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Entries from AutismAndAspergers

MathInTheBloodPart2 08 Jul 2005 - 00:44 CarolynJohnston

Carolyn's side of the story

See also: MathInTheBlood (Part 1)

I should explain that for my son, school has never been an ordinary undertaking. As a young child, he was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (Pervasive Development Disorder, which is a diagnosis that means 'looks like some kind of autism to me'). His preschool years were a nightmare of trying to treat his developmental problems with Applied Behavioral Analysis therapy, while simultaneously searching for a medical treatment that would help him. The tough thing about having a kid with this disorder is that you have to work on him hardest in the earliest years, when you're most clueless about his prognosis: it's utterly crazy-making, and I was pretty crazy.

In his elementary school years, my son has made great progress; but he still has an attention deficit, severe organizational difficulties, and problems with deep reading comprehension and social cognition. So the fact that he was flying independently with Saxon math, and hit a mountainside when we encountered Everyday Math in fourth grade, was a Big Deal.

Besides, he's a smart kid with an autism spectrum disorder. Math is his greatest strength, and a career in math, science, computers or engineering is his most likely future. In those fields, his colleagues will know how to deal with him (given the sheer numbers in which kids are getting autism-like disorders these days, they'll probably be just like him).

At the end of fourth grade, during a conference with his teachers, I floated the possibility of his doing fifth grade math on his own, with me as his tutor, using Saxon math. It's legal in this state to homeschool in one subject like that, but we all had big reservations about it. We've worked so hard to enable Ben to function in a regular classroom with the other kids that the thought of separating him from the other kids at that point, just because we didn't like the math curriculum, seemed unbearable. So I sighed, gave up, and we entered fifth grade with Ben still signed up for Everyday Math.

Somewhere early in fifth grade, Catherine and I struck up an Internet Friendship (we have never actually met in the flesh!). Among her other interests, Catherine is a noted non-fiction author who specializes in autism research and treatment... we encountered each other in the way that people do online, and I figured out who she was.

Catherine is a true Math Revolutionary. While I, with all my math degrees and our successful experiences with Saxon Math, was still dithering about whether or not to pull my son out of school and teach him myself, Catherine was actually doing her ten-year-old son's fuzzy math homework for him every night, so she could get that over with quickly, and move on to teaching him mathematics from what she regarded as a better curriculum.

Completely independently, she had chosen Saxon Math for him.

Catherine and I, in spite of our different paths in life, have a heck of a lot in common.

more to come...

CognitiveHoles 19 Jul 2005 - 16:27 CarolynJohnston

Bernie and I were talking tonight, and he told me a story that worried me a bit.

Ben came to visit us at work the other day, and wanted to get a snack from the vending machine. So he went into his dad's office and asked for some money. Bernie gave him a few coins, and Ben went into the snack room, picked out what he wanted, and put his money into the machine; but he didn't have enough. So he came in and asked for more; but he couldn't tell Bernie how much more he needed. He didn't seem to have much sense of how much more he needed, either.

Well, it wouldn't be the first time we came across this sort of gap in his understanding. We have a sort of a family byword for these things, very much like Catherine and Ed's no-common-sense-y; we call Ben's gaps his Cognitive Holes. They are located in unexpected places -- they're generally about something, like handling coins, that you think is very easy by comparison with other things he can do, like long division. And they tend to be very big gaping holes in his knowledge, and at first they were very frightening. But we come across them less often now than we used to, and we've found that once we know they are there, we can remediate them pretty quickly.

So I thought this was another run-of-the-mill Cognitive Hole.

Well, you tackle these by filling them in. Ben and I were ready for a change from what we've been doing lately, anyway (introductory equations, solved by adding and subtracting). We've been doing them all week, and struggling, and we finally got a 'click' a couple of nights ago (those babies are practically audible, aren't they?), and last night when he took his section test he got a 100. So tonight, when it was math time, instead of doing algebra, I got out some coins.

I had 3 quarters, and a dime. "OK, you're at our work, and you want a snack, and these are the coins I have", I told him. "The snack you want costs 60 cents. Which coins do you take?"

He went for two of the three quarters, and the dime. Good. "How much do I get back from the machine?" I asked. Nothing: good.

"OK, your snack costs 40 cents". He goes for the two quarters: he tells me the machine returns a dime.

"The snack costs 80 cents." He takes all the coins, and tells me the machine returns 5 cents.

In short, he passed my common sense test with flying colors, and Math Time was fun and a breeze for once. So what the heck was happening the other day? In short, what part of this Cognitive Hole we think we've uncovered am I not mapping correctly?

Tomorrow, we try it a little differently; we'll simulate the precise problem we had the other day with the snack machine at work. I'll give him too little money, tell him the snack costs a certain amount, and get him to tell me how much more he needs.

There may in fact be no Cognitive Hole, this time, just some situational rigidity. This is the deal with smart people on the autism spectrum; sometimes they know what they need to know, they just stiffen up when it comes time to apply it in the real world.

ReportOfTheCurriculumCommittee 20 Jul 2005 - 00:13 CatherineJohnson

Just found the Curriculum Committee Report to the Board of Education, June 9, 2005.

Trailblazers: most teachers have positive reaction, as do parents and students. Some say it’s too early to judge its success. Student survey positive. Anecdotal parent reports positive.
Character Education: students positive about 4/5 program (“No put downs”).

question: Is there a formal mechanism for submitting a minority report?

Because I've got one.

In case you're wondering.....'No put downs' is an anti-bullying program, which, for 6 long months, eats up 20 minutes of instructional time each and every morning, when kids are at their freshest.

Among the kids, it is an object of sport. They make ruthless and relentless fun of No Put Downs, the 'Choose a Response' injunction being the favored target of parody, and see the whole thing as One Big Joke.

Ed says that in his view it's never good to put a program in place that undermines adult authority in this way. I agree.

Ah.

I see the Curriculum Committee further reports that:

Parents would like to see it continued at Middle School.

Parents.

Hmm.

That's strange. Because I don't remember anyone taking a vote.

Actually, if we're talking 'parents' as in mothers, they're probably right. I'm the only mother I've met who can't stand the thing. We moms are in charge of the Civilizing Mission, & we'll take all the help we can get.

I'm off the boat only because I started reading about 'loss of instructional time,' and because we successfully dealt with a bullying situation ourselves a few years ago, when Christopher was in 2nd grade.

Needless to say, when Christopher was being bullied I dived into The Research. The No Put Downs program is in one crucial way actually at odds with an effective anti-bullying strategy; if we had taught Christopher to handle things the way No Put Downs tells kids to deal with bullies, he would have been bullied more, not less.

At the very end of this school year, in fact, one of Christopher's friends was being bullied. I told his mom what I'd learned from a fantastic book called Good Friends Are Hard to Find: Help Your Child Find, Make, and Keep Friends by Fred Frankel, and she told her son. Two weeks later his bullying problem was over the same way Christopher's was over.

Compare and contrast: 6 months of No Put Downs versus one parent-son talk about Fred Frankel.

I'd be happy to see the school bring in an anti-bullying program if it worked--and if we were collecting data to see if it worked. But it doesn't (IMO) and we're not.

Getting back to moms & dads, probably most mothers do like the No Put Downs program, and do want to see it repeated in the Middle School, too. 'No Put Downs' tells kids, every day, most of the same things we tell them at home. Taken at face value, it sounds like a good thing.

But if we're talking about dads.....

Let me put it this way.

We ran into our friend R. on the train a couple of days ago, and he was pretty hilarious on the subject of No Put Downs.

Afterwards Ed said there are probably about 2 dads in the entire town who think No Put Downs has any effect whatsoever on normal boy behavior.

keywords: character education bullying no putdowns lost instructional time

HowToStopABully 29 Jul 2005 - 16:55 CatherineJohnson

Carolyn and I were just chatting about Fred Frankel’s book Good Friends Are Hard to Find: Help Your Child Find, Make, and Keep Friends on one of the Comments threads.

I mentioned that we solved a fairly serious bullying problem Christopher had in 2nd grade in just two weeks, using Frankel’s book.

It struck me that the subject of bullying is so universal I should pull this comment up front in spite of the fact that it has nothing to do with maths.

Carolyn asked, specifically, whether Frankel’s book can be used with very high-functioning autism & Asperger kids.

Xtreme behaviorism in action

Fred Frankel says his book is not intended for kids with autism or Asperger syndrome.

But if my autistic kids were high-functioning, I'd sure give it a shot.

In his book, Frankel precisely breaks down exactly what kids do to make friends.

Exactly, down to the finest detail. It's Xtreme behaviorism.

For instance, he says that when kids approach other kids to play, they are rejected 30% of the time!

I don't know about you, but I find that observation incredibly useful.

Most adults think it's Bad When Kids Reject Each Other--and, from an adult perspective, it is. I certainly wouldn't reject 30% of the people who tried to talk to me at a party, and I would leave any party where 30% of the other guests refused to talk to me.

But Frankel says 30% is what kids do; it’s normal.

(caveat: I haven't fact-checked this figure, but I will.)

