 
19 May 2010 12:28 UK
Scottish government targets to halt the rise in anti-depressant prescriptions are too simplistic, MSPs have warned.
Amid a quadrupling of the prescription rates in the past 15 years, ministers pledged to reduce the increase.
But Holyrood’s public audit committee raised concerns that data on the issue was not being properly collected, and questioned how the target could be met.
Ministers have said the prescription of drugs was a clinical decision to be made by doctors.
The government says drugs can help patients live normal lives instead of being “disabled”, in conjunction policies to improve access to non-drug treatments, such as talking therapies.
‘Closer monitoring’
Publishing a report on the issue, the public audit committee said the reasons for the rise in anti-depressant prescriptions remained unclear.
Its convener, the Labour MSP Hugh Henry, said: “The committee is concerned the Scottish government does not currently collect information on the number of people taking anti-depressants and the data collected does not explain why the level of anti-depressant prescribing continues to increase.
“The committee therefore questions whether the Scottish government target to reduce the increase of anti-depressant prescribing can be achieved.”
MSPs also expressed concern about some of the reasons given for the variations in prescribing in different areas, including that female GPs were more likely to prescribe anti-depressants compared with older doctors.
The committee also called for closer government monitoring of how cash was used to fund mental health services.
Source:Â http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/scotland_politics/8691759.stm
 
By SUE GLEITER, The Patriot-News
May 20, 2010, 7:58AM
Temple Grandin has become a household name since the HBO film on her life story, “Temple Grandin,†debuted in February.
She’ll speak 7 p.m. Sunday at the Zembo Shrine Center for a fundraiser for Jewish Family Service of Greater Harrisburg Inc. She will talk about her experiences growing up with autism. Tickets cost $25 in advance and $35 at the door.
In 1950, doctors told Grandin’s parents she had autism and should be institutionalized. She didn’t talk until she was 3½ years old, screaming, peeping and humming instead. But her parents didn’t institutionalize her. They worked intensively with her, and she graduated from high school and college and earned a Ph.D. in animal science.
Grandin, who is a professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, developed her talents into a successful career as a livestock-handling equipment designer, one of very few in the world.
She is the author of several books including, “The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism and Asperger’s.†Her books, lectures and appearances around the world explained to parents and professionals how autistic people think and what they feel.
Source:Â http://blog.pennlive.com/go/2010/05/noted_autistic_authortemple_gr.html
Â
By SUE GLEITER, The Patriot-News
May 20, 2010, 7:58AM
Temple Grandin has become a household name since the HBO film on her life story, “Temple Grandin,†debuted in February.
She’ll speak 7 p.m. Sunday at the Zembo Shrine Center for a fundraiser for Jewish Family Service of Greater Harrisburg Inc. She will talk about her experiences growing up with autism. Tickets cost $25 in advance and $35 at the door.
In 1950, doctors told Grandin’s parents she had autism and should be institutionalized. She didn’t talk until she was 3½ years old, screaming, peeping and humming instead. But her parents didn’t institutionalize her. They worked intensively with her, and she graduated from high school and college and earned a Ph.D. in animal science.
Grandin, who is a professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, developed her talents into a successful career as a livestock-handling equipment designer, one of very few in the world.
She is the author of several books including, “The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism and Asperger’s.†Her books, lectures and appearances around the world explained to parents and professionals how autistic people think and what they feel.
Source:Â http://blog.pennlive.com/go/2010/05/noted_autistic_authortemple_gr.html
 
Following the Hirst judgment, the Strasbourg court rules in Alajos Kiss v Hungary on the right to vote for those with mental health problems
Antoine Buyse for the ECHR blog, part of the Guardian Legal Network
Thursday 20 May 2010 11.50 BSTÂ
Today the European Court of Human rights issued an important judgment in a case on voting rights for the mentally disabled: Alajos Kiss v. Hungary. The applicant in the case suffered from manic depression and had for that reason been placed under partial guardianship. Since the Hungarian Constitution contained an absolute voting ban for people put under guardianship, he could not vote in the 2006 parliamentary elections. The European Court held unanimously that such an absolute ban violated the right to free elections of Article 3 of Protocol 1 ECHR.
