Op-Ed: Broken Safety Net Leaves Patients Stranded in Emergency Department
Chicago Health is committed to publishing a diversity of opinions. The opinions expressed in this op-ed article are the author’s own. If you were to recently set foot in our moderate-sized, urban community emergency department (ED), you might notice a pale, awkward, endearingly giggly teenage boy sitting next to the nursing station. He may have […]
Sensory-Friendly Events
Chicago theaters and museums set the scene for families with special needs Chicago has a wealth of cultural opportunities, but for some families, those options are off the table. Families with children on the autism spectrum often opt to stay home if they feel their loved one might be disruptive at a busy museum. Others […]
Research hints at a nutritional strategy for reducing autism risk
Folic acid has long been touted as an important supplement for women of childbearing age for its ability to prevent defects in the baby’s developing brain and spinal cord. In fact, folic acid is considered so important that it is added as a supplement to breads, pastas, rice and cereals to help ensure that women […]
Recognizing the Special Talents of People on the Autism Spectrum
Pictured above: Theater production of “Cats” by Artful Impact Rachel Gossan, a board-certified behavior analyst at North Shore Pediatric Therapy, has had some remarkable patients. She remembers an 8-year-old who could do lightning-fast calculations of large numbers in his head and come up with the correct answer. She recalls a teen who would ask people […]
Looking For Autism
By Claire McCarthy, M.D. Autism isn’t exactly something parents want to find in their child, so it’s understandable that parents might feel uneasy about looking for it. But looking for autism is important — and something that has become part of routine pediatric care. Currently, one out of every 68 children has been diagnosed with […]
The Blue Man Group Goes for a Hit with Autism-Friendly Show
By Nancy Maes When some of the staff members of Blue Man Group read a newspaper article about a special performance of the Broadway production of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, adapted for people with autism, they decided they wanted to do an autism-friendly version of their wild-and-crazy show that is performed by three mischievous […]
Brightness on the Spectrum
While autism’s numbers rise, new treatments provide hope By Tom Mullaney Photo above courtesy of CARD, Inc. Cases of autism are rising precipitously; more children have autism spectrum disorder (ASD) than ever before, recognized in part due to an increase in earlier diagnosis. While the numbers are daunting, programs in the Chicago area are showing […]
Health Mastery
Living in the Is: One Family’s Journey with Autism I know an amazing woman. She—without all the coaching and spiritual work that I have done—embodies and lives all that I have been taught and now passionately pass on to others. And she has lived these ideas while traveling through, what she calls, the nightmare of […]
Adults with Autism and Brain Injuries
Image courtesy of The Julie + Michael Tracy Family Foundation [spacer style=”3″] When faced with medical or developmental challenges, it helps to have aid from resources that offer support. And when those resources don’t exist, motivated parents create them. That’s the case with these two Chicago-based nonprofits. By Megy Karydes The Julie + Michael Tracy […]
The Environmental Link to Autism and Intellectual Disability
By Tom Mullaney In the largest environmental study of its kind, scientists from the University of Chicago have found a geographic link between the incidence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID). The seven-member research team, led by Andrey Rzhetsky, MD, at University of Chicago Medicine, analyzed more than 100 million U.S. medical […]
The Second City Training Center Gives Doses of Laughter to Autism
Photo above: The Second City Training Center Artistic Director Matt Hovde When Nick Johne, who teaches improv at the Second City Training Center (SCTC) and DePaul University, was exploring therapies for his 6-year-old daughter with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), he discovered one thing that troubled him: There were no programs in which youngsters could laugh […]