Then Frankel tells you what a kid should do when he is rejected, which is: he should accept his rejection and move on!

And that’s it!

There’s no You Can’t Say You Can’t Play!

I had just assumed you’re supposed to teach your child surefire social strategies to change the nasty rejecting child’s mind, but no.

That kid doesn’t want to play with you, and he’s not gonna want to play with you any time soon! So you're outta there!

I don't see how this observation wouldn't be helpful to the parent of a high-functioning child. If regular kids are getting rejected 30% of the time, and your kid is getting rejected 35% of the time....maybe he's not doing so bad.

[Hey! This does have to do with maths!]

Frankel also tells you almost word for word what your child should say and do in order to join a group of kids playing a game. (Hint: always join the losing side.) He scripts it out, and you can rehearse your child before he makes an attempt.

Frankel (and others whose work I’ve read) makes the point that we adults can't see children's social skills; we see their behavior through our adult filter. We don't perceive what it is socially skilled kids are doing, because children's social skills are different from grown-ups'. (I may be grafting something I read in another book onto Frankel....but if he didn't actually say this, he could have.)

Xtreme behaviorism & conceptual understanding

After I read his chapter on bullying, I had all the conceptual understanding I needed to solve the problem.

I knew that children who are bullied share two characteristics:

1. they cry easily, giving the bully bang for the buck
2. they are compliant to other children

Both of these things were true of Christopher.

We didn’t end up using Frankel’s script for anti-bullying, because our neighbor had a better idea. He taught Christopher ‘how to fight,’ which in Christopher’s case meant how to defend himself in a very loud voice accompanied by an equally loud glare & the all-important step forward.

There was also a whole dramatic Second Act Christopher was supposed to launch into if the bully dared to mouth off after he’d been Warned. It was basically Robert DeNiro for the 2nd grade. Christopher spent the afternoon running through the whole thing with the neighbor and his son, and then we rehearsed him at home.

So I didn’t use Frankel’s script, but I based everything I did do and had Christopher do on Frankel’s concepts.

They worked.

How to stop someone else's bully (aka transfer of learning)

When Christopher's friend was being bullied, I was stumped.

I knew he didn't cry easily, and I'd never seen him be compliant to other kids.

Then it hit me.

When other kids bullied him he ran.

Talk about bang for your buck. Number one, motion triggers everyone's 'prey chase drive;' and number two, chasing a running target is fun whether you're planning to kill and eat your prey when you catch him or not.

I told his mother: Tell him not to run.

I also told her that not only should he not run, he should make direct eye contact with the lead bully, and take a step forward.

His message: There are 5 of you and 1 of me, so you can stuff me in a garbage can if you want to.

But I'm not the only one coming out of this with bruises.

I don't know how much of that she told her son, but I know she gave him the basic thrust.

The bullying stopped so fast I almost had to jog her memory when I asked her how things were going two weeks later.

I haven’t read too many books in my life that let me solve a major problem in two weeks’ time, and then follow that up by solving someone else’s problem in 2 weeks’ time, too.

I’m a fan.

update

from Amazon.com:

As the mom of an Asperger child who desperately wants to have friends, I found this book more helpful than any other. It describes -- step by step -- the powerful social dynamics needed to "infiltrate" the mysterious world of friendship. I would recommend this book to the parents of ANY child who had social issues, be they autism, LDA, or just a bit shy or a bit aggressive. A must have for every resource library as well.

update 2

Frankel is now part of UCLA's Center for Autism Research and Treatment, which was established after we left. (fyi, Ed used to be a history professor at UCLA, and I taught in the film department as an adjunct years and years ago. That's how we met.)

Dr. Frankel is the Principal Investigator on the current CART project, “Parent-Assisted Friendship Training in Autism,” which focuses on the friendships of high-functioning children with autism who are included in typical elementary school classrooms from grades. This study is based upon the Dr. Frankel’s published treatment manual Children’s Friendship Training (2002).

update 3

Interesting comments thread on bullying at joannejacobs.com

Xtreme behaviorism, teaching & scripts
comments thread on bullying at joannejacobs.com

NerdReport 24 Dec 2005 - 01:15 CatherineJohnson

Through my usual circuitous route (ktm to brightMystery to nerdtests.com) I stumbled onto a web site with a test for nerds.

My score: 50%

This is a Francis Galton moment (more on which later, or see BlookiHelpWanted & scroll down.)

I am always, in every single quiz, poll, or test I take, dead center.

And I mean…..DEAD……CENTER.

It simply never fails.

A couple of years ago I took a famous Are You A Republican Or a Democrat? test and found out I was Colin Powell.

Yes, I know Colin Powell works for the Republicans, but in this particular test he was DEAD CENTER.

I always tell Ed, and this is something he really enjoys hearing 5, 6, 10, or 20 times a month, Forget it, don’t even bother arguing with me about who's going to win the election, or whether BATTLESTAR GALACTICA just turned into WEST WING, for I Am Everywoman.

I am, too.

If I think or like or am keenly interested in X, that means everyone else is thinking or liking or keenly interested in X, too, or at least enough folks are thinking, liking or keenly interested in X that X is going to be everywhere you look until I stop thinking, liking, and/or being keenly interested in X and move on.

Still, even though I have an unbroken string of Dead Center scores on all manner of pop psych quizzes and tests, I did not expect to score Dead Center on a test for nerds.

But I did.

I am a nerd bellwether.

NerdReportPart2 20 Jul 2005 - 13:52 CatherineJohnson

Are you a nerd?

TheNerdCorner 20 Jul 2005 - 13:29 CatherineJohnson

is here

XtremeBehaviorismTeachingAndScripts 29 Jul 2005 - 18:34 CatherineJohnson

I just found a wonderful comment after the post on bullying:

smart constructivism

I haven't looked at the book, but I find the concept interesting. I believe that it takes a special skill to remember your own child accurately, through the lens of childhood, and if you can remember it, then you can teach children anything.
You can teach them math or history or art or how to be polite or how to handle a bully.
Teaching is a puzzle. It's a puzzle where you must navigate backwards in a maze. A child is at point K, but they are supposed to be at point Z. If you just show them again how to go from A to Z, you are missing the point of how they got to K.
And usually, kids made a rational mistake: they misunderstood something, or misheard something, and this thing is embedded in their minds. It leads them (Rationally) to this bad position K.
Teaching is about figuring out how someone got into that position, so you can FIX that misunderstanding. It's not enough to tell them that K is the wrong place; you have to help them never follow that wrong path in the first place.
The best way to help kids learn is to remember the typical misconceptions YOU had as a child, and ones similar to it, to try and understand why they would think what they think. Then, you can see how they are really very smart--just misguided.

a child must feel like himself

re: the aspergers/high functioning autism stuff: this kind of description is very similar to what behavioral psychologists teach to help children with anxiety and attachment disorders. I personally believe that there is a high correlation between attachment disorders and what's called asperger's, but I caution people to refrain from just teaching these techniques to children.
The problem with just teaching this techniques is that you need your children to feel like themselves. That may sound silly, but it isn't helpful to teach your child how to act. You may want them to learn how to behave, but they need an emotional makeup capable of backing up the behavior.
For a short term case like a bully, maybe it doesn't matter so much, but in terms of making friends, you need your child to have an emotional makeup that feels these behaviors are natural. If not, the other children will recognize that the behavior is still off, and worse, the child can often feel that they are not capable of making friends by being themselves but have to act like someone else. That's a painful experience for a child, and can do a lot of damage in the long run. Be careful at behavioral solutions that make a child feel that their personality isn't acceptable.

joannejacobs comment thread on bullying

Interesting comments on bullying at joannejacobs.com

how to stop a bully
Comments thread on bullying at joannejacobs.com

HowAsiansAndWesternersThinkDifferentlyPartThree 15 Aug 2005 - 20:10 CatherineJohnson

I had just started writing about Bob and Lynn Koegel when I found Harold Stevenson's obituary, and interrupted myself to write a post on his life and death.

Getting back to the Kogels, when Lynn had her daughters she decided to see whether she could raise American daughters with Asian-style math skills. She put together a little neighborhood group of girls, and they did all kinds of embedded math activities involving cooking and anything else the girls liked to do.....and it worked. (Bob and Lynn created a form of behavioral treatment that's like John Dewey for autism, which in their case is a Good Thing. They're brilliant.)

I'll have to ask her for the details, which I've forgotten, but IIRC, every girl in the group grew up to be very advanced in math skills & performance--way past typical American girls, and way past brainy American girls, too. (I'll track this down!)

In any case, I do have a memory of reading that there is a sex difference on math in Asian countries, too, but only at the very highest levels of performance. Apart from that the sex distribution is exactly as Lynn described it; everyone assumes that math achievement is hugely a function of hard work, and everyone equally assumes that girls can perform hard work, too.

More Googling ahead, I can see that.

how Asians and Westerners think differently
how Asians and Westerners think differently, part 2
How Asians & westerners think differently, part 3
Harold Stevens, RIP
describe this picture
creativity gap, part 2

FirstPersonWithAutism 22 Aug 2005 - 16:17 CatherineJohnson

Education News links to a UPI story about the very first person diagnosed with autism in this country. He's 71, and he apparently recovered from his autism--or, rather, became very high-functioning--after developing juvenile arthritis, (another immune system connection), and being treated with gold salts.

