tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77749218074607264532024-03-05T23:01:55.387-08:00Tammy's BlogTammy is a <a href="http://www.regent.edu/acad/undergrad/academics/degree/psychology/">Psychology Degree</a> student at Regent University.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774921807460726453.post-18642960796207964892007-10-04T12:57:00.000-07:002007-10-04T13:12:18.655-07:00<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0); font-weight: bold;">“Perfect love, we know, casteth out fear. </span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0); font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" > </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0); font-weight: bold;">Bust so do several other things – ignorance, alcohol, passion, presumption, and stupidity. </span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0); font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" > </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0); font-weight: bold;">It is very desirable that we should all advance to that perfection of love in which we shall fear no longer; but it is very undesirable, until we have reached that stage, that we should allow any inferior agent to cast out our fear”</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0); font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" > </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0); font-weight: bold;">(C.S. Lewis from The World’s Last Night and Other Essays (1952) para 30, p. 109)</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">As some of you know, it is my goal to attend <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/">Oxford University</a> next summer.<span style=""> </span>Please pray that the Lord will show me the way to achieve this goal financially.<span style=""> </span>Recently the Lord led a retired librarian into my life who went to <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Oxford</st1:place></st1:city> one summer also.<span style=""> </span>It was and is so thrilling to have someone to talk with who shares my passion about this trip!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">As some of you know, my past was challenging and to be where I am today is such a gift of the Lord’s love and mercy.<span style=""> </span>Life as a child of God is truly amazing!<span style=""> </span>How grateful I am to even dream such dreams as Oxford and how thrilled I am to be earning my degree at Regent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In Christ, <span style=""><o:p></o:p></span><span style="">Tammy<br /><br /></span></p>Tammyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11318704651307668688noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774921807460726453.post-84659862947398386332007-09-29T18:32:00.000-07:002007-09-29T18:35:52.205-07:00New Webcam :)<p><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyWtYgYIRtc9p6noLdRhdrBeoTXCfajaIzDKNGSuhEvnlxh4XpwcMWGIvlwZ_I9oQumx8zk02UAtXCcO5sOoA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></p><p>Cognitive psychology and statistics - oh my! What a combination of classes. Whew. Well, we are at six weeks. Two more to go. Gosh, this session has gone fast. </p>Tammyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11318704651307668688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774921807460726453.post-60189726283361821042007-09-19T13:25:00.000-07:002007-09-19T14:26:42.151-07:00Doing the Right Thing<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRmSZi7w0tw_bi6aUlAXmQFwjFtMDx-1_Krd6b3oIFdkO8JPrb8TpLC7x6kjGj5h88e3q034j8DokLMdJCExUeXAktVj2yJNdDLippbtiFR3T5OIer4OkwJpwSbHuk3HkoILkSxfkfHNg/s1600-h/tammyhomepage.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5112021981924146290" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRmSZi7w0tw_bi6aUlAXmQFwjFtMDx-1_Krd6b3oIFdkO8JPrb8TpLC7x6kjGj5h88e3q034j8DokLMdJCExUeXAktVj2yJNdDLippbtiFR3T5OIer4OkwJpwSbHuk3HkoILkSxfkfHNg/s320/tammyhomepage.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:130%;color:#009900;">"You can't get second things by putting them first; you can get second things only by putting first things first." (Lewis, 1942, p. 280)</span><br /><div><br /><div><br />I’ve recently learned a valuable lesson. After finishing the summer research project at UGA, I applied for two jobs. Then, my classes resumed at Regent.<br /><br />One was a second shift, full-time position where I could study during the slow times. It didn’t pay much but had benefits. The other one would be a part-time guaranteed one day a week substitute job with occasionally more days, no benefits, but much better pay. In fact, one day a week there would almost equal the entire week's pay at the other job.<br /><br />The part-time company offered me the position. It sounded great and I accepted. I looked forward to not being away from my family full-time at night. I accepted the position via phone to the corporate office. Then, I called the full-time company to let them know I had taken something else. The manager of the full-time company called me back later in the day and said that they had planned to offer me that job too and wouldn’t I reconsider.<br /><br />I agreed to reconsider but with no promises. So, I prayed and prayed, talked to people, and decided that it might be best to take the full-time job after all because it would guarantee that my school work would not get behind and we would have health benefits. I didn’t like the idea of the hours though. My decision was to drive to the part-time company and tell them I had changed my mind. Then, I would drop in at the full-time company and let them know that I WOULD accept their offer.