Child with Autism Connects with Game

John Yan reviews games for a site called Gaming Nexus, so despite his initial lack of enthusiasm in the Xbox 360 Kinect motion controller, he knew he'd have to buy one when they came out. After all, it wouldn't be fair to dump all the Kinect reviews on his fellow writer, Chuck.
So last weekend, John and his four-year-old son Kyle went to Target to pick one up. Kyle is autistic, and has had trouble with video games, but his dad says that he always wants to try, and to keep practicing despite the potential for frustration. The controller is a barrier for Kyle. It's hard for him to master the complicated (and seemingly unrelated) button combinations required by traditional game consoles.
So when the Kinect was set up and the included title, Kinect Adventures, was loaded up, Kyle asked to give it a try. "What proceeded to happen was pretty amazing," John wrote on his site.
Playing a ball game, Kyle "jumped around and flailed his arms and legs in trying to punch the balls back to the blocks." When the game ended, John got an additional surprise: with just a little initial instruction, Kyle could navigate the game's menus like it was second nature.

Seeking a Chance in the Workplace

LAUREL, Miss. — Finding a job can be difficult anytime and the tough economic situation our state and nation currently face certainly doesn’t make the task any easier. For people with a disability finding employment can be even more challenging. Not so much because of the disability but because of the stigma they sometimes face from individuals and employers who may not realize their abilities and their potential to be good, dependable employees.

Childhood ADHD on Rise in U.S.

A steep rise has been reported in the cases of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children during the past decade, researchers from the agency's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities and from the National Center for Health Statistics revealed.
Kids in the nation are being diagnosed with the disorder at some point in their lives at an alarming rate.

Grandin Offers Food for Thought

MANHATTAN, Kan. — Animal behaviorist and autism activist Temple Grandin ranged Tuesday into Flint Hills cattle country to delve into her personal experience with disability, academia and notoriety.
Grandin, who didn't speak until she was 3 1/2 years old and went on to become an animal science professor at Colorado State University, spoke to an overflow crowd at Kansas State University about her life with a developmental disability viewed as an achievement death sentence in the 1950s. Instead, she credits autism with propelling her into an academic career as a livestock-handling equipment designer featured in an award-winning HBO movie.
"Handling was something I could see I could fix," she said. "I feel very strongly you've got to give it a decent life."

For Autistic Children, Therapy on Four Legs

Shadow, a black Labrador retriever, knows how to interact with people without overreacting to them — a necessity for a well-trained therapy dog, said her owner and handler, Ani Shaker.
Considered "bombproof," meaning she will remain calm in nearly any situation, Shadow, and Ms. Shaker, volunteer at the Anderson Center for Autism in Staatsburg, N.Y., in the Hudson Valley north of New York City.
"As soon as I get her working vest out, she jumps up and her little tail starts wagging," Ms. Shaker said. "She loves the work. That's what she lives for, and I can tell she knows she is helping someone else feel good."

Study: War Taking Its Toll on Children of Deployed Soldiers

Mental and behavioral problems cause children of U.S. soldiers deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and other war zones to need considerably more outpatient medical visits than those with non-deployed parents, a new study suggests.
Researchers examined the medical records of more than 640,000 military children between the ages of 3 and 8, and found that those separated from deployed parents sought treatment 11 percent more often for cases of mood, anxiety and adjustment disorders. Visits for conditions such as autism and attention-deficit disorder, whose causes are not linked to deployment, also increased.
The study, reported online Nov. 8 and in the December issue of the journal Pediatrics, also revealed larger increases in mental and behavioral visits among older children, children with military fathers and children of married military parents.

A Stage for Children with Autism

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- In 1996, Elaine Hall traveled to an orphanage in Siberia to adopt her son Neal. Soon after, the boy was diagnosed with autism, and she began a difficult but determined course to reach her nonverbal child, now 16. A children’s acting coach, she founded the Miracle Project in Los Angeles, a theater and film program for children of all abilities, and other advocacy efforts, and is the subject of an Emmy Award-winning documentary, "Autism: The Musical." She was in New York last month on a speaking tour in connection with her memoir, "Now I See the Moon: A Mother, a Son, a Miracle" (Harper).