http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/index.php Sun, 05 Sep 2010 08:52:51 +1200 Phorum 5.2.7 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?8,680,680#msg-680 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?8,680,680#msg-680
I am wanting to find an ASD friendly psychiatrist, my current one doesn't understand ASD and it gets so annoying.

cheers
gabby]]> gabby Services & Support Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:44:14 +1200 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,676,676#msg-676 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,676,676#msg-676
We are students of Management Communication at the University of Waikato, New Zealand asking to survey you for our assignment regarding families of children with autism. We will be very grateful for your answers to the following questions and appreciate your sincere responses.

We are seeking the following respondents:
- Parents of children with autism
- Siblings who have a brother or sister with autism
- Educators who have had experiences with autistic children
- Professionals who offer services or support for children who have autistic siblings

We would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to fill out the very short questionnaires on http://sibsupport.yolasite.com to help us in our research

Please be aware that anything you tell us will remain entirely confidential and be used only for our assignment research purposes. Your name will not be mentioned in any report. You have the right to refuse to answer a question or to withdraw from the survey at any time.

If you have any questions pertaining to the research please do not hesitate to contact our research conveyor:

Margalit Toledano
Email:toledano@waikato.ac.nz Phone: 0800 9245286 (0800waikato) ext 6112 (International code +64 if calling outside of New Zealand)


Thanks.

Cody Brennan, Jenna Newell, Juanita White, Karauna Bhana & Scott Townsend
Management Communication Students
University of Waikato
New Zealand]]> CommStudents General Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:42:18 +1200 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?7,668,668#msg-668 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?7,668,668#msg-668 teena,bell Support Groups Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:48:08 +1200 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?1,661,661#msg-661 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?1,661,661#msg-661
I thought I would let everyone know that there is a free quarterly magazine for 16 + year olds (although parents can subcribe on behalf of anyone under the age of 16) called Asperger United from the National Autistic Society. This magazine is produced by people with ASD for people with ASD.

go to the following website to subscribe or to find out more about it.

[www.autism.org.uk]]]> gabby Announcements Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:28:56 +1200 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,658,658#msg-658 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,658,658#msg-658 Well it's been awhile since I've been on here. We have had a few issues, but now getting back on track.
At the end of last term, we were having problems with him at school, and saying that he was sick. We kept him home the last couple of weeks and the first week of the holidays he wasn't very good. I had him to the Dr. and is now on some new pills, which at long last are starting to work.

His mum and brother came and stayed with us for the first week, and he wasn't to good, but by the end of the first week, things were starting to improve. By the start of the second week he was ready to go home and have a wonderful time with his family.

School started again last Monday, and things went really smoothly until the Thursday. He started to throw up and was sent home from school in the morning, so hubby left home on the Friday, he went home for weekend and was pretty good, so went to school today and had a wonderful day.

We have given him a goal to aim for, hopefully in the next school holidays, we will be going over to Adelaide to visit my eldest son and his boys, and have told Ashley that if he tries really hard at school then he will be coming with us.

Will keep you all informed as to how he is going.
Kay]]> kay General Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:45:53 +1200 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?1,651,651#msg-651 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?1,651,651#msg-651
Cheers Gabby]]> gabby Announcements Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:14:16 +1200 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,614,614#msg-614 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,614,614#msg-614 I was just wondering if any of you went to the school formal and was wondering if i should go coz i dont cope well with loud noises or crowds]]> amzywinky General Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:49:09 +1200 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,602,602#msg-602 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,602,602#msg-602 Just an update on how Ashley is getting on. For about a week now Ashley hasn't been happy going to his maths class, and last Friday it came to ahead.
He had words with is teacher in charge of the support centre he goes to in his school, and came home saying that he was going to be locked out of his safe place.

Anyway to cut a long story short, Philip and I went and had a meeting with her and another teacher, it went very well, and we got a lot worked out. He is a very lonely boy, and doesn't really have any friends as such.