The Court did accept the Government’s contention that “that only citizens capable of assessing the consequences of their decisions and making conscious and judicious decisions should participate in public affairs” (para. 38.), but did not buy the consequence Hungary attached to it, namely an automatic exclusion from the right to vote. The Court thus held that the ban was disproportionate. It is useful to quote the relevant parts of the Court’s reasoning in full:
Read More:Â http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/may/20/european-court-of-human-rights-hungary
Â
Following the Hirst judgment, the Strasbourg court rules in Alajos Kiss v Hungary on the right to vote for those with mental health problems
Antoine Buyse for the ECHR blog, part of the Guardian Legal Network
Thursday 20 May 2010 11.50 BSTÂ
Today the European Court of Human rights issued an important judgment in a case on voting rights for the mentally disabled: Alajos Kiss v. Hungary. The applicant in the case suffered from manic depression and had for that reason been placed under partial guardianship. Since the Hungarian Constitution contained an absolute voting ban for people put under guardianship, he could not vote in the 2006 parliamentary elections. The European Court held unanimously that such an absolute ban violated the right to free elections of Article 3 of Protocol 1 ECHR.
The Court did accept the Government’s contention that “that only citizens capable of assessing the consequences of their decisions and making conscious and judicious decisions should participate in public affairs” (para. 38.), but did not buy the consequence Hungary attached to it, namely an automatic exclusion from the right to vote. The Court thus held that the ban was disproportionate. It is useful to quote the relevant parts of the Court’s reasoning in full:
Read More:Â http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/may/20/european-court-of-human-rights-hungary
A sure way to improve your marriage is to admit that you don’t know what the hell you’re doing when it comes to making an intimate relationship work. Say it right now, out loud:
“I don’t know what the hell I’m doing; I don’t know how to make intimate relationships work!”
There, doesn’t that feel better?
When It Comes to Love, Inadequacy is Your Friend
A stab of inadequacy motivates you to do something that will make you feel more adequate. The inadequacy you felt when you first heard your infant give out an intensely distressed cry (that unmistakable and unbearable, “Wahhh!!!”) provided a powerful motivation to help, which was the only way you could feel adequate. If you had suppressed or tried to avoid that terribly uncomfortable feeling or, worse, blamed it on the distressed child, you would not have felt the same urge to provide effective care. Studies of primates show that the typically hysterical response of mothers and infants when they are separated is completely eliminated after shots of morphine, which numb the distress and, presumably, the underlying urge to connect and give care. With their feelings of inadequacy numbed by drugs, addicted human mothers are likely to neglect or abandon their newborns. But once the mother is sober and the sense of inadequacy is allowed to motivate care giving, she once again nurtures her child or tries to find the one she lost to addiction.
Read More …Â http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anger-in-the-age-entitlement/201005/love-well-you-have-sometimes-feel-inadequate
 
The Sound Of Seduction
Article Date: 21 May 2010 – 4:00 PDT
Flirtation may seem largely visual – the preening, the coy eye contact – but voice plays a role, too.
Lowering your voice may be a means of demonstrating attraction, says Susan Hughes, assistant professor of psychology at Albright College in Reading, Pa., in a study, “Vocal and Physiological Changes in Response to the Physical Attractiveness of Controversial Partners,” to be published in the fall by the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior.
“We found that both sexes used a lower-pitch voice and showed a higher level of physiological arousal when speaking to a more attractive opposite-sex target,” she says.
The study examined 48 Albright students using Skype to leave scripted voice-messages while viewing a picture of a fictitious person “receiving” the message. The men and women the participants looked at varied in attractiveness.
Hughes – who expected that women would raise their voices to sound more feminine and attractive – was surprised.
Read in Full:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/189522.php
Shyness Negatively Affects Marital Quality
Article Date: 20 May 2010 – 1:00 PDTShyness can influence the quality of an ongoing relationship – even one as important as marriage – according to a study in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (published by SAGE).
A key question in psychology, and everyday life is the extent to which a person’s personality determines the shape and quality of his or her social relationships. In two studies, the research explored the specific impact of shyness on marital quality.
