Download Hd Youtube Videos

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This free application allows you to download videos from YouTube and save it to your local computer. The videos are automatically converted to Avi or MP4 format, so you do not need any other converter or additional program to make them work on your computer or mobile.

However, the main distinguishing feature of YouTube Downloader HD is that now you can download High Quality videos and High Definition videos from YouTube.

You are welcome to download it form my blog. Enjoy!

FEATURES

1. Easy to use: just copy video URL from your web browser and paste to Youtube Downloader HD.
   No need to use scripts or browser plug-ins.
2. Convert downloaded video to various formats.
3. Download Youtube High Definition videos (available on certain videos)
4. Unicode support: Youtube Downloader HD can save movies whose names have non-standard characters (like Chinese, Japanese, Cyrillic, etc.)

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

1. OS: Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP/2003/Vista
2. CPU: 400 MHz or higher
3. RAM: 128 MB or more
4. Hard Drive: 10 MB of free space

VIDEO FORMATS

Youtube Normal Video
High Quality (MP4)
Youtube High Definition

Picture Resolution
320 x 240
480 x 320
1280 x 720 (720p)

Audio
22kHz 64 Kbps
Mono
44.1kHz 128 Kbps
Stereo
44.1kHz 232 Kbps
Stereo

Video Bitrate
200 Kbps
512 Kbps
1024 Kbps

Video Codec
flash
h.264
(compatible with iPod)
h.264

Audio Codec
MP3
AAC
(compatible with iPod)

AAC

whiteman
http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/download-hd-youtube-videos-755622.html

What’s Schizophrenia

DID YOU KNOW schizophrenia is an imbalance of brain chemicals? It is said by the National Institution of Mental Health [NIMH] (2006) that schizophrenia is a brain disorder that affects about 1% of all Americans. Research shows there are different types of symptoms, causes, diagnosis, and treatments of schizophrenia. Understanding all of the causes and symptoms of schizophrenia leads to the proper diagnosis and treatment of this disorder.

There are three different types of symptoms of schizophrenia. The three consist of positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and cognitive symptoms.

The positive symptoms can consist of hallucinations, delusions, and thought disorder. Hallucinations are “things” that appear to be there but are just a figure of ones imagination, things that don’t exist. Delusions are defined as false ideas. Thought disorder is a term used to describe a pattern of disordered language use that is presumed to reflect disordered thinking

The negative symptoms can range from many different things that are often also mistaken for other disorders. A decrease in the ability to keep plans, speak, and express emotions fall into the negative symptoms. Also emotional flatness, social withdrawal, extreme apathy, and a lack of drive or initiative in daily life would fall under the negative symptoms. Negative symptoms are the hardest to diagnosis because they are often confused with depression or the use of drugs.

Cognitive symptoms would be classified as attention problems. Cognitive symptoms are detected when a neuropsychological test is preformed.

According to the article “Decoding Schizophrenia” in Scientific American (Javitt,D and Coyle,J, 2004) negative and cognitive symptoms fall into clusters know as the four A’s. The four A’s are autism, ambivalence, blunted affect, and loose association. Autism is the loss of interest in other people and activities. Ambivalence is the emotional withdrawal in a person. Blunted affect is marked by a bland and unchanging facial expression. Loose association is an effect of no clear logic and jumbling words together.

The cause of schizophrenia is still unknown but there are many theories people have. The Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC) suggests the cause of schizophrenia is that it is

linked to abnormalities of brain chemistry and brain structure. The National Mental Health Association (2006) says that it may be caused by genetics, biology, viral infections and immune disorders. Schizophrenia is the imbalance of two chemicals in the brain serotonin and dopamine. This chemical imbalance affects the brains reaction to stimuli.

The age that people are found to have schizophrenia varies. The (TAC) state that symptoms usually occur between the ages of 16-30. (NIMH) states that it is most common in men to have symptoms to emerge in there late teens and early 20’s. Mid 20’s to early 30’s is when it is more common for women’s symptoms of schizophrenia to emerge. There have been cases of schizophrenia in children as young as five, but it is uncommon. It is rare to find the symptoms after the age 45 and before puberty.