<br /><br />As I drove, I rehearsed how to tell them that I had changed my mind. When I arrived there, the first words out of my new part-time boss-to-be mouth were “You’re not here to tell me you don’t want the position are you?” Then, she rushed me in. There was no time to respond. She was excitedly talking away. I was greeted sooooo warm and friendly that I found myself doubting my decision. It all seemed so good. I found myself thinking: “Does God really want me to be away from my family every night?” Needless to say, I never brought myself to say that I WAS there to tell her I didn’t want it. Even after learning that they really wanted me to work FULL-TIME for SIX WEEKS until the regular employee came back from leave. THEN it would be one day a week. I left their office with my decision totally reversed thinking that was what the Lord wanted me to do and making plans to juggle all those extra hours with my school work. </div><br /><div>Long story short, the position wasn’t anything like it had been explained in the interview or training. And my new boss – knowing the discrepancies between the training and actual job – continued to be fearful that I was going to leave. She, in fact, usually asked me each day if I was going to quit to the point of irritation. The warm environment portrayed on that first day turned out to be just a cover for an extremely bad work environment. However, I was bent on thinking this was where the Lord wanted me to be.<br /><br />After three weeks, however, I resigned after encountering a conflict there that I KNEW the Lord would not want me to participate in.<br /><br />In retrospect, I could blame the company for not being honest in the interview or during the training, but the bottom line is that I didn’t follow through on doing what I had prayed about. I was initially headed down there to decline their offer, but started doubting my own discernment and didn’t follow through with my initial plan. Was there a purpose for me being there? Was it actually supposed to be like it turned out. Yes. Everything has a purpose. But why - I will probably never know. </div><br /><div>Trusting God I did. Trusting myself I didn't do. There is such a fine balance sometimes. I would love to hear how others struggle with this balance!! I can say, however, alot was learned about myself and others in this experience. A lady from my church said that maybe the Lord didn’t want me at either job. That could be true, I suppose. And I certainly needed to recognize how easily I can doubt myself after prayer and discernment. And it reminded me of how much I have to be grateful for.<br /><br />Anyway, that’s where I’ve been all this time. Today it is wonderful to just, once again, to be back at Regent.</div><div></div><div>Tammy </div></div>Tammyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11318704651307668688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774921807460726453.post-58602857208881319302007-07-27T15:16:00.000-07:002007-07-27T15:38:44.813-07:00Sitting Still in the Desk ChairIt is 6:17 p.m. on Friday, July 27th. I handed in my research paper to the Grad School office at 3:30 p.m. this afternoon. What a feeling. It took well over 120 hours to write.The poster arrived today. Next Monday is the poster presentation and next Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. is my oral presentation. Prayers are appreciated. After Tuesday, I will linger here at the University of Georgia until Friday while completing my mentor's website. After that, I will go back to my home.<br /><br />I've been tidying up my office since coming back from the grad school. It looked like a tornado had been in here. There were articles and books everywhere. Then, I made the mistake of sitting down. Now I don't have the energy to even keep typing.......think I'll just want to sit for a few minutes and mindlessly stare into space. Do'h. <br /><br />In Christ, TammyTammyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11318704651307668688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774921807460726453.post-14805348884300395272007-07-14T10:28:00.000-07:002007-07-14T11:15:35.206-07:00The Autism Homepage by Gary Heffner<span style="color:#33cc00;"><em>"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."</em></span><a href="http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Antoine_de_Saint-Exupery/">Antoine de Saint-Exupery</a><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ff33;">MY LIFE:</span> Whew! What a week it has been. The research is going full blast, the paper is starting to come together, the poster for the poster presentation is in the works, the website for the professor is coming along nicely, I’ve been trying to recruit speakers for the psychology club, attended a poster/oral presentation workshop, going to the mandatory GRE prep classes from 6 – 9 p.m., and am preparing for an interview next week. (Plus a few other things) It is like running a race that never stops. Yet, at the same time - isn't life grand! I believe so.<br /><br />Our Heavenly Father gives us much if we are willing to step up to the plate and do the next right thing. How grateful I am to have enough energy and the ability to do all of these things. And with these gifts, I believe, come the responsibility of attempting to use them to the benefit of mankind and/or my fellow man whenever possible.