Week 6, Blog 3

My last day of my internship definitely came too soon. I really enjoyed working at the animal shelter, and I came to know the staff members and the dogs very well. I did become a bit too attached to one of the dogs who was super shy, but was always excited to see me, so maybe it is for the best that my internship ended now before I started begging my mom for another dog. Apparently though, I cannot stay away because I am going to offer to continue volunteering there over the summer. On my last day, I helped get the dog section ready for open at 11:00a.m by cleaning out kennels and taking the dogs out in the rain to eat breakfast and run around. Three dogs were adopted on Saturday with the first two going right around 11. The staff left me in charge of the dog section for a little bit, and all of a sudden tons of people came in to look at dogs. I was a bit worried at first, but after these six weeks and my volunteering hours before that, I knew how to handle costumers. I was not able to get any people to adopt dogs, but a man did take home an application, so in my mind it was a success. At the end of the day, I cleaned out the two isolation rooms, put those dogs to bed, and said goodbye to all of the staff members and dogs. I am so glad I picked the Cape Ann Animal Aid to do my internship at, and it was the perfect way to end my senior year.

Week 5 Blog 3 -- last bloggg

So after my listing ended, I immediately contacted Mark because I wanted him to place the order as soon as possible to get the product to my customers but also because score was about to end!  The glasses came in much faster than I expected (faster than Mark expected too) which was nice because I had some time to distribute them all before score was over.  Packaging was kind of a pain because I had to go home depot and buy the correct size boxes.  The first ones I bought were too small so I had to go back and buy slightly larger, and more expensive ones.  The packaging itself was not too bad because the Maui Jims came in a nice and tight box that was sealed, so all I had to do was put the prepackaged Maui Jim box into the home depot box.  It was honestly more of a pain writing down all the addresses from all the buyers because some people had very exotic addresses.  I haven't physically shipped the items yet because I only finished packaging them all at night, but I plan on going to the post office tomorrow and shipping them off.  I do feel slightly accomplished and like a business man because I have been buying and selling product and I actually made Mark a decent amount of profit because most of the people who bought paid close to retail for my listings.  Mark was really happy with what I sold and reiterated that he'd love to have me come work down at the Cape for a week in the summer.  I think it would be fun but still have not given him a definite answer yet.  See ya later score, now its just prom, six flags, and graduation.  Stay classy San Diego.

Week 5 Blog 2

At this point in my internship I really can't do much because Mark is constantly busy at work and I am just waiting for the rest of my listings to finish up.  I sold a couple pair of Ho'okipas and several other pair, which I am excited about.  I was actually shocked at how high they sold for, almost full retail price which is ridiculous.  I think the fact that someone will buy a pair of sunglasses for almost retail price on eBay shows the trust people have in eBay, even more than the actual website that sells the glasses.  Ebay is a giant in the buying and selling business and people would actually rather search for a product they desire on eBay than search for the product on the internet or google or something.  I called Mark and he said he only wants to make the order for the glasses once ALL my listings are done, which is kind of a pain, because I would like to start boxing and shipping off the products I sell as soon as they are sold.  At this point I now have to wait another day until my last listing is done, THEN mark will make the order and I can get shipping.  It's really too bad that the Maui Jim rep wont let me return unsold product because if he had, I could have just bought all the glasses I was selling before I sold them, and that way I could have already had them all packaged and ready to go as soon as they sold online.  Meh...

Week 5 Blog 1

I was supposed to go into the office today but Mark called and said he could not meet.  Mark also told me the date of the tradeshow which was june 3rd.  Unfortunately score was over by then so I couldn't participate--I think it would have been pretty cool.  I checked my listings as well and found that a lot of them had bidders and watchers.  Bidders were people that had actually pledged money and put down a bid whereas watchers were people who had bookmarked my listing for future consultation.  It was getting down near the end of many of my bids and I was excited to sell some product.  Mark said that by this time it was not worth listing any more items because I wouldn't be able to get them until after score was over.  Mark did say though, that if I wanted to continue selling sunglasses for him after score was over, I could do so and he would give me a commission on the products I sold.  It was another interesting proposition and I considered it because having some side money would be nice until my summer job started in late June.  I had also seriously considered going down to Martha's Vineyard with Mark in the summer because I thought it would be fun and a nice changeup from my camp counselor job for a week.  I was excited for the upcoming days to see how my listings would do and how much they would sell for.