She called one of the senior boys in from the unit and he was telling us about a group called Tag, who meet every two weeks and do different stuff. He spoke to Ashley and was telling him all about it, so guess what? He is now going along tomorrow night to see what it is all about.

Hopefully it will get him to meet kids of his own age instead of being just with us(his grandparents) and hopefully will make some friends that he can ask to come home with him sometimes.
Kay]]> kay General Mon, 21 Jun 2010 16:39:08 +1200 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,601,601#msg-601 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,601,601#msg-601
This weekend whilst I'm back in the UK I've joined up with my Dad to do a 10Km run. As such we have decided to try and raise the awareness of Autism and try to raise a bit of money in the meantime.

If anyone would like to sponsorme for this event then please click on the link below:

Fundraising Page

Many thanks for your time and any support.

I will let you all know how it goes and try to get some pictures too!]]> administrator General Fri, 11 Jun 2010 23:18:38 +1200 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?3,588,588#msg-588 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?3,588,588#msg-588 I hope that I have not gone on to much but it is nice to have people to finally talk to that understand where we are at.
thank you for listening
teenbub(chris)]]> teenbub About yourself Sat, 15 May 2010 19:43:04 +1200 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,571,571#msg-571 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,571,571#msg-571
She would like any ideas which I will pass onto her, as she is not computer literate and is really old fashioned

thank you in advance, any ideas and tips appreciated]]> Nzwahine General Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:16:21 +1200 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,563,563#msg-563 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,563,563#msg-563 amzywinky General Wed, 19 May 2010 11:46:05 +1200 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,552,552#msg-552 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,552,552#msg-552
I'm looking for a place to stay for when I speak at the National Autism Conference in September in Wellington.

My psychologist suggested that I see if some families or kind people in Wellington that understand ASD, seeing if they would billet me when I'm staying in Wellington.]]> gabby General Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:27:00 +1200 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?3,533,533#msg-533 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?3,533,533#msg-533
I like the left behind series and the twilight saga]]> amzywinky About yourself Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:09:40 +1200 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,523,523#msg-523 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,523,523#msg-523
Well I have just finished my draft for my lab report, it was so much effort put it to it. I've sent my draft into pre writing service at my uni. So I'm just waiting for their comments on it, then I can fix all the mistakes up]]> gabby General Sat, 24 Apr 2010 14:52:12 +1200 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?8,520,520#msg-520 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?8,520,520#msg-520 gabby Services & Support Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:50:28 +1200 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,484,484#msg-484 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,484,484#msg-484 gabby General Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:02:59 +1300 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,479,479#msg-479 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,479,479#msg-479 gabby General Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:52:53 +1300 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,476,476#msg-476 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,476,476#msg-476
Is the Canterbury branch of Autism New Zealand planning to do anything for Autism Awareness Day [April 2nd]? If there is anything I can do to get involved please let me know.

Thanks
John]]> maxwell78 General Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:13:12 +1300 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,467,467#msg-467 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,467,467#msg-467 gabby General Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:40:45 +1300 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?1,464,464#msg-464 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?1,464,464#msg-464
What many of us have heard over the last two years now seems official, that in the DSM-V (due to be released around 2012-2013) Asperger’s Syndrome will no longer exist as a diagnosis. The condition will be merged into “Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Yesterday, the DSM-V committee publicly confirmed this.


Asperger's Officially Placed Inside Autism Spectrum
by JON HAMILTON, National Public Radio

Listen to the story at: [www.npr.org]

Revising Book on Disorders of the Mind
By BENEDICT CAREY - New York Times

Far fewer children would get a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. “Binge eating disorder” and “hypersexuality” might become part of the everyday language. And the way many mental disorders are diagnosed and treated would be sharply revised.

These are a few of the changes proposed on Tuesday by doctors charged with revising psychiatry’s encyclopedia of mental disorders, the guidebook that largely determines where society draws the line between normal and not normal, between eccentricity and illness, between self-indulgence and self-destruction — and, by extension, when and how patients should be treated.

