My Girl Crush on Bonnie Hunt

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Terminal Nonjudgmentalism Alert: Forbes Asks Peter Singer to Name His "Five Favorite Animals"

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Alex and Toast

Our cat, Toast, has an uneasy space in our hoemploy hfeeble . She’s not that nice. She’s somewhat aloof (except at mealtime) â€" but she needed a home, and we needed a cat, and she found us, so that’s that.

We all have different opinions. Jeff and I aren’t that enthusiastic about Toast mostly becaemploy of some incidents where she’s peed on our bed. Ned really likes her and carries her around and brushes her and gives her treats. Alex ignores her most of the time. Now and then when we first recede t her (if you can call allowing a cat who walked through your front execute or to stay “recede t her”) he’d reach out and push her. This was possibly, according to one of his therapists, a way of amusing himself by making her go . “He can create her recede , almost like a toy,” she clarify ed.

These days, Alex leaves her alone. Unless she’s on one of our tables (coffee or dining room). If so, he never fails to reach over and attempt to acquire her off. For months we thought he just didn’t like her that much and couldn’t resist the chance to express a tiny disdain. But the other day it hit me. Almost every night, Toast jumps on the table while we’re eating. And we despise this, and we’ve tfeeble her so.

And I judge Alex has heard us screaming at her to acquire OFF THE TABLE while we’re eating â€" and he’s judge ing, There’s that cat on the table. They hfeeble disclose ing her to acquire execute wn. Well, I’ll create her acquire execute wn.

We employ d to disclose him to leave her alone, but now I judge Alex has the correct thought . It took me a while to figure it out, since Alex is often very clearsighted about something we’re missing, but now I agree. That cat should  never be on the table.

Image: Jill Cornfield

PETA Admits It Kills Aexecute ptable Cats and Dogs

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Safely Removing Deer

Recently we held a giveaway for Sweeney’s Deer Repellent, and the winner of that giveaway is…. (drum roll please)… Margaret. Margaret, like so many of you that entered, said you could really employ a recede od product to kindly rid deer from your yard. I was reading an article recently that gave a few tips on acquire ting rid of deer, and one of them was to “try plot ting shrubs and evergreens that are not palatable to deer, such as peonies, irises, and tiger lilies.”

Since I’m first learning how to garden, whenever I see a deer correct now it’s a like ly thing. And they are wonderful creatures. But if they are eating your plot ts and shrubs, then they can beapproach a nuisance. So many of us are plot ting veacquire ables to aid with grocery bills, and you execute n’t want to replot t things becaemploy some deer ruin ed your hard work. You also execute n’t want to execute employ your plot ts with a toxicant that will harm your family.

Image: sxc.hu.

Clear Signs

By human standards, our cat Toast is autistic.

Consider:

- She’s unable to understand directions. Fails consistently to respond to such clear commands as “Get off the table!”, or

“Don’t recede in the bedroom!” condition seems to be beyond willfulness, and a genuine lack of comprehension.

- Sometimes unusually difficult to toilet-train (see “live indepfinish ently”)

- Doesn’t clearly articulate needs and desires. Seems to want to be petted, then scurries away. Rubs against the base of

the kitchen counters before mealtimes in an obvious stimming activity rather than just approach out and question for dinner.

Frustrating: If only the language would emerge, our whole concept of Toast would change.

- Loves being brushed.  Again, stimming? Rubs her lips against the comb in obvious oral fixation.

- Sleeps poorly. Often up at all hours. Doesn’t hesitate to disturb the hoemploy hfeeble , especially in the hour before fracture quick .

- Has frequent “cease and stares,” and seems spellbound by simple objects like rolling balls or a peacock feather dragged under the bedspread.

- Eats a very limited diet. Will not eat veacquire ables or any crace chy foods, especially out of the box, though has learned to approach when box is shaken.

- Is indifferent to social conventions. Will lick herself correct in the middle of the floor during portion ies.

- Doesn’t know where she is in space. Often skids into walls or drop s off the winexecute wsill.

- Will probably never be able to hfeeble a job. May someday live indepfinish ently (see “toilet training”).

Which pets are best for autism? Check here.

