An Autism Taboo That Needs To Be Broken

Break The Autism TabooTaboos, of autism and parenting at Ramblings of a Stone Age Queen is one of the best commentaries I have read about the realities of parenting an autistic child who suffers from meltdowns that can result in aggression towards herself and the parent who cares for her.  This is not a fluffy opinion piece by a high functioning autism researcher sitting in his lab. This is a concerned parent talking honestly about the harsh realities, the thoughts that spring into her mind in the midst of being attacked by the child she loves.  This is the story of mandyque; one parent who has stood up and said "this is happening to me".I e

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Want to Experience Windows Phone 7.5 Demo on iPhone

If you still don’t know that Microsoft have a mobile platform for smart phones, well now thanks to an HTML5 demo, you can try out a basic Windows Phone 7.5 experience directly on your iPhone or iPod Touch. All you have to do it launch Safari and paste the URL below. http://aka.ms/wpdemo If you have not seen a windows phone before! but have seen the Windows 8 Dev. preview, well they have a similarity. They have this Metro GUI which have a lots of tiles, swiping around, it’s fast and fluid and an enjoyable. But best of all for, it’s original, and not borrowing everyone else seems to have done with iOS. The purpose of this demo is going to convince you

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Candied Pecan Topped Sweet Potatoes

I'll pass on the marshmallows, please. If you're a fan of marshmallows on top of sweet potatoes, this post may not appeal to you since there are no marshmallows to be found here. I'm not sure what it is about marshmallows on top of the ever popular sweet potato casserole that others love. For me, I'm not a fan of the texture or how it even adds to the dish. Instead, I'd rather have Candied Pecan Topped Sweet Potatoes because it's sweet, crunchy and well, more my style. Besides, marshmallows are much better used in rice krispie treats and smores!...A couple days ago I shared my favorite mashed potato as of late. Well, these sweet potatoes take on a sim

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Michelle Dawson (2008): Autism Is A Disability, A Neurodevelopmental Disorder

Photo from Nature Magazine, November 2 2011,  Shows High Functioning Autistic, Researcher and Anti-ABA Activist* Michelle Dawson and High Functioning Autism Expert  and Anti-ABA Activist* Dr. Laurent MottronIt may seem surprising to some to learn that Michelle Dawson, the central image of the "Autism is an Advantage" campaign of  high functioning autism researcher and anti-ABA activist Dr. Laurent Mottron has herself formally declared that autism is a disability and a neurodevelopmental disorder.Dr. Mottron and Ms Dawson were featured recently in Nature magazine promoting the autism is an advantage beliefs

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Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake

Thank goodness for cheesecake. Coming up with a gluten free dessert to serve for the holidays has been quite a challenge for me. Some gluten free desserts leave a noticeable after taste or has a slightly different texture from gluten laden dishes. But thank goodness for cheesecake. It's been the dessert that is perfect for special occasions, is versatile to make into a variety of flavors and above all, it's super easy to make into a gluten free indulgence. For Thanksgiving, I made this Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake and it's made me fall completely in love with cheesecakes once again. The creamy cheesecake filling is decoratively swirled with a homemade w

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Creamy Chive Mashed Potatoes

There's so many ways to make mashed potatoes - what's your favorite? For me, I think I've found my favorite. It's the ever popular recipe by The Pioneer Woman and she prepared it for Food Network's Thanksgiving Throwdown last year. That alone told me it had to be good since she prepared for Chef Bobby Flay. And wow - this certainly didn't disappoint. To add my own spin, I made Creamy Chive Mashed Potatoes with fresh snipped chives, a whole lot of butter, cream cheese, half & half and lots of love...My son loves mashed potatoes. So for Thanksgiving this year, I made them extra special using The Pioneer's recipe. Granted, it's not exactly the health

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Autism Wandering: Pennsylvania Police Officer Rescues 7 Year Old Girl From Frigid Waters

Police Officer Theresa StaufferPhoto: Lancaster OnlineOne of the terrifying realities for many parents of autistic children is the tendency of many children with autism to wander away, from home and safety to unknown dangers.  It is a terror that I have experienced a number of years ago and written about several times on this blog.  Lancaster Online reports a recent occurrence in  Pennsylvania where an alert neighbor and the prompt action of police officer, Theresa  Stauffer,  combined to save the life of a 7 year old girl with autism who had wandered neck deep into a pond's frigid waters:"As she headed to her patrol car, Stau

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MSI ECS -The Great HP Sale this November 28

It’s that season of merry and SALE again, MSI-ECS is having another great SALE on HP products. The SALE is from November 28 to December 2, 2011 and it be be will mostly notebooks and desktop PCs from HP. The sale offers discounts of up to 80% off of the suggested retail price. There are accessories included in the sale like Acer projectors, Microsoft products(mostly mouse), Genius items, Imation flash drive and Belkin iPod/iPad accessories. Sale starts at 8:30 in the morning until 7:00 in the evening. So what are you waiting for…

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Οι τοκογλύφοι έχουν ντόπιους εκβιαστές σαν εσωτερικούς συνεργάτες.