<br /><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">BOUNDARIES:</span> However, believing that does not mean that I have no boundaries. When I was younger and before having a solid relationship with the Lord, I foolishly assumed that it was my "duty" to help everyone that requested help. I, in fact, resented other people that had boundaries and wouldn't drop everything if I thought someone else was in need. My incorrection assumption about "my duty" was benefitial to people once in a while, but detrimental to myself and more often did not bring Godly help for the other person. In retrospect, I think my ego wanted to be able to say how great I was.<br /><br />Now, with more clarity and the understanding that we are children of God, I have come to accept that help is not successfully if it is MY WILL instead of HIS WILL leading the way. My life has changed substantially for the better since coming to understand this concept several years ago. Today's attempts in helping others are usually much more successful, but even the one's that aren't provide a deeper understanding of myself and the nature of others.<br /><br /><span style="color:#33ff33;">AUTISM:</span> I’m excited to have a meeting with one of the professors for the autism clinic next week and will write more about that after the meeting. This may be an opportunity for me to get a professional opinion on the course I created for blackboard.<br /><br />My link for you today is written by the man that trained in me in Judevine, Gary Heffner. Judevine is an awesome program available for parents, teachers, and caregivers in southern Georgia. Link: <a href="http://groups.msn.com/TheAutismHomePage/startpage.msnw">The Autism Homepage</a></span><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;"></span><br />Happy day to you. It is time to get busy! TTammyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11318704651307668688noreply@blogger.com58tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774921807460726453.post-8306254796843588242007-07-06T06:48:00.000-07:002007-07-06T06:55:41.546-07:00AUTISM IN HISTORY<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0); font-style: italic;" class="body">"It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0); font-style: italic;">" </span><br /><span class="bodybold"> <a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/cslewis131286.html">C. S. Lewis</a> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Did you have a nice 4<sup>th</sup> of July?<span style=""> </span>We did with the traditional evening cook-out and watching fireworks. <span style=""></span>We even lucked out with a good parking spot and didn't have to sit in traffic for hours afterward. I was surprised at the number of stores open.<span style=""> </span>We went to Walmart and Home Depot to get a couple of supplies for the racing event at <a href="http://www.barbermotorsports.com/">Barber Motor Sports Park.</a>.<span style=""> </span>(For those of you that don’t know, my family is involved in racing. In fact they are at the track right now as I am working today.<span style=""> </span>It is hard to stay behind!)</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>In preparation for the research paper, I’ve been looking at the potential historical references to autism in depth along with the history of the classification and diagnosis process.<span style=""> </span>Below is a little bit of the history if you are interested.<span style=""> </span>It seems that the autism spectrum disorders may have been around for centuries without a classification.……</p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">SOME HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO AUTISM</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The first description for autistic characteristics along with the suggestion that autism was a unique syndrome first appeared in Leo Kanner’s 1943 paper entitled, <i style="">Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact</i>, describing eleven children who showed features different from childhood schizophrenia, mental retardation, feeble mindedness, and other frequently used terms of the era such as idiots and imbeciles.<span style=""> </span>However, there is some evidence that what we know now as the autistic spectrum disorders may have existed in prior centuries.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In retrospect, especially after decades of research and the discover of additional subtypes, we can now look back at certain cases as Uta Frith did with analysis of the court records of Hugh Blair, a man that showed many symptoms of autism documented in his court case of 1747, and argue that autism could have possibly been with us for at least two hundred and fifty years or more.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Some believe that Henry Maudsley’s 1879 edition of <i style="">The Pathology of the Mind</i>, may have recorded a thirteen year old boy that had Asperger’s syndrome, but Asperger’s syndrome was not called such until it first appeared in Austrian’s physician’s Hans Asperger’s 1944 paper, <i style="">autistischen psychopathen,</i> describing four higher functioning children than those described by Kanner.<span style=""> </span>Although the children that Asperger described had somewhat superior cognitive and language abilities, they also share overlapping characteristics with the children that Kanner had described.