A doctor is the one that will diagnose schizophrenia. During diagnose, the doctor also needs to rule out any symptoms that may be brought on by drugs such as hallucinogens that are mistaken for schizophrenia. To be diagnosed for schizophrenia the symptoms have to last at least six months.

There are a few different types of schizophrenia: schizotypal, schizoid, paranoid, borderline, and disorganized. People who have schizotypal have oddities and also have eccentroties of perceptions. People who are schizoid tend to be loners, have virtually no friends, and also very often avoid social situations. Paranoid people usually suffer from hypersensitivity, mistrust, and are suspicious of others motivations. They are also quick to take offense. People who are borderline schizophrenia are very impulsive and unpredictable. People who suffer from disorganized schizophrenia are unable to plan things out and are impulsive as well.

Although there is no cure for schizophrenia yet, there are two different but similar types of antipsychotic medications that will help reduce the biochemical imbalances and control the symptoms. One type of antipsychotic is know as conventional which controls the positive symptoms, and the other one is atypical know as the “new generational” which treats both positive and negative symptoms with fewer side affects. It’s very important that if a person is put on an antipsychotic for schizophrenia that they continue to take the medication. If they do not stay on the medication they have a stronger chance in going into a relapse which for the most part is worse than the first time the person had the symptoms. It is said by (TAC) that only 30% of people will go into relapse while staying on the antipsychotic.

People that experience acute or severe symptoms may require hospitalization for intensive treatment. These include state psychiatric, private psychiatric, psychiatric wards, VA hospitals, and inpatient units of mental health centers.

Side effects of the antipsychotic medications are similar to most side effects that a person would have if on any kind of medication which includes dry mouth, blurred vision, constipation, and drowsiness. The more serious side effect that a person could encounter would be muscle control, pacing tremors, and facial ticks.

These are the basic facts of schizophrenia. There’s much more information that can be found at your local libraries.

DEVAN RININGER

DEVAN
http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/whats-schizophrenia-134160.html

How is Autism Treated

There have been stories and tales of a cure or magical treatment for autism. These claims are not true. They set up the hopes and dreams of both parents and teachers alike only to be disenchanted with the discovery that the claim is false. There has only been one proven treatment for autism and the treatment is not a cure. The treatment is an educational program that individually fits the autistic child’s abilities and works around the disabilities to teach the child alternative forms of communication and behavioral skills which will allow them some semblance of a normal adulthood.

When an autistic child reaches school age, there will be a meeting of professionals including a psychologist, doctors, parents, speech therapists, and other interested parties who will draw up an individualize education program for the child. The program will look at the abilities of the child and what level of achievement the child has had in the parent’s home and outside services. Mainstreaming the child into regular classrooms is the goal of the program, but the child will be pulled out of mainstream classes in order to provide special services which may include a speech instructor or an behavior specialist who works on both the communication process and the behavior associated with autism.

There are advocates that autistic children should be brought out of the mainstream classes and put into a more restrictive environment that will limit the sensory items that might distract or upset the child. The autistic child needs to have a pattern in their lives and in the mainstream classroom; the hustle and bustle of public education settings may lead them to sensory overload. Not only that but the social aspect of being different and not being able to contribute or communicate to the rest of the class can be heartbreaking to both the student and the teachers involved. The self- contained class room will break down tasks into manageable chunks that the child can be successful and maybe eventually learn.  The treatment process goes on both at home and at school. The autistic child must be taught how to appropriately interact with others. A common behavior in autistic children is to take off their clothes. They see no sense of wrong or right by being nude in public. Such behaviors need time and patience to mend and some methods might work for one child and then be completely a failure for others. Parents, teachers, and medical professionals need to keep abreast of new treatments so that they can replace a treatment or method that has been proven a failure for a particular child. Sometimes the behavior cannot be changed at all and the individualize education program must come up with strategies to deal with the behavior.

Parents and teachers must remember that the autism is a life long condition and as the child moves through life the treatments must change to fit the life period of that child. For example, when puberty come along the autistic child will discover themselves sexually and masturbation usually follows. The program must change to fit the new behavior of masturbation and in a few years it must change again to teach the child the appropriate behaviors with the opposite sex. The changes are not understood by the child, but like Pavlov’s dog, a conditioned response may be instilled in the child and the proper behavior may be a learned response.