This is definitely going to start a gold salts stampede.

The Age of Autism: Case 1

from FRAXA

Anyone interested in autism--especially anyone interested in treatments and cures--should take a look at A Brief History of Our Understanding of Fragile X (pdf file) by Michael R. Tranfaglia, MD.

This is the first time I've felt so hopeful in awhile.

For anyone interested in neuroscience, the article is worth reading just for its clear & novel explanation of neurotransmitters. Here's a sample:

The brain is often compared to a computer, but even the individual neuron has some properties of a computer!

And this:

The problem is that we often see all of these [symptoms] at the same time in Fragile X [and in autism], so the defect is clearly global, and it certainly seems to involve more than one neurotransmitter system.
Or does it? The widespread disturbances throughout differing areas of the brain could easily be accounted for by a defect in just one neurotransmitter system: glutamate. Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, accounting for the vast majority of brain activity (GABA, the major inhibitory neurotransmitter, keeps this process in check so that runaway electrical activity does not lead to seizures.) All the other neurotransmitter systems previously mentioned modulate and control aspects of glutamate function, but glutamate does most of the real work in the brain.

For parents, here's the line we're waiting for:

It is possible that we have found the final common pathway (mGluR-LTD) which links all autism spectrum disorders.

A final common pathway.

That would be good.

I've got an email into our psychiatrist, Eric Hollander, to see what he thinks about this. I did find an article he published a couple of years ago, which contains this observation:

Abnormalities have also been found in the ?-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmitter system in individuals with autism (Buxbaum et al., 2002). The Seaver Autism Research Center is investigating the use of divalproex sodium (Depakote), a GABAergic agent, for the treatment of autism spectrum disorders (Hollander et al., 2001). It is hypothesized that this medication will improve symptoms of autistic disorders, including affective instability and impulsive aggression. Individuals with abnormalities on electroencephalograms and with seizures disorders are particularly expected to benefit.

Jimmy is now taking Depakote, and in fact is smarter & more tuned in as a result. Dr. Hollander started him on it to control the seizures he began to have about a year ago.

Jimmy's response was a shock, because Depakote leaves most people only a tad more alert than insulin coma. John (Ratey) told me once Depakote 'gives people retardation,' and that's sure been my experience, judging by the other people I know who've taken the stuff.

So I was dreading putting Jimmy on it....and then voila. A little bit smarter, a little bit clearer, a little more talking. Nothing big, but amazing nonetheless.

One last passage. Unfortunately, this description of the behavior connected with the Fragile X defect isn't as clear. Still, it's fascinating:

The regulatory pathway which controls this process involves approximately 25-30 other genes, so there are many other ways that excessive LTD could occur, other than lack of FMRP. What would these other neuropsychiatric disorders look like clinically? One would expect that they would all share a common feature: over-reaction to novelty, which would be expected to cause obsessiveness, rigidity, and an inflexible focus on minor details. Think of this as an exquisite sense of pattern recognition run amok. Clinically, most people like this are called autistic, and this raises the very real possibility that mGluR5 antagonists may be effective treatments not only for Fragile X, but also for other autism spectrum disorders. Further support is leant to this theory by the observation that people with autism have the same overall prevalence of seizure disorders (approx. 25%) as people with Fragile X.

Pattern recognition run amok: this could explain why very high-functioning people with Asperger's syndrome can sometimes be paranoid, while people like Temple (also high-functioning, obviously) and my kids are the exact opposite of paranoid, trusting, loyal, and 'innocent.'

Xtreme pattern recognition mixed with anger and directed at other people actually sounds like a plausible definition of paranoia to me.

pattern recognition redux

Keith Devlin says that for the past 20 years mathematics has been defined as the science of patterns.

VacationReport 08 Oct 2006 - 22:19 CatherineJohnson

We have emerged from the first day of school unscathed.

Christopher does have the math teacher who scandalized the entire Phase 4 Parent Body last year, so I'm expecting to see a massive packet of Math Olympiad problems later on today. Ed says every time they send home Math Olympiads I should send back my own Math Olympiads. Don't think I won't do it.

otoh, Christopher was utterly charmed by Ms. Kahl (I think that's her name). He reported every single one of her rules to me in detail, a serious look on his face. 'I like Ms. Kahl,' he said. 'She's nice.'

This reminds me of the goofy feminism of my youth. For a while there, everyone was talking about RAISING BOYS WHO LIKE STRONG WOMEN. Even though I was still childless & quite possibly husbandless at the time, I thought the whole thing was ridiculous. The implicit antagonism to boys got on my nerves.

Then I turned out to be the kind of mother who raises boys who like strong women.

When Christopher was 4 he came home from nursery school one day and said, 'Mommy, I like a girl. Jean.'

I wasn't sure who Jean was, so I asked another mom. 'That Jean,' she said. 'She's a bossy one.'

teach your son math and set him up for a happy marriage, too!

It's probably just as well. A few years ago John Gottman came out with one of his Key Factors determining whether a marriage succeeds or fails, and it turns out the Key Factor is how much the husband is willing to be 'influenced' by his wife.

85% of the variance in whether a marriage succeeds or fails is based on the husband's actions and attitude. John Gottman, PhD, discovered that successful marriages involve husbands who resist immediate negative reactions to their wives' concerns. These men increase the odds of having a happy marriage by allowing themselves to accept the influence of their spouse....
Clarke, a 30-year veteran of marriage, demonstrates these principles in a contribution to SecretsofMarriedMen.com. "When my wife asks me to do something, almost anything, my initial reaction used to be annoyance because I have lots of work to do, lots of things to do around the house, and lots of other bullsh-t reasons why not. However, most of what she asks me to do is actually quite reasonable, usually my responsibility, and I probably will end up doing it anyway. So, now I've trained myself to say 'yes' or 'no problem' as my initial response. This has contributed to less arguing and a better relationship."

By the time Ms. Kahl and I get done with him, Christopher will not only be Good At Math, he'll be excellent Future Husband Material to boot.

Here is Gottman's The Mathematics of Marriage: Dynamic Nonlinear Models

I'm afraid one of my Life Goals has become learning enough math to be able to read, understand, and form an educated opinion about the contents.

my vacation wow

Two days into the school year and I'm already so re-absorbed by Math-Math-Math I almost forgot the whole point of this post. My Vacation.

It was great!

It was the first fun family vacation we've had since Andrew was born!

One word: Abilify

If it doesn't work for your kid, it'll probably work for you.

update update: this man is a genius

KumonMathInDetroit 17 Nov 2005 - 13:28 CatherineJohnson

fyi:
KUMON math program
KUMON reading program

I've had an amazing email from an engineering professor who learned of Kitchen Table Math while she was in China (!)

(Apparently, not being listed on Google isn't a problem in China.)

She also sent me a copy of her paper on Kumon supplementation in Detroit schools (the results were incredible), and I'm waiting to see whether it's OK to post. In the meantime, she says it's fine to post her email:

I'm sure you must have come across Kumon mathematics? I'm a professor of engineering at Oakland University, and so mathematics is obviously very important to me. As a consequence, to make up for the problems with the American school system I've had my own daughters in the Kumon program for about ten years each--between the ages of three and thirteen. Their math skills are far better as a result. I was so impressed with the ideas behind Kumon (it is an outstanding supplement that provides the additional practice missing from K-12 math), that I started a program using the Kumon method in a local inner urban school district, Pontiac. The results are described in the attached paper.
Kumon provides the easiest, smartest way I've ever seen for a Mom to help her kids with math. I couldn't recommend it more highly.
One last thought. I've taught in China as well as the US. The US is definitely way ahead on the "creativity" side. But we are so far behind in math that it is ridiculous--and it is potentially crippling for our source of engineers and other professionals. There are many aspects involved in good engineering, for example, where a good math background is critical. Most of the engineering professors where I work now (Oakland University), are foreign born. Although I greatly respect my foreign-born colleagues, it's really an indictment of the American system that we can so rarely grow our own any more.
Thanks for your blooki, which I have bookmarked and will be following!

Kumon for children with severe disabilities, too?

And, in a follow-up:

Actually, the woman who ran one of the Kumon centers I brought my children to originally got into Kumon because she saw how much it was helping a profoundly mentally disabled child who she was working with. So I suspect it may be surprisingly beneficial for Andrew. I couldn't have done the outreach in my local inner-urban outreach without the incredible help I got from Doreen Lawrence, the Vice President of Research for Kumon, North America. Her phone number is 248-755-2587, and her email is dlawrence@kumon.com. Doreen is a wonderful person who is deeply oriented towards helping children. I'm sure she'd be glad to answer any questions you might have about Kumon (she knows EVERYTHING about the program).
You can feel free to post anything from my letter that might help. I just apologize for the poor writing. I just got back from China and am still jet-lagged.
Over the next week or two I'll read through your website more carefully and get a better feel for what's going on (I just found out about your website while I was in China, but scarcely had any time available while I was there). I've a lot of thoughts and background information related to what you're doing, and have some interesting and relevent experience with national policy setters in academia on this topic, but am a little bogged down now working on a book, research papers, experiments, and grant proposals. You know, the usual academic stuff! So I will try posting some once I feel I understand more fully what you are doing and how you are doing it.
Thank you ever so much for providing a forum for something that is so important to our children!

