 
Monday is the first day of school at The Lang School, a new independent private school for twice exceptional children in grades K-8.
The Lang School is the first elementary school in New York City and the only independent elementary school in the United States to serve children who are both gifted and with learning differences. There are as many as 50,000 twice exceptional students in New York City and up to 1 million nationwide, and they face particular challenges. With diagnoses such as ADHD, Aspergers, auditory processing challenges, dyslexia, and anxiety, twice exceptional students are mostly shuttled out of general education settings at an early age and languish wherever they land after that.
“Exceptionally bright children with learning differences are usually viewed as underachievers in gifted programs,†says Founder and Director Micaela Bracamante. “Their academic and social challenges aren’t addressed. And in special education programs their gifts are unrecognized and untended year after year. Neither approach acknowledges that giftedness and special education needs can require simultaneous support.â€
As the mother of a gifted child with learning differences, Bracamonte knows these challenges first-hand. After struggling to find an appropriate educational setting for her son, when all avenues seemed to be closed, she forged a new path, joined forces with nationally recognized experts in gifted and special education, and created The Lang School as a model environment for twice-exceptional students.
Â
Enrollment is limited and space is still available.
For further information, contact The Lang School at 212.977.7777 or through www.thelangschool.org.
Read in Full:Â http://www.examiner.com/gifted-education-in-new-york/first-2e-school-opens-its-doors-nyc-this-monday
 
Broomhayes School provides residential care for about 30 people
17 September 2010
Up to 30 staff at a school run by the National Autistic Society (NAS) in Devon may be made redundant as part of restructuring, the charity has said.
Broomhayes School in Bideford has 204 staff and provides year-round education and care for children and young people aged between 10 and 21 with autism.
The society confirmed some posts were “at risk of redundancy”.
It said a 30-day consultation began on Thursday and no action would be confirmed until the end of that time.
The school provides residential care for about 30 people. It is one of six around the country run by the society.
The society said the proposal to restructure existing staffing and ways of working was forward because of the several older students were due to leave and their places had not yet been filled.
Read in Full:Â http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-11346033
Jan
22
 