Read More …Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/189338.php
 
Love is a Miracle of Mirrors and Transformation
An Inconvenient Truth: Sexual Monogamy Kills Male Libido
The problem with advice beginning with just is that it almost always turns out to be non-sense disguised as common sense. The insertion of just right there at the beginning suggests that we’ve been wasting our time talking about the problem, investigating its causes, exploring its complexities. Let’s get down to brass tacks. Forget all that brainy mumbo-jumbo and just do this. The power of this approach becomes obvious when we recall that America’s drug problem promptly ended when Nancy Reagan told us to Just say no to drugs. Gee, why didn’t someone think of that earlier?
A recent article in Psychology Today profiles a therapist/author who suggests that married men with low libido can overcome this difficult situation if they just do it. According to this article, “their low sex drive often has little to do with hormones or biology and a lot to do with the women in their lives. Men today, often enough, are angry at their wives.†Readers are told that, “In the presence of a mismatch of desire, all intimacy drops out on all levels in addition to the sexual. Couples stop having meaningful conversations.â€
I strongly disagree—both with this statement of the problem and the supposed effects on the relationship.
First, the problem. In fact, for most men in long-term sexually monogamous relationships, a steady decrease in libido has everything to do with biology and hormones and would be the same regardless of the particular woman in their lives. That’s right. The sexually-monogamous husband of the hottest woman on earth will start to lose interest at a certain point. Uma, Selma, it’s not your fault!
Read in Full:Â http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/lust-in-paradise/200805/inconvenient-truth-sexual-monogamy-kills-male-libido
 
Emotions = Character?
In the early stages of formulating the framework for a new “positive psychology,” Marty Seligman spoke with me about how positive character was the backbone holding together the original three pillars he articulated: positive character, positive emotions and positive institutions. As I have observed the science develop, his position has begun to crystallize for me.
It has always been clear to me that institutions – be they families, schools, businesses, or places of worship – influence values and virtuous behavior by the various rewards and punishments that are built into their respective cultures. A family that models and teaches honesty is more likely to produce honest behavior than one that models duplicity. And, it has always been clear to me that these institutions also construct conditions that determine the valence (the intrinsic attractiveness or aversiveness) of emotions. Some institutions create more positive emotions than others, and vice versa.
Read in Full:Â http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/quite-character/201005/emotions-character
 
“Conversation (Real and Virtureal), Pajama Parties, and Avoiding Self-Criticism.”
Happiness interview: Aidan Donnelley Rowley.
Aidan Donnelly Rowley and I were set up on a blind coffee date, as writers who live in the same neighborhood, by the indefatigable Danielle LaPorte. Which is a bit odd, because at that time I’d never even met Danielle, who lives in Vancouver, but only knew her through the internet. When I met Aidan, we discovered that we have another mutual friend right here in our neighborhood…small world!
Aidan is a novelist who also has a blog, Ivy League Insecurities, so it was a lot of fun to talk shop about balancing book-writing and blogging. At last, her terrific novel, Life After Yes
Aidan’s novel has a lot to do with the search for happiness, and what does or doesn’t make us happy — particularly in the context of marriage — so I was curious to hear what she had to say on the subject.
What’s a simple activity that consistently makes you happier?
Conversation. Having conversations with people – online in the “virtureal†(because though virtual it is very real to me) world and offline in my physical world is something that consistently makes me happier. It occurred to me relatively recently that the vast majority of my happy memories are of conversations – with friends and family and professors and colleagues. It is the sentences, the ideas, and the debates, that stick with me and sustain me. It also occurred to me that one of the main reasons I have fallen head over heels in love with blogging and writing in general is because that is what these things are in essence: conversations.
What’s something you know now about happiness that you didn’t know when you were 18 years old?
I don’t think I thought much about the concept of happiness when I was eighteen, but I’m pretty sure I thought it was meant to be constant state of being, a destination at which to arrive and stay. I know now that happiness, whatever it is (and I don’t pretend to know), comes in ebbs and flows, in fierce existential flashes, and is not remotely permanent. Its transience, its impermanence, its chameleon and cunning nature, is what makes it so intriguing and wonderful.
Is there anything you find yourself doing repeatedly that gets in the way of your happiness?
I say and think the word “should†far more than I should. (See?) I am constantly fashioning unrealistic expectations for myself, ones that I will never possibly meet, and when I don’t, I am quite hard on myself. Self-criticism, particularly when a recurring theme in one’s life story, has a way of eating away at happiness.
