Autism Awareness Day

This first part is from an earlier post in 2010.

Autism affects 1 in 100 children; 1 in 70 boys.  April is Autism Awareness Month and today, April 2 is Autism Awareness Day.  As we move in time, there are larger numbers of students who have some aspect of the disorder.
Autism Speaks.Org Site that assists families with their children who have autism.  They also provide information about autism along with links related to research, how to support, and how to become involved in the fight against autism.
Cafepress Site for Autism Awareness
The Autism Society

After posting that, I received a couple of emails that exhibited the politics that are occurring in the autism community.  Not everyone supports everyone else's agendas or tactics or approaches.  I am not a part of the community, so I remain ignorant and neutral of the issues.  To that end I will re-post the links above.

Some additional resources are listed hereL
http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/mar/31/autism-awareness-teaching-tips-lesson-resources

http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/world-autism-awareness-day

http://www.theguardian.com/society/autism

NIH  Fact Sheet
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm

Autism Society
http://www.autism-society.org/

Google News Search on Autism
https://www.google.com/search?q=autism&espv=210&es_sm=122&source=univ&tbm=nws&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=Qw87U9CuF-TAyAGGkIGYAQ&ved=0CGcQqAI

posted by Chuck Schallhorn

Share

Correlation, Causation and Some Cautions

I found this great post on Twitter and it's such a simple example for a basic stats point.  Thanks to io9. The article explains the distinction and how our cognitive biases can influence what we take as acceptable data.

The original link to the article can be found here: http://io9.com/on-correlation-causation-and-the-real-cause-of-auti-1494972271?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

or Link
Here is a screenshot of the article and headline:

Note that the author of the graph intended it as satire, not reality.

Posted by Chuck Schallhorn

Share

The Autistic Savant: Kim Peek-The Original Rainman

Another thanks to Jim Matiya for finding and sharing this on the Psychteacher listserv.  Just a couple of days ago, Kim Peek, the inspiration for the film Rainman, died suddenly of a heart attack at age 58.  The Wisconsin Medical Society has this page highlighting his life with several links and videos about his life.

As you check that site out, there is a list of other notable Savants such as Stephen Wilshire and those with Autism including Temple Grandin.  The site is a fantastic resource for our students looking for more information that is not dealt with in our textbooks.

Share

Psych in the news

In an op-ed column on race, Charles Blow focuses on Harvard's Implicit Association Test and the findings that most whites "harbor a hidden bias" against blacks. Direct links to the tests are here ... and here's a 2006 column (and follow-up blog post) by John Tierney presenting the evidence against the IAT. (All from the NY Times)

A new paper in the Journal of Social Issues shows that multiracial adolescents who identify proudly as multiracial fare as well as — and, in many cases, better than — kids who identify with a single group, even if that group is considered high-status (like, say, Asians or whites). (Time)

Newsweek traces the history of the alleged autism-vaccination link in its Anatomy of a Scare.

Researchers found in a small study of 30 young iPod users that teens not only tend to play their music louder than adults but, often, are unaware of how loud they're playing it, and are thus unaware of their risk of subsequent hearing loss. (Time)

The FDA approves deep brain stimulation as a treatment for OCD. (Chicago Tribune)

And finally, this is just sad. Not only did research show the men view bikini-clad women as objects (based on 21 Princeton boys as subjects) but no one has actually bothered to see if the same is true in reverse ("women may also depersonalize men in certain situations, but published research on the subject has not been done"). Sigh. (CNN)

Share