Her name is Barbara Oakley & she has had an amazing life (e.g., she met her husband at the South Pole.....)

Plus--and I MUST post this--she's started a page of things she finds funny, which, thus far, has one link to a pdf file of what looks to be a PowerPoint presentation: Yours is a Very Bad Hotel.

All you World Traveling Kitchen Table Math denizens will relate.

it's getting clearer now

Back when Carolyn and I started Kitchen Table Math, my one question was: Why?

Why exactly, in the middle of my life, am I spending 18 hours a day WRITING A MATH BLOG? Excuse me, a MATH BLOOKI.

This was my husband's question as well.

I'm just coming off a newyorktimesbestseller, the goal nonfiction writers spend their careers aspiring to reach.....shouldn't I be Following Up with another book? (I will follow up with another book; Temple and I are working up steam. But still. Kitchen Table Math is a detour.)

So what was I thinking?

Somehow, it seemed like I was supposed to be writing a math blooki.

That reason turns out to be, in large part, the people who write comments and set up pages and create dimensional dominoes and, now, send me an email out of the blue telling me I need to take Andrew to Kumon.

That is exactly what I need to do. I need to take Andrew to Kumon.

Andrew is my little locked-in boy; he's bright--so bright, it's there, you can see it--and I don't know how to reach him.

The folks at Kumon may not know how to reach him, either, but it's obvious to me I'm supposed to give it a shot. If they don't know, something there will give me a new idea. It's a lead.

I wasn't going to figure this out on my own.

I was telling my neighbor about this today, complaining that I can't think of these things myself. I have to have complete strangers tell me: take your severely autistic son to Kumon Math.

My neighbor said, 'You can never think what you're supposed to do about your own life.'

DanDreznerThreadOnMathEdPart2 20 Sep 2005 - 10:07 CatherineJohnson

mission accomplished

I have submitted Kitchen Table Math to Google. Believe it or not. Now I just have to do Alta Vista, Yahoo, .... and whatever else I'm supposed to do. (Suggestions?)

question: are there 'specialty' search engines I should know about?

thank you, Independent George

As usual, one thing led to another: first I Googled Kitchen Table Math to see if, by some chance, the folks at Open Directory had sent ktm to Google so I wouldn't have to. (answer: no)

Then up popped a reference to Kitchen Table Math on Daniel Drezner's blog, the very same thread I linked to last night.....

I'm going to have to do more reading & less skimming.

speaking of which.....no dumping on special ed, please!

Here's the post I wrote last night & then took down, because I'd stepped on Carolyn's post:

This is annoying.

One of Drezner's commenters has raised the Special Ed Is Soaking Up All Our Resources issue. (i.e. we're really NOT spending gobs more money on education than anyone else, because we assign $25,000-a-year personal aides to autistic kids and other countries don't)

So here's Jay Greene, whose research has been cited in Supreme Court cases, writing on that very issue:

...the most pernicious thing about blaming special education is not that it is politically correct, it is that it's not true. Special education can be held responsible neither for soaring education costs nor for stagnant student achievement. Yes, more money is spent on special education than on regular-education students. And yes, more students are being enrolled in special-education programs. But the shell game in education is that there has only been an increase in the students labeled as needing special education and not an actual increase in students with those learning difficulties.
There is nothing in the water that has created more children with learning problems. Better survival rates for babies born prematurely or mothers using drugs during pregnancy have also not led to a spike in students with learning problems, or, if they have, other improvements in public health, such as the reduction in lead-based paints and better child car seats, have countered any increase in children with learning problems.

Greene's book is out. It's in my cart.

BenAndSaxon 24 Sep 2005 - 20:49 CatherineJohnson

way to go--

I'm relieved, I have to say. I've been semi-sanguine about the possibility of having two math curricula in your child's life, a fuzzy one at school & a non-fuzzy one at home.....but the fact is, I haven't (really) had to face that situation.

Last year, in 5th grade, Christopher had SRA Math at school, and Saxon Math 6/5 at home. SRA Math is a very tough textbook to teach from (impossible for me, and experienced teachers have told me the same). But it's not hardcore fuzzy.

David Klein points out that most U.S. textbooks are fuzzy to some degree. That was certainly the case with SRA. Time and again I'd read a passage--this was when I was just setting out to reacquaint myself with math--and not have a clue what it meant. Invariably this was because the text would lay out a couple of observations and then pose a question to the student, who was supposed to draw the appropriate conclusion.

I remember one day I was trying to figure out how to find the equation for the slope of a line, and there was just no way. Finally my neighbor came over, read the passage, and said, 'You'd have to know how to do it to understand this explanation.' Then she showed me how.

Still and all, SRA Math wasn't a b*s book. Not at all. The math was real, and Christopher had two good teachers who'd had plenty of experience getting math into kids' heads in spite of the problems.

I'm pretty sure that in Christopher's case it was a net plus that he had two separate math curricula. He had far more time-on-task, and he had the benefit of seeing the same subjects from slightly different vantage points (which always helps me, and is probably good for everyone).

But I wasn't having that feeling about Ben at all. SRA & Saxon, OK. Connected Math & Saxon? Blech.

So, long story short, I was getting worried about Ben. I'm glad Connected Math is gone.

Saxon into the breach

I keep coming back to Saxon Math.

I've now read quite a few negative assessments of Saxon, by people whose judgment I respect. These are folks on the web--a couple of obviously intelligent homeschoolers, as well as Robert, who writes the brightMystery blog. Robert told me he wants to like Saxon, but just does not--and that students who come to his college courses having been homeschooled in Saxon aren't ready. (That's a paraphrase, so take it with a grain of salt.)

I have misgivings myself. Sometimes I worry Saxon is TOO 'structured'; I worry about pattern training--that Christopher is going to be a Saxon Boy who can only do Saxon Problems typed in Saxon Font.

Thus far that has not been the case. As far as I can tell, all of Christopher's Saxon knowledge has transferred to SRA (and, now, to Prentice Hall).

Other times I've felt the Saxon books are too scattered & fragmented. The fragmentation of topics is a deliberate strategy on Saxon's part, the intention being to use the principles of spaced repetition and distributed practice. That makes sense, but when I taught the Primary Mathematics Grade 3 chapter on fractions to Christopher and his friend Greg it was so much more satisfying and rich, or seemed so.

So.....I've been a heavy-duty Saxon user; I owe Christopher's move to Phase 4 math to Saxon 6/5. And I know the knowledge he's gained from Saxon is conceptual as well as procedural.

But in spite of all these good things, I have Nagging Doubts.

Usually I pay attention to Nagging Doubts. But in this case I think my doubts are either wrong or, more likely, misdirected. Because I keep coming back to Saxon every time I'm in trouble, and Saxon keeps bailing me out.

Saxon vs Dolciani

Take this week.

Christopher has another quiz today, on algebraic expressions.

I was reading along in Prentice Hall, which said that in an expression like x + 7 the x and the 7 are terms.

In an expression like 2x + 7, 2x and 7 are terms, and 2 is the coefficient.

Well, right away I was confused.

Does a term mean you're either adding or subtracting?

Does multiplication mean you don't have a term, you have a coefficient?

That seemed wrong.

So I got out my copy of Mary Dolciani's Pre-Algebra: An Accelerated Course.

I'd been thinking, OK, I'm done with Saxon. There are just too many negative opinions out there, Mary Dolciani's a genius, my neighbor's son liked Dolciani's book, it's shorter than Saxon & we're pressed for time......this year I'm going with Dolciani.

She was no help at all:

In the expression 9 + a, 9 and a are called the terms of the expression because they are the parts that are separated by the +. In an expression such as 3ab, the number 3 is called the numerical coefficient of ab.

Saxon on coefficients

Back to Saxon.

Saxon 8/7 has an entire lesson on algebraic terms. Lesson 84, page 571. I haven't read it yet--I've skimmed--but it's obvious that when I do, my question will be answered.

Here's how he opens:

We have used the word term in arithmetic to refer to the numerator or denominator of a fraction.

Right off the bat, he's made the smart metacognitive move. We have used the word 'term' to refer to numerators and denominators, and it's a good thing to point this out to the student, because otherwise, at some point (probably not now, but later on, when it will really ball things up) the student is going to think, Wait! Doesn't TERM mean DIVISION? Does it mean FRACTION? Does it mean NUMERATOR & DENOMINATOR?

OR WHATTTTTTT?????????

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Saxon Math is the most metacognitively aware textbook I've encountered to date. Constantly, the books remind you of what you have learned, and point out to you that you are now learning an extension of that concept or you are learning a new and possibly quite different meaning of the same word.

Back to Lesson 84.

