The National Autism Association, through a generous grant from the American Legion Child Welfare Foundation, provided many families with the Big Red Safety Box until funds ran dry. The Big Red Safety Box was designed for caregivers as a means to educate, raise awareness and share simple tools that may assist in preventing, and responding [...]
Do You Agree? Addition of Wandering Code to ICD-9
June 30, 2011 By
Source: lbrb Below is an excerpt of a letter signed by a number of disability groups on the issue of the proposed ICD-9 code for wandering. These organizations oppose the addition of the code, for the reasons given below. First, a code for wandering behavior could limit the self-determination rights of adults with disabilities. The [...]
Disability Advocates At Odds Over ‘Wandering’ Proposal
June 29, 2011 By
Source: Disability Scoop Disability advocates are divided over a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention proposal to add wandering to the menu of descriptors doctors can use to diagnose individuals with autism, intellectual disability and other conditions. But whether or not a person’s tendency to wander away from home or school should be considered a [...]
What Do You Do To Prevent Dangerous Wandering?
June 28, 2011 By
Source: US News Many parents know that heart-stopping feeling of being at the park or the mall, and suddenly losing track of their child. For the parents of autistic children, those concerns can be even more intense. Though wandering is often associated with Alzheimer’s, autism experts say a tendency to wander is an under-recognized, and [...]
Keeping the Child with a Sensory Processing Disorder Safe
June 28, 2011 By
by Bonnie J. Hacker, MHS, OTR/L If you have a child with poor sensory registration and/or sensory seeking behavior, keeping him or her safe can be a challenge. Both poor body awareness, as well as overt sensory seeking, create potential for injuries. Poor registration of pain and temperature Many children with poor sensory registration are [...]
National Safety Month: 10 Ways to Curb “The Runner” in An SPD/ADHD Child
June 26, 2011 By
by Martianne Stanger My son, who has been unofficially diagnosed with SPD and officially diagnosed with ADHD, is a “runner”. At times, he finds it a challenge to control his impulses. This difficulty, coupled with his seeming inability to consistently understand what “danger” is, has put us in some precarious situations. Thus, we are always [...]
National Safety Month: Accidents Happen, Mindfulness Can Help, A Concrete Practice for Your Special Needs Child
June 25, 2011 By
by Mira Binzen Accidents happen. Did you know the chant, “OM, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti” at the end of a Yoga class is a request for protection from three kinds of accidents or causes of suffering? We say “Shanti”, the Sanskrit word for “peace”, to free us from: 1) Internal suffering – illness and our negative [...]
Summer Autism Safety: From Internet to Wandering
June 20, 2011 By
Online Social Skills: Are You a Good Digital Citizen?
June 16, 2011 By
by Tiffani Lawton, RN In today’s techno age, general safety extends to internet. Cybersafety is an important component to National Safety Month, especially with children on the spectrum who may struggle with offline social skills. I could not imagine my two older boys without an active facebook profile or their cell phones in hand texting [...]
