Tagged: Challenges of Autism

NHPR correspondent Sheryl Rich-Kern is completing a weeklong series on autism. We'll look at what we've learned about autism and what it means for schools, families and towns.

Guests

• SHERYL RICH-KERN -  NHPR REPORTER WHO PUT TOGETHER A WEEK LONG SERIES WHICH CONCLUDES TODAY - CALLED “CHALLENGES OF AUTISM”
• ELLEN CAVANAUGH – NURSE PRACTITIONER AT THE AUTISM PROGRAM AT THE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL AT DARTMOUTH-HITCHCOCK
• KIRSTEN MURPHY - DIRECTOR OF THE NEW HAMPSHIRE COUNCIL ON AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

We'll also hear from:

Mackenzie is a young adult with autism. She is finishing her senior year at Pelham High School and plans to attend college next year. She is also an artist and is considering pursuing a career as a teacher. She and her mother, Deborah, talk with NHPR's Sheryl Rich Kern, addressing the following questions:

Explain how you worked with a counselor at UNH? What steps do you take? What are your expectations?

Mackenzie - what do you see yourself doing after college?

Under federal law, students with disabilities are entitled to a free and appropriate education. That means they can receive the supports they need up until they turn 21.

After that, many of these young adults aren’t ready to live on their own, find jobs or go on to college.

NHPR correspondent Sheryl Rich Kern has the story as part of her series, Challenges of Autism.

Mackenzie Trippier is talking to her parents about going to Greece with the seniors at Pelham High.

Deborah Trippier: "So what do you think about going to Greece?"

Mackenzie Trippier: "Definitely, I really want to go."

Deborah. "Pretty far away."

Mackenzie: "Yeah."

Mackenzie is a young adult with autism. She is finishing her senior year at Pelham High School and plans to attend college next year. She is also an artist and is considering pursuing a career as a teacher. She and her mother, Deborah, talk with NHPR's Sheryl Rich Kern, addressing the following questions:

What prompted you to have Mackenzie evaluated? When did you receive a diagnosis? What was your reaction?

Mackenzie - Were you aware you were different?

Kirsten Murphy is the administrative director of the New Hampshire Council on Autism Spectrum Disorders. She was a key advocate behind the passage of Connor’s Law, a mandate that goes into effective January 1, 2011. The new law will require health insurance companies to cover therapies for children with autism. Murphy is also the mother of two teenage boys diagnosed with autism. She talks with NHPR's Sheryl Rich Kern to answer the following questions:

Who are the families that were depending on Connor’s Law the most and how will they benefit?

What are some of the challenges enforcing this law?

What are some of the difficulties young adults with autism face in the workforce?

This week, NHPR correspondent Sheryl Rich Kern has been looking into the challenges schools face when teaching children with autism.

The parents obviously face challenges too. Providing the therapy some children need costs a lot of money and time. But come January 1st, relief is on the way. 

In our week-long series Challenges of Autism, NHPR correspondent Sheryl Rich Kern looks into the new legislation.

The standard treatment for autism when kids are young is something called applied behavior analysis or ABA.

Doctors recommend at least 25 hours of it a week. But autism specialist Dr. Stephen Mott at Dartmouth-Hitchcock says most kids don’t get that.

These days it’s not rare to find a child with severe autism actively participating in a public school. A generation ago, parents would have sent those kids to a private school or maybe institutionalized them.

But studies show kids with autism improve in a regular public school. There they are able to socialize and learn how to communicate better because they’re copying the other children.

But not everyone agrees this approach is good for all students.

In our ongoing series Challenges of Autism, NHPR Correspondent Sheryl Rich-Kern has this report.

(sound of teachers singing in a nursery rhyme tune) “Olivia, Emma and Lily are ready…"

If it seems like you’re hearing a lot about autism these days, it’s likely because more kids are being diagnosed with it.

Nationally the rate of children diagnosed with what’s called autism spectrum disorder is 1 in 100. For boys, it’s 1 in 70. To put that number into perspective, it means that one student in 3 or 4 average sized school classes lives with some form of autism.

How schools should deal with it is up for debate.

NHPR Correspondent Sheryl Rich-Kern has this second part in her series Challenges of Autism.

Science Teacher: "You are going to get together and predict: is this item going to be a conductor or an insulator?"

Parents across the board would probably agree that becoming a parent is a lesson in managing chaos and tolerance. And research shows that parents raising a child with autism experience higher stress levels than parents of children with other disabilities.

But some parents of children with autism say their child’s diagnosis has enriched their lives in ways
they never would have imagined.

As part of our series Challenges of Autism, NHPR Correspondent Sheryl Rich-Kern sat down
one evening with the parents of an 11 year-old boy
with autism.

Here’s their story.

Dr. Jorgensen is a project director with the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire and is an assistant research professor in the UNH Education Department. She works with public school teachers, parents and administrators to help them include more students with disabilities in general education classes. She is the author of several books on inclusion education, including The Inclusion Facilitator’s Guide. She talks with NHPR's Sheryl Rich Kern and answers the following questions:

Describe the terms mainstream and inclusion. How are these educational approaches different?

How can we encourage/support more schools in New Hampshire to develop an inclusive curriculum?