Next the book has a table of monomial, binomial, and trinomial algebraic expressions. Wonderful.

THEN the text says:

Terms are separated from one another in an expression by plus or minus signs that are not within symbols of inclusion.

Thank you, John Saxon. I needed that.

More examples follow, and eventually we get to this:

Each term contains a signed number and may contain one or more variables (letters). Sometimes the signed-number part is understood and not written. For instance, the understood signed-number part of a^2 is +1 since a^2 = +1a^2. When a term is written without a number, it is understood that the number is 1. When a term is written without a sign, it is understood that the sign if positive.

Perfect.

At least, perfect for me. What do you think?

deer in the grass

Martine (nanny) just said, 'That one is dark.' She was looking out the window.

So I looked out, too, and sure enough: the young deer grazing in our lawn is darker than the young deer who was living here a month ago.

But Martine thinks it's the same one. She thinks they get dark in the fall.

It's probably time to give him a name.

(a^2 means a squared - right?)

update

Just had an email from Barry re: Saxon Math.

The story problems!

Barry reminded me: they're dreadful. They're just wildly too-easy.

I had meant to put that in the original post, and forgot.

However, the story problems aren't the reason for my 'nagging doubts'.....the story problems are an obvious problem you can remediate easily through supplementation.

It's the other stuff.....

HomerOnTheBus 08 Oct 2005 - 16:05 CatherineJohnson

I've made a pact with myself to start taking pictures of Andrew's still lifes & letter arrays.

This tableau, by the way, is no accident. Andrew carefully arranges his figures exactly as he wants them. He gets mad if the dogs bump into them, and he puts everything back exactly as it was.

keywords: Homer Simpson on the bus

SowellAndLateTalkingChildren 24 Oct 2005 - 16:25 CarolynJohnston

Thomas Sowell (a well-known columnist and economist) came up on the interim report card thread, where his book on economics, Basic Economics was recommended highly. Also mentioned in passing was Sowell's book about his son, Late Talking Children.

I don't know if Catherine read Sowell's book, but as a parent of a late-talking (and in fact, autistic spectrum) child I did, and so did most of the other parents in my position that I knew. I have strong feelings about it, mostly negative. I recognize that Sowell was well-intentioned, but I believe he's done real damage with his book.

Sowell wrote the book because he took umbrage at his young son's having been labeled as a young child for being a late talker. Young John Sowell took so long to start talking that he was suspected of being retarded (and indeed he is not retarded; he apparently has some type of autism spectrum disorder).

Thomas Sowell talks about how his son finally began speaking (with what amounted to behavioral therapy from his father!). He gives case studies of other 'unfairly labeled' children, many of whom are also on the autism spectrum and won't have outcomes as positive as John's, and uses them as examples of outrageous mislabeling.

In fact, they are generally examples of cases where too little was done to help the child during those early critical years of development. Autism is a developmental disorder; it derails the development process, and it is at its worst during the preschool years. Treatment and therapy can do more to help a kid in those years than at any other time.

But in this book, Sowell is claiming that you should ignore your inner fears, and the recommendations of educators, and trust in your child to recover on his own without help.

If you want to see how people have reacted to LTC, both positively and negatively (nobody feels lukewarm about it!) take a look here at the 48 reader reviews (one of them is mine, but I can't find it anymore). Here's a typical one from among the many reviewers who shared my perspective on the book:

Parents don't want a label for their child. They don't want to see doctors, get a diagnosis, struggle to help for their child and get the services they need. This book scares me because it tells your inner voice worried about your child to be quiet and that you just need to wait it out and everything will be fine.
I am sure for some "nervous parents" this is good advice and you can wait for your child to speak. If this is you - you are lucky and blessed. For the 99% others out there - IT IS TIME TO GET BUSY. THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL. EARLY INTERVENTION IS THE KEY TO YOUR CHILDS FUTURE SUCCESS.
Please, for your child - get a good diagnosis, see at least three to four specialists for your childs needs/deficits and address them immediately. That time is better spent vs. reading this book.

Darn tooting.

TheShoelaceProblem 15 Dec 2005 - 15:53 CatherineJohnson

Now that Doug has solved my helmet problem, ^* I'm hoping someone can solve my shoelace problem.

A couple of years ago the then-director of special ed (we're on our 3rd in 7 years) told me to forget about teaching Andrew to tie his shoes. Forget about it as in: forget about it for good. It's not going to happen, don't speak of it again.

Naturally this was my cue to decide Andrew would be learning to tie his shoes come hell or high water.

[pause]

Wow. Hell or high water. I've been saying hell-or-high-water most of my adult life, and until Hurricane Katrina it hadn't occurred to me what the first person to say come-hell-or-high-water was actually talking about.

He was talking about teaching his autistic kid to tie his shoes in the midst of torrential rains and major flooding.

Which reminds me: possibly the only good thing about ageing is that you get to find out the true meaning of sayings. Most sayings come from dogs, I find, except for the ones that come from square dancing. Wolf it down, dog your heels, dog days, dog eat dog, let sleeping dogs lie, and so on. Pretty much the whole lot. Dogs have had a big influence, being our co-evolutionists and all.

What comes from square dancing, you ask? Back to square one comes from square dancing.

Speaking of which, we were talking about:

tying shoes

Andrew is now actively interested in tying his shoes, and is making progress.

But I can't remember the easy way of tying shoes his aide showed me a couple of years ago. (She's not his aide anymore, or I'd ask her.) And I can't find it on the internet.

I may have now reconstructed it for myself (discovery knowledge! that's the ticket!) But if anyone knows how it's done, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

^*not to mention my number line problem, my fraction problem, and my distributive property problem

update

wow!

Look what KDeRosa found!

You guys are amazing.

KoegelsOnTelevision 03 Nov 2005 - 21:07 CatherineJohnson

Subject: Super nanny with an autistic child

AIRS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4

"Facente Family" -- Supernanny Jo Frost teams with world-renowned autism expert Dr. Lynn Koegel to tackle the parenting issues faced by a family whose three-year-old son is an outsider in his own home. This episode of "Supernanny" airs on FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4 (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET) on the ABC Television Network.

Deirdre and Trae Facente don't know how to integrate their autistic son Tristin into their daily life with their twins, Kayla and Marlana (4). Tristin is completely non-verbal, caught up in his own world of spinning, jumping, swinging and, often, taking off his clothes. The only time he spends with his family is sitting at the dinner table. The twins, who demand much of their stay-at-home mom's attention, can't figure out how to play with their little brother. The parents are at a loss as to how to help Tristin come out of his zone and join the family.

Enter Dr. Koegel and Supernanny. Together they refine the classic Supernanny methods and teach all the Facentes Dr. Koegel's inclusion and communication techniques to help engage Tristin. For example, when they introduce the new daily schedule to everyone, Dr. Koegel uses a picture board with Tristin to help him understand in a concrete way.

In just a week, silent Tristin goes from zero words to speaking hundreds of times using over 20 new words. He is bursting with requests to play a favorite game, be tickled or eat a treat. Step-by- step, Jo and Dr. Koegel help the parents keep Tristin from his disruptive behaviors by including him in family chores and activities. These efforts culminate in the boy helping his dad set the table, a seemingly mundane task that is so miraculous for Tristin, it brings tears to Trae's eyes.

Lynn Kern Koegel, Ph.D is one of the world's foremost experts on the treatment of autism. She and her husband, Robert L. Koegel, Ph.D., founded the renowned Koegel Autism Center at the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She co- wrote the bestselling book on autism, Overcoming Autism: Finding the Answers, Strategies, and Hope that can Transform a Child's Life, which was recently released in paperback, and also co-authored, with Robert Koegel, the new book, Pivotal Response Treatments for Autism

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

We love these people. They are our autism gurus; they are two of the best people on earth. Their work is so brilliant, and, at the same time, so down-to-earth & heartfelt it's hard to capture in words.

Bob & Lynn Koegel are the Real Thing.

More about them later.

Pivotal Response Treatments for Autism: Communication, Social, And Academic Development

I had no idea Bob & Lynn had finally published a book on their pivotal response therapy.

I'm going to try to unearth my short piece on PRT to post tomorrow. "Pivotal response training"&mdah;the concept behind it—is probably the core concept in just undertaking one can imagine.

1557668191.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

AnimalsInTranslationTheBlogPart2 23 Nov 2005 - 12:49 CarolynJohnston

I've just blogrolled Animals In Translation, Catherine Johnson and Temple Grandin's blog on animal behavior. It's a companion blog to their bestselling nonfiction book, also called Animals In Translation, on the thinking, behavior and motivation of animals.

Go check it out, and tell the proprietors we sent you!

BrainsRunInFamilies 01 Dec 2005 - 00:04 CarolynJohnston

From my friend Jen, comes this link from the BBC on a study showing that the parents of kids with autism share a lot of the brain structure differences that the children have, even though they don't manifest the symptoms of autism.

The researcher and study are at the medical school in Denver. How did we miss out on being guinea pigs for this study? I want to know if I have a shrunken amygdala and somatosensory cortex! I want to have an fMRI of my own brain -- gosh -- who wouldn't?!