The eagerly awaited revisions — to be published, if adopted, in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, due in 2013 — would be the first in a decade.

For months they have been the subject of intense speculation and lobbying by advocacy groups, and some proposed changes have already been widely discussed — including folding the diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome into a broader category, autism spectrum disorder.

But others, including a proposed alternative for bipolar disorder in many children, were unveiled on Tuesday. Experts said the recommendations, posted online at DSM5.orgfor public comment, could bring rapid change in several areas.

“Anything you put in that book, any little change you make, has huge implications not only for psychiatry but for pharmaceutical marketing, research, for the legal system, for who’s considered to be normal or not, for who’s considered disabled,” said Dr. Michael First, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University who edited the fourth edition of the manual but is not involved in the fifth.

“And it has huge implications for stigma,” Dr. First continued, “because the more disorders you put in, the more people get labels, and the higher the risk that some get inappropriate treatment.”

One significant change would be adding a childhood disorder called temper dysregulation disorder with dysphoria, a recommendation that grew out of recent findings that many wildly aggressive, irritable children who have been given a diagnosis of bipolar disorder do not have it.

The misdiagnosis led many children to be given powerful antipsychotic drugs, which have serious side effects, including metabolic changes.

“The treatment of bipolar disorder is meds first, meds second and meds third,” said Dr. Jack McClellan, a psychiatrist at the University of Washington who is not working on the manual. “Whereas if these kids have a behavior disorder, then behavioral treatment should be considered the primary treatment.”

Some diagnoses of bipolar disorder have been in children as young as 2, and there have been widespread reports that doctors promoting the diagnosis received consulting and speaking fees from the makers of the drugs.

In a conference call on Tuesday, Dr. David Shaffer, a child psychiatrist at Columbia, said he and his colleagues on the panel working on the manual “wanted to come up with a diagnosis that captures the behavioral disturbance and mood upset, and hope the people contemplating a diagnosis of bipolar for these patients would think again.”

Experts gave the American Psychiatric Association, which publishes the manual, predictably mixed reviews. Some were relieved that the task force working on the manual — which includes neurologists and psychologists as well as psychiatrists — had revised the previous version rather than trying to rewrite it.

Others criticized the authors, saying many diagnoses in the manual would still lack a rigorous scientific basis.

The good news, said Edward Shorter, a historian of psychiatry who has been critical of the manual, is that most patients will be spared the confusion of a changed diagnosis. But “the bad news,” he added, “is that the scientific status of the main diseases in previous editions of the D.S.M. — the keystones of the vault of psychiatry — is fragile.”

To more completely characterize all patients, the authors propose using measures of severity, from mild to severe, and ratings of symptoms, like anxiety, that are found as often with personality disorders as with depression.

“In the current version of the manual, people either meet the threshold by having a certain number of symptoms, or they don’t,” said Dr. Darrel A. Regier, the psychiatric association’s research director and, with Dr. David J. Kupfer of the University of Pittsburgh, the co-chairman of the task force. “But often that doesn’t fit reality. Someone with schizophrenia might have symptoms of insomnia, of anxiety; these aren’t the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia, but they affect the patient’s life, and we’d like to have a standard way of measuring them.”

In a conference call on Tuesday, Dr. Regier, Dr. Kupfer and several other members of the task force outlined their favored revisions. The task force favored making semantic changes that some psychiatrists have long argued for, trading the term “mental retardation” for “intellectual disability,” for instance, and “substance abuse” for “addiction.”

One of the most controversial proposals was to identify “risk syndromes,” that is, a risk of developing a disorder like schizophrenia or dementia. Studies of teenagers identified as at high risk of developing psychosis, for instance, find that 70 percent or more in fact do not come down with the disorder.

“I completely understand the idea of trying to catch something early,” Dr. First said, “but there’s a huge potential that many unusual, semi-deviant, creative kids could fall under this umbrella and carry this label for the rest of their lives.”

