May 26, 2010, 12:01 am

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

Most of us think that exercise improves sleep. But it may be that thinking that exercise improves sleep improves sleep. That, at any rate, is the provocative finding of a new study completed recently in Switzerland and published last month in the journal of the American College of Sports Medicine.

For the study, 862 Swiss college students were asked to record how much they exercised, how fit they believed themselves to be (on a scale from 1 to 10) and how well they slept (on a scale from 1 to 8). The correlations between how much some of the students exercised and how fit they believed themselves to be was not very precise. More than 16 percent of the students who rated themselves low on the fitness scale actually exercised the most. In other words, they worked out more than many of the other students but felt they weren’t doing enough.

Read in Full:  http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/phys-ed-does-exercise-help-you-sleep-better/

 

A charitable group donated an iPod Touch with special software to help an autistic 9-year-old.

By Courtney Cutright | The Roanoke Times

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Nine-year-old Romeo Gaona of Roanoke faces a barrier when it comes to communicating.

“He talks a little,” said Wayne Fridley, his grandfather.

Those who don’t know Romeo well have difficulty understanding what he is saying.

Romeo has autism and apraxia of speech. Sounds, syllables and words are hard for him to execute, and he relies on sign language.

On Monday, Romeo received a gift from the Virginia Independent Automobile Dealers Association Ladies Auxiliary that will help him communicate. President Jan Tate of Botetourt County presented an iPod Touch with the Proloquo2Go application to Romeo in the pediatric therapy unit of Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital.

Read in Full:  http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/247977

An App for Autism

Contributor: Veair Green
Email: vgreen@cbs42.com
Last Update: 5/25 7:22 pm

Thanks to the I-pod Touch and a new $600 program, called Proloquo2go, helping autistic children is much easier. While Proloquo2go is expensive, there is an inexpensive app called Iconverse, that’s also helping children with communication disorders.

With Iconverse, children choose from 6 different icons that represent a person’s most basic needs, like eat, drink, and sleep. It’s available on the Iphone or Ipod. You can even create your own custom buttons for certain needs or favorite things.

The Glenwood Autism Center, located in Birmingham, has high praise for the new application.

Source:  http://www.cbs42.com/content/localnews/story/An-App-for-Autism/DvVzxP9cl0aqc5VowP-Vzg.cspx

 

A charitable group donated an iPod Touch with special software to help an autistic 9-year-old.

By Courtney Cutright | The Roanoke Times

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Nine-year-old Romeo Gaona of Roanoke faces a barrier when it comes to communicating.

“He talks a little,” said Wayne Fridley, his grandfather.

Those who don’t know Romeo well have difficulty understanding what he is saying.

Romeo has autism and apraxia of speech. Sounds, syllables and words are hard for him to execute, and he relies on sign language.

On Monday, Romeo received a gift from the Virginia Independent Automobile Dealers Association Ladies Auxiliary that will help him communicate. President Jan Tate of Botetourt County presented an iPod Touch with the Proloquo2Go application to Romeo in the pediatric therapy unit of Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital.

Read in Full:  http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/247977

An App for Autism

Contributor: Veair Green
Email: vgreen@cbs42.com
Last Update: 5/25 7:22 pm

Thanks to the I-pod Touch and a new $600 program, called Proloquo2go, helping autistic children is much easier. While Proloquo2go is expensive, there is an inexpensive app called Iconverse, that’s also helping children with communication disorders.

With Iconverse, children choose from 6 different icons that represent a person’s most basic needs, like eat, drink, and sleep. It’s available on the Iphone or Ipod. You can even create your own custom buttons for certain needs or favorite things.

The Glenwood Autism Center, located in Birmingham, has high praise for the new application.

Source:  http://www.cbs42.com/content/localnews/story/An-App-for-Autism/DvVzxP9cl0aqc5VowP-Vzg.cspx

 

By Charlie Fidelman, Gazette Health Reporter May 24, 2010

MONTREAL — By the tender age of 18 months, most toddlers point at things, follow the gaze of someone else, or engage in pretend play.

