droolicious : Autism

Bedtime Reading for Grownups

Meredith Broussard — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:45:00 GMT

If you were intrigued by today's interview with Dr. Paul Offit of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, or if you are tempted by Babble's exclusive excerpt from Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for the Cure, you may want to click over to Amazon to pick up your own copy of the book.

Dr. Offit has also written other popular books about vaccines and safety, including an informational book called Vaccines: What You Should Know and two dramatic narrative nonfiction books about vaccines, Vaccinated: One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest Diseases and The Cutter Incident: How America's First Polio Vaccine Led to the Growing Vaccine Crisis.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that vaccine controversies aren't new, and that vaccine issues offer interesting insights into how scientific knowledge is created

Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for the Cure, $16.47 at Amazon.

Glide-a-Stride Keeps Kids Moving During the Cold Months

Aaron Burgess — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:00:00 GMT

It's been around for a while, but International Playthings' Glide-a-Stride continues to be a great gift for those of us who want to keep our little indoor-dwellers active throughout the year. Built to accommodate up to 150 pounds, the glider gives kids as young as 3 an easy, low-resistance workout that they can easily do in front of the TV -- though that may be defeating the purpose.

On a more serious note, the Glide-a-Stride has also received high marks for encouraging comfortable stimulation, gross motor development and gravitational sense of awareness in autistic children, and in fact can be picked up for just under $90 from Toys for Autism.

Otherwise: $99.95 and up from Amazon Marketplace.

SafetyTat Temporary Tattoos Are More Than Just For Show

Chris Ford — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 07:57:00 GMT

A lot of kid-related email rolls into my inbox each day, and a lot of it isn't worth reading. But sometimes you see something that you have to check out not because you've heard of it before, but because you're not sure if you're reading it correctly. A promotional pitch from SafetyTat temporary tattoos for kids was one of those emails. As it turned out, it was an email about a product that's a pretty cool idea.

SafetyTat temporary tattoos are basically labels you can put on young children that contain contact information, medical information or anything else you might want an adult to know if you and your child were separated for some reason. For instance, you and the family are going to a theme park and you're worried your over-excited son might get lost. With your cell phone number on the tattoo, your child (in theory) would be reunited with you much more quickly.

There are two different kinds of products, one with pre-determined contact info you provide when you purchase the tattoos (these work more like traditional temporary tattoos). And another that's kind of an adhesive "stick-on" tattoo that you can write any information on and are designed to be more portable. They even have products for children with allergies, medical alerts or for children with special needs (autism, autism non-verbal etc.).

It's a pretty cool idea I think, and for the right family it's probably a pretty great idea. Check them out at SafetyTat.com.

Portraits of Autism

Erin Behan — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:42:00 GMT

We don't review a lot of books at Babble, but I jumped at the chance to check out Autism Heroes: Portraits of Families Meeting the Challenge ($22.72), by Dr. Barbara Firestone, out of a curiosity to learn more. The book is set up as a series of interviews with 38 families affected by autism, accompanied by close-up portraits of the kids and their parents and siblings. People of all ages and with all degrees of autism are represented, and most of all, the book feels like a book of hope: This is autism, these are our lives and we are making them work. For anyone curious about how a diagnosis of autism can change a family's life or who wants to see how others deal with autism, this is a great coffee-table quality resource. You can also check out the book's website.

An added feel-good bonus: Dr. Firestone founded the Help Group, a nonprofit that serves children with special needs, and all royalities are donated to the Help Group to support children with autism spectrum disorders and their families.

Artistic Spectrum Literary Nite in NYC at JCC

Sarah Verdone — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:13:00 GMT

For those of you in NYC, tonight the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan (JCC) hosts a Lit Cafe featuring prominent writers and bloggers on autism. It's part of the JCC's exhibit, The Artistic Spectrum, on view until April 24. On April 16, they'll hold a screening of Autism: The Musical -- the director will be on hand for a Q&A. And on May 21, Including Samuel, a documentary on children with disabilities, will have two showings.