TheLearningBrain 21 Dec 2005 - 14:13 CatherineJohnson

wow!

My new copy of Trends in Cognitive Neuroscience just arrived, with a review of this book:

The Learning Brain: Lessons for Education by SARAH-JAYNE BLAKEMORE (cognitive neuroscience, University College, London) and UTA FRITH (cognitive development, University College, London).

Frith may be the most important autism researcher we have; she'd certainly rank in the top 5. (Carolyn?)

table of contents

1. Introduction

2. The Developing Brain

3. Words and Numbers in Early Childhood

4. The Mathematical Brain

5. The Literate Brain

6. Learning to Read and its Difficulties

7. Disorders of Social-Emotional Development

8. The Adolescent Brain

9. Life Long Learning

10. Learning and Remembering

11. Different Ways of Learning

12. Harnessing the Learning Powers of the Brain

Appendix

Glossary

References

Further Reading

Index

The Introduction (pdf file) is posted online. If it's half as good as I expect it to be, I'm ordering the book today.

I have to get to Andrew's field trip, so I'll post the TRENDS review later. Looks like it's very positive.

politics, eduation, & cognitive science

At the time, the Early Years Education subcommittee was holding an inquiry into the appropriate care and education of children between birth and six years. The subcommittee had been bombarded with letters, reports, and manifestos from early years charities, schools, psychologists, and educators, many of whom cited research on brain development as grounds for changing early years education in the UK. Some of the arguments put forward contradicted each other. On the one hand, some argued that formal education should not start until six or seven years old because the brain is not ready to learn until this age. On the other hand, others argued that it was clear from research on brain development that children should be “hothoused”—taught as much as possible as early as possible. What were the Members of Parliament on the subcommittee to make of the conflicting evidence?
Both authors were engaged in these kinds of debates when, in June 2000, we compiled a report for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to indicate whether insights from neuroscience could inform the research agenda in education.

EyeContactInAutism 22 Dec 2005 - 02:39 CarolynJohnston

Somehow I missed this result when it came out.

Anyone who knows someone with even a mild autism spectrum disorder knows how difficult it can be to get the person to look at you. Their gaze just slides off your chin. It's hard to believe that it's just that they aren't interested in your face, as many theorists have suggested; their avoidance of eye contact is so marked that it's hard to feel there isn't some kind of aversion there. This article in Scientific American (from March 2005) seems to explain why.

Children suffering from autism pay very little attention to faces, even those of people close to them. Indeed, this characteristic can become apparent as early as the age of one, and is often used as a developmental sign of the disease. The results of a new study provide additional insight into why autistic children avoid eye contact: they perceive faces as an uncomfortable threat, even if they are familiar.
Children suffering from autism pay very little attention to faces, even those of people close to them. Indeed, this characteristic can become apparent as early as the age of one, and is often used as a developmental sign of the disease. The results of a new study provide additional insight into why autistic children avoid eye contact: they perceive faces as an uncomfortable threat, even if they are familiar.
Kim M. Dalton of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her colleagues studied 27 autistic teenagers who looked at pictures of faces (see image) while a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine scanned their brains. The researchers also tracked the subjects' eye movements as they studied the images. "This is the very first published study that assesses how individuals with autism look at faces while simultaneously monitoring which of their brain areas are active," Dalton says. When the image included a direct gaze from a nonthreatening face, brain activity in the amygdala--a brain region associated with negative feelings--was much higher for autistic children than it was in members of the control group. "Imagine walking through the world and interpreting every face that looks at you as a threat, even the face of your own mother," remarks study co-author Richard Davidson, also at UW-Madison.
The results also indicate that a brain area associated with face perception, known as the fusiform region, is fundamentally normal in autistic children; it does exhibit decreased activity, however. Davidson notes that this could result because the over-aroused amygdala makes an autistic child want to look away from faces. In addition, he comments that it was surprising that "when subjects with autism averted their gaze away from the eye region of a face, they showed reduced activity in the amygdala, suggesting that the gaze aversion is serving a functional purpose." The findings are published today in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

ACloseCall 31 Jan 2006 - 00:47 CarolynJohnston

Ben asked for permission to go down to the school in our neighborhood today (Sunday), and play by himself at the playground. I told him he could, but I wanted him back quickly.

Well... he did come home quickly, and when he came in, he told me the following story.

He said that a man came up who had a key to the school, and the man asked him if he wanted to go inside the school. He knew he shouldn't, because it wasn't safe, and so he came right home and told me. This is not only a close shave because it was a fishy situation; it was a close shave because Ben is quite obsessed, right now, with going inside the neighborhood school and church. He came home and told me about it because he knew that doing it by himself wasn't safe; he wanted me to go right down with him and take him in the school while the man still had the school open!

I can think of only one honest explanation for the situation, and several nasty ones. The only honest one I can think of is that the man was a janitor who came up, opened the door, saw Ben's longing look (or perhaps Ben even TALKED to him), and invited him inside just to be nice. That's possible ... barely.

I guess all those readings of 'The Berenstain Bears: the Trouble with Strangers' made an impression. I always wondered how Ben would react in a situation like this -- where one of his obsessions was at odds with his personal safety. It seems he has a sense of self-preservation after all, thank God.

-- CarolynJohnston - 30 Jan 2006

OmegaThreeFattyAcids 11 Feb 2006 - 16:05 CatherineJohnson

I think Carolyn & I have ESP.

I'm serious.

A few days ago I read an article on fish consumption, IQ, & pregancy in THE ECONOMIST ($). I set it aside because I wanted to write a post about it.

Then yesterday Ed told me we're almost out of omegabrites, and today my cod liver oil for Jimmy & Andrew came in the mail.

AND: I just opened an email from Carolyn to find that she's wondering about fish oil for Ben! (Of course, Carolyn probably read the same article I did....)

My answer is: fish oil for everyone.

brain food

I found out about the Omega 3 fatty acids a few years ago, and was immediately convinced. Since then, the data has just kept coming, all of it good. On my Bayesian scale of certainty, 1 being No Clue and 7 being Death and Taxes, I'm at 7.

Fish oil is one of those 'Lost Knowledge' things....by which I mean that it belongs to the store of cultural knowledge people used to have that's gone missing. (Flash poll: how many women here can name the different cuts of meat in a side of beef? I can't. People used to know this stuff!)

My mom told me that when she was a kid, people gave cod liver oil to their kids, because they considered it 'brain food.'

Well, guess what. It is brain food. But that idea got lost somewhere along the line.

Here's the connection.

Probably everyone here knows that, at some point, the NIH funded research on fish consumption and heart health, which found that high fish consumption was good for your heart.

From there it followed directly that high fish consumption would likely be good for your brain, too, since researchers had already noticed a number of connections between heart health & mental health. For instance, people who suffered heart attacks were likely to suffer depression, too (IIRC I think the connection worked the other way around, as well).

Although people knew these correlations existed, I gather it took researchers a little while to put two and two together. But finally someone did, and the NIH funded, I believe (NOT FACT-CHECKED) an epidemiological study of fish oil consumption and depression. It turned out that there are very low rates of depression in countries and communities with high rates of fish consumption.

Andrew Stoll

I no longer remember when Andrew Stoll came on the scene, but I do remember his story.

Stoll is an expert on bipolar disorder, which meant he was prescribing a lot of lithium to patients. Lithium has numerous side effects; it's a tough drug to take, and can be quite dangerous. (It's a naturally-occurring salt.) IIRC, he and a colleague wanted to find a substance that would work like lithium with fewer side effects.

Apparently there is an enormous, multi-volume dictionary or encyclopedia of all known chemicals, so Stoll and his colleague starting searching through known chemicals to find something that might mimic lithium.

They found that the one chemical closest in structure to lithium was omega 3 fatty acid. Their study of Omega 3 fatty acid used to treat bipolar patients was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the two best journals in the field.

Three-page excerpts from every chapter of Stoll's book, The Omega-3 Connection, are posted on the omegabrites website. Terrific book.

We buy all of our fish oil from OmegaBrite, because it's manufactured by Stoll's ex-wife and because it's pharmaceutical grade, meaning it can be prescribed by physicians. This may mean nothing in terms of insurance; I don't know. I've never tried to get reimbursement. 'Pharmaceutical grade' in the case of omegabrites means the product can be used in an NIH-funded study.

IIRC, Stoll had a lot of trouble rustling up enough pharmaceutical-grade fish oil to do the study in the first place. I think he had to get the stuff he used from the people who did the heart study....Then, because there was no pharmaceutical commercial-grade product available on the market, his wife, who is also a psychiatrist, decided she would manufacture it herself & start up a whole company. I'm glad she did, but I don't think it's been fun for them.

pharmaceutical grade liquid fish oil?

That reminds me.

I spent years poking holes in zillions of omegabrite capsules every morning so I could squeeze out the oil inside into grape juice & give it to Jimmy and Andrew.

Those days are over.

The last time I spoke to Andrew Stoll, who is a friend of John (Ratey)'s, he said they were going to try to make a liquid version. I'm still waiting.