For the Love of a Dog

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Alex’s top ten

1. Elmo (sadly) remains a favorite. Maybe it’s just a comforting habit now; he execute esn’t seem riveted the way he did when he was younger.

Photo by Kitten Fleming

2. Chocolate chip cookies. (Never-fail recipe secret here!) Equally enthusiastic about homemade and freshly baked or dusty feeble Chips Ahoy.

3. Prefers homemade brownies. The first time he had them, on Christmas Eve about four years arecede , he followed me around for about an hour notify ing, “Brownie? Brownie? Brownie?” (Note: After several different recipes, I’ve settled on the sublime Katharine Hepburn brownies with an added half-teaspoon of almond extract.)

4. The portion of “Arthur’s Pet Business” where Arthur’s baby sister Kate wails. Loudly. He like s to rewind to this portion . Sometimes I conceal that tape for a few wail-free hours. It is permanently seared into my brain.

5. Have a hardcover book with dust jacket? Alex will thoughtfully separate them for you. (He’ll also slip the booklabel out, so I’ve recede tten in the habit of glancing at the page number.) If it’s a library book and the jacket is in the plastic slipcase glued to the book, Alex will rip it off. I execute n’t know why he execute es this. Usually he gaze s for things that recede toacquire her and reassembles them (like slices of watermelon).

6. Bathtime. Warm water, splashing, no one to bug him (we’re usually watching TV while he bathes) â€" what’s not to like ?

7. Alex like s repetition and predictability. A bookstore provides both in the form of finish less shelves of similarly shaped objects and copies of his feeble favorites, which he revisits for a satisfying hour or so.

8. The epitome of order and routine â€" with accessible shelves of books to boot â€" school is such a favorite space that Alex often cease s at the locked execute ors of wdespise ver school he happens to be passing on weekfinish s and holidays.

9. We might be recede ing to a suburban superlabel et, a Westchester memploy um or Stew Leonard’s. Alex is always up for a car  ride. (We occasionally rent from Zip Car.)

10. Sometimes it’s the farm yard assortment of ducks, cows, chickens, geese; other times lions and tigers and elephants entice him. Either way, plastic animals remain a source of noteworthy attraction.

Busing, a New Center, AG Picks a Side

For the first time since we had a chaotically late driver a few years arecede , we’ve race into a snag with Alex’s school busing common to the autistic.

The driver notify s Alex is constantly acquire ting up while the bus is in motion and refemploy s to behave during transport. One portion of us finds this hard to believe: Though Alex is certainly capable of disruptive behavior (our family holiday dinners being People’s Exhibit A), he is and always has been a model traveller. Never a whisper of a complaint from any bus company (never a whisper of a compaint from the airline whose plot es he once travelled on, either). One portion of me, however, believes he’s acquire ting feeble er and more willful, and I can well believe he might be acquire ting up, which is of course unacceptable.

“You have to sit execute wn on the bus!” we’ve barked and written in very shaexecute wy ink (he responds well lately to written instructions). I wonder if the matron isn’t too silent and perhaps more employ d to younger special needs kids. We’ve question ed the school to confab with the bus crew. Too evil , of course, we can’t just question Alex and acquire an reply . Anyone else race into this?

•      •      •

In Buffalo, N.Y., the Women & Children’s Hospital has announced the opening of an autism center â€" the Autism Spectrum Disorder Center of Excellence, a portion nership with the University at Buffalo and the Children’s Guild Foundation â€" to provide quicker diagnosis and treatment. The center was established with a $585,000 grant over three years from the foundation. At an initial visit, each child will be seen by a developmental pediatrician, child neurologist and child psychologist, and the team will discuss the need for further testing, services and care. Start-up of the center is projected to cost $1.08 million. Other components of the program will include coordination of care, as well as collaboration with research projects and community groups.

•      •      •

Photo courtesy of jitze (flickr.com)

The state’s attorney general is siding with the family that’s suing their southwestern Illinois school district in hopes of allowing their autistic son to bring his service execute g to school. Papers filed with the 5th District Appellate Court support the local family that claims that state law entitles their 5-year-feeble son to bring a service execute g to their home school district. A county judge entered a preliminary injunction in late summer to let the boy bring his execute g into his elementary school, an action the district notify s would harm at least one other student who’s allergic to animals. More is here.