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">There is also the well documented case of, Victor, “the wild boy of Aveyron” found in 1798 and described by Dr. Jean Itard.<span style=""> </span>Dr. Itard created teaching methods from working with Victor and others that are “still relevant today in the education of children with autism and with other language and intellectual disabilities” (from p 202 in The History of Autism) Lorna Wing, who made Asperger’s known in the western world, has been quoted as saying, “there can be no doubt that Victor was autistic”.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In addition to recent history, at least one research report suggests that autism may even be mentioned in the folkloric heritage of several countries.<span style=""> </span>There are stories of children are described as changelings; characterized by unresponsiveness, resistance to physical affection, obstreperousness, inability to express emotion, unexplained crying, rigidity, and some are unable to speak. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">And the word <i style="">autistic</i> was originally used by Eugen Bleuler, who created the term “Schizophrenia” in 1911.<span style=""> </span>Autism described certain aspects of schizophrenia until Kanner suggested that is was its own syndrome in 1944. <span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></p>Tammyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11318704651307668688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774921807460726453.post-29189616675062300022007-06-30T09:37:00.000-07:002007-06-30T09:47:39.939-07:00Frances Tustin (A Hot and Sunny Saturday Here)<span style="color:#33cc00;"><em>"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair." </em></span><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/cslewis141015.html">C. S. Lewis</a><br /><br />It’s Saturday! Hope everyone is having an enjoyable day. I found myself drawn back to the office again today to do some additional week-end research and also plan to finish up this book by <a href="http://www.frances-tustin-autism.org/">Frances Tustin</a> entitled, <em><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=x_A_7tkE3BUC&dq=The+Protective+Shell+in+Children+and+Adults&pg=PP1&ots=puW7WbL4CH&sig=W9WcglrbUJzFYsoaw2LvRufXXKA&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fq%3DThe%2BProtective%2BShell%2Bin%2BChildren%2Band%2BAdults%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26startIndex%3D%26startPage%3D1&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title">The Protective Shell in Children and Adults</a></em>. I have found the book fascinating. That’s a mouthful considering my prejudice toward anyone interested in Freud’s work after learning that he called religion a “compulsive neurosis” in his 1927 book, regarded girls as “missing” their penises, and several other ideas that just seem completely bizarre to me.<br /><br />However, I haven’t studied Freud in any depth yet either. It is time to lay down my preconceived ideas.<br /><br />This has been a fascinating week of research.<br /><br />Happy Saturday - TTammyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11318704651307668688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774921807460726453.post-9934307771542330392007-06-28T08:06:00.000-07:002007-06-28T08:14:50.834-07:00Faith, Science, and Educational Resources (A shorter post during a busy day)<span style="color:#33cc00;"><em>"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."</em></span> <a href="http://www.christianquotes.org/">C.S. Lewis</a><br /><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">Faith and Science:</span> Being a psychology major may seem in contrast to believing in Christ, but it is not. The Lord made everything and provides everything. In learning about the world around us and our selves, we have the opportunity to witness the infinite detail of His work and to share it with others. However, I couldn’t imagine getting this degree anywhere else because I need to be reminded, at every step, that everything is His doing, not ours (or mine). The perception of what knowledge is and its contents can become intoxicating and misleading without the Lord to guide us.<br /><br />Regent gives me the education I want along with supporting my faith. I just can’t stress enough how important this can be. We recently had the opportunity to listen to <a href="http://www.ctr4process.org/about/CoDirectors/clayton/">Philip Clayton</a>, Ingraham Professor at Claremont School of Theology and Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the Claremont Graduate University, and visiting professor Harvard Divinity School. He gave a one hour lecture at Regent University (streamed live to those of us off campus) entitled, "Beyond the Battlelines: Why Christians Need to Engage with Science and How We Can Do It Successfully" during part two of the Forum for Science, Technology, and Renewal. It was very interesting. Thank you, Regent and Professor Clayton.<br /><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">Free Online Educational Resources:</span> Speaking of live streaming and web lectures....There are two really good resources I would like to recommend to anyone interested in free online learning: Berkeley has free webcasts at <a href="http://webcast.berkeley.edu/index.php">http://webcast.berkeley.edu/index.php</a> and MIT has free open course ware at <a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/index.htm">http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/index.htm</a>. (I used the Berkeley webcasts last year to go through their nutrition course. The textbook only cost a few dollars from Amazon.)