A couple of months ago I finally gave up and bought some Nordic Natural Complete Omega-3.6.9 oil.

Then I remembered my mom liked Carlson Norwegian Cod Liver Oil, which is what came in the mail today.

I have no idea way of judging their quality. I could use advice.

no more asthma

Fish oil has two important properties of which I'm aware; I'm sure there are lots more:

it is a natural antiinflammatory

it is liquid at very low temperatures

The natural antiinflammatory characteristic means, basically, that fish oil is a cure-all.

For at least the past 10 years researchers & physicians have been focused on inflammation as the source of all evil.

Eventually people began looking into inflammation as a problem for the brain, as well, and I'm sure it is.

Fish oil is a phenomenal antiinflammatory. When we first moved to Westchester Ed, Christopher & I developed asthma. Actually, I'd already had fairly severe asthma for about 10 years, but it had never been diagnosed. People kept telling me I had bronchitis. When Christopher was 4, he spent July 4 having an asthma attack so bad he was throwing up, which, unbeknownst to me, is the Danger Point. He could barely breathe.

All three of us were using inhalers every day when we started taking omegabrites.

Within a few months, all 3 of us had stopped using inhalers.

I think there may be a cumulative effect as well, because for a few years there we'd still have to get on the inhalers every time any of us came down with a cold.

Now we don't need inhalers for colds, either.

Another miracle cure: my mom's bursitis is gone. Bursitis is an inflammatory disorder.

Andrew Stoll's dad, who was in his 70s or 80s when I met him, told me his arthritis was gone. This stuff works.

fluid brain membranes

I don't think anyone knows exactly what Omega 3 fatty acids do in the brain, but one thought has to do with membrane permeability.

Mostly, Americans eat Omega 6's. That's corn oil. We eat HUGE quantities of corn oil, which is fine by me, since my dad was a farmer who raised corn. I've got nothing against corn!

But we're almost certainly way out of whack; we're supposed to be getting a lot more Omega 3s, and a lot less Omega 6.

Here's the way I think about the brain & Omega 3s.

Why don't salmon freeze up stiff as a board when they're swimming around the North Pacific waters?

Because they're made of fish oil.

Now picture a salmon made of margarine.

He's froze-solid, isn't he?

Stoll and others (IIRC) think it's possible fish oil is good for the brain because it replaces Omega 6s in cell membranes, which are made of fat.

If you're eating margarine, your brain cell membranes are made of margarine.

If you're eating fish, your brain cell membranes are made of fish oil.

Apparently, it's good to be a fish.

I have no idea whether this hypothesis is still current, but it's highly motivating. Every time I pull up an image of a semi-sold margarine brain I get serious about sticking with my fish oil regimen.

fish oil, pregnancy, IQ

I think Terri mentioned that they hope to have one more baby, so I wanted to get this study posted.

from THE ECONOMIST story:

...the amount of omega-3 in a pregnant woman's diet helps to determine her child's intelligence, fine-motor skills (such as the ability to manipulate small objects, and hand-eye co-ordination) and also propensity to anti-social behaviour.
[snip]
That, at least, is the conclusion of Joseph Hibbeln, a researcher at America's National Institutes of Health who has been working with a set of data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. The Avon study was begun 15 years ago by Jean Golding, of the University of Bristol, with the aim of unravelling the genetic and environmental pathways that predispose children to disease. It contains data on 14,000 expectant mothers and their offspring.
[snip]
...the children of those women who had consumed the smallest amounts of omega-3 fatty acids during their pregnancies had verbal IQs six points lower than average...the finding is particularly pertinent because existing dietary advice to pregnant women, at least in America, is that they should limit their consumption of seafood in order to avoid exposing their fetuses to trace amounts of brain-damaging methyl mercury.
[snip]
Dr Hibbeln, however, says his work shows that the benefits of eating such fish vastly outweigh the risks from the mercury in them. Indeed, in the Avon study, it was those children exposed to the lowest levels of methyl mercury who were at greatest risk of having low verbal IQ....at 3½ years of age, those children with the best measures of fine-motor performance were the ones whose mothers had had the highest intake of omega-3s. Their third finding was that a low intake of omega-3s during pregnancy led to higher levels of pathological social interactions such as an inability to make friends as a child grew up.
....the “frightening data” showed how 14% of those seven-year-olds whose mothers had had the lowest intake of omega-3s during pregnancy demonstrated such behaviour, compared with 8% of those born to the highest-intake group.

converging lines of evidence

Studies such as this one, which rely on correlating one variable with another, are not enough to draw firm conclusions on their own, since correlation is not necessarily causation. But these results are supported by several lines of data. One is that the graphs show “dose response” curves—in other words, different levels of omega-3s have different effects. There is also a lot of experimental work showing that omega-3s have behavioural effects on adults. One of Dr Hibbeln's other studies, for example, showed that omega-3 supplements given to violent alcoholics reduced their anger levels by a third within three months

serotonin & dopamine hypothesis

It also helps to have a plausible mechanism, and Dr Hibbeln thinks there is one. Research published in 2000 by a group in Canada showed that giving omega-3 supplements to piglets doubled the levels of molecules called serotonin and dopamine in the frontal cortexes of the animals' brains. One of serotonin's jobs is to show growing nerve cells how they should connect from the frontal cortex, where reasoning takes place, to the limbic system, the seat of many emotional responses

yuck

there is a second way that its level might be reduced—by competition with a similar group of fatty acids called omega-6s. Indeed, it may be the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 in the membranes of cells—particularly nerve cells—which is at the root of the problem, since this can affect the ability of messenger molecules to pass through the membrane. The average cell membrane of an American, whose diet is low in fish and high in omega-6-rich vegetable oils, contains 20% omega-3-based lipids and 80% omega-6-based ones. (Some 10% of American calories now come from linoleic acid in maize and soya oils, the principal sources of omega-6s.) In a Japanese cell membrane, by contrast, the figures are 40% and 60% respectively.

words to live by

I love this.

Here's the title of Dr. Hibbeln's talk to the McCarrison Society:

The impact of deficiencies of omega-3 fats on homicide, suicide, depression and greater risk of developmental trajectories towards lifelong psychopathy

I think I'll go pour Jimmy & Andrew a slug of their yummy new Norwegian cod liver oil right this minute.

autism & bipolar disorder & fish oil

Which reminds me.

I may have mentioned that Robert DeLong believes autism is caused by the genes for bipolar disorder expressed early in life, when the brain is still developing, instead of later on.

I believe him. When I say I 'believe' him, I mean I think that's what autism IS: autism is bipolar disorder expressed at birth or sometime around there. Until someone proves DeLong wrong, autism = bipolar is my personal hypothesis.

In an article in the March 23 issue of the journal Neurology, [ed.: I think this refers to the 1998 study] DeLong presents a new hypothesis that about two-thirds of children with the most common form of infantile autism actually have a treatable, genetically linked, early-onset form of severe depression. The argument is based on recent genetic analyses, behavioral studies and brain chemistry and imaging analyses on autistic children by researchers at Duke and several other institutions.

Antidepressants Can Break Through the Wall of Many Children's Autism, Duke Researchers Say

gold strike

I've just discovered DeLong has a recent publication on this subject. I've been out of the loop; I had no idea.

wow. It's a review article. So I've got this evening's reading all picked out.

Family history studies of autism consistently reveal a large subgroup with a high incidence of major mood disorder in family members, suggesting the two entities are related clinically and genetically. This review examines this concept, comparing current clinical and biological knowledge of autism and major mood disorder, and advances the hypothesis that this subgroup of autism represents an early-life phenotype of major mood disorder. If confirmed, this hypothesis would suggest that the basic biological defects determining major mood disorders may have prominent neurodevelopmental and cognitive dimensions. Testing of the hypothesis will depend on genetic studies.

The entire text is here: Autism and Familial Major Mood Disorder: Are They Related? J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 16:199-213, May 2004

in a nutshell

fish oil is good for the brain

fish oil may be especially important for pregnant women

fish oil is probably good for every aspect of brain function, including mood and cognition

we have strong evidence that fish oil treats bipolar disorder

we have very strong evidence (strong as in almost certainly definitive) that autism tracks with mood disorders

since fish oil treats bipolar disorder, it may well treat autism as well

if you're taking fish oil supplements you need to take Vitamins C & E, too. I forget why

American brain: 20% omega-3-based lipids, 80% omega-6-based ones

Japanese brain: 40% and 60%

No wonder we can't do math.

nix on the flax seed oil AND Vitamins C & E

A couple more factoids.

First, if you're taking fish oil supplements, you should take Vitamins E & C, too. I've forgotten why. There's some wonky mechanism where you can end up producing more free radicals (or something) & damaging brain cell membranes, etc.....obviously, I remember essentially nothing of this except that you're supposed to take E & C along with.

Second, I would skip the flax seed oil. First of all, it's different from fish oil somehow....I forget why.

But also, a psychiatrist friend of mine told me she'd heard from other psychiatrists that flax seed oil can actually cause mania.