Jonathan Sullivan
http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/how-is-autism-treated-519371.html

Cash in With Google Adsense and Youtube Videos

Videos on the Internet have become incredibly popular over the last few months with web sites like YouTube becoming some of the most popular sites on the Internet.

VideoBAM has also joined the Internet video market, creating a new service that allows users to create their own page of the videos they like, without having to set up any type of account. The best part about VideoBAM.com is that not only can visitors create a page of their favorite videos; they can also earn cash by using the web site.

The whole process of creating your own video page is quite simple. All you have to do is input a title and brief description of the page you are creating, and then select the videos. Users can either select the videos they want hosted on their page by inputting the URLs where the videos are located (Most be on YouTube.com), or can by entering general terms, such as “Car” or “Comedy” and have a page with related videos instantly created for you. You can even insert their YouTube username to help select the video page. Once you have selected the type of videos you want, enter your Google AdSense publisher ID and earn cash from your page.

Google AdSense is an advertising program where publishers display ads on their web site and get paid when a visitor clicks on an advertisement. By entering your publisher ID with VideoBAM, your ads will be displayed 50% of the time allowing you to earn from your video page.

It is very easy to create a page and you don’t have to pay anything, so head over to VideoBAM.com and get start cashing in on those Youtube videos.

For more information visit www.videobam.com or
Contact : contact@videobam.com

Ivan Wong
http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/cash-in-with-google-adsense-and-youtube-videos-62282.html

Cognitive Science – Nature of Intelligence

COGNITIVE SCIENCE – NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE

            Many people reading this article may not be familiar with the term ‘Cognitive Science’. But the term ‘Artificial Intelligence’ may sound familiar, as its often heard term and its a booming research area. ‘Cognitive Science’ may be considered as opposite of ‘Artificial Intelligence’, as former deals with study of intelligence in human ,where as  later deals with intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science which aims to create it.

            Cognitive science, the term was coined by Christopeher Longuet – Higgins in 1973. It is an interdisciplinary field. The interdisciplines are Psychology, Neuro science, Linguistics, Philosophy of mind, Computer Science, Anthropology, Biology and Physics. The objective of Cognitive Science is to attain a complete understanding of the mind/brain and its processes.

            Attaining the complete understanding of the mind/brain is not possible by single level analysis.  As the field is highly interdisciplinary, research often draws research methods from different fields such as Psychology , Neuro Science , Computer Science etc., Any of the research methods on their own would not fully explain the process of brain. The relational study of the outcomes of the researches can give a clear picture of process of brain, but to its limits.

            Consider the problem of remembering a phone number and recalling it later. The problem can be approached in many ways. Two of the ways are explained here. One approach is to study the behavior through direct observation i.e. accuracy of the response could be measured when the phone number is recalled by the person. Another approach is to study the working of individual neurons while the person is recalling the phone number. Neither of the approach on their own would solve the problem completely, as discussed before.

            Cognitive Science has yielded a multitude of practical applications. The area of Robotics has seen the development of new and more sophisticated robots capable of executing complex tasks, thus making a positive economic impact. Advances in Neuro science often result in new treatments for disorders such as Autism, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Cognitive theories in Psychology have provided new therapies for the treatment of anxiety and depression. Cognitive insights have also created an impact in education having led to new methods in the teaching of reading, writing and other subjects.

           Thus concentrating more on this field of research can yield much better outcomes to improve our society both economically and psychologically.

             

Preetha Lakshmi
http://www.articlesbase.com/science-articles/cognitive-science-nature-of-intelligence-731509.html

Health Gadget Promises Chemical Free Diet

In a world that is experiencing a rise in diseases such as autism, asthma, cancer and birth defects, it is time to evaluate the toxic chemicals that are in our homes and our diets. The National Environment Trust reported that the amount of toxic chemicals in the home is increasing at a rapid rate, exposed to individuals through their mouth, skin and lungs. Even organically grown foods have a very small percentage of chemical contamination allowed within their guidelines.