Reported by: Patrice WalshÂ
Penfield, NY–
5 year old Vincent Ognibene has never spoken a word. But the youngster has brought his family more love than he will ever know.
Vincent was a healthy baby but suffered severe epileptic seizures when he was 16 months. He was diagnosed with autism a year later. He suffers 20 seizures a day. He also wanders and has learned to unlock doors. He has gotten out of the house unnoticed before and that scares his parents.
The Ognibenes have researched service dogs and how they help autistic children and children with seizure disorders. They believe a dog would not only be Vincent’s voice, but also his protector.
Corinna Ognibene says she worries about her son every day:Â “we don’t get to put Vinnie to bed knowing he is safe; with a dog at his side, the dog would alert us, so we could be there for Vinnie.”
But the Ognibene’s say since so much training is involved in service dogs for autistic children and children with seizure disorders, they can cost 25-thousand dollars or more.
That’s why they are holding a fundraiser called: “A Dog For Vincent.” It began with emails and flyers to friends inviting them to a neighborhood garage sale.
Now it has become a community-wide sale. Many people who don’t know the family have donated items and cash to help Vincent get a service dog.
The garage sale will be held at their Penfield home this weekend. I have attached a flyer with more information about the sale.
        COMMUNITY GARAGE SALE TO BENEFIT VINCENT OGNIBENE
        WHEN: SEPTEMBER 17, 18,19
       WHERE: 7 Shadow Creek, Penfield NY
        TIME: 8am-4pm
Source:Â http://www.13wham.com/news/local/story/A-Dog-For-Vincent/f0Z9NVkAG0y7vJ0NUZlU3Q.cspx
Online Dating: 10 Psychological Insights
September 16, 2010
Believe the internet dating companies and it’s all sweetness and light, with wedding bells ringing in the distance; believe the media scare stories and it’s all lying, cheating, perverted social misfits. The truth is somewhere in between, but where?
Fortunately, now there’s enough research to suggest what’s really going on. So, here are my 10 favourite psychological insights on internet dating.
1. Internet daters are not losers
Contrary to the stereotype, there’s little evidence that internet dating is the last resort of social misfits or weirdos.
In fact, quite the reverse. Internet daters are more likely to be sociable, have high self-esteem and be low in dating anxiety (Kim et al., 2009; Valkenburg, 2007). These studies found no evidence that people use online dating because they can’t hack it face-to-face. It’s just one more way to meet new people.
People’s motivations to start online dating are many and various, typically involving a triggering event like a break-up, but overall Barraket and Henry-Waring (2008) have found that people’s motivations are less individual and more social. People aren’t using online dating because they are shy but because they have moved to a new city, are working long hours or don’t have time to meet anyone new.
2. Online daters do lie (but only a little)
Although 94% deny their internet dating profiles contain any fibs (Gibbs et al., 2006), psychologists are a suspicious lot. Toma et al. (2008) measured the heights and weights of 80 internet daters, as well as checking their driving licences for their real age.
When this data was compared with their profiles, it showed that nine out of ten had lied on at least one of the attributes measured, but the lies were only small ones. The most frequent offender was weight, with daters either adding or shaving off an average of 5%. Daters were more truthful about their age (1.5% deviation) and height (1.1% deviation). As expected women tended to shave off the pounds, while men gave themselves a boost in height.
These lies make little difference in the real world because the vast majority of fibbing would have been difficult to detect in person. Most people want to meet up eventually so they know big lies are going to be caught.
3. Photo fallacies
The saying ‘the camera never lies’ is bunk. Even without Photoshop to iron out the wrinkles, camera angles and lighting can easily change perceived attractiveness.
People instinctively understand this when choosing their profile photo so Toma and Hancock (2010) took photographs of internet daters, then judges compared these to the real profile photos.
Although less physically attractive people were the most likely to choose a self-enhancing photo, overall the differences were tiny. The lab photos were only a little less attractive than those chosen for online dating profiles (about 5% for women and 4% for men). Once again, internet daters weren’t lying much…
4. Your best look
Clues to which types of profile photos work come from one online dating site which has analysed 7,000 photographs in its database (oktrends, 2010):
- *Women had higher response-rates when they made eye-contact with the camera and looked flirty. Conversely the least successful pictures for women were looking away with a flirty face.
- *Men’s best look was away from the camera, not smiling. But guys should avoid a flirty face, which was associated with a drastic reduction in messages.
They then looked at which photos were associated with the longest online conversations. These were where it showed the dater:
- *Doing something interesting
- *With an animal
- *In an interesting location (travel photo)
The photos associated with shorter than average conversations were (in increasing order of conversational deterrent):
- *In bed (associated with slightly shorter conversations)
- *Taken outdoors
- *Having fun with friends
- *And the most likely to deter interactions: drinking! (associated with the shortest conversations)
(Remember, these are all associations so we can’t be sure about causality.)
Read in Full:Â http://www.spring.org.uk/2010/09/online-dating-10-psychological-insights.php
Proof Positive: Can Other People Make Us Happy?
– Dalai Lama
Are we happy when we get what we want?
It depends.
This year the keynote speaker at the American Psychological Association convention was Dr. Dan Gilbert of Harvard. His book Stumbling on Happiness is an international bestseller and his talk was about affective forecasting: Do we know what will make us happy?
He pointed out that we are hardwired from birth to be happy when we get salt, fat, sweet things and sex. Beyond that our culture provides us cues about what will make us happy. That was when he showed us a photo of his mother.
He explained that his mother was the cultural agent informing him of what will make him happy: Marry a nice girl, find a job you like, and have some children.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/09/13/proof-positive-can-other-people-make-us-happy/
Women: Hope To Marry Young? Head To Alaska, Steer Clear Of Alabama
Article Date: 17 Sep 2010 – 5:00 PDT
When men outnumber women, females marry younger and the age gap between spouses grows, a University of Michigan study shows.
“Women don’t stay on the market long because men are more motivated to commit,” said Daniel Kruger, research assistant professor in the U-M School of Public Health. “They want to secure the relationship before some other guy gets her.”
The study looked at the ratio of men to women in the 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S with 2000 U.S Census data to determine how it impacted marital ages.
Male and female behavior differ because each gender has a somewhat different reproductive agenda, and the ratio of men to women impacts that behavior. Women want commitment from men, Kruger says, because having a reliable, stable provider greatly benefits their children. This means men may have to build up their social status and resources to be considered marriageable.
However, men can have more offspring with multiple sexual partners and thus are not as eager to settle down, said Kruger, who studies human behavior and motivation from an evolutionary perspective.
Read in Full:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/201543.php
Touching the space between us
Slate has an excellent article on the psychology of collaborations that highlights the often underplayed role of the creative relationship and bemoans are obsession with the illusory ‘lone genius’.
The author is Joshua Wolf Shenk who you may recognise from one of the best psychology articles I’ve yet read – an Atlantic article on happiness and ageing – which we covered last year on Mind Hacks.
This new piece is part of a ongoing series that aims to pick up on our cultural neglect of the dynamic interaction between partners.
But a burgeoning field has shown that, from the very first days of life, relationships shape our experience, our character, even our biology. This research, which has flowered in the last ten years, took root in the 1970s. One reason, explains the psychologist and philosopher Alison Gopnik, was the advent of the simple video camera. It allowed researchers to easily capture and analyze the exchanges between babies and their caregivers. In video of 4-month-olds with their mothers, for example, the two mimic each other’s facial expressions and amplify them. So, a baby’s grin elicits a mother’s smile, which leads the baby to a full-on expression of joy—round mouth, big eyes. This in turn affects the mother, and so on in a continuous exchange that entwines the pair.
Read in Full:Â http://mindhacks.com/2010/09/15/touching-the-space-between-us/
Freedom to Love
To be free to do something, you must be free not to do it. We are free to love only to the extent that we aren’t forced into it by guilt, shame, fear of abandonment, or, worst of all, the interpretation of vulnerable feelings as emotional needs. No matter how seductive “I need you,” may sound in popular songs, the partner who needs you cannot freely love you.
If someone needs you, he or she is more likely to abuse you than to give freely of love and support. Most painful conflicts in committed relationships begin with one partner making an emotional request – motivated by a perceived “need” – that the other, motivated by a different “need,” regards as a demand. Any disagreement can feel like abuse when the perceived “need” of one party to be “validated” crashes headlong into the “need” of the other not to be manipulated.
“If you loved me, you’d do what I want (or see the world the way I do),” one argues.
“If you loved me, you wouldn’t try to control me,” the other counters.
The problem is not in the language the couples use or even the content of their arguments, which is why communication and problem-solving techniques rarely help over time. As long as they perceive themselves to have emotional needs that their partners must gratify, their desire to love is reduced to “Getting my needs met,” which the partner often perceives as, “You have to give up who you are to meet my needs.”
The Perception of “Emotional Need”
An emotional need is a preference or desire that you’ve decided must be gratified to maintain emotional equilibrium. The sensation of need begins with an increase in emotional intensity – you feel more strongly about doing this or having that; as intensity increases, it feels like you need to do or have it.
Read in Full:Â http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anger-in-the-age-entitlement/201009/freedom-love
I’m Disappointed, but I’m Okay
The Best Marriage Therapy Tool
Read in Full:Â http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anger-in-the-age-entitlement/201006/the-best-marriage-therapy-tool
 
