EC Contest

Well, we may have another winner as Verging On has yet to respond to me.  If Verging On does not respond to me by the morning of Tuesday, April 13th, FishHawk will become the winner of the EC credits which will be transferred Tuesday afternoon.

On another note, I meet with my nutrionist on Monday.  I'm so anxious and feeling a bit defensive. I know that I'm taking proactive steps, but I'm ambivalent about them.  However, I have given some of my clothing to this woman who is quite thin and is in need of clothing to fit her. I was astonished at how thin I must have been to wear those clothes. I'm allowing my eyes to open up and accepting the problem that my eating disorder has been and is now. I'm somewhat relieved by not having the smallest sizes in the house...less pressure to fit back into them, but some of them were sooooooo cute.  Update, tomorrow.

Polyvore Eating Disorder Collage ~ Part II

Eating Disorder2 by ClinicallyClueless on Polyvore.com

Eating Disorder Collage

Eating Disorder by ClinicallyClueless on Polyvore.com

Items in this set:
help
shame
Eating Disorder
hopelessness
hands tied

I'm Sick

I'm sick...not too bad, but enough to zap the energy I did have. See you soon!

And the Winner Is...

Envelope Please...

Verging On with her caption, "I'd shave those if I were you. Better wind resistance!" 

Followed closely by FishHawk of As the Crackerhead Crumbles blog.  FishHawk's caption is "Okay, now I'm worried. For my wife says that I make it really hard for anyone to say anything good about me most of the time, and I dare not doubt that she knows what she is talking about!"

It was really tough to select the best caption because all were good and many made me laugh out loud!!  As a result of how the blogs fell into place for having their very own feature on my blog, I am happy to feature the following:

Verging On

As the Crackerhead Crumbles

Rambling Stuff

Nut Case 1

Comedy Plus

As of today, I will stop accepting advertisements on Entrecard, but will continue to drop until the adds run out.  As of this morning, Verging On will receive at least 1338 credits. This will increase as I will continue to drop and allow others to drop untill my advertisements run out.  I currently have five advertisement in my que.

Thank you very much for your participation!!!

Happy Easter!!!

White Rakhi Flower & Easter?

The following post was featured on the blog Positive Letters...Inspriration Stories by Hilary Melton-Butcher.  She so kindly let me post this.  Take a look at her inspriational blog. 

In their religious zeal, the Spaniards saw in this flower a God-given symbol of Christ’s Passion, and hailed it as an assurance of the ultimate triumph of the Cross. Each flower part bears a fancied resemblance to the instruments of the Passion:

The leaf symbolizes the spear;
The five petals and five sepals, the ten apostles (Peter who denied, and Judas who betrayed, being omitted;
The five anthers, the five wounds
The tendrils, the scourges
The column of the ovary, the pillar of the cross
The stamens, the hammers
The three stigmas, the three nails
The filament within the flower, the crown of thorns
The calyx, the glory
The white tint of the flower, purity
The blue tint, heaven
It keeps open for three days, symbolizing the three years’ of ministry


The passion flower climbed the Cross and covered its arms with flowers. [Above: Pink-white rakhi flower at Kadalakurushi near Palakkad (Kerala, India)]

Autism?

Last night, California time at least 200 significant points of interest and national monuments all around the world were lit up to glow blue.  Why?  To signify World Autism Awareness Day!! This is a basic article to educate people as to what is Autism; therefore, I will not be writing about the controversial interest regarding causes, diet and treatment very much.  (For those, who want more Google will give you some great references.  So, what is Autism?

Autism is a neurologically based developmental disorder which impacts their social, communication and social skills in which symptoms begin to occur before age three. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are for those that meet different criteria than the typical Autism diagnosis.  One is Asperger syndrome which has the characteristics of Autism, but lack the delays in cognitive development and language, and PDD-NOS, diagnosed when full criteria for the other two disorders are not met.

Most people with ASD have a wide range of abilities which range from mild to severe. It can coexist with other conditions, most common is mental retardation. Many famous and extremely intelligent people in history had some sort of Asperger Syndrome and have made a significant impact on science and arts.  Other misconceptions is that they are like "Rainman" and other movies and television shows that have someone who is autistic in them. 