That was interesting to hear, because I once gave Jimmy & Andrew big honking doses of flax seed oil & they were both up for the entire night, manic as all get out.

update from ktm guest

"So if flaxseed oil isn't good (and I had heard that it wasn't), then what would vegetarians take in order to get a healthy dose of Omega 3s?"
Flax is a good source of ALA, but not EPA and DHA. Fish oil is a good source of EPA and DHA. All three of these are omega-3 fatty acids. ALA can be converted to EPA and DHA, but it doesn't seem like this works very well when humans eat flax oil (according to some researchers). If you're a vegetarian then you're probably just screwed as far as finding a good source of EPA and DHA goes and you'll have to just stick with flax. Maybe there's some way of convincing the ALA to convert to EPA and DHA more readily.
"Is cod liver oil a liquid source of Omega 3?"
Yes. it is about 11% DHA, 7% EPA.

Thank you!

(This is exactly what I recall reading, btw. I also remember - NOT FACT CHECKED that grazing animals like cows can convert ALA to EPA & DHA. That's why cows don't need to eat fish.)

update from Ann

If you go back to the Omegabrite website, they now have OmegaBrite Kidz Tutti-Fruitti or Orange Cream flavor liquid omega 3 for kids. They only have to take 1/4 tsp.

I can't believe I didn't see that!

I'm thrilled.

Of course, first we're going to have to use up our two big honking bottles of Carlson's Norwegian cod liver oil.

The omegabrite website is new and improved. They seem to have posted abstracts of most or all of the psychiatric and cognitive research on the Omega 3s.

Here's where the research stands on autism and Omega 3 fatty acids:

At present, although omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids are considered to be a promising therapeutic for autistic children (Kidd, 2002; Richardson and Ross, 2000), the best evidence currently available to support this claim comes from research showing that autistic children have lower DHA levels in blood than children with mental retardation (Vancassel, et al 2001; Bell, et al 2000). Additional support comes from evidence that low plasma omega-3 levels in boys were associated with behavior problems, temper tantrums, and sleep disorders (Stevens, et al 1996).

I should add that I don't see any particular changes in Jimmy & Andrew thanks to fish oil.

I give it to them because it's obvious to me that Omega 3 fatty acids are critically important for the brain, period - and because I do see obvious changes in me thanks to fish oil.

Jimmy & Andrew have such severe forms of autism that I don't think it would be pretty hard to see subtle improvements.

update: Andrew & cod liver oil

Since we have some parents with autistic kids reading the site, I think I should post this.

Both Andrew and Jimmy are highly sensitive to medication changes.

I ran out of my Nordic Natural liquid fish oil a couple of months ago, and didn't get around to ordering new fish oil until last week.

I ordered Carlson's cod liver oil.

Yesterday I gave Andrew 1 tsp, and he had a horrendous half-day. Then he settled down sometime in the afternoon, and was pretty good.

This morning he's been great.

Twenty minutes ago I gave him 1 tsp of Carlson's cod liver oil, and now he's screaming & tantruming.

So.

I don't know what to make of this.

Either he's 'getting readjusted' to fish oil, or he's not supposed to be taking cod liver oil.

I don't remember problems like this with the Nordic Natural product. (Which is not to say they didn't happen. We have so much tantruming & screaming that we often miss the cause.)

Jimmy's been fine both days. But he's 18, and much more stable than Andrew at this point. (fyi: Andrew is 11. He is Christopher's twin.)

I have no idea whether Andrew's tantrums are connected to the cod liver oil.

However, I'll probably go ahead and order the new Omegabrite produce & switch him to that. Jimmy can use up the cod liver oil....

update: Andrew's fine, too

There's obviously no problem with Andrew taking Carlson's product.

update: The Omega Plan

Joseph Hibbeln recommends Artemis P. Simopoulos & Jo Robinson's book, which was the first book I read about the Omega 3s. Simopoulos also did NIH-funded research on the Omega 3 fatty acids, IIRC.

I thought it was terrific.

Nordic Cod Liver Oil from Kirkman Labs

Nordic Naturals Omega 3 oil from iherb.com

Carlson Norwegian Cod Liver Oil

Jo Robinson website (coauthor of OMEGA PLAN)

while we're on the subject of Jo Robinson —

I also like her book When Your Body Gets the Blues very much.

Check out her research page - wonderful stuff on light, mood, & weight (though I can't find the study they used to have posted showing weight loss from sitting in the sun....). The original 'body blues' study is here.

WHEN YOUR BODY GETS THE BLUES is the other alternative-medicine self-help book I believe absolutely.

Ever since reading the book, I try to get all 3 kids outdoors in the sun for 20 minutes every day.

These study findings suggest that a program of moderate-intensity walking, increased light exposure, and selected vitamins can improve women's mood. The high level of adherence to the intervention suggests that women could comfortably incorporate this tri-modal program into their daily lives. These findings extend the work of other studies that have demonstrated the positive influence of each independent component (light, exercise, and vitamins) on mood (Kripke 1998; Wirz-Justice et al. 1996; Blumenthal et al. 1999; Moses et al. 1989; Benton, Fordy, and Haller 1995).
Women in the intervention group improved significantly compared to those in the control group on all five dependent variables that measured mood and well-being. Not only did their depression scores decrease, they also reported greater self-esteem, improved general well-being, and greater happiness.
We were particularly interested in determining whether the intervention addressed symptoms more prevalent in women than men, such as anxiety and fatigue. The subscales of the POMS showed that the women in the intervention group experienced a significant decrease in anger and tension. Meanwhile their vitality improved, as measured by the GWB subscales.

Omega 3 fatty acids
brain food

-- CatherineJohnson - 03 Feb 2006

RobertDeLongReviewArticle 09 Feb 2006 - 20:52 CatherineJohnson

(section on bipolar disorder & math below)

Robert DeLong is one of the greats.

I invited him to an autism conference a few years back, and did a long interview with him.....and have now misplaced the notes. (Time Timer & David Allen are going to fix all that.)

Quite by accident I discovered the other day that DeLong published a review article in 2004. I'll post bits of it as I read through.

In a nutshell, DeLong believes that autism is caused by the gene or genes for bipolar disorder expressed early in life instead of later on.

Until this is proved wrong, I believe it.

Here's the abstract:

Family history studies of autism consistently reveal a large subgroup with a high incidence of major mood disorder in family members, suggesting the two entities are related clinically and genetically. This review examines this concept, comparing current clinical and biological knowledge of autism and major mood disorder, and advances the hypothesis that this subgroup of autism represents an early-life phenotype of major mood disorder. If confirmed, this hypothesis would suggest that the basic biological defects determining major mood disorders may have prominent neurodevelopmental and cognitive dimensions. Testing of the hypothesis will depend on genetic studies. (The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 2004; 16:199–213)
Autism and Familial Major Mood Disorder: Are They Related? (pdf file)
Robert DeLong, M.D., D.S.

As I understand it, a similar line of thought is being developed in schizophrenia research. Where we once understood schizophrenia to be a mental illness, it's looking more like a 'neurodevelopmental disorder.'

At least, it was last I checked.

By the way, some of these 'cognitive dimensions' will be good.

I like this part:

I am inclined to agree that idiopathic autism can be divided conveniently into two “taxa,” as some have designated.⁹ One is higher functioning, often with preserved islands of skills and prominent anxiety, obsessiveness, mood disorder, positive family history of major mood disorder, and frequently a family history of unusual intellectual ability/achievement.

Hah!

This is self-evidently true!

bipolar disorder and math

I suspect we'll find that the line between 'cognitive' disorders and 'emotional' disorders isn't really a line.

Here's a report from SCIENCE NEWS $:

Dalhousie researchers had previously noted a link between math problems and bipolar disorder. Their 1996 review of medical and academic records for 44 teenagers with the illness found that they had performed well in school until the onset of psychiatric symptoms. While the students received treatment for bipolar disorder over the next 4 years, their school performance deteriorated far more in math than in any other subject.
In the new study, the scientists administered academic and intelligence tests to three groups of teens: 44 taking prescribed medications for bipolar disorder and whose symptoms had largely diminished, 30 who had responded well to treatments for major depression, and 45 who had no past or current psychiatric ailment.
The teenagers with bipolar disorder scored much lower on a broad range of math problems than those in the other two groups did, the researchers say. This math deficit appeared regardless of whether the participants had a limited or unlimited amount of time to solve each problem. Girls with bipolar disorder scored much lower on math tests than their male counterparts. A less pronounced sex disparity in math scores appeared in the other two groups.
In contrast, the three groups of teen participants displayed no differences in scores on reading, spelling, and nonverbal intelligence tests.
Intriguingly, school records for the teens with bipolar disorder show that their math grades dropped noticeably beginning about 1 year before their psychiatric condition was diagnosed, says Dalhousie psychiatrist Stanley P. Kutcher, a study coauthor. The onset of math troubles long before exposure to psychoactive medication underscores Kutcher's suspicion that brain changes associated with bipolar illness disturb math reasoning.

I have no idea whether this finding will be replicated. It's intriguing.

Of course, now I'm going to have to spend mental energy NOT panicking every time Christopher hoses a math test in high school.

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