Is there a happiness mantra or motto that you’ve found very helpful? (e.g., I remind myself to “Be Gretchen.â€) Or a happiness quotation that has struck you as particularly insightful? Or a particular book that has stayed with you?
I love, and recently blogged about Hawthorne’s quote about happiness: “Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.†I appreciate this metaphor and these words because I do think there is something fragile and fluttering about happiness and that if we pursue it too obsessively, it will evade us. As for books, I recently read a wonderful one called The Happiness Project and though initially cynical about the premise of studying happiness like a science and test-driving its principles, I found the book to be profoundly insightful and compellingly practical. [Awww, thanks Aidan!]
Read in Full:Â http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-happiness-project/201005/conversation-real-and-virtureal-pajama-parties-and-avoiding-self-c
 
A sure way to improve your marriage is to admit that you don’t know what the hell you’re doing when it comes to making an intimate relationship work. Say it right now, out loud:
“I don’t know what the hell I’m doing; I don’t know how to make intimate relationships work!”
There, doesn’t that feel better?
When It Comes to Love, Inadequacy is Your Friend
A stab of inadequacy motivates you to do something that will make you feel more adequate. The inadequacy you felt when you first heard your infant give out an intensely distressed cry (that unmistakable and unbearable, “Wahhh!!!”) provided a powerful motivation to help, which was the only way you could feel adequate. If you had suppressed or tried to avoid that terribly uncomfortable feeling or, worse, blamed it on the distressed child, you would not have felt the same urge to provide effective care. Studies of primates show that the typically hysterical response of mothers and infants when they are separated is completely eliminated after shots of morphine, which numb the distress and, presumably, the underlying urge to connect and give care. With their feelings of inadequacy numbed by drugs, addicted human mothers are likely to neglect or abandon their newborns. But once the mother is sober and the sense of inadequacy is allowed to motivate care giving, she once again nurtures her child or tries to find the one she lost to addiction.
Read More …Â http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anger-in-the-age-entitlement/201005/love-well-you-have-sometimes-feel-inadequate
The Sound Of Seduction
Article Date: 21 May 2010 – 4:00 PDT
Flirtation may seem largely visual – the preening, the coy eye contact – but voice plays a role, too.
Lowering your voice may be a means of demonstrating attraction, says Susan Hughes, assistant professor of psychology at Albright College in Reading, Pa., in a study, “Vocal and Physiological Changes in Response to the Physical Attractiveness of Controversial Partners,” to be published in the fall by the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior.
“We found that both sexes used a lower-pitch voice and showed a higher level of physiological arousal when speaking to a more attractive opposite-sex target,” she says.
The study examined 48 Albright students using Skype to leave scripted voice-messages while viewing a picture of a fictitious person “receiving” the message. The men and women the participants looked at varied in attractiveness.
Hughes – who expected that women would raise their voices to sound more feminine and attractive – was surprised.
Read in Full:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/189522.php
Shyness Negatively Affects Marital Quality
Article Date: 20 May 2010 – 1:00 PDTShyness can influence the quality of an ongoing relationship – even one as important as marriage – according to a study in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (published by SAGE).
A key question in psychology, and everyday life is the extent to which a person’s personality determines the shape and quality of his or her social relationships. In two studies, the research explored the specific impact of shyness on marital quality.
Read More …Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/189338.php
Love is a Miracle of Mirrors and Transformation
An Inconvenient Truth: Sexual Monogamy Kills Male Libido
The problem with advice beginning with just is that it almost always turns out to be non-sense disguised as common sense. The insertion of just right there at the beginning suggests that we’ve been wasting our time talking about the problem, investigating its causes, exploring its complexities. Let’s get down to brass tacks. Forget all that brainy mumbo-jumbo and just do this. The power of this approach becomes obvious when we recall that America’s drug problem promptly ended when Nancy Reagan told us to Just say no to drugs. Gee, why didn’t someone think of that earlier?
A recent article in Psychology Today profiles a therapist/author who suggests that married men with low libido can overcome this difficult situation if they just do it. According to this article, “their low sex drive often has little to do with hormones or biology and a lot to do with the women in their lives. Men today, often enough, are angry at their wives.†Readers are told that, “In the presence of a mismatch of desire, all intimacy drops out on all levels in addition to the sexual. Couples stop having meaningful conversations.”
