Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween friends! I hope you have a deliciously ghoulish day and enjoy a sugar rush at some point! We did some trick or treating over the weekend with friends and on Friday, Joel and I hosted a little Halloween Potluck. Here are some pictures from the tasty event... and recipes will be featured all this week!Joel was pretty excited about having his friends come over and dressing up as my little [lopsided] giraffe...Fellow moms helped fill up the table with quite a feast! Here we are digging in on all the wonderful potluck offerings...Jess brought in this amazing Pumpkin & Ricotta Stuffed Shells that were so, so good. (I sneaked in a bite of

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DSM5 Combining Autisms into One Autism Disorder: Why?

It is common place today to refer to autism(s), plural, rather than autism, singular.  So why is the DSM5 combing the autisms into one Autism Spectrum Disorder? It is common in both professional and parent based discussions of autism to encounter comments like "if you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism".  So why pretend that these persons with widely varying challenges and deficits represent one diagnostic grouping?My son is severely autistic and profoundly "developmentally delayed".  He has nothing in common with the persons with high functioning autism and Aspergers who write books, conduct research, make

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Ακομα και την παραιτησή σας Κυριε Πρόεδρε!

 «Οχι στο Ναι των υποταγμένων Ναι στο Οχι των γενναίων»Την παρέμβαση του Προέδρου της Δημοκρατίας, για «να σταματήσει η ουσιαστικά πραξικοπηματική δράση της παρούσης κυβέρνησης», ή ακόμη και την παραίτησή του ζητεί ο Μίκης Θεοδωράκης. Μίκης Θεοδωράκης Με δήλωσή του στην «Ε», με αφορμή την επέτειο του ΟΧΙ, αναφέρει τα σημαντικά ΟΧΙ «στην προσβολή του ελληνικού λαού». Ολόκληρη η δήλωση έχει ως εξής: Το Οχι του 1940 είναι μία από τις ιερότερες παρακαταθήκες του ελληνικού έθνους. Ενα ιδεώδες που θα πρέπει να το σεβόμαστε, όχι μόνο με γιορτές και παράτες, αλλά με την καθημερινή μας στάση και συμπεριφορά και που κυρίως θα πρέπει να το σέβετα

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Autism Disorders On the Sidelines of the DSM5 Revolt

Several divisions of the American Psychological Association appear to be revolting against the American Psychiatric Association's DSM5.  A petition has been published on line.  In DSM5 in Distress Allen Frances, M.D., former chair of the DSM-IV Task Force and currently professor emeritus at Duke, summarizes the conflict between the warring APAs over the DSM5:"Several divisions of the American Psychological Association have just written an open letter highly critical of DSM 5. They are inviting mental health professionals and mental health organizations to sign a petition addressed to the DSM5 Task Force of the American Psychiatric Associati

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Sunday Fun Day Giveaway: Starbucks Fall Flavors

Happy Sunday! It's a fun one planned for us as we're enjoying the Halloween festivities later today. My son Joel is looking forward to dressing up in his fuzzy giraffe costume and trick or treating. We've tried to get him to say 'trick or treat,' but he'd rather say "yummy yummy!" instead. We'll see how things go today and hopefully he'll keep his costume on. We had a trial run on Friday at a kiddie Halloween party we hosted and he did fine with the costume for most of the day. Do you have any Halloween plans this weekend? Last week, my friends at Ulysses Press sponsored the giveaway with a generous offering of one of their tasty cookb

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Kitchen Playdate: Doughnut Party!

I absolutely love being in the kitchen... but even more than that, I love being in the kitchen with my son. He's now at an age where he refers to the kitchen as the 'yummy' place, often pointing to the kitchen and saying 'yummy yummy, Mommy!' He's not quite helping me out much in the kitchen, but thankfully Joel has a crew of friends that can give him a hand every now and then. In fact, Joel and I recently hosted a Doughnut Party with his friends one morning and it was a blast. If there's any way to start the day, it's with doughnuts and smiling kids...Joel loves having his friends over for a playdate and I love having the moms over just the same. For

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