Fwd: RDI Autism Newsletter: Happy New Year!

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Issue 123

December 27, 2011

Brain Bytes

Helping Autistic Kids and Families Fly Comfortably

Girls on the Spectrum

Treating 'Fragile X Syndrome' Autism Symptoms

"Today was good, today was fun. Tomorrow is another one." - Dr. Seuss

Usher in your walking this week with singing and if you dare, do it at midnight, beating the drums in your hands tuning them well with the drumming of your heart.

RDIconnect thanks you for the journey of this past year. We look forward to 2012, and continuing to walk with you.

Where in the World is Aunt Martha?

She is in North Carolina with RDI Consultant,

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Dear ,

We welcome the New Year with Carlo a new columnist, always fresh, always inspiring. Sink or Swim this week is based on Ellen's discovery of an old VHS. Along with you, we welcome the New Year with good wishes for you and your family for 2012.

-le Sheely, Ph.D.

Sink or Swim

by le Sheely, Ph.D.

The desire for conversation with a child on the spectrum can create hard choices for parents.The emotional feedback loop, those beginning emotional conversations of facial expression, prosody and gesture between infants and parents, is missing. Even the game of peek-a-boo, which seems to exist in every culture seems different, often becoming static and repetitive.

Because these early differences are so pronounced, the historical repertoire is also different for both parents and children, each finding him or herself quickly molded into a predictable pattern.

Helping Ellen find her emotion-sharing voice meant trading old reliable, safe habits for new unpredictable ones. Although in retrospect Ellen's parents can laugh, they approached this change in communication style much like they approached each new dynamic, apprehensively. As their consultant, I was confused, as I always was, by their tendency to shy away from ideas that were the new next step. Stopping to understand this phenomena of such gifted parents revealed an important insight.

Read more...

It is an exciting rare privilege to become acquainted with a new blogger who is able to present his thoughts with clarity and humor. A gifted thinker, a creative writer, we hope Carlo will continue to grace our newsletter with a teenager's insight and perspective on the world around him.

-------

Night of the Living Teenagers!

by Carlo Mills

There once was a chap that wrote this terrible bloody essay all about the bloody zombie-like behavior of college students running on adrenaline and bad coffee. He was a loony, if you ask me. But what? You want me to show you that essay? Well, all right, but you'd better be ruddy good prepared, cos this is the.......

N i g h t o f t h e L i v i n g T e e n a g e r s !

Carlo Mills here. Over the years, especially not so long ago during the Halloween season, people have had a fascination with zombies - the rotting, mindless, dead people who come to life to prey on the living. Kind of like a college student who pulled one all-nighter too many. But there really are people who act like zombies in real life! These people are easy to recognize by their not talking to you directly, with a kind of grunting in response to a question, a blank look on their faces (I guess frustrated works too) and less manners than a pig at the trough! (Well, not really....that's real zombies, although zombie-people have few interpersonal skills).

There are two ways to look at these people: How they appear to themselves, and how they appear to others.

Read more...

Next Back to Back Seminars for RDI

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Beginning Seminar - June 19-22, 2012

Intermediate Seminar - June 25-28, 2012

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