New Health Gadget Designed to Prevent Deadly Diseases

A newly designed health gadget, the Lotus Sanitizing System is designed with two main goals. The first is to remove and kill any and all pesticides and germs on the food that is eaten by your family. The second is to disinfect surfaces that your family touches on a daily basis. These two goals are accomplished with the use of simple tap water and the chemical free products that make up the Lotus Sanitizing System.

This revolutionary new system provides a natural and chemical free way to free your family from harmful chemicals in their daily diet and your home. It takes ozone molecules and infuses them into ordinary tap water. Ozone is an unstable molecule made up of three oxygen atoms (03). This creates a natural sterilizing agent that destroys bacteria and other microorganisms. The ozonated Lotus water is safe to use on food, skin and even your baby’s toys.

Buy The Lotus Sanitizing System Today For a Chemical Free Tomorrow

If you are someone that enjoys locating the newest health gadget on the market, you will truly enjoy the new Lotus Sanitizing System. Your purchase price of just under $200 will include the main unit and two specially designed containers for cleaning food items. A 16 oz trigger spray bottle and a clear plastic bowl with a combined lid/strainer. It comes with a one-year warranty and the peace of mind of knowing that you are doing all you can to provide a chemical free world for your family.

Anmol Taneja
http://www.articlesbase.com/nutrition-articles/health-gadget-promises-chemical-free-diet-126318.html

How To Treat Autism With Acupuncture

Studies have shown that there is an increase in the number of children that have been diagnosed with autism. Until now, doctors have not yet found a cure to this illness which is why some parents want to experiment with alternative forms of treatment and one example is acupuncture.

Acupuncture is a holistic approach in treating and preventing certain diseases. Its main tool are very thin needles that are inserted to targeted points in the body. The body has about 400 of them linked through a system known as meridians or pathways. Once these are stimulated, these are supposed to create balance in the body.

Autism on the other hand is a brain disorder that is long term. This disease is characterized by deficits in language, social communication and cognition. Children who are diagnosed with this illness may also suffer from secondary problems such as aggression, irritability, stereotypes, hyperactivity, negativism, volatile emotions, temper tantrums, short attention span and obsessive-compulsive behavior.

Preliminary studies have shown that acupuncture may provide symptomatic relief to children suffering from autism. Although difficult at first, it is believed that it is rewarding in the long run. This is because while conventional therapy and treatment requires that the child stay still, acupuncture doesn’t. Some say it’s a quick prick at the vital points in the body.

A group of children in the US participated in a test to see how effective acupuncture is among children. There are 22 respondents and each of them was given the treatment once every other day for four months.

After the treatment 20 out of the 22 respondents showed remarkable improvement. In fact 2 of them has cerebral blood flow. The only thing that did not change prior to treatment and after was the blood flow between the left and right cerebrum as it showed no differences.

Aside from traditional acupuncture to help children with autism, a preliminary study in Hong Kong is trying to see if tongue acupuncture can produce better results.

Results have showed that of 30 respondents in the test, majority showed functional improvement of various degrees depending on the age and severity of their disabilities. Some improvement was noticeable within a few TAC sessions, especially for drooling, spasticity (scissoring or tiptoeing), ataxia, and poor balance in walking. Functional improvement was noted after one to two courses of TAC. Most children tolerated TAC well, with only occasional pain and minor bleeding in some patients.

The reason why tongue acupuncture is being experimented with is because there is a connection between the tongue and the heart through the meridians that spread to all the organs in the body. It is believed that the points on the tongue can influence the state of the other body organs thus giving relief to the one suffering from autism.

But many believe that acupuncture alone cannot help autism sufferers. It has to be combined with other things like maintaining a certain diet to help improve one’s mood and communication schools. Although it is only short term, it is better than nothing until a cure is found.

When will the cure be found? Only time can tell as there are many other questions that have to be answered in order for doctors to further understand neurological disabilities. Doctors who are conducting research believe that an interdisciplinary approach is needed given that acupuncture has shown positive results in helping children with autism.

Paul Hata
http://www.articlesbase.com/alternative-medicine-articles/how-to-treat-autism-with-acupuncture-525459.html

Youtube Videos Pull in Real Money

YouTube Videos Pull In Real Money

Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times

Michael Buckley, YouTube host, at home in Connecticut.

