Hello-

My name is Kym Grosso, and I am a writer and a mother of a child with autism.  My son was diagnosed at 2 1/2 years old and is now 13 years old.  About the time my son was diagnosed, I got divorced and am now remarried.   

 I am currently writing an article about divorce and autism.  If you are a parent of a child with autism and are divorced, please consider taking this short survey online. It only takes a minute and is totally confidential (only 10  questions). If you complete the survey and leave me your email address, you will be entered in a drawing for a Wawa gift certificate.
 LINK TO SURVEY: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3CFMF7B

 My survey is trying to get information about parents perceptions of divorce and autism. Hopefully I can get enough responses to collect meaningful data and write an article that will help parents in our community.

Please feel free to send this email to any other autism moms and dads you know who may be willing to do the survey. Thanks in advance for your time & help!

~Kym Grosso, MBA, www.AutismInRealLife.com
LINK TO SURVEY: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3CFMF7B

I am currently collecting data from parents regarding the effectiveness of interventions for sleep problems among children with ASD for my thesis.  I need help from parents.  Please copy and paste the link below and participate in my research.  I appreciate your time and thoughtfulness in considering this.  Thank you for your help.  Below is additional information about and the link to my online survey:

Research indicates many individuals with autism spectrum disorders have sleep problems. However, few studies show what is effective in addressing these problems. Therefore, we are conducting a survey to investigate parents' perspectives of the effectiveness of various sleep interventions.

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders who have (or have had) sleep problems are invited to participate.

This research is being conducted by Sarah Lemmons, a school psychology graduate student at Brigham Young University, under the direction of Dr. Tina Dyches.

You may access the survey at:  https://byu.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_1QQpMS3d4ebCmxu&SVID= . This survey should take approximately 20 minutes to complete.  Upon completing the survey, you will have an opportunity to enter a drawing for a book in which the main character is a child with a disability.

Hi Everyone!

My name is Holly Logan and I am currently pursuing my master's degree in Health Communication at San Francisco State University. I am conducting research that is looking at what type of communication produces the most satisfaction when a physician delivers the diagnosis of a child's health status to the parents. I have created a survey that asks parents to answer questions regarding the delivering of the diagnosis to see what type of communication is the most satisfying.

You have been invited to participate because you are a parent or a guardian of a child who was diagnosed with a disability. You must be 18 years of age or older to participate. No names or identities will be used in any published reports of the research. Only the researcher will have access to the research data.

I understand how sensitive this research may be. Participation is completely voluntary. The participant can answer only those questions he/she chooses to answer and can stop participation in the research at any time.

The survey should take approximately 5-10 minutes to complete. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me at hclogan@sfsu.edu

If you can take the time to fill this survey out I greatly appreciate it! This research is so important to the study of communication because the findings can help healthcare providers understand the best types of communication to utilize and change the relationships that patients have with them in a positive manner!

Here is the link to the survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LH2TP76

Thank you!

Holly Logan
hclogan@sfsu.edu

I am trying to organize parents of children with autism whose mother's were taking effexor during the pregnancy.  I am interested to find out how many of us there are, if you have this similar experience please sign the petition at:

http://www.petitiononline.com/max2005/petition.html

My name is Ria Tirona and I am an undergraduate student working on a study at UC Irvine's Family Lab. The study focuses on a father's opinions and experiences in parenting a child with a developmental disability or disorder. Fathers over 18 years of age with a child or children with a developmental disability or disorder between the ages of 4 and 12 are welcome to participate. The study is in survey form and is available online or through the mail as a paper copy. Participating fathers will be thanked with a $15 gift card. The survey is anonymous and completely voluntary. Any fathers wishing to participate may visit the Family Lab's website: fathers.ucifamilylab.com. For questions, concerns or requests for a paper copy I can be reached at rtirona@uci.edu.

