A little education for you

April is rolling to a close, and I haven't gotten around to saying it till now- But in case you didn't know, April is Autism Awareness Month. And in honor of that, I thought I would bring a little more awareness to you the reader by giving you my:

'Top 10 Lesser Known Facts about Autism'

1. April is Autism Awareness Month (duh), but Autism also shares the title with 'National Poetry Month' and 'National Sexual Assault Awareness Month'. It should also be noted that April 2nd is WORLD Autism Awareness Day- take that poetry!
2. Jenny McCarthy is sort of crazy.
3. Her teaching-kids-to-play video actually isn't that bad.
4. But no, Jenny McCarthy did not cure autism.
   
5. The Gluten-free Casin-free diet has no empirical evidence to support it.
6. While I'm at it, chelation doesn't work either.
7. If you have seen one kid with autism, you have seen one kid with autism.
8. Those vaccines don't cause autism. And in fact, the preservative that was thought to be the culprit (thiamine) has not been in the vaccine since the mid-nineties.
9. Not all people with autism have a savant skill, like in Rain Man.
10. Behavior therapy (or more specifically ABA) does not always mean drills sitting at a table, Incidental Teaching and PRT are two great empirically supported ABA treatments that do not involve any tables. In fact, you my friend engage in ABA based behaviors every day- you aren't going to work in the morning for the pleasure of it. It just isn't as obvious because your reinforcer comes in the form of a paycheck every other week.
    

my next career

It's decided. Once I am finished with this whole Speech Pathology thing, I am going to be a surgeon. That's right, a surgeon.
Last week I had a great opportunity to go with a group of surgeons and SLPs over to Mexicali for a cranio-facial clinic. It was a crazy whirlwind two days. We were greeted with a large group of residents waiting for us at the Red Cross clinic down there. There were kids with needs that we don't see that late in their development. I saw quite a few cleft palate and cleft lip, fistulas, and other non-facial anomalies. The crazy part of it all is that we started our day with assessments of oral structure and function, and the kids were scheduled for surgery for that day or the next!
The best part of the trip was when I got to sit in on part of a surgery for a cleft palate. That's where the new profession comes in. I thought I would be queasy, but was the exact opposite-- I didn't want to leave, it was so interesting.
The only problem with this new career in the future is all the schooling. Maybe if I start a collection now, I can raise the money I need to get through 6 more years of school. I would be really good in that operating room, I just know it. No really, I would!

on being a hero

I have plenty of school work due this week, so of course.... it is the perfect time to write.
Did you also know that it is the perfect time to save the world?
I have donated 820 grains of rice to help end world hunger today. I have also expanded my vocabulary a bit. Did you know that 'grotty' means wretched?
What have you done to help the world today?
If you are interested in helping the hungry, or studying for the GRE or writing a dissertation and need to expand your lexicon, I recommend heading to the site....