Week 4 Blog 3

Back to Mark's office again to do a little website work.  I also told Mark about my progress with the listings online.  He said he would talk to the rep at Maui Jim and tell him that he needed an order soon.  Mark also spoke to me about two kind of exciting things.  First of all, he said there was a trade show coming up and that if I could go, he'd love for me to go with him and the crew to sell glasses all day.  Mark said that they made most of their sales from these trade shows because they had one of the only licenses to sell Maui Jim at the shows in Massachusetts.  Mark went on to explain that for each show, only a couple vendors were allowed to sell their sunglasses.  This meant that Mark and MV shades would be there selling Maui Jims, while one guy was selling Oakleys and the other guy Ray-Bans.  There weren't multiple vendors selling the same sunglasses, which meant minimal competition and good profits, because Mark could also return all the glasses he didn't sell, meaning no loss.  The other proposition Mark offered was that I spend a week in the summer with Mark and the guys in Martha's Vineyard selling sunglasses at MV Shades' retail store.  It was definitely an interesting offer and something I had to think more about.  The website work was kind of tedious honestly because there were soooo many little things that needed to be done.  My appreciation grew further for the really nice looking websites because I finally understood how much time must have gone into those sites.

Week 4 Blog 2

So after posting my first listing, I added several more.  It took a little while to find all of the correct photos and to fill out all the specifications on the listings page, but I was starting to get it down to a science.  After listing severeal Ho'okipas, I listing some freight trains and some dawn patrols, two other models that had had success in the past on eBay.  I wanted to get as many up as possible because it would take about a week for Mark to get the sunglasses from Maui Jim and score was ending fairly soon.  Mark said the more the better as well because his rep didn't like making really small orders that were time consuming and not that profitable.  I wanted to make the end sale time fairly short too so that I could sell, receive, and ship the product before score was over.  I decided on two days for each listing, which would give me sufficient time to do what I had to do.  The internet kept going up and down as well which was extremely frustrating for me because I would be almost ready to finish a listing then the screen would freeze and I had to wait until it went back up.  Apparently Comcast was doing "maintenance" or upgrades or something.  Stupid Comcast...  I talked to Mark also to try and schedule another time I could get in to work on the website.  Mark said that I could come in Friday because he was free after 12 and could help me work on it.

Week 4 Blog 1

So I finally am listing items on eBay now which is exciting.  My first listing was the Maui Jim Ho'okipa, the item I had observed as the highest selling pair of Maui Jims and the ones that had the best selling history on eBay.  The procedure for selling items on eBay isn't terribly difficult.  First off, I had to choose a name for my listing--something that would attract the customer's attention and accurately advertise my item--for example "Maui Jim Ho'okipa Brand New In Box" was the title of my first listing.  I decided to indicate that the item was "New in box" because many people who browsed eBay listings were looking for new or used, so I wanted to make that clear off the bat.  Next I put some filters on my listing so that if people were browsing eBay by category, my listing would show up.  Somehow eBay already knew what filters I should put just from the title of my listing, so that was nice.  Because I was selling sunglasses, my listings would go under things like "Mens Accessories > Sunglasses" and "Vision Car > Sunglasses." After these indications came the details part: Condition, condition description, UPC, Style, Brand, Frame color, Lens color, Frame material, protection, etc."  The next, and maybe most important step was choosing photos to show in the listing.  Based on my experience with eBay in the past I knew that people liked a lot of photos and wanted to see exactly how the product they were bidding on looked.  Because I wouldn't have the sunglasses until I sold them, I used stock photos of the Ho'okipa and photos from other similar listings.

Week 7 Blog 1

Bonus internship hours that don’t really count for anything but RESPECT: 14 hours. One day. That’s right. It was the day of the H3 photoshoot.

It was an overcast morning. I arrived at the office of OLSON LEWIS + Architects at approximately 6:35 AM. I was five minutes late. No matter, as Michelle and Teri were just starting to pack up their cars with the props. I helped then I joined Michelle in her car. Teri followed in a truck. We were off.

After unloading the props and parking the cars, we were ready to go up to H3 Biomedicine. We had brought two 3-drawer storage carts, two bags, a bowl of limes, one large painting, one medium painting, and one small painting. The elevators had a timer that, once surpassed after about 30 seconds, the door closed and it wasn’t stopping. We had to take two trips up the elevator with our props. The wheels on the storage carts kept falling off. I got caught between the closing doors of the elevator but I shimmied out at the last second. That was scary. I wasn’t kidding when I said the doors close and don’t stop.

