Calming your Child with Autism

Children with autism can have a tough time managing their behavior. Even high functioning children can “meltdown” in situations that would be only mildly challenging to a typical peer. Children with more severe symptoms can get very upset on a daily basis. Meltdowns and anxiety can make it very hard to participate in typical activities or, in some extreme cases, to even leave the house. It’s not always easy to calm a child with autism, […]

Individuals with Disabilities Disaster & Emergency Preparedness

Get Informed Know what disasters could affect your area, which could call for an evacuation and when to shelter in place. Keep a NOAA Weather Radio tuned to your local emergency station and monitor TV, radio, and follow mobile alert and mobile warnings about severe weather in your area. Download the FEMA app, receive weather alerts from the National Weather Service for up to five different locations anywhere in the United States. Make a Plan […]

Assistive Technology Help

YOU might say it all started with spell-check. In the 1980s, with the introduction of word processing programs like WordPerfect, it became apparent that computerized proofreaders could come to the rescue of struggling spellers and bad typists. Thirty years later, an ever-growing array of assistive technology is available to help students read, write term papers and take tests. From pens that can remember to text that can talk, such technologies are now being held up […]

Early Treatment and Identification For Autism as Soon Possible

By Perri Klass, M.D.   In December, the American Academy of Pediatrics put out a new clinical report on autism, an extensive document with an enormous list of references, summarizing 12 years of intense research and clinical activity. During this time, the diagnostic categories changed — Asperger’s syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder, diagnostic categories that once included many children, are no longer used, and we now consider all these children (and adults) to have autism […]

What is the Newborn Screening Clearinghouse?

Baby’s First Test houses the nation’s newborn screening clearinghouse. The clearinghouse provides current educational and family support and services information, materials, and resources about newborn screening at the local, state, and national levels and serves as the Clearinghouse for newborn screening information. The clearinghouse is supported and funded as a result of the Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act passed in 2008. Continued support for the clearinghouse is possible under the Newborn Screening Saves Lives Reauthorization […]