Article Date: 17 Sep 2010 – 6:00 PDT
A new series of accessible information leaflets for people with mental health problems and learning disabilities is now available on the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) website.
The leaflets have been produced by Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust in association with the RCPsych’s Faculty of the Psychiatry of Learning Disability.
There are 30 leaflets in the series. Some leaflets provide general information on different mental health problems: anxiety disorder, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, challenging behaviour, dementia, epilepsy and psychosis. Others provide specific information on different types of medications for dementia, depression, and psychosis and bipolar disorder.
Read in Full:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/201557.php
 
Article Date: 17 Sep 2010 – 2:00 PDT
Some people who use community mental health services in England are still not getting the care and support that fully meets their needs, according to a survey published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The CQC survey captures the views of more than 17,000 people aged 16 and over who had contact with specialist community mental health services between July and September last year.
They had been referred to a psychiatric outpatient clinic, local community mental health team or other community-based service. The survey covered 66 NHS trusts.
People were generally very positive about the health and social care workers they had seen most recently for their mental health condition. The vast majority said workers listened carefully to them, gave them enough time for discussion and took their views into account. Also, most people said they were treated with respect and dignity and had trust and confidence in their health or social care worker.
But many reported that they had not been involved as much as they would have liked in some aspects of their care. Significant numbers of people said they would have liked more explanation of, or more say in, their treatment and support, such as their medication or care planning. Nearly half of those surveyed did not know who to contact in a crisis outside normal office hours. Of those who said they wanted some form of talking therapy, 73% had received it but 27% had not.
Read in Full:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/201447.php
Â
 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on September 17, 2010Â
Brain activity during times of wakefulness affects sleep and sleep quality. While researchers have been aware of this for some time, a clear understanding of how the mechanisms triggering sleep occur has remained largely unknown.
Now, a recent study has uncovered valuable insight into how the changeover from wakefulness to sleep occurs. This discovery potentially paves the way for a host of breakthroughs that could affect everything from sleeping aids to treatments for stroke and brain injury.
Led by James Krueger, a neuroscientist at Washington State University (WSU), the findings were recently published in the Journal of Applied Physiology and represent the most significant discovery of Krueger’s 36-year career focused on sleep research.
The study centered on a hypothesis that the major energy currency of the cell — ATP (adenosinetriphosphate) — is a key trigger for brain activity leading up to sleep. Specifically, researchers followed the method behind how ATP assists in the release of cytokines, the regulatory proteins for sleep.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/09/17/how-brain-activity-is-linked-to-sleep/18223.html
 
