Health And Welfare

There's a part of me that wonders why it is so important to force autistic kids to be "normal" instead of learning how to interact with them on their level.

But after four months of intensive daily therapy, Chloe's behavior improved significantly.

"She is talking now," Landa said. "She looks to the teacher and shares enjoyment. She looks to others to know what she should be doing."

They must become mindless robots, willing to follow others in order to be considered healthy. Why does everybody have to be "normal" and exactly who determines what that is?

Members of my family have always loved Jeopardy! and it had been suggested many times in my life that I should be a competitor. I should have done it a few years ago, now the categories are more pop instead of educationally oriented. Then I saw Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader. My, my, how far we've fallen. I don't know if it can all be blamed on young people, it was the generation before them that made sure schools taught rote memorization not critical thinking. A little joke to put things in perspective.

Yeah, yeah, we know that someone in the White House wanted to fire all the prosecutors. Why is anybody surprised that someone wanted to put the fix in? And now Harriet Miers gets to be the fall girl. Again.

Weight loss surgery isn't as safe as most people think. Which can be pretty difficult if you develop a vitamin B-1 (thiamine) deficiency. Makes me wonder what other vitamins people could be missing since they aren't able to eat as much and you haven't changed their approach to food, just the size of the receptacle.

Since dad died at 60 from a massive heart attack, this doesn't look good for me. His parents lived to 74 for his dad and 86 and there were even longer lived relatives. Mom is 76 and still smokes, but she walked all her life and except for about two years, is on the thin side. We'll see how it works out. Eventually.