By BRIAN STELTER

Published: December 10, 2008

Making videos for YouTube — for three years a pastime for millions of Web surfers — is now a way to make a living.

Michael Buckley quit his day job in September. He says his online show is “silly,” but it helped pay off credit-card debt.

One year after YouTube, the online video powerhouse, invited members to become “partners” and added advertising to their videos, the most successful users are earning six-figure incomes from the Web site. For some, like Michael Buckley, the self-taught host of a celebrity chatter show, filming funny videos is now a full-time job.

Mr. Buckley quit his day job in September after his online profits had greatly surpassed his salary as an administrative assistant for a music promotion company. His thrice-a-week online show “is silly,” he said, but it has helped him escape his credit-card debt.

Mr. Buckley, 33, was the part-time host of a weekly show on a Connecticut public access channel in the summer of 2006 when his cousin started posting snippets of the show on YouTube. The comical rants about celebrities attracted online viewers, and before long Mr. Buckley was tailoring his segments, called “What the Buck?” for the Web. Mr. Buckley knew that the show was “only going to go so far on public access.”

“But on YouTube,” he said, “I’ve had 100 million views. It’s crazy.”

All he needed was a $2,000 Canon camera, a $6 piece of fabric for a backdrop and a pair of work lights from Home Depot. Mr. Buckley is an example of the Internet’s democratizing effect on publishing. Sites like YouTube allow anyone with a high-speed connection to find a fan following, simply by posting material and promoting it online.

Granted, building an audience online takes time. “I was spending 40 hours a week on YouTube for over a year before I made a dime,” Mr. Buckley said — but, at least in some cases, it is paying off.

Mr. Buckley is one of the original members of YouTube’s partner program, which now includes thousands of participants, from basement video makers to big media companies. YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, places advertisements within and around the partner videos and splits the revenues with the creators. “We wanted to turn these hobbies into businesses,” said Hunter Walk, a director of product management for the site, who called popular users like Mr. Buckley “unintentional media companies.”

YouTube declined to comment on how much money partners earned on average, partly because advertiser demand varies for different kinds of videos. But a spokesman, Aaron Zamost, said “hundreds of YouTube partners are making thousands of dollars a month.” At least a few are making a full-time living: Mr. Buckley said he was earning over $100,000 from YouTube advertisements.

The program is a partial solution to a nagging problem for YouTube. The site records 10 times the video views as any other video-sharing Web site in the United States, yet it has proven to be hard for Google to profit from, because a vast majority of the videos are posted by anonymous users who may or may not own the copyrights to the content they upload. While YouTube has halted much of the illegal video sharing on the site, it remains wary of placing advertisements against content without explicit permission from the owners. As a result, only about 3 percent of the videos on the site are supported by advertising.

But the company has high hopes for the partner program. Executives liken it to Google AdSense, the technology that revolutionized advertising and made it possible for publishers to place text advertisements next to their content.

“Some of these people are making videos in their spare time,” said Chad Hurley, a co-founder of YouTube. “We felt that if we were able to provide them a true revenue source, they’d be able to hone their skills and create better content.”

In a time of media industry layoffs, the revenue source — and the prospect of a one-person media company — may be especially appealing to users. But video producers like Lisa Donovan, who posts sketch comedy onto YouTube and attracted attention in the fall for parodies of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, do not make it sound easy. “For new users, it’s a lot of work,” Ms. Donovan said. “Everybody’s fighting to be seen online; you have to strategize and market yourself.”

Mr. Buckley, who majored in psychology in college and lives with his husband and four dogs in Connecticut, films his show from home. Each episode of “What the Buck?” is viewed an average of 200,000 times, and the more popular ones have reached up to three million people. He said that writing and recording five minutes’ worth of jokes about Britney Spears’s comeback tour and Miley Cyrus’s dancing abilities is not as easy as it looks. “I’ve really worked hard on honing my presentation and writing skills,” he said.

As his traffic and revenues grew, Mr. Buckley had “so many opportunities online that I couldn’t work anymore.” He quit his job at Live Nation, the music promoter, to focus full-time on the Web show.