We were a couple of minutes earlier than the photographers. Once they arrived, I was introduced to them—Shelly and Jay of Shelly Harrison Photography. Throughout the day, I learned that they were a great team together. Jay managed most of the technical elements of photography like setting up lights, flashes, and moving furniture. They shoot plenty of biomedicine offices together so they are used to setting up scenes.

Overall, it was a very tiring day. I ran around, helping move furniture or place props. I even stepped in as a model in a few of the photographs.  There was a lot of standing and watching. I was tired on my feet. But, Shelly and Jay were very professional and gracious, and gaining this experience was so fulfilling! Afterwards, Michelle, Teri, and I met Kelly and Michelle’s husband for dinner (since we heard the flooring showcase party was very lame). It was a great day.

Week 6 Blog 15

Yesterday was one of my best days of SCORE so far. I got to the YW at 9am and immediately changed into my bathing suit. We had free play in the classroom until 9:30, when we lined up to walk to the main building of the YWCA to go for a swim! On our way out, we stopped by the director’s office to set up a contingency plan for walking back. It was forecasted to rain right around the time we were supposed to return to the YW, so we decided that if it rained while we were swimming, we would call Nicole and she would come shuttle us back to the YW. We walked the half-mile to the main building with only minor difficulty (Ty tripped and scraped his knee. That caused quite a riot among the preschoolers.) Originally, we had planned it so each adult would take four children into the pool as their group. However, as Bridget realized that Amelia may have difficulty in the pool, she decided to have me just be with Amelia. For some reason, Amelia trusts me more than the teachers. Bridget thought that because of this fact and the fact that I’m a lifeguard, I would be the best supervisor for her. We spent about an hour in the pool. Thankfully, I only had to go under for a kid once. He became too confident and went under after taking his bubble off. He was fine. Because it rained, we were shuttled back to the childcare center after we were done. Sadly, we couldn’t go today because it was supposed to pour. I really wish the YW had a bus. 

Week 6, Blog 2

Lately not too many dogs have been adopted at the Cape Ann Animal Aid, but today I was there to see two dogs go home. I absolutely love to see dogs get adopted, especially when I know that they are going to good, loving homes. I arrived at 8a.m. to help get the dog section ready for open at 11a.m. There was another volunteer to help take the dogs outside with me so that they could run around and eat breakfast. There were 25 dogs to take out, and 14 kennels to clean. There was a staff meeting right before the shelter opened, so I was in charge of the dogs for a little bit. I was told to make sure that everything looks decent for the public, which means making sure the dogs have not made a mess of their kennels. I also made sure to sweep and mop the floor before doing a few loads of laundry. Later in the day, I cleaned a whole bunch of plastic/rubber dog toys and restocked the dog and cat food. With no volunteers to help us around midday, a staff member and I began taking the dogs out in little playgroups. The dogs had an absolute blast outside in the (surprisingly) sunny, warm weather as they played and ate their lunch. One of my favorite puppies just had her kennel mate get adopted, so I made sure to give her lots of attention today because I could tell that she was pretty lonely.  

Week 6, Blog 1

I had some hours to catch up on, so even though today was my day off, I worked for five hours. I was able to work in the cat section, which is something I rarely do. There were five adorable kittens that I had to play with because they were the absolute cutest things. By the end of the day, I was told that four out of the five were adopted, which was no surprise. There was also a litter of kittens with their mother who were only a few weeks old, so they were just beginning to walk around. They were taken into foster care later in the day and will come back in a few weeks once they are old enough to be adopted. I was not in the cat section for too long because the dogs always require more work. When I returned to the dog section, one of the shyest puppies at the shelter was in the meet-and-greet area with a man who was interested in her, but she was so scared that she lay immovable and then peed all over herself. I felt so bad and once the man left, I picked her up in a towel and calmed her down. She has grown used to me, so she eventually resumed to her old, crazy self. She is actually one of my favorite dogs at the shelter and to see her that scared, breaks my heart. I mean I like working at the animal shelter, but I cannot handle seeing that day after day. 