 Η γλώσσα των αληθινών αριθμώνΤου ΝΙΚΟΥ ΚΟΤΖΙΑ Συγγραφέα, καθηγητή του Πανεπιστημίου Πειραιώς nkotzias@otenet.gr Σύμφωνα με την ειδική διεθνή εταιρεία συμβούλων δανειοδοτήσεων TFMA, τα 8 δισεκατομμύρια ευρώ της επόμενης δόσης, για την οποία μας εκβιάζουν, θα διανεμηθούν ως εξής: 19% θα πάνε στο ελληνικό Δημόσιο, 23% σε έλληνες κατόχους ομολόγων, κύρια ελληνικές τράπεζες, 18% στην ΕΚΤ. Τέλος, το υπόλοιπο 40% θα πάει σε αλλοδαπούς επενδυτές, κύρια σε γερμανικές και γαλλικές τράπεζες και ασφαλιστικές εταιρείες. Με άλλα λόγια, η Ελλάδα βρίσκεται εκβιαζόμενη για μια δόση δανείων τα οποία κατά το 81% θα επιστραφούν ως τοκοχρεολύσια στους δανεισ

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Ultimate, Unchecked, Unfounded Autism Assumptions: Autism Isn't Really Increasing, It's All Genetic

".... is one of the 1 percent of children in the U.S. born with autism, a complex developmental disability that affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others at varying degrees. Autism appears to be increasing because of the psychological testing that is available to detect it, said Ramona Puget, who earned a bachelor of arts in psychology and is the president of the Kern Autism Society, a local chapter in the national organization of the Autism Society.  ...There is no known single cause for autism, but it is accepted that it's caused by abnormalities in brain structure or function, according to the research. It is a neurolo

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Ultimate Sunday Fun Day Foodie Holiday Giveaway!

So we've survived Black Friday and even Small Business Saturday. With a lot of shopping opportunities over, what do you have in store for Cyber Monday? I'm still working on my shopping list for some special folks but if you have some foodies left to shop for (or heck, to buy for yourself!), here's my Foodie Holiday Gift Guide that offers a few tasty ideas. But wait! Be sure to scroll down and read on... because one lucky reader will be receiving a large holiday package containing one of each of these gifts and it's as easy as 4-3-2-1! Yes, that's a total of 4 cookbooks, 3 food inspired family games, 2 kitchen tools, and 1 gourmet spice set! Will you

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Parents Annoyed with Useless, Trivial Cambridge Autism Research

Is Cambridge University Professor Simon Baron-Cohen's latest "autism research" useless?  Autism Eye reports that Autism Eye magazine editor Gillian Loughran "has been inundated with phone calls from parents expressing their annoyance at what they see as the latest trivia to emerge from Cambridge."The impugned research examined the professions of parents of autistic children to look at whether parents with professional background as engineers, scientists and computer programmers were more likely to have autistic children.Loughran pulls no punches in her comments on the value of the research:“I could fill Cambridge University with parents of child

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Pumpkin Loaf

What does Thanksgiving mean to you? This year, Thanksgiving has much more meaning than those in the past. Perhaps it's due to the challenging months my family had this past year, but now we've managed to pull through the hard times to get to such a better place... and for that, we are thankful. Perhaps it's due to my renewed focus on life's simple pleasures and being content knowing all my basic needs are fulfilled... and for these, I am thankful. Or perhaps it's just being surrounded by loved ones, who I've known for years and who I may have just met... and for all of them, I am thankful. If I could, I would break bread with everyone who has touched

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Autism, Arctic Ice Melt: It's Gotta Be Genetic ... er ... Natural Variation, Natural Fluctuation

Polar Bears photographed by Canadian Environmentalists "Arctic sea ice is disappearing on a pace and magnitude unlike anything the Earth has experienced in the past 1,450 years, according to a Canadian-led study published Wednesday in the leading science journal Nature.The amount of sea ice in the Arctic has been declining continuously for the past four to five decades — and is now some two-million square kilometres smaller in area than it was in the late 20th century. But until this study, spearheaded by researchers Christian Zdanowicz and David Fisher from the Geological Survey of Canada, it remained unclear whether these losses of recent decad

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Crunchy Topped Sweet Potato Casserole

Over the years, I've grown to love sweet potatoes more and more. This fall, I've probably used sweet potatoes more than ever before because my son Joel shares my love of these orange spuds too! Well, for our recent Thanksgiving Potluck Playdate with fellow moms and kiddies, my friend Sara brought this Crunchy Topped Sweet Potato Casserole. I loved the varying textures of a crispy, crunchy top followed by the creamy whipped sweet potatoes. We liked it so much that I plan on making it again for our holiday table... and I think you should too!This could easily be made into a gluten free dish simply by substituting the all purpose flour with a gluten free

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CRANBERRY ORANGE PECAN BREAD WITH STREUSEL

HAPPY THANKSGIVINGI’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I do not celebrate Thanksgiving. No turkey, no sweet potato casserole smothered under a mountain of marshmallows. No cornbread stuffing nor cranberry relish. No festive table heaving and groaning under an abundance of food. No traditional dishes, a holiday repertoire pulled out, no note cards flipped through searching for grandma’s recipe for this, mom’s recipe for that, dad’s special whatever. No. Thanksgiving. Dinner. None.Mixed marriage does that to you. As does living in a foreign country, the country of your beloved spouse. French, American, lapsed Catholic, once-practicing Jew all with

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