- Ian Holroyd – NORTH OAKVILLE TODAY
- Sep 16, 2010
Colin Brennan needs North Oakville’s help to win singing contest
NORTH OAKVILLE TODAY – Move over Justin Bieber. Like Stratford, North Oakville has its own child singing sensation.
Like Bieber, Colin Brennan has been on television, is featured in You Tube videos and knows his way around a recording studio.
The similarities end there. Colin is only 8 years old and has autism.
His dad Gord said that Colin started singing when he was 3, before he even learned how to talk.
“By 4 he was singing full songs. I have VHS of him when he was 4 singing the Care Bears songs completely,†said the proud father. “We were astounded. Where was this coming from?
“He sings all the time now.â€
Despite Colin’s youth and his challenges, he has already embarked on a promising singing career.
He was recently chosen as a top ten finalist in the TeleToon Total Drama World Tour Karaoke Contest.
“I knew that he was good but I’m biased. So of course you always think your kid is good even if they can’t sing,†said Gord, of his son making the finals. “But I was shocked. I was like, ‘that’s cool.’â€
In this competition, kids were given the opportunity to be in their own music video and sing the theme song of the popular cartoon, Total Drama Island. The finalists’ videos have been posted on TeleToon’s website and were also aired on television.
Colin now needs North Oakville’s help to win.
Most singing competitions are decided by the public’s votes and this one is no different. Cast your vote for Colin’s video by visiting www.teletoon.com and clicking on the Total Drama World Tour icon.
“It might show me and it might say ‘and the winner is Colin Brennan, sent in from Oakville,†said Colin, putting his hands over his head.
Voting runs until this Sunday at midnight and people can vote for Colin once a day. The winner is announced on Thursday, September 30.
The grand prize is $5,000 and if he wins, Colin wants to use the money to fly to Orlando, Florida and visit the new Universal Studios Harry Potter Theme Park.
Read in Full:Â http://www.insidehalton.com/news/article/874692–autism-won-t-stop-dreams-coming-true
 
It’s a question that looms for many parents of children with autism: What will happen to my child, after I’m gone?
More than 500,000 people with autism will reach adulthood in the coming decades.
John Donvan and Caren Zucker found Donald Triplett, now 77, the first person ever diagnosed with autism. His happy, independent life provides insight as to how best create fulfilling later years for adults with autism.
Donvan and Zucker wrote about Triplett’s life for The Atlantic, “Autism’s First Child.”
Known as “Donald T.” in medical literature, Triplett is the first person described in the first article in the U.S. as having autism. His doctor, Leo Kanner, wrote about him in an article in The Nervous Child, a publication that no longer exists, explains Donvan.
Peter Gerhardt, one of the experts Donvan and Zucker spoke with, is the former president of the Organization for Autism Research. He now directs the Upper School at the McCarton School in New York, a program for autistic students.
Gerhardt believes there are skills children diagnosed with autism can learn that will help them grow into independent adults. But he also believes society as a whole can learn how to react to autistic adults better.
Source(Includes Audio 47mins 3sec):Â http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129885995&ft=1&f=5
 
Article Date: 16 Sep 2010 – 7:00 PDT
In a very important development concerning soldier’s mental health and the armed forces of the United Kingdom, the MoD (UK Ministry of Defense) has elected to transfer military personnel patient care to the private sector. This major change in policy will not only improve quality of care for the military, but also boost the National Health Service’s (NHS) during an extremely weak global and national medical economy.
Roughly 300 military patients require admission into a mental health facility at this time. Between 2003 and 2009, those needing psychiatric assistance were admitted into private or independent sector outlets as the last mental health military facility shut down in 2003.
Read in Full:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/201422.php
“Service personnel move to NHS mental health inpatient care”
Martin Deahl
The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 16 September 2010
doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61190-7