I strongly disagree—both with this statement of the problem and the supposed effects on the relationship.
First, the problem. In fact, for most men in long-term sexually monogamous relationships, a steady decrease in libido has everything to do with biology and hormones and would be the same regardless of the particular woman in their lives. That’s right. The sexually-monogamous husband of the hottest woman on earth will start to lose interest at a certain point. Uma, Selma, it’s not your fault!
Read in Full:Â http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/lust-in-paradise/200805/inconvenient-truth-sexual-monogamy-kills-male-libido
Emotions = Character?
In the early stages of formulating the framework for a new “positive psychology,” Marty Seligman spoke with me about how positive character was the backbone holding together the original three pillars he articulated: positive character, positive emotions and positive institutions. As I have observed the science develop, his position has begun to crystallize for me.
It has always been clear to me that institutions – be they families, schools, businesses, or places of worship – influence values and virtuous behavior by the various rewards and punishments that are built into their respective cultures. A family that models and teaches honesty is more likely to produce honest behavior than one that models duplicity. And, it has always been clear to me that these institutions also construct conditions that determine the valence (the intrinsic attractiveness or aversiveness) of emotions. Some institutions create more positive emotions than others, and vice versa.
Read in Full:Â http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/quite-character/201005/emotions-character
“Conversation (Real and Virtureal), Pajama Parties, and Avoiding Self-Criticism.”
Happiness interview: Aidan Donnelley Rowley.
Aidan Donnelly Rowley and I were set up on a blind coffee date, as writers who live in the same neighborhood, by the indefatigable Danielle LaPorte. Which is a bit odd, because at that time I’d never even met Danielle, who lives in Vancouver, but only knew her through the internet. When I met Aidan, we discovered that we have another mutual friend right here in our neighborhood…small world!
Aidan is a novelist who also has a blog, Ivy League Insecurities, so it was a lot of fun to talk shop about balancing book-writing and blogging. At last, her terrific novel, Life After Yes
Aidan’s novel has a lot to do with the search for happiness, and what does or doesn’t make us happy — particularly in the context of marriage — so I was curious to hear what she had to say on the subject.
What’s a simple activity that consistently makes you happier?
Conversation. Having conversations with people – online in the “virtureal†(because though virtual it is very real to me) world and offline in my physical world is something that consistently makes me happier. It occurred to me relatively recently that the vast majority of my happy memories are of conversations – with friends and family and professors and colleagues. It is the sentences, the ideas, and the debates, that stick with me and sustain me. It also occurred to me that one of the main reasons I have fallen head over heels in love with blogging and writing in general is because that is what these things are in essence: conversations.
What’s something you know now about happiness that you didn’t know when you were 18 years old?
I don’t think I thought much about the concept of happiness when I was eighteen, but I’m pretty sure I thought it was meant to be constant state of being, a destination at which to arrive and stay. I know now that happiness, whatever it is (and I don’t pretend to know), comes in ebbs and flows, in fierce existential flashes, and is not remotely permanent. Its transience, its impermanence, its chameleon and cunning nature, is what makes it so intriguing and wonderful.
Is there anything you find yourself doing repeatedly that gets in the way of your happiness?
I say and think the word “should†far more than I should. (See?) I am constantly fashioning unrealistic expectations for myself, ones that I will never possibly meet, and when I don’t, I am quite hard on myself. Self-criticism, particularly when a recurring theme in one’s life story, has a way of eating away at happiness.
Is there a happiness mantra or motto that you’ve found very helpful? (e.g., I remind myself to “Be Gretchen.â€) Or a happiness quotation that has struck you as particularly insightful? Or a particular book that has stayed with you?
I love, and recently blogged about Hawthorne’s quote about happiness: “Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.†I appreciate this metaphor and these words because I do think there is something fragile and fluttering about happiness and that if we pursue it too obsessively, it will evade us. As for books, I recently read a wonderful one called The Happiness Project and though initially cynical about the premise of studying happiness like a science and test-driving its principles, I found the book to be profoundly insightful and compellingly practical. [Awww, thanks Aidan!]
Read in Full:Â http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-happiness-project/201005/conversation-real-and-virtureal-pajama-parties-and-avoiding-self-c
Finding a suitable school for a child with learning problems can be fraught with difficulty, finds Charlotte Phillips.