Children who fail these three key indicators are the ones likely to be diagnosed with autism or its relative, Aspergers Syndrome, the high-functioning end of autism — and the spectrum is far more common in boys than in girls.

Simon Baron-Cohen’s voice is muddied by a hum from a bad telephone connection, but the British psychologist registers clearly when he says that gender might have everything to do with autism.

New research, says the director of the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge who has spent more than two decades studying autism spectrum disorders, might also link prenatal sex hormone differences in the brain to autistic traits.

For Baron-Cohen, autism is the case of the “extreme male brain.” It’s not a disease but a different mental style, a variation “and we have to make space for diversity.”

Read in Full:  http://www.canada.com/health/Gender+might+have+everything+with+autism+British+researcher+says/3066072/story.html

 

 

By Charlie Fidelman, Gazette Health Reporter May 24, 2010

MONTREAL — By the tender age of 18 months, most toddlers point at things, follow the gaze of someone else, or engage in pretend play.

Children who fail these three key indicators are the ones likely to be diagnosed with autism or its relative, Aspergers Syndrome, the high-functioning end of autism — and the spectrum is far more common in boys than in girls.

Simon Baron-Cohen’s voice is muddied by a hum from a bad telephone connection, but the British psychologist registers clearly when he says that gender might have everything to do with autism.

New research, says the director of the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge who has spent more than two decades studying autism spectrum disorders, might also link prenatal sex hormone differences in the brain to autistic traits.

For Baron-Cohen, autism is the case of the “extreme male brain.” It’s not a disease but a different mental style, a variation “and we have to make space for diversity.”

Read in Full:  http://www.canada.com/health/Gender+might+have+everything+with+autism+British+researcher+says/3066072/story.html

 

 

With over 280,000 visits a month, our website is one of the most important online sources of information about autism on the planet. Using the internet to support and connect the autism community is a major priority for the NAS. That’s why we are investing in new technology and a better website.

The internet is now about so much more than one-way communication, so our strategy promotes interaction between visitors and supporters and between NAS staff and everyone interested in autism. You’ll see more and more initiatives to support this interaction, from simple content rating tools to a new online community.

Read in Full:  http://www.autism.org.uk/en-gb/news-and-events/news-from-the-nas/nas-launches-new-improved-website.aspx

 

With over 280,000 visits a month, our website is one of the most important online sources of information about autism on the planet. Using the internet to support and connect the autism community is a major priority for the NAS. That’s why we are investing in new technology and a better website.

The internet is now about so much more than one-way communication, so our strategy promotes interaction between visitors and supporters and between NAS staff and everyone interested in autism. You’ll see more and more initiatives to support this interaction, from simple content rating tools to a new online community.

Read in Full:  http://www.autism.org.uk/en-gb/news-and-events/news-from-the-nas/nas-launches-new-improved-website.aspx

 

 

 

Published on May 25, 2010

by Todd B. Kashdan, Ph.D.

This post is a response to Money Buys Unhappiness, Proven in a New Study by R. Douglas Fields

Science cannot prove anything. The word “proven” is a clear sign that you are no longer in the province of science, rather you are in the province of people with an agenda. Be wary! But we can find evidence strongly in favor of one idea compared with another. The idea that money leads to happiness or unhappiness is a soundbite. Perfect for a radio advertisement. Ridiculous if you are trying to describe decades of research on the topic. You want a soundbite? Whether money leads to happiness or unhappiness depends on how you spend your money.

Want to dive into the research? If you live in a household that earns more than $40,000 per year, increases in income have a miniscule impact on happiness. You can afford taking your child to the emergency room when the knife misses the bagel and slices through the soft tendons in their fingers. Unlike families with less income, you are not required to do a cost-benefit analysis of whether taking your child to the hospital is worth living on bologna and water for the next week. This leads to my first commonsense point.

Read in Full:  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/curious/201005/does-money-influence-happiness-depends-how-you-spend-your-cash