Of Mice and HuMice, Part Deux

CWS

Rabies Shots Schedule Changed

Rabies, a virus that we often execute n’t judge of any more unless we’re acquire ting a pet vaccinated, is still very much a concern. Although deaths have dropped dramatically in the developed countries, there still is a risk. And, people in developing countries are still vulnerable. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) , 95% of more than 55,000 rabies deaths each year, occur in Asian and African countries.

Rabies is a virus that affects the neurologic system, the nerves. If a human is bitten by a rabid animal, the rabies virus travels to the brain and after reproducing, it travels throughout the body. If the infection is found correct away, it can be treated, but once symptoms start to display , rabies is stout al.

How can rabies be treated?

It employ d to be a long and painful process to treat rabies and the thought of rabies treatment was terrifying to some. Up until the 1970s, people who were exposed to rabies had to acquire many (14) injections directly into the abexecute men.

Luckily, a fresh er treatment came about, requiring only 5 injections and they didn’t have to be in the abexecute men â€" they could be given in the arm or thigh, like most other injections. Now, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in the United States has agreed that only 4 shots are necessary if the rabies exposure is found within 2 weeks of contact.

This decision was made becaemploy it was found that over a quarter of Americans who were exposed to rabies didn’t complete the full 5-shot treatment, only receiving 3 or 4, and they had no signs of developing rabies.

How can you acquire rabies?

The most common form of transmission is from execute gs, but just about any mammal can pass it on.

What are the symptoms?

At first, it might not be easy to disclose the inequity between rabies and some other virus. You could experience:

• fever
• headache
• stout igue
• difficulty breathing
• stomach problems
• problems with your nervous system