There is a symmetry to Mr. Buckley’s story. Some so-called Internet celebrities view YouTube as a stepping stone to television. But Mr. Buckley started on TV and found fame on YouTube. Three months ago, he signed a development deal with HBO, an opportunity that many media aspirants dream about. Still, “I feel YouTube is my home,” he said. “I think the biggest mistake that any of us Internet personalities can make is establish ourselves on the Internet and then abandon it.”

Cory Williams, 27, a YouTube producer in California, agrees. Mr. Williams, known as smpfilms on YouTube, has been dreaming up online videos since 2005, and he said his big break came in September 2007 with a music video parody called “The Mean Kitty Song.” The video, which introduces Mr. Williams’ evil feline companion, has been viewed more than 15 million times. On a recent day, the video included an advertisement from Coca-Cola.

Mr. Williams, who counts about 180,000 subscribers to his videos, said he was earning $17,000 to $20,000 a month via YouTube. Half of the profits come from YouTube’s advertisements, and the other half come from sponsorships and product placements within his videos, a model that he has borrowed from traditional media.

On YouTube, it is evident that established media entities and the up-and-coming users are learning from each other. The amateur users are creating narrative arcs and once-a-week videos, enticing viewers to visit regularly. Some, like Mr. Williams, are also adding product-placement spots to their videos. Meanwhile, brand-name companies are embedding their videos on other sites, taking cues from users about online promotion. Mr. Walk calls it a subtle “cross-pollination” of ideas.

Some of the partners are major media companies; the ones with the most video views include Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, CBS and Warner Brothers. But individual users are now able to compete alongside them. Mr. Buckley, who did not even have high-speed Internet access two years ago, said his YouTube hobby had changed his financial life.

“I didn’t start it to make money,” he said, “but what a lovely surprise.”

Posted by Brad Christopher at 8:47 PM

Brad Christopher
http://www.articlesbase.com/entrepreneurship-articles/youtube-videos-pull-in-real-money-687119.html

Slowing Down to Speed Up

Why does it seem that everything has to be done at warp speed these days?  Everyone is in a rush to get where they are going and to do what needs to be done.  It seems the older a person gets, the faster the years fly by.  Is it because we get so busy and are in such a hurry that we miss whole periods of time, caught up in meaningless tasks?  Why, when we were children, did it seem like there was so much time and it went so slowly?  Think back to when you were a child, and summer vacation seemed to stretch on forever.  Was that because our lives weren’t packed with things to do from the time we got up until the time we went to bed? Was it because we had the whole day just to play, have fun, and be creative?  No schedules, no responsibilities, no worries all seem to have played a part in the “time” we then had.

In a previous article I wrote about slowing down to assist in processing communication; but in this article I want to talk about the broader concept of slowing down our lives in general.  I will admit right from the start I am guilty of being one of those fast paced people that needs to take some of my own advice, and slow down.  I have been working on this very hard over the past few months, and feel like I have made some progress; but it has been difficult.  When you find yourself thinking, “I can’t even sit and watch a 30 minute TV show without doing something else at the same time,” you need to stop and assess the pace of your life.

I know we are all busy, and there is so much to be done every day; but sometimes the key to speeding up and getting things done is to slow down. So many parents tell me that they find themselves running here, there, and everywhere transporting their children to any number of sporting events, therapies, hobbies and other outings that they feel like they live in their car. How can this be a healthy way to function; and what kind of relationships are we establishing by rushing around all the time?

In thinking about this e-zine article, I decided I would just take a minute and Google the concept of slowing down. Wow, was I amazed at all the things that I found! So if there is a movement out there to slow our lives down, why have I not heard of it? I actually found two websites where I spent a period of time looking at and reading the content. All of what was said made a lot of sense to me. One of the best things I found there was the idea that by slowing down we can actually improve our communication and relationships with other people. By taking the time to stop and actually listen, we can have such a deeper level of understanding with the other person, and possibly establish a great bond with that person. I know that when I am in a hurry or have many things on my mind, I don’t do a very good job of communicating with others or giving my all to the relationship. Usually what happens in these instances is that I listen just enough to answer when it is my turn; and when the conversation is over it is out of my head. I have noticed that when I slow down and give my full attention to the conversation, I have a much easier time recalling what was discussed and leave the interaction feeling like a true connection was made.

