IEP goals about discipline or restraints?

By Rick Colosimo / August 3, 2009 /

Here’s another article describing seemingly vague rules about restraints and seclusion, an issue that seems to be growing in importance in recent months. Here is a single excerpt from the COPAA letter: A 9 year old boy with autism in Tennessee was restrained face-down in his school’s isolation room for four hours. The complaint alleges…

Scientist drawing line on vaccine research

By Rick Colosimo / July 1, 2009 /

Today, Dr. Eric London, from Autism Speaks/Autism Science Foundation and a co-founder of NAAR (which merged with Autism Speaks), announced that he is resigning from the Scientific Affairs Committee and dissociating himself from Autism Speaks. His statement generally refers to the continuation of vaccine-related research supported by Autism Speaks. This issue is one that is…

Science Corner — Brain structures may affect sociability

By Rick Colosimo / June 22, 2009 / Comments Off on Science Corner — Brain structures may affect sociability

This brief description of an MRI study from Cambridge relates that two areas of the brain may affect sociability by affecting the value of social rewards to a person. They found that the greater the concentration of tissue in the orbitofrontal cortex (the outer strip of the brain just above the eyes), and in the…

Why do poor treatments sometimes get results?

By Rick Colosimo / April 27, 2009 / Comments Off on Why do poor treatments sometimes get results?

This Slate article talks about the Hawthorne effect, which basically says that positive interactions with people creates positive outcomes, at least for a while. It’s sort of like a placebo effect for behavior. Using facilitated communication as an example, the author details one reason why researchers in the softer sciences (as opposed to hard sciences…