In the past few weeks, I have been doing various different things for the Cricket. Mostly taking pictures, but there are times when I have to go fetch information about things too. For example, there was a group of second graders who took a trip to the Historical Society (Trask House) and John Huss, the director of the Trask House, provided them with a scavenger hunt around town that contained historical monuments around Manchester, and it was my job to take pictures of the kids, but I also had to get a copy of the scavenger hunt packet as well. I followed some of the kids around and listened to the adults tell them about the different historical buildings and monuments. I loved this because it was something to do while taking pictures too and I learned things about the town that I didn’t know before.

The thing about working for the Cricket is that I am constantly learning new things not only about photojournalism, but also about the town of Manchester in and of itself. I love history in general, so this is very rewarding for me, and history is even cooler when it’s about the place you live. It’s cool to learn things that happened hundreds of years ago in the same spots you’ve been before so many times.

I guess the main thing I’ve been doing is taking photos of places around town for the “Do You Know Where This Is?” section of the paper, which is a lot of fun because I have to be on the lookout for things even I haven’t noticed before.

Week 5, Blog 3

Saturday, I worked from 8 to 4. I started out by helping clean out all the kennels while also taking the dogs outside so that their kennels could be cleaned. I switch off between doing the two, and luckily there were three volunteers to help plus a staff member. It takes just about three hours to clean the kennels, feed the dogs breakfast, give them fresh water and clean toys, mop/sweep the floors, wash the food bowls, do some laundry, and walk all the dogs. Everything actually has to be done in three hours because at 11:00a.m, the shelter opens. I thought that since the shelter had so many puppies, the place would be packed with people looking to adopt, but there was not a single adoption on Saturday. Barely any people came in, which makes me hope that next Saturday, the shelter will be absolutely swamped with nice people who want dogs.

I also did lots of laundry yesterday because it was starting to pile up and cleaned many bowls and kennels. A few dogs came up from isolation that automatically trashed their kennels due to all their excitement. We had three dogs leave to go to another shelter in hope that they will have better luck getting adopted there. I was able to visit with a litter of very tiny kittens whose mom let me pat them. I had never seen kittens that small, and they were absolutely adorable. I think there were about five or six of them. 

Week 5, Blog 2

Since Thursday was such a beautiful, hot day, we decided to let a whole bunch of the puppies from different litters run and play outside together. We at first had an adult dog out, who had not really played with another dog for a long time, play with three other puppies to see if everybody got along. Once we felt it was safe to bring a few more out, we brought three more outside. They were all having such a great time, and the main source of all the fun was the plastic pool (actually three to be exact) that we filled up with water. The jack russell mix puppies absolutely loved the pool, which I was glad but surprised to see. Once a few puppies got tired, we would cycle them out with some more energetic ones from inside. It was nice to see all the dogs having such a great time and getting outside in the gorgeous weather. The only problem was that some of the puppies were white, so after they got wet in the pool and then played and rolled around in the dirt, they became very brown and muddy. Many dogs had to have baths.

Friday was also a warm, sunny day, so we were able to bring the dogs outside again to play in the pools. They had an absolute blast, and they even went in the pools again on Saturday. There are also four super shy dogs at the shelter, so we have been trying to get them outside as much as possible to help them overcome their shyness. They are not big fans of the pools. 

Week 5, Blog 1

On Thursday, I started out by cleaning the isolation rooms and feeding the dogs down there. Since it was 8:00a.m, I was the first to see the dogs in the morning, so every kennel/cage was very dirty, and the dogs were going ballistic. I first got the bowls of food ready (breakfast) and then I opened one kennel/cage at a time to let the dog out so that he could run around the room and eat breakfast. While the dog was eating breakfast and loose in the room, I put on gloves and threw out all the old, gross newspapers in the kennel/cage and cleaned the toys. I then made sure the kennel/cage was all cleaned before I put new newspaper in with clean toys and fresh water. When the dog was finished eating breakfast, I put him back in and moved on to the next dog. It is always tricky down there because right when I put a dog back in his clean kennel/cage, he goes the bathroom if he had not already done so on the floor.  Puppies are a very messy bunch. After I finished with each dog, I had to clean the bowls and the floor before taking out the trash.

There are a lot of dogs down in isolation at the moment who are ready to move upstairs to the “adoption” floor, but since there are so many dogs, there is not enough room for them yet. Luckily on Saturday, we were able to move seven dogs up, which led to seven very happy but crazy puppies. 