<br /><br />Well, it is time to continue working on the research.<br /><br />In Christ, TammyTammyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11318704651307668688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774921807460726453.post-39016639333106267562007-06-27T09:57:00.000-07:002007-06-27T11:15:53.935-07:00HAPPY WEDNESDAY!<span style="color:#33cc00;"><strong>“<em>Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative</em>.”</strong></span> <a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/hgwells121062.html">H. G. Wells</a><br /><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">MY INTERESTS</span>: If you don’t know me - My interest and research is in autism. It seemed only right to start with the H.G. Wells quote this morning. His words may hold much truth for children with autism.<br /><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">WHERE AUTISM STANDS</span>: There are MANY theories on what is actually occurring in children with autism, why is it occurring, why some start to develop typically and then regress into it, and why some seem to “grow out” of it while many do not.<br /><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">TODAY'S INTERESTING THEORY 1</span>: One of the many interesting theories I have been reading about is the idea that autism is not so much a biological malfunction (although there may be specific biological or environmental components that predispose it) as an adaptation occurring from trauma at birth or while still in the womb.<br /><br />This idea does not involve physical trauma, but primitive brain trauma that somehow sets the stage for fear as a kind of first response. The autistic behaviors that typical people view as strange (flapping, staring, unresponsiveness to visual and audio stimuli, over responsiveness to being touched by material or people, etc.) might be considered just coping mechanisms for a child with autism. They do these things (consciously or not) as an adaptation response to allow them to survive (“not perish”) with specific stimuli viewed as overwhelming <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">stress</span>. Hence, if one thinks about it in such a fashion we can give consideration to the fact that autistic behaviors might actually be a positive (temporary) means of survival to an overwhelmed child. One author associated it with the likes of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">PTSD</span>. Beyond PTSD is the outcome of <a href="http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/p040458.html">post traumatic growth</a>. Could there not also be ASD growth too? I believe so.<br /><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">TODAY'S INTERESTING THEORY 2:</span> I don’t agree with much of Freud’s work or psychoanalysis, but want to read every considered cause of autism to properly do my research. With that said, another book I am currently reading is written by a British psychotherapist who talks about <em>more</em> than just the idea of auto-generated encapsulation and other psychoanalytic findings. While I disagree with the specific terms used to describe possible causes of the traumas suggested, I do like and agree with the fact that this author also considers trauma and fear as the motivation for autistic behaviors.<br /><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">MY CONCLUSION ABOUT THESE TWO THEORIES</span>: I do not agree with either of these authors about the cause, but the association with fear and possible trauma is important. My experiences lead me to believe people exhibiting autistic behaviors are coping with something that we have yet to understand and that the preconception of fear is atleast a part of it.<br /><br />I do NOT believe that autism equals brain damage! In fact, quite the contrary, it seems that even the “low functioning” people I know with autism have quite a remarkable way of thinking and manipulating the situations around them if observers are smart enough to catch onto it. I believe that all people with autism (even those deemed low functioning) are of equal intelligence with us people deemed “typical”, but it doesn't show up on our current intelligence tests. I also believe that some people with autism have greater and lesser intelligence too, but do not actually have mental retardation, MR, unless it is a concomitant disorder.<br /><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">THE MEANING OF “AUTISM” AND WHEN IT BEGAN</span>: It is important to understand the origins of the “autism” label we are so widely using today. Leo <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Kanner</span> wrote the first paper describing early infantile autism in 1943 after observing several children and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Asperger's</span> syndrome, currently considered a subtype of autism, was originally described by an Austrian psychiatrist, Hans <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Asperger</span>, in 1944.<br /><br />However, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Kanner</span> did not invent the word. The word autistic was used to describe schizophrenic thought patterns in patients with schizophrenia. The word is derived from a Greek word "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">authos</span>", meaning self. Autistic thinking has been defined as "self-centered" or thinking which is intelligent but only to the self. Autism has also been defined as a “barrier” in some neurotic patients.