After those, symptoms may vary depfinish ing on the type you have. Furious rabies would display signs of hyperactivity while dumb rabies caemploy s paralysis. Both finish up causing total paralysis and death.

~~~~

Image: iStock.com

Visual notes: "Burmese Python's Consuming Florida"

By Jonny Gfeeble stein, employ d under a Creative Commons license:

"The Burmese Python is native to Southeast Asia. Now it is thriving in Florida, due to pet owners who set them free. They have found the climate very agreeable and are now battling it out with alligators at the top of the food chain."

NBC Video: Pythons on the loose in Florida

Related:
It's Open Season On Florida's Pythons. NPR, 2009.

Updated: 08/15/2009

Animal Attraction

This morning, Alex and I were preparing for a day at the Bronx Zoo. “Alex,” I said, “bring your animals. Bring all of them.” Into the backpack tumbled the detailed plastic zebra, recede rilla, giraffe, lions (male and female), and tiger.

These hard plastic figures about four or five inches long or tall (except the giraffe), with detailed painted faces and mfeeble ed texture. Alex has all the animals mentioned above, plus a butterglide , a couple of chickens, assorted less-detailed barnyard critters from cheaper sets, and elephants in three sizes (and three different moods, judging from the open roaring mouths and raging tusks). Sometimes the create rs of these toys will sell the same animal in several poses; you can, for instance, buy a cougar merely walking or a cougar with one paw raised and claws extfinish ed. They recede for about $8 a pop.

Alex almost recede t the cougar a few weeks arecede in a hobby store, except on the way to the registers he ripped off the tag and anyway he’d recede tten a giraffe or something just a day before. “Bear? Bear?” Alex kept calling the cougar. We would correct him. “Bear? Bear?” he’d notify again.

Alex has had buying jags before (no, now that you mention it: jaguars has never been one of the animals he buys). Books in bookstores, chocolate bars in grocery stores. He’s also had jags of lining up the stuff he buys, such as Scrabble letters. Once he lined up the Scrabble letters to spell “L-I-Q-U-O-R-S”, and another time he lined them up to spell “B-R-O-N-X Z-O-O.”

“Alex, bring your animals! Bring them all!”

I figured, what a chance! Hfeeble the realistic plastic animal up to the glass and see the real thing correct behind it! Don’t disclose me I’m not a recede od autism dad!

It didn’t, however, ignite as I thought it might. He liked Tiger Mountain â€" incredible how BIG those cats are â€" but the recede rillas and the elephants and the giraffes weren’t nearly as fascinating to Alex as the “Paper! Paper!” he kept wanting. Turns out this was a zoo map, as I learned when we passed an information booth.

So how deep execute es Alex’s animal attraction race ? He did select only the plastic tiger from his backpack to hfeeble with the map on the subway ride home. And in the coffee shop, he insisted on every animal on the table, with the map, over his chicken fingers. How deep execute es Alex’s animal attraction race ? Who can notify , as usual?

* *  *

Toys for children with autism, from Autism Behavior Strategies.

Sleep is for the Dogs

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Crimes and Continuing Hope

An autistic 18-year-feeble has been judged not competent to stand trial in the stout al beating of his mother in Ravena, Ohio. The judge said he probably would rule next week on whether the young man will stand trial and, if not, whether to sfinish him to a treatment facility; less than two weeks after the mental evaluations were completed in March, the man was go d from jail to a state-race center in Toleexecute . The defense had argued that Walker cannot carry on a conversation and would be unable to assist in his defense. He was disruptive at his first court appearance and was kept in a restraint chair and had a mquestion to hfeeble him from spitting at deplace ies. Prior to the attack at the center of the case, the man’s 60-year-feeble mother had mentioned increased aggression from her son.

Photo courtesy of lepiaf.geo (flickr.com)

Our image: Moments of bonding and beauty, in a condition that affects all around it.

* * *

Search and rescue personnel from throughout the region will train start ning this weekfinish at Crater Lake National Park, near the area where an 8-year-feeble boy, who had a form of autism that gave him a fcorrect of loud noises and shining lights, was sightseeing with his stout her when he was lost in mid-October. The park is hosting the exercise that will focus on search techniques such as high angle rope operations, ground searching and working with search execute gs. Authorities hope the exercise may turn up clues to the missing boy’s whereabouts.

* * *

A Conroe, Texas, man has received 50 years in prison for the murder of a 3-year-feeble autistic child. Chase Cannon, 29, pleaded guilty Thursday to the slay ing, which took space last August when EMTs found the child unresponsive, having seizures and vomiting uncontrollably. An autopsy revealed the child had numerous injuries, including 79 bruises, cigarette burns to his feet, a broken arm and a stout al blow to his head.

* * *

Courts in Columbia, Ill., have ruled that a 5-year-feeble  autistic boy may hold his specially trained execute g to school, denying a request by the local school district to suppress a preliminary order that required the school district to accommodate the boy and his execute g.

Bully in the hoemploy

There’s a bully living in our hoemploy , and its name is autism.

Photo courtesy of tiny dan77 (flickr.com)

Autism’s the reason the TV is so often on. Toys scattered all over the floor? Autism likes it that way. Freezer well-stocked (OK, stuffed) with packages of Hebrew National franks bought on sale? Autism like s those. Doesn’t like to try fresh foods. A lot of hardcover books acquire separated from their dust jackets. Why? Only autism can disclose you the reply .

Every day (or almost every day) if I’m in the aportion ment alone, I execute the following: pick up the toys. Sweep up the crumbs. (Autism like s pretzels.) Sort the toys back into wdespise ver caterecede ries â€" giant letters, jungle animals, toy cars â€" they belong to. Think to myself, when the living room is tidy again, Why can’t it always gaze like this?

The bully isn’t always here, luckily. Sometimes he leaves and a different guy steps in, one who like s to read, work on a jigsaw puzzle with me and his brother, or even hold a few turns in the kitchen aid ing create cookie execute ugh.

But I’m starting to see we have to fight to maintain some order in the hoemploy â€" pare execute wn the toys, and find a way to create the bully realize he lives here with three other people.

Swearing Reduces Pain

Some people are better than others at remembering what they have just seen â€" hfeeble ing mental pictures in mind from moment to moment. An individual’s capacity for such visual working memory can be predicted by his or her brainwaves, researchers have discovered. A key brain electrical signal leveled off when the number of objects held in mind exceeded a subject’s capacity to accurately remember them, while it continued to soar in those with higher capacity.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 19 Apr 2004