Week 6 Blog 1

Technically, after fulfilling my sixth week of interning, this is my last day of my internship. But really I am adding on another fun-filled fieldtrip next Tuesday with OLSON LEWIS + Architects so I can attend a photoshoot at H3 Biomedicine Inc.! Michelle warned me that it was going to be a long day, but I am really looking forward to spending the day with her, the photographers, and Teri. Teri works the front desk of OL+ and also handles marketing. This will be the first photoshoot she has helped with! Michelle showed us OL+’s portfolio of past biomedicine photoshoots and they look amazing. Michelle has usually had to bring in items from her own home to use as “props” and decorations in the photoshoot.  This time I suggested that I bring in a few large artworks that I own in my house. Teri, Michelle and I continued planning for the photoshoot by printing out some preliminary shots of H3 (as in, photos taken as-is and in-action). That helped Terri and Michelle decide which locations and angles they should take pictures of. They also used those pictures to help them choose where they would set props, and what they would like there. They considered putting people into the shots a few times as well, so they planned ahead for the ‘model’ (the model would be whoever is working at the time and agrees to be in the photo) locations as well.

After planning for the photoshoot and getting some other work done, Michelle, Kelly, and I went out to lunch. They wanted to give me a last day lunch—as if I’m not offered enough free food at OL+! We walked to that new Mexican restaurant in downtown Manchester, La Casa de Luis. The food was pretty good, and I had such a fun time with Michelle and Kelly. They are hilarious!

I can’t wait for the photoshoot next week. Even though Kelly isn’t able to join us for it, I will see her later that night for a flooring showcase party. Woot woot.

Week 4 Blog 14

This morning, I went to the Beverly public library to go to the Sing, Sign, and Play playgroup with Cape Ann Early Intervention. I thought I was too early, because when I got there at 9:15 (the playgroup starts at 9:30), there was nobody in the room that we usually meet in! There were two very confused parents and their children there as well. I had seen Kelly, one of the group leaders, walk into the building as I was pulling into the parking lot, so I was very confused. We wandered around the library for a few minutes before we heard Connie (the other group leader) down the hallway. It turns out that because the library was redoing the carpets in the room we’re usually in, we were moved to a smaller room on the other side of the hallway. However, there were about twice as many children as usual in the group today! 16 children, 16 parents, plus three group leaders made for a very crowded space. Also, it was incredibly loud. I really couldn’t understand anything parents were trying to say to me because of the noise level in the room, the fact that I’m still sick and my ears are a little blocked up, and my own hearing issues. It was a little chaotic. We made butterflies out of coffee filters and pipe cleaners and read a story about butterflies. I was very grateful that the toddler groups are relatively short, because I’m not sure how much longer I would have been able to stay in that room with it being so loud.

Week 4 Blog 13

On Wednesday, I was supposed to go into the YWCA from 9-11am. I was really looking forward to it, because I would be able to see more the curriculum-based programs in the morning. Because I usually go in the afternoon, I see the more unstructured time that the preschoolers get. I was supposed to show up around the same time as the kids and stay until around lunchtime. However, I woke up at 7:30 on Wednesday morning feeling terrible. I texted my supervisor, who said that I shouldn’t go into the YW as I might get the kids sick. Because the YW deals with very young children (from infants through 5^th grade) they are very careful about keeping the kids healthy. I called myself in sick, and realized that one of the preschoolers had gotten me sick. The youngest in the class was coughing and sneezing without covering his mouth and nose all day on Tuesday. I kept cleaning up after him with watered down bleach, but apparently that wasn’t enough to keep me healthy. Instead of going into the YW, I worked a little bit on my SCORE paper. Thank goodness I actually did a decent job with my first draft! Because I spent a ton of time on it, I don’t have to do much for my final draft. However, because I was feeling sick, I didn’t work too hard. I wanted to be able to go to my internships today (Thursday) so I tried to make myself feel better.