<br /><br />Furthermore, since scientists consider empirical evidence, we might also consider a paper wrote by <a href="http://www.melanie-klein-trust.org.uk/">Melanie Klein</a> in 1930 that describes what would now be considered an autistic child but was then diagnosed as “dementia <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">praecox</span>” (schizophrenia). This was fourteen years before Kanner's paper. By the way, Schizophrenia was first described by Emil <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Kraepelin</span> in 1896. However, dates do not mean that these disorders did not exist before the given date. The date is only when the label (or mislabel) was created or given for a specific group of symptoms. Autism, schizophrenia, and many other disorders may have been with us for many centuries. We don’t know how long autism has been around.<br /><br />Since there is no world or national database for who is diagnosed with what and who isn't, people have varied opinions on if autism is increasing or if it is just being diagnosed more and more as our labels for the autistic spectrum disorders, ASD, become more clear and refined. The media has also given ASD alot of attention in the last few years. When we become aware of something, we are able to notice it more. I know I am noticing ASD alot more, but like everyone else - is it because I've been made aware of it or because it is on the uprise in the world? We've also got to consider that such conditions in the U.S. would have been a one way ticket to an institution in the not so long ago past, but today's movement is for support and community involvement, not institutionalizing. We may have opportunites for more encounters with people with ASD than the U.S. generations did before us.<br /><br />My gut feeling is that ASD is on the uprise, but I have no proof.<br /><br />In Christ, T<br /><br />P.S. Psychology is a relatively new (less than 150 years) academic discipline. If you are curious, here is a time line of psychology from <a href="http://library.thinkquest.org/C005870/history/index.php?id=timeline">psycholpedia</a>.Tammyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11318704651307668688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774921807460726453.post-89579743532487146662007-06-26T07:14:00.000-07:002007-06-26T08:15:09.414-07:00Hello All!<em>"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell."</em> <a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/cslewis105357.html">C. S. Lewis</a><br /><br />I am excited to begin blogging today! My friend, <a href="http://otherlives.blogspot.com/">Nancy</a>, has been blogging for quite some time and suggested (last year) that I try my hand at it.<br /><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">CURRENT HAPPENINGS:</span> Right now I am spending eight weeks on the campus of the <a href="http://www.uga.edu/">University of Georgia</a> doing my first undergraduate research project in the department of educational psychology. My husband and I are using this time to "date" again and making the separation as fun as possible. It is a real blessing to be here and an honor to have this opportunity. However, I miss my classmates at <a href="http://www.regent.edu/">Regent University </a>and the Christian atmosphere and am also looking forward to returning to classes there in the fall.<br /><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">MY SCHOOL:</span> Regent is the most awesome University. I don't go on campus there, but am an online student. Yet, the distance doesn't even seem to exist. I've made fantastic friends, have wonderful professors, and love being the president of the psychology club and on the student council. It has really strengthened my walk with the Lord.<br /><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISE:</span> Prayer is very important in my life. I would love to hear your prayer requests or praises. Also, I may ask if you would pray for me or different people at times. My life today is SO MUCH BETTER than the years before I knew the Lord! Isn't it amazing to have a personal relationship with the Heavenly Father? And, WOW, what a family He gives to us! I have a big and wonderful Christian family by marriage, a fantastic church family, many dear friends, and two very special Aunts and some cousins in NY that I communicate with on a regular basis even though we are far apart. I am so glad to be in the Lord's grace and mercy. However, some my closest "kin" in my biological family do not enjoy the Lord's blessings and understand His love and mercy. It is for these that I pray the most. It is hard to be estranged from the ones I would like to love, but my presence is not wanted at this time in their lives.<br /><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">RECIPES:</span> Does anyone else like recipes???!!! My dear Aunt just sent me several old cookbooks from 1910-1950. (I enjoy collecting and trying new recipes) Do you have any recipes you would like to share? It would be fun to trade!<br /><br />It's time to return to researching. The blogging today has been fun. I look forward to meeting each of you all and making new friends from this adventure. In Christ, TTammyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11318704651307668688noreply@blogger.com0