By Charlotte Phillips
Published: 8:00AM BST 21 May 2010
“Sometimes I hear other parents fretting about schools and I’d just like to hit them with a shovel,” Louise McDougall says. “They’ll be worrying about whether their child will be stretched academically or if there are enough extra-curricular activities. They don’t know they’re born. My idea of extra-curricular activity is sitting on the sofa thinking: ‘Thank God that day is over.’ ”
Louise’s son, Mike, is autistic. One of the classic signs is an apparent lack of empathy: the clincher, Louise says, was when she fell down the staircase and four-year-old Mike sat at the top, convulsed with laughter.
Educationally speaking he’s one of the lucky ones, diagnosed early and now, aged 15, at a specialist unit in a mainstream local comprehensive. But everything is on a knife edge. Bullying is rife and the attitude of some teachers unhelpful. If Mike can’t cope, what happens next?
“I’ve absolutely no idea,” Louise says. “You just pray.”
This is the topsy-turvy world of schools for special needs children. For many parents it can feel like a parallel universe where the educational certainties others take for granted are suddenly removed.
If your child has complex learning issues, there may be only a handful of schools that can cater for them. As these schools rarely advertise, let alone go in for all-singing, all-dancing “look at me” open days, just finding out where they are can require a lot of detective and networking skills.
“Even if you hate socialising, force yourself to network. It’s the only way of finding out what’s really out there,” says Anna Williams, who estimates she drove 3,000 miles in total in her efforts to track down the ideal school for her son, who has complex hearing and language difficulties. “Special needs parents tend to know about other schools, even if they’re not right for their own child.”
Once you’ve identified the school, you need to plan a visit. Here, too, the rules are different. “It’s like an 11-plus exam in reverse,” Anna says.
You won’t get head teachers vying for your business. You need the right paperwork just to get through the front door. And that doesn’t mean glowing reports or top-grade exam results. Instead, parents can be required to paint as black a picture of their child’s abilities as possible, backed by reports from experts such as educational psychologists, in order to prove how desperately the place is needed.
But even when you’ve found the right school, the odds of your child ever taking up a place there can seem overwhelmingly stacked against you.
Special state schools with a good reputation for a particular type of disability are so oversubscribed they make selective grammar schools, with a mere 10 or so applicants per place, look like a shoo-in.
One state school catering for children with autism has a catchment area that spans an entire county and hundreds of applications each year for a total of just eight or nine places.
And if you decide to try your luck with the private sector, there are also the costs to contend with. Top public schools may have hit the headlines recently with news that they are likely to breach the £30,000 a year barrier, but that’s nothing. With fees at some residential schools for severely challenged children reaching £250,000 a year, the million-pound education has already arrived.
In an ideal world, children’s educational needs would be cost-blind. Unfortunately for parents, local authorities are caught in an impossible situation. On the one hand they have a legal duty to ensure that children with special needs are given the education that will help them realise their full potential. On the other, they’re also required to cough up the funds to pay for it.
Given how tight money is, the result is that instead of parents, schools and local authorities working harmoniously together to find the best possible educational solution for a child, you often get an emotionally draining and drawn-out fight, council officials on one side, purse strings clasped shut, beleaguered parents on the other.
Finding a suitable school for a child with learning problems can be fraught with difficulty, finds Charlotte Phillips.
By Charlotte Phillips
Published: 8:00AM BST 21 May 2010
“Sometimes I hear other parents fretting about schools and I’d just like to hit them with a shovel,” Louise McDougall says. “They’ll be worrying about whether their child will be stretched academically or if there are enough extra-curricular activities. They don’t know they’re born. My idea of extra-curricular activity is sitting on the sofa thinking: ‘Thank God that day is over.’ ”
Louise’s son, Mike, is autistic. One of the classic signs is an apparent lack of empathy: the clincher, Louise says, was when she fell down the staircase and four-year-old Mike sat at the top, convulsed with laughter.
Educationally speaking he’s one of the lucky ones, diagnosed early and now, aged 15, at a specialist unit in a mainstream local comprehensive. But everything is on a knife edge. Bullying is rife and the attitude of some teachers unhelpful. If Mike can’t cope, what happens next?
“I’ve absolutely no idea,” Louise says. “You just pray.”