Week 4 Post 12

On Tuesday, I went up to the Newburyport YWCA as usual at 3:30. When I got there, I began to realize how at home I was starting to feel there. As soon as I walked through the lobby, I had staff members from all the age groups saying hello to me. When I walked into the preschool room, I had four boys run up to me and give me huge hugs after I hung up my coat and my bag. When I got settled in, I realized that there was an unfamiliar face in the room. I was introduced to the new boy, Amari. I double checked with Bridget that he was new and not just normally a Monday/Wednesday/Friday kid. Tuesday was his first day in the classroom. A few minutes later, a bunch of boys came up to me with a book about bugs that they wanted me to read to them. I sat down and began reading. Slowly, most of the boys and some of the girls in the class came over to the book area and sat down to listen to me read the book. After I finished reading, we went into the gross motor room for the afternoon because it wasn’t nice enough to go outside. Because I was still exhausted from my AP Physics exam from the day before, I decided that I wouldn’t run around with the kids. I instead sat down with some of the girls and built a castle with them. I also learned that next week, we’re taking the preschoolers to the main YWCA building to go swimming! I changed my schedule so I could join them and be an extra pair of eyes in the water. I’m really looking forward to that!

Audrey Davis Rough Draft

Since the first diagnosis of autism as a schizophrenia-related condition by Leo Kanner in the 1940s, the definition, diagnosis, and treatment of autism have all improved vastly. We as a society know more than we ever have before about autism, but it is very clear that there is much more that can be learned about this developmental disorder and other developmental disorders like it. However, with this improving definition of autism and related developmental disorder comes a sure increase in diagnoses as the definition expands to encompass more patients who really require a diagnosis of some type developmental disorder. Developmental disorders are complicated--therefore, there is no simple definition of any of them. The main developmental disorders that are thought of in American culture are the developmental disorders that fall under the umbrella of the autism spectrum. The ASDs (or autism spectrum disorders) are autistic disorder, Asperger’s syndrome, Rett Syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder--not otherwise specified (or PDD-NOS.) Of these, autistic disorder, Asperger syndrome, and PDD-NOS are the most common in the United States. These disorders are all on the rise. The question on society’s mind today is why is this happening? Why is the number of cases of Autism Spectrum Disorders so high? Is it really the vaccinations that are causing this? (The answer to this question is a simple no.) The recent rise in cases of autism and other disorders on the autism spectrum is due to increased awareness about developmental disorders and a broader definition of developmental disorders.

            The question that is on the minds of the American public is simply why does this matter? Why does it matter that the number of Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnoses is so high and growing? In reality, the growing number of people who have ASD diagnoses means that as they age, they will become even more prevalent in our society. As can be seen in the chart below, the number of autism and ASD diagnoses has skyrocketed since it initially came to the public’s view in the 1970s. (While the most recent data on the chart is from 2009 and marks the autism prevalence as 1 in 110, the more current statistic from Autism Speaks cites this as 1 in 88.) (Autism Speaks)

This means that no longer can Americans simply shy away from learning about ASD, because there needs to be more cooperation and understanding between people who are typically developed and people who have developmental delays or developmental disorders.  In addition to being given basic human rights, people with ASD need special attention, especially when they are younger and are in the school system. This means that all educators, whether they be typical classroom teachers or children’s aides, need to learn how to teach both typically developed children and children who have developmental delays or disorders. In addition to just developmental disorders, the number of children with developmental delays such as speech delays or physical days is 1 in 6 (Facts About ASDs.) It is also important for people to understand the signs and symptoms of ASDs, as early recognition is key when dealing with a possible developmental delay or disorder. If a child is diagnosed early enough, he or she can enter a state-run program called early intervention. The goal of early intervention is to minimize the effects a disability can have on a child. Early intervention can consist of speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and psychological evaluation. It runs from the time a child is diagnosed with a developmental, mental, or physical delay and goes until the child reaches three years old and can enter the special education system in the public school (Autism Speaks.)

