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Shonda Schilling, the wife of retired Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, shares the painful and joyous story of her son Grant's struggle with Asperger's syndrome, and how it changed her life and her family. In this excerpt from her book, "The Best Kind of Different," she recounts her breaking point as a mother who didn't understand what was wrong with her son.

TUBA CITY, Ariz. — After less than two hours in the maternity ward, with her boyfriend, his mother and a nurse-midwife by her side, Jacquelynn Torivio gave birth to a five-pound, five-ounce son with his grandmother’s dimples and a full head of shiny black hair.

As she held him, Ms. Torivio’s spirits clearly matched her Hopi name, Nuquahynum — “a feather flying high.”

It was the kind of birth that many women in the United States could only wish for. Ms. Torivio had a vaginal birth, even though her previous child had been delivered by Caesarean section. Because of that prior surgery, many hospitals would not have let her even try to give birth vaginally, but would have required another Caesarean.

Increasingly, neuroscientists, psychologists and educators believe that bullying and other kinds of violence can indeed be reduced by encouraging empathy at an early age. Over the past decade, research in empathy — the ability to put ourselves in another person's shoes — has suggested that it is key, if not the key, to all human social interaction and morality.

Kids spend an average of more than 7 hours a day with some form of media.  As a result, they sometimes grow up having more interaction with TV, the Internet, and other media messages than people.  Media Literacy refers to the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media messages of all kinds.  This interactive training will explore basic concepts of media literacy by examining TV commercials, messages and print ads, and tobacco and alcohol marketing.  We will work in small and large groups to discuss the language of persuasion, deconstruct ads, and create counter messages.  After this training, participants will have a greater understanding of media literacy and walk away with tools they can use with their learners. Objective 1: Participants will define media literacy and understand some techniques of persuasion. Objective 2: Participants will understand how media literacy education helps prevent tobacco and alcohol initiation among youth. Objective 3: Participants will learn new media literacy activities and exercises they can do with their learners. The Media Literacy Professional Development Project will assist the state's school districts in meeting the Montana media literacy content standards by offering Media Literacy Professional Development (PD) to Montana teachers.  Please note that media literacy is included in both Curriculum Arts and Health Enhancement standards. There are no fees for this taining but registration is required. Mileage reimbursement will be paid for those outside the Billings area. Scheduled Workshops (Mountain): Febraury 15, 2011 (6:00 to 8:00PM) March 14, 2011 (9:00 to 11:00AM) March 30, 2011 (9:00 to 11:00AM) Location: All workshops are scheduled at for MSUB, College of Education Building, Room 122. To Register: More information at http://www.msubillings.edu/smart/training/medialiteracy.htm Registration form at http://www.msubillings.edu/mcdregister/MediaLiteracyRegistration.htm. If you would be interested in scheduling or attending a training session on Media Literacy contact John Keener, MRESA3 Coordinator, at john.keener@msubillings.edu or call 657-1743 for more information or to schedule a training.  There is no fee for this service.

Schools that have clear policies, procedures and activities designed to prevent bullying and have supportive staff and student organizations can be effective in reducing verbal and physical harassment. These kinds of positive school climates are associated with reduced suicide risk and better mental health among LGBT students [5,6].  For youth to thrive in their schools and communities, they need to feel socially, emotionally, and physically safe. Schools, communities, parents, and youth have a role to play in building positive, supportive, and healthy environments for youth. Such environments promote acceptance and respect and help youth feel valued [7].

Narrowing the Achievement Gap by Expanding Time in School: What Educators Need to Consider What: Expanding the school day or year is one strategy educators are employing to try to narrow the achievement gap. How schools use that time, experts say, should be tailored to meet the needs of individual schools. At the same time, though, there are proven policies and practices schools need to adopt to reach their goals. Finding that balance is tricky. Some schools have succeeded; others have failed. As more schools move toward expanded learning time using state or federal funding, what kinds of model designs should they choose, what tools are out there to help them, and what should their expectations be? Join us for a webinar that explores what educators should consider when implementing an expanded learning time model. When: Wednesday, August 10, 2011 11:30am - 12:30 pm Mountain Also available "on demand" any time 24 hours after the event Guests: Jennifer Davis, Co-Founder & President, National Center for Time and Learning. Emily McCann, president, Citizens Schools. Free registration is now open.