Hi I've posted before about starting an autism awareness group for the community here and guess what.  the school disrict wants me to represent parents with specail needs for the state assesment they have.  so here is the delima.  I have two children with autism and one i think i might be pulling out to home school while leaving my other child in.  I got mad when i went into the school that my children go to and was told that i couldn't find out what progress my children were making untill the director was there.  I didn't blow up on anyone, i was thourghly disgusted and simmering on the inside.  I've worked there i unerstand the confidentiality laws i asked for my childrens information only.  i could see the ring binder where they are supposed to keep reports on the daily progress going on.  With that aside I know i can not properly represent the children or parents if i don't know their feelings and how they feel their children are doing with in the public schools.  I feel like a detective, and know that this could go very bad or very good.  In this community change is frowned upon and i am already the black mark for standing ground for not just for my children but other children too.  I wonder if this is to palacate me or if this is the schools way to get the state to see that parents are dissatisfied and a change has to be made because parents realy do care (I care).  I would ask to all those out there your feelings on the schools and the systems, this could potentualy go all the way to the top beyound my state to a federal matter.  lets make a positive change for all those that don't have the voice.

A Marietta College student and Warren High School graduate is attempting to cover new ground in autism research, exploring an area of the disorder mostly ignored until now.

Heather Haught, 20, of Tunnel, a junior at the college, is entering the second phase of a research project aimed to form a better picture of what foods those with autism spectrum disorders prefer and how a diet can be made to cater to their needs and address eating problems associated with autism.

Often, children with autism are underweight, while many adults with autism are overweight or obese.

"I want to try to determine how we can get these people into a healthy weight range and have it be based in science," Haught said.

Haught had little background on autism when she learned a bit about it in a developmental psychology course at the college. She took that interest to assistant psychology professor Alicia Doerflinger, who had a background in the research of development of feeding behaviors, and the study was born.

The two found they would be virtual pioneers in their experiment, titled "The Effect of Food Preferences, Food Intake and Taster Status on Body Weight in Children with Autism."

"When we started to look at the literature, there was obviously not a lot of work done in that area," said Doerflinger. "Even though it's pretty well known that parents of children with autism have feeding issues on a daily basis, there didn't seem to be investigation into that in any depth. It was a little niche we could move into."

The lack of previous studies may be due to the difficulty of working with young children who are autistic or simply because with all the functionality issues related to the disorder, it may not have been a high priority, she said.  read more »

BYU is conducting a study to understand brain development in developmental disorders.  PARTICIPANTS AFFECTED BY AUTISM SPECTRUM CONDITIONS ARE NEEDED FOR OUR CURRENT STUDIES.  We need children and adults ages 8 and up with fluent language skills.  Participation in the study requires 1. Completion of questionnaires and 2. Brief Neuropsychological testing.  Some inidividuals may also be eligible to participate in Experiments about learning.  Participants will recive up to $15 dollars for their particiaption. 

 If interested please call (801) 422-2183 or email autism@byu.edu

For more information visit our site at autism.byu.edu

Hi, I am looking for parents who can help a research about early intervention of autism.The purpose of this survey is to collect short stories from the parents of autistic children in relation to Joint Attention Skills, (or lack there of) detected during the pre-linguistic time period. All observations that the parents can recall of their child before the age of 2 years old is of interest. The information gathered will be used for a book to be published on Autism in hopes it will be useful to other parents.

Completion of this survey authorizes the publication of its contents. The information will be edited to protect your privacy. Identities of participants will remain anonymous.

Your participation is greatly appreciated.
SURVEY QUESTION:

Please describe all observations of your autistic child’s responses to joint attention during the pre-linguistic
time period (before the age of two). Any names given will be changed to protect the privacy of the participants.

Remember:
* Completion of this survey authorizes the use of its contents for publication.
* Your identity will remain anonymous.
* You may use additional sheets of paper as needed, as well as the back of this form.
* Please return the Survey to the Main Office of your school.

THANK YOU!
Please call me if you have any questions, 856-912-4555 or email at muniseulker@yahoo.com

QUESTION:

Please describe any observations you remember of your autistic child`s responses to joint attention ( playing with another person or pet/ any kind of social behavior) before the age of 2...

No study has shown a link, but people don't seem to let go of this. It feels empowering -- and nobody needs empowerment like the parent of a child with autism -- to make medical pronouncements without a medical degree. http://www.blisstree.com/autismvox/show-me-the-science/