            The first and most well-known of the autism spectrum disorders is autism. The first solid description of autism was given by a British psychiatrist, Sir Michael Rutter in the early 1970s. He found that “four major characteristics of autism that could be observed and measured: onset by two and a half years of age, impaired social development, impaired communication, and unusual behaviors (like lining things up, insistence on sameness, or stereotyped body movements)” (Grinker 109.) Essentially, a patient presenting with autism will have severe language delays, communication and social problems, and often will have unusual interests or habits. Some early signs of autism include not showing big smiles by six months, no sharing facial expressions by nine months, no babbling by twelve months, no gestures such as pointing or waving by twelve months, no words by 16 months, no two-word speech by 24 months, and any decline in speech or social skills at any time in the child’s childhood (Autism Speaks.) Some, but not all autistic people will have intellectual disabilities. It is important to make the distinction between autism and a mental disability, as autism is classified as a psychological developmental disorder. Autism is the most well-known ASD. There are three main theories of autism. The first thesis is the Theory of Mind. In The Ethics of Autism, Deborah Barnbaum describes this first thesis of autism as “ the failure to attribute independent mental states to others. In other words, most persons with autism do not have a functioning "Theory of Mind"” Barnbaum cites the second possible thesis of autism is that autism can be characterized by a lack of ability to see things as wholes. Barnbaum’s second thesis is that autistic people are overly detail-oriented, and cannot see the big picture. Her third and final thesis of autism is that people with autism have a “weak executive function,” that they cannot switch easily from one task to another because of an incapability to plan ahead or sort out details. (Barnbaum 4.) While these, like many things surrounding autism spectrum disorders, are not set in stone, it is important to keep all ideas in mind when trying to sort out what exactly separates an autistic person from a typically developed person. Although a direct cause of autism is not known, there are a few factors that seem to make a person more susceptible to autism. These include, but are not limited to, advanced parental age when the child is conceived, maternal illness during pregnancy, and oxygen deprivation during birth. However, there seems to be a connection to genes, as autism tends to run in families (Autism Speaks.)

            Another common disorder on the autism spectrum is Asperger Syndrome. Asperger Syndrome can be defined as “"A lack of social understanding, limited ability to have a reciprocal conversation and an intense interest in a particular subject are the core features of this syndrome. Perhaps the simplest way to understand Asperger's syndrome is to think of it as describing someone who perceives and thinks about the world differently to other people" (Attwood 12). Children with Asperger Syndrome also seem to have “an egocentric preoccupation with a specific topic or interest that would dominate their thoughts and time” (Attwood 13).

Asperger Syndrome was originally theorized about by Dr. Hans Asperger, a Viennese pediatrician in 1944. However, Asperger originally classified this as a personality disorder, more specifically as a type of psychopathy. In his studies, he theorized that this disorder stemmed from genetic or neurological instead of psychosocial or environmental factors. Asperger Syndrome was originally separated from autism by Lorna Wing, as she saw that children with what we now call Asperger Syndrome would move forward along the autism continuum and make progress, almost to the point at which they would no longer be considered autistic (Attwood 14). When Asperger observed the children that he believed would fit his new diagnosis, "He observed that the children's social maturity and social reasoning were delayed and some aspects of their social abilities were quite unusual at any stage of development…There were impairments in verbal and non-verbal communication, especially the conversational aspects of language” (Attwood 13). However, Asperger also made it clear that this diagnosis was not one that would ruin the patient’s life:  "He conceptualized the disorder as a life-long and stable personality type, and did not observe the disintegration and fragmentation that occurs in schizophrenia. He also noted that some of the children had specific talents that could lead to successful employment and some could develop life-long relationships” (Attwood 13). It also appears that Asperger Syndrome very directly runs in families. One statistic quotes that 46% of any child with Asperger’s’ relatives also show symptoms of Asperger Syndrome. Sometimes, Asperger Syndrome is seen as a “milder” form of autism, but in reality it is a completely separate disorder. Asperger Syndrome is often unofficially diagnosed or diagnosed after death, such as Albert Einstein and Jane Austen.

            Rett syndrome is a very rare form of ASD. It affects almost entirely girls, with 1 child in 22,000 being affected by the disorder. Rett syndrome presents itself anywhere from 6-18 months. Before the disorder sets in, a child develops typically. At the onset of the disorder, children begin to regress in their development and begin to have autism-like symptoms. Speech, coordination, and movement become more difficult at the disorder progresses. At this time, there is no specific treatment for Rett syndrome. The life expectancy of a woman with Rett syndrome is about 40 years (NIMH).

            Childhood disintegrative disorder, or CDD, is another incredibly rare form of ASD. Out of 100,000 children on the autism spectrum, it is estimated that only one or two would present with CDD. CDD affects far more boys than girls, but other than that, it is similar to Rett syndrome. On average,  CDD presents itself between the ages of 3 and 4 in a children. Like Rett syndrome, up until this point, children with CDD will have developed fairly normally. Children with CDD will lose most motor, language, and social skills after the onset of the disorder. CDD is incredibly hard to study because of its extreme rarity. Therefore, no treatments or cures have been created yet to treat CDD (NIMH).

