin taking these powerful drugs. Legally under IDEIA schools should not be having this conversation. Practically, this conversation should only take place between the family and their physician. These medications can be an important part in addressing the symptoms of disability, but decisions about their use must weigh the significant short term and long term risks.

Student With Autism Saves Teacher

Here is the antidote to the depressing news of students with special needs either being killed or killing staff posted earlier. A student with autism who was a Cub Scout saved his teacher from choking.

"Where the Wild Things Are" Useful for Students With Autism

I went to see Where the Wild Things this past weekend. The movie is an adaptation of the classic children's book. The director Spike Jonze in an interview on NPR discussed that the main character Max was selected for the role in part because his vivid facial expressions that show the emotions the character is experiencing during the movie. The movie explores how Max and the monsters have to deal with strong and sometimes out of control emotions. 

For some students who have autism, the movie could be a movie-social story about emotions: recognizing the facial expressions of different emotions and understanding how strong emotions can be overwhelming and have consequences. Although I am not an "autism expert," I have represented a lot of students on the autism spectrum, and have seen first hand how misunderstandings about emotions and how to cope with various emotions can lead to real life unwanted consequences. The movie is very spare and the emotions expressed are clear and unambiguous making it more useful for students with autism. Perhaps viewing the movie on DVD (when available) allowing for stopping and starting and freeze-frame might be the way to go. While there is more to curriculum than watching videos, and I normally think that movies are used as giant time-wasters in school, the movie Where the Wild Things Are should be considered an exception.

Possible Future Research Potential for Autism Treatment from Cord Blood Stem Cells

About 10 years ago my brother and sister-in-law generously allowed us to "bank" their son's (our nephew's) cord blood at the time of his birth, for an indefinite future where the stem cells in the cord blood could have real therapeutic applications. I have at least one client, who have gone abroad for stem cell treatments, and claim very positive effects. We have been using Cord Blood Registry ("CBR") as the bank for the stem cells. I just received the following notice (see below) about possible research opportunities using cord blood to investigate therapies to address autism.  Read the discussion in http://www.blisstree.com/autismvox/another-autism-treatment-stem-cell-therapy/ as a caution about stems cells as a current viable therapy. Nevertheless,  I thought this notice would be worthwhile to share. We all need  hope within the confines of safe and proven therapies.

New Study Shows One in A Hundred Children Have Autism

A recent Federal study shows that the actual number of children who have autism is not 1 in 150 as previously reported but 1 in 100. It is unclear whether it is an increase in prevalence or an increase in diagnosis. The Atlantic Monthly reports that the increase in numbers is a result of the fact that an autism diagnosis paves the way for funding. While there may some truth in this story from the Atlantic Monthly, in my experience and in discussions with several therapists, there is an absolute increase in the number of children with autism. Schools are generally not well equipped to handle the numbers of students in the system now. If in fact that there will be many more students who are going to require special education for autism, schools will need  to significantly revamp their programs to address the numbers and increased needs.

NIH to Receive $100 millions for Autism Research

As part of economic stimulus, President Obama has announced that the National Institute of Health is receiving a $100 million grant to look at the genetic aspects of autism. The money will also be used for understanding and recommending effective treatments for autism.  While this research is still getting off the ground, the future findings may present fertile resources to use as examples of best practices for working with students with autism in school.  While their are already many great resources, this research should hopefully break new ground and allow parents, advocates and attorneys to present compelling evidence-based practices, as they advocate for appropriate and effective programming in school. I will be checking back periodically at the NIH website to see what develops from this research.

Closing Circles and Opening The World for Children with Autism

DIR which was formerly known as Greenspan/Floortime has worked very well for a number of children with autism that I represent. The following article is from Michele Ricamato, a certified DIR therapist, SLP and a well respected colleague of mine, who has dedicated her professional life to working with children with autism and other disabilities with tremendous results. This article Download ClosingCircles.pdf is a great overview for parents and others who are interested in learning more about this unified set of therapies that has shown great promise for children with autism.

Painful Failure of the Special Education System

The following is a speech given to a local autism support group. The speech is from the parents of a young adult who was diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum in his late 20s, after his time in school had passed, and as discussed below well too late to prevent tragic consequences. I publish this with the permission of the parents of this young adult with the hope that their pain may spare others the same tragedy. There are many lessons to be learned from this story: keep a close eye on your student's use of the internet, social development is often more important than academic, transition planning for self-sufficient and safe outcome can not be emphasized enough, and sex education that is meaningful for students with special needs is even more important than for other students.

Savage Losing Big Advertisers

Home Depot and the insurance company AFLAC (the duck people) have pulled their ads from the Savage Nation radio program in protest over his comments last week regarding children with autism. If a few more major advertisers take a similar stand perhaps it will mean Michael Savage will be looking for a new job that requires his kind of finesse; perhaps there is an open seat at an IEP meeting near you.

Broadcast Syndicate Supports Savage

The broadcast syndicate for Michael Savage's radio show has rejected pleas to fire or censure him accepting his flimsy excuse that he meant no offense.  The only way Michael Savage will go off the air is if enough people vote with their radio dials and turn off this unfortunate excuse for a radio commentator.