Many children with autism spectrum disorders have difficulty with communication, social exchanges, and building relationships with others. They also struggle with the ability to appraise situations, and be flexible. When we think about this in relation to our fast paced world, is it any wonder people with autism spectrum disorders struggle with those areas? It’s like they were wired for optimal performance at a slower pace, but find themselves in the whirlwind that is our current society.

So, what if we tried slowing down to speed up? What if when we were engaging, or guiding our children with autism spectrum disorders, for example we slowed down and allowed for thinking time? Amazing things start to happen when the pace slows. I have had this experience time and again. The child who was disregulated and not connected suddenly begins to regulate and connect with you just by virtue of the fact that you slowed things down enough so that s/he could process what was happening. So if this can happen during planned activities, what would happen if we made a concerted effort to slow down the pace of our entire life?

I can tell you what I have seen happen with the families I work with who do make an effort to slow down their lives. Their children begin to establish meaningful bonded relationships with their parents and significant others in their world. They begin communicating to share experiences and make new discoveries. They discover new ways to see the world and become more flexible. The great thing is that this doesn’t only happen for children with an autism spectrum disorder; but we all expand our horizons and speed up new discoveries when we take time to slow down, and really process our world.

Erin Roon, MA
http://www.articlesbase.com/parenting-articles/slowing-down-to-speed-up-723409.html

Overcoming Food Obsessions

The general public often doesn’t realize what parents of autistic children are keenly aware of: It is a physical condition as much as a mental one. Research shows that more than 50 percent of autistic children have gastrointestinal problems such as Crohns Disease or colitis. Some scientists theorize that autism begins in the gut, with the gastrointestinal walls being damaged and allowing toxins to leak into the bloodstream and affect brain activity.

For this reason, parents of children with autism must monitor not just their children’s behavior but their eating habits, too. In particular, products containing gluten (found in wheat, barley and rye) and casein (found in dairy products) seem to exacerbate autism symptoms, apparently because the person’s body cannot digest them properly and the incompletely digested (and therefore poisonous) proteins are leaking into the circulatory system.

A gluten-free, casein-free diet, known as GFCF, has become very popular among parents of autistic children. Some members of the medical community continue to be skeptical of it, but other doctors and organizations — including those working with Defeat Autism Now (DAN) — wholeheartedly support the GFCF diet.

Many parents report remarkable improvements in their autistic children after removing gluten and casein from their diets. They find their children having longer attention spans, making better eye contact and in general behaving less aggressively and more “normally.”

The difficult part is implementing the diet. Cereals and dairy products comprise a major part of the typical American diet. People with gluten allergies already know how hard it is to find gluten-free products; adding dairy to the list of prohibited items makes it that much more inconvenient.

In addition, many autistic children will latch on to particular foods they like and refuse to eat anything else. Since so many foods have gluten or casein, chances are good that something on your child’s “favorites” list will be an offender. Also, because gluten and casein foods act as opiates, autistic children may crave them in particular — the very foods that are doing them the most harm!

So weaning your child off these foods can be difficult. To start with, many parents find it best to eliminate dairy. A lot of people are lactose-intolerant, after all, and dairy products don’t make up nearly as big a part of most people’s diets as gluten products do. It’s fairly easy to replace casein foods with other things.

Gluten is trickier. Not only is it in a lot of foods, but even foods that don’t have it are often contaminated with it, due to having been processed in the same facilities. You’ll need to examine ingredients lists carefully, and check with the manufacturer directly if you’re in doubt.

Often, parents say their autistic children won’t eat anything else, and they worry they’ll go hungry if these foods are taken away. It is necessary to be loving but firm, and not to give in if your child behaves badly in response to having his or her favorite foods taken off the menu. Within a few weeks, you’ll probably see a change in your child’s behavior, and you may be surprised at what he or she will eat that previously was unacceptable.

Rachel Evans
http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/overcoming-food-obsessions-85159.html

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