It is estimated that Austism and ASD occur in 1 in 110 births annually.  The increase by medical professionals is attributed to increased awareness and identification by parents and physicians. The expansion of the definition to include milder symptoms. It is more common in boys that in girls. It occurs throughout the world, in families of all racial, ethnic and social backgrounds.

It is believed to have a genetic componenet as in twin and non-identical studies have been complete with interesting results. Identical twins occurred in 65% of the participants and non-identical twins occurred in 0% of those who participated. Often, there is a family history of Autism. Researchers have discovered a link of autism occuring within the structure of chromosomes 15 and 7.  Further research is very important. Physicans can identify autism by there symptoms only.  A provisional diagnosis can be made as early as 18 months and a follow up at 5 years to confirm the diagnosis.

As stated, above one of the areas effected is in social interaction.  Individual with autism often lack eye contact, interest in other children, or other people in their lives.  This is especially difficult on their mothers and unfortunately were incorrectly for many years thought to occur because of cold and distant mothers. Often, those with autism use non-verbal communication and lack social and emotional reciprocity and empathy. These symptoms do not occur in all individuals.

Another area of impairment includes communication.  Their play is not as varied and they seem not to understand the idea of play.  There are delays in speaking, conversing, repitive language, and make-believe play or social initiative.

Lastly, are difficulties in restricted interests and sterotyped behavior. Often those with autism have abnormal preoccupations, insistance on routines or rituals, repetitive motor skills mannerisms.

In Asperger's Disorder the is impairment of social interaction, restricted interests, sterotyped behaviors, causes impairment in daily life, generally there is no language delay and not cognitive delays.

In Pervasive Developmental Disorder-NOS (PPD), there is sever impairment in social interaction and communications.  There interests are also restricted and they do not meet the criteria for Autism or Asperger's.

Early identification, good education and the support of family and friends, most children with autism can improve. They require intesive teaching, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy for some and programs of preschool.  The earlier intervention begins the more effective it can be which should include systematic and organized teaching, specialized curriculum intensive interation  (20-25 hours per week between the ages of 3-5 years) and family involvement.

For adolescents and adults, they often require transitional programs from the education system.  Some an live alone and maintain employment with some guidance and others will always require someone to live with them. 

One of my clients, although he seemed to have the skills to live alone, in actuality he required much assistance at home.  I was "travel training" him to utilize public transportation to and from work and home.  This was my first time on a bus and he knew directions instantly. I came back and my supervisor asked, "So, who did the training?"  I have to admit he did.  At his job, cleaning tables he would often become fixated on one section of a table and require prompting to do something different.  His workers were very understanding.

The public, law enforcement, education system and the media need to have a better understanding of autism and ASD. "Typically" they seem them as only flapping their hands and being non-responsive to others or at the other end like "Rainman"  As stated before abilities vary.  I also had a client who had to have his specific routine at day progam and home before he left and when he arrived.  Often, he would throw an screaming and crying "tantrum"

Most people look at the parents as "why don't you do something more" when in fact the child or adult is simply distressed by the change in routine.  Others actually say, "can't you manage your own child?"  Other reasons for a "tantrum" may be too much stimulation as sound and touch are very difficult for them to handle.  They seem to have a hypersensitive neurological system.

Persons with autism see and perceive the world as different than we do, so their behavior is different which accounts for "unacceptable" public behavior. Their perception is different, so they don't understand why we seem to not understand what they see.  In the picture on the left, most will see the right center dot as being larger.  Someone with autism are not "fooled" by such perception illusion picture and will immediately say that they are the same size.  They are able to "see" through the illusions quite quickly and accurately.

Besides the color blue, a rainbow of colored puzzle pieces are most often the symbol of autism awareness.  This is because it is looked at as puzzle pieces that need to be indentified and put together.

April Fool's Day...On Me

Well, I really didn't mean for the Entrecard Caption Contest to be an April Fool's joke, but the joke is on me.  This week has been really emotional and busy and I forgot to even select a winner and write a post. Therefore, the winner will (I promise) be announced on April 5th. I'm still accepting captions until Friday. (See yesterday's post).  Have a great day and be careful...you don't know who might pull a prank.