This is the topsy-turvy world of schools for special needs children. For many parents it can feel like a parallel universe where the educational certainties others take for granted are suddenly removed.
If your child has complex learning issues, there may be only a handful of schools that can cater for them. As these schools rarely advertise, let alone go in for all-singing, all-dancing “look at me” open days, just finding out where they are can require a lot of detective and networking skills.
“Even if you hate socialising, force yourself to network. It’s the only way of finding out what’s really out there,” says Anna Williams, who estimates she drove 3,000 miles in total in her efforts to track down the ideal school for her son, who has complex hearing and language difficulties. “Special needs parents tend to know about other schools, even if they’re not right for their own child.”
Once you’ve identified the school, you need to plan a visit. Here, too, the rules are different. “It’s like an 11-plus exam in reverse,” Anna says.
You won’t get head teachers vying for your business. You need the right paperwork just to get through the front door. And that doesn’t mean glowing reports or top-grade exam results. Instead, parents can be required to paint as black a picture of their child’s abilities as possible, backed by reports from experts such as educational psychologists, in order to prove how desperately the place is needed.
But even when you’ve found the right school, the odds of your child ever taking up a place there can seem overwhelmingly stacked against you.
Special state schools with a good reputation for a particular type of disability are so oversubscribed they make selective grammar schools, with a mere 10 or so applicants per place, look like a shoo-in.
One state school catering for children with autism has a catchment area that spans an entire county and hundreds of applications each year for a total of just eight or nine places.
And if you decide to try your luck with the private sector, there are also the costs to contend with. Top public schools may have hit the headlines recently with news that they are likely to breach the £30,000 a year barrier, but that’s nothing. With fees at some residential schools for severely challenged children reaching £250,000 a year, the million-pound education has already arrived.
In an ideal world, children’s educational needs would be cost-blind. Unfortunately for parents, local authorities are caught in an impossible situation. On the one hand they have a legal duty to ensure that children with special needs are given the education that will help them realise their full potential. On the other, they’re also required to cough up the funds to pay for it.
Given how tight money is, the result is that instead of parents, schools and local authorities working harmoniously together to find the best possible educational solution for a child, you often get an emotionally draining and drawn-out fight, council officials on one side, purse strings clasped shut, beleaguered parents on the other.
 
BOSTON — Gianna Hitsos is an eighth grader from Groton with an ambitious project: she’s making a CD of herself singing her favorite Broadway songs.
That’s a big deal for Gianna. Because when she was about one year old — just as she started saying words like “daddy†and “puppy†— she suddenly stopped talking. She didn’t talk again until she was almost three. The diagnosis was autism.
Now she gets private voice lessons at the Boston Conservatory on Saturdays during the school year. Other autistic kids in the same program study piano or guitar or violin. But they’re not here to learn to make eye contact or understand social cues or any of the other communication skills many kids with autism lack.
They attend to become better musicians. Period.
The program’s goal is to give autistic kids musical opportunities that could change their futures: Maybe playing in an orchestra, maybe performing in a band.
Studying The Same Music Skills They’d Learn In College
With a grad student from the conservatory as her teacher, Gianna learns technique, form, repertoire, theory, composition — the same skills she’d study as a music student in college. In fact, she now hopes she’ll go to college and study music, maybe right here at the conservatory. And that’s not her only goal.
“I feel like if I actually performed, and being able to take voice lessons, I can improve my singing skills and hopefully make it big,†Hitsos says.
If making it big is what these students want to do, that’s what their instructors try to help them do.
Now, kids with autism sometimes need a different teaching approach. Rhoda Bernard, who chairs the conservatory’s music education program, says autistic students often struggle with abstract concepts, including the idea that the musical alphabet only goes from A to G.
“One of students in the program last year had trouble,†Bernard recalls. “He wanted to go to H and keep going through the alphabet.â€
So a teacher took a strip of construction paper, folded it into a circle, like a bracelet, and wrote the letters A through G. Then the student wore the bracelet on his wrist.
“So this child would then turn to the next letter, and after G it goes to A, so that this loop was very concrete,†Bernard explains, “and this was what unlocked the door to understanding the musical alphabet.â€
Read in Full:Â http://www.wbur.org/2010/05/20/music-for-autistic-kids