MK-869 wasn't the only highly anticipated medical breakthrough to be undone in recent years by the placebo effect. From 2001 to 2006, the percentage of new products cut from development after Phase II clinical trials, when drugs are first tested against placebo, rose by 20 percent. The failure rate in more extensive Phase III trials increased by 11 percent, mainly due to surprisingly poor showings against placebo. Despite historic levels of industry investment in R&D, the US Food and Drug Administration approved only 19 first-of-their-kind remedies in 2007—the fewest since 1983—and just 24 in 2008. Half of all drugs that fail in late-stage trials drop out of the pipeline due to their inability to beat sugar pills.

Today, about 50 million Americans, or 1 in 5 people, are living with at least one disability, and most Americans will experience a disability some time during the course of their lives. Anyone can have a disability. Some people are born with a disability, get hurt or sick and have disability as a result, or develop a disability as they age. Some people may have a disability that lasts a short time while other people have a disability that lasts a lifetime. Different kinds of disabilities affect people in different ways. 

If you are living with a disability or provide services for people with disabilities, learn about health care and health programs to support the overall well-being of people with disabilities.

What: Kids spend an average of more than 7 hours a day with some form of media.  As a result, they sometimes grow up having more interaction with TV, the Internet, and other media messages than people.  Media Literacy refers to the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media messages of all kinds.  This interactive training will explore basic concepts of media literacy by examining TV commercials, messages and print ads, and tobacco and alcohol marketing.  We will work in small and large groups to discuss the language of persuasion, deconstruct ads, and create counter messages.  After this training, participants will have a greater understanding of media literacy and walk away with tools they can use with their learners. Objectives: Participants will define media literacy and understand some techniques of persuasion. Participants will understand how media literacy education helps prevent tobacco and alcohol initiation among youth. Participants will learn new media literacy activities and exercises they can do with their learners. The Media Literacy Professional Development Project will assist the state's school districts in meeting the Montana media literacy content standards by offering Media Literacy Professional Development (PD) to Montana teachers.  Please note that media literacy is included in both Curriculum Arts and Health Enhancement standards. OPI Renweal Units are available. There are no fees for this taining but registration is required. SCHEDULED WORKSHOPS: May 6, 2011 - (9:00 to Noon) May 11, 2011 - (9:00 to Noon) May 17, 2011 - (9:00AM to Noon) All workshops are scheduled at for MSUB, College of Education Building, Room 122. TO REGISTER: For further information go to http://www.msubillings.edu/smart/training/medialiteracy.htm To register go to http://www.msubillings.edu/mcdregister/MediaLiteracyRegistration.htm

The longest study of its kind shows that an early education program for children from low-income families provides benefits that last well into adulthood.

The Yale Seminar on Autism and Related Disorders is the United States' first undergraduate course of its kind. Our goal for this website is to make all of the lecture content and supporting materials available online for free for anyone who desires to learn about Autism Spectrum Disorders.

The animated characters in your preschooler’s favorite TV show invite her to interact, play and learn. But is she learning? Only a little, according to a Vanderbilt study, which found that educational programming is minimally effective unless parents watch too—and engage the child. In a first-of-its-kind study, parents were trained to pause, ask questions and encourage the child to tell parts of the story while they watched educational videos together. When evaluated, the 3-year-olds whose parents used this simple technique—known as dialogic questioning—showed significant gains in vocabulary and comprehension over those who watched alone.

Most of the genetic risk for autism comes from versions of genes that are common in the population rather than from rare variants or spontaneous glitches, researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have found. Heritability also outweighed other risk factors in this largest study of its kind to date. About 52 percent of the risk for autism was traced to common and rare inherited variation, with spontaneous mutations contributing a modest 2.6 percent of the total risk.

We felt terrible for the school team. And we felt bad for the family, too; we heard that they had been banned from the school. One thing we knew for sure—we would never be the kind of parents who would go to due process. We were not lawsuit people and didn’t even know any lawyers. If we ever had differences, we would find a way to work them out. Due process for us? No way!

It's been painful to read the long and varied list of what people believe causes autism. In the beginning, I would investigate every possible lead like it mattered. Soon, I would learn to pick and choose ideas from the mass of information that seemed plausible, or even remotely possible. More recently, I have decided that it doesn't matter at all. It hurts more than it helps and knowing what may or may not cause autism won't change a thing about our perfect girl. There are some who would prey on our fear in order to profit from touting false cures. Some may truly believe what they are selling and some are the worst kind of predator. And some cause harm by jumping on one of these bandwagons to spread ideas that hurt our cause. I would like to address some of the more harmful propaganda surrounding causes of autism. When people posit or perpetuate some of the following ideas, it hurts our community irreparably.