Dr. William T. Carpenter, a psychiatrist at the University of Maryland and part of the group proposing the idea, said it needed more testing. “Concerns about stigma and excessive treatment must be there,” he said. “But keep in mind that these are individuals seeking help, who have distress, and the question is, What’s wrong with them?”

The panel proposed adding several disorders with a high likelihood of entering the pop vernacular. One, a new description of sex addiction, is “hypersexuality,” which, in part, is when “a great deal of time is consumed by sexual fantasies and urges; and in planning for and engaging in sexual behavior.”

Another is “binge eating disorder,” defined as at least one binge a week for three months — eating platefuls of food, fast, and to the point of discomfort — accompanied by severe guilt and plunges in mood.

“This is not the normative overeating that we all do, by any means,” said Dr. B. Timothy Walsh, a psychiatrist at Columbia and the New York State Psychiatric Institute who is working on the manual. “It involves much more loss of control, more distress, deeper feelings of guilt and unhappiness.”]]> gabby Announcements Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:24:52 +1300 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,445,445#msg-445 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,445,445#msg-445 gabby General Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:01:44 +1200 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,441,441#msg-441 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,441,441#msg-441 Thundaeaglechief General Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:29:27 +1300 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,434,434#msg-434 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,434,434#msg-434
I hope everyone had a good Xmas.

I've been pondering this question lately: Is it OK for people with Aspergers Syndrome [particularly males] to look at Pornography? I was very tempted to look at a girlie magazine [it was Ralph] while I was at the supermarket last week. Now that the temptation has got the better of me I think I'm beginning to turn into a full-blown porn addict. I'll lay the blame on Sean [who is a member of my Mondaynighters group] for leading me into this habit. This is not a name and shame campaign, believe me.

May God strike me dead if this porn addiction continues.

Are there any good reasons why Aspies like looking at porn? I appreciate your feedback.

John]]> maxwell78 General Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:10:43 +1300 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,411,411#msg-411 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,411,411#msg-411 aspykid234 General Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:17:36 +1300 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,408,408#msg-408 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,408,408#msg-408 administrator General Fri, 01 Jan 2010 22:12:43 +1300 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,404,404#msg-404 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?4,404,404#msg-404
Yesterday I was at the Marinoto Youth Service in Auckland, and I was having a meeting with my "helper" (Social Worker) and a psychologist who have been assessing me for a few months about my depression and other things in my life. My parents were with me and the doctor told me and my parents that I have Asperges. However, the doctor said that I had "High-Functioning Asperge's" which I dont quite understand. I have, Mild Asperge's?, but I am a bit confused on the whole thing since they were talking about me having a high IQ, and being able to do certain things that people with Asperge's wouldnt normally be able to do and genetic inheritance and so on... I have pieced it together and a simple way of putting it, is that I have the flu, but only the runny nose?!

I was wondering if there is any information that would help with the Mild Asperge Syndrome since there I can only find information for more extreme Asperge's. I am only 15 (male) and I am still coming to terms with it. I can see that I have it, and I think its pretty cool, since a main character on Shorty Street has helped me understand what it is and I love acting!

Thanks
Jeremy]]> JemShepherd General Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:06:17 +1300 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?6,400,400#msg-400 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?6,400,400#msg-400 Hi and hello ..I am from Hamilton and came across this site hoping to find some help re guarding support groups in my city, or a contact person. I am not sure if this is the right place but I am hoping someone would be able to help me or point me in the right direction. I have a 10 year old Autistic grand nephew and I need information.
for myself and our family thank you N cheer's ]]> Faithyy Welcome Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:47:44 +1300 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?1,396,396#msg-396 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?1,396,396#msg-396
*edited a spelling which had created a different word than intend]]> gabby Announcements Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:37:14 +1300 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?2,389,389#msg-389 http://www.autismnz.org.nz/tayag/read.php?2,389,389#msg-389 Adriana Test Forum Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:24:52 +1300