            PDD-NOS, or pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified, is the newest diagnosis on the autism spectrum. This diagnosis is given to children who clearly have some type of developmental disorder, but who do not quite fit the descriptions of autism, Asperger’s, CDD, or Rett syndrome. Often, children who are diagnosed with PDD-NOS have milder symptoms than those of autism. This diagnosis was introduced around 1998, when developmental specialists saw the need for a new category of developmental disorder to fit patients. A child with PDD-NOS may present with only a social deficiency or only a communication deficiency.

            Autism first became an official, American Psychiatric Association-recognized developmental disorder in the 1970s, when it was added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (third edition), or the DSM-III. In his book Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism, Grinker wrote:

Autism became a conventional diagnosis in psychiatric practice during the 1970s, though it was not as common as it was to become. The American Psychiatric Association had not yet made it an official diagnosis. In 1980, in the new edition of its diagnostic manual, the DSM-III, the APA no longer lumped autism together with schizophrenia as a psychosis, instead calling it a pervasive developmental disorder. Receiving official status meant autism was bound to become a more popular diagnosis.

Because the DSM-III is essentially the most important book in psychiatry, autism because a much more widely-accepted diagnosis (118). This led many more physicians to diagnose their patients with it, as they had what was basically a checklist of symptoms to look for in their patients. Clinical physicians also began to use the diagnosis of autism more loosely following the publication of the DSM-III, as they began to latch onto it. As a result of this, rates of autism in the United States, Scandinavia, England, and Japan all increased greatly following its publication. Additionally, the DSM-III separated autism from psychosis and schizophrenia, giving it the much easier to swallow label of a pervasive developmental disorder. This removed some of the stigma surrounding autism, as it was no longer such a frightening diagnosis for parents.

            These days, parents are overall very concerned with making sure that their children will grow up free of any type of developmental delay. Because of this, children are now screened for developmental delays three times before they reach 24 months old. They are screened at nine months, eighteen months, and twenty-four months to make sure that they are reaching all the developmental checkpoints, such as sitting up, speaking, and crawling. At eighteen and twenty-four months, children are screened specifically for autism spectrum disorders (“Facts About ASDs”). This recent increase in how often children are screened for developmental disorders has contributed to the recent rise in diagnoses because physicians and parents alike are on the lookout for specific signs of developmental disorders, and have specified times at which they are supposed to be looking for them. This could lead to a vast increase in diagnoses.

            There are many benefits of a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder. The first is that parents realize that their child’s behavior is not a result of faulty parenting. Parents tend to blame themselves when their children aren’t acting typically, so when they receive the diagnosis of an ASD, they can understand that it was not their doing. Another positive of a diagnosis is that there is a greater acceptance of the child. Instead of a child being seen as antisocial or badly behaved, a child can be seen for what they are good at, such as building or reading. Additionally, the child will understand him or herself more if they have received a diagnosis. The most important benefit of receiving an ASD diagnosis is that the child will receive educational services through the public school system (Atwood). They can be placed in a classroom with children that have similar developmental disorders so that they can all be taught in a way that is beneficial to them, or they can be placed in a classroom with typically developed children (with an aide) that can serve as role models to him or her. This is called the Least Restrictive Environment, and allows children to learn from their peers. It is also very important for parents to know their rights when dealing with their child’s education. Through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, it was made clear that all children, regardless of mental, physical, or developmental disabilities, have a right to a free and appropriate public education. Parents also have the right to have a strong say in their child’s education plan, and are often present at meetings with school administrators to determine a child’s IEP, or Individualized Education Plan (Autism Speaks).

            Rates of autism are growing at an almost alarming rate in the United States. In 1956, it was estimated that one child out of every 10,000 had autism. Now, the rate is one in 88, a statistic often heard on the news and on television (Goldberg 27). Even in the past forty years, there has been a tenfold increase in autism rates in the United States (Autism Speaks). Today, there are more than two million people in the United States who have an autism diagnosis. In the past years, there has been a 10-17% increase per year (Autism Speaks). This, combined with the increased awareness of autism in the country (mostly due to the Autism Speaks campaign) could lead to an increase in the number of diagnoses of autism because as it becomes more prevalent, parents begin to learn more about it and think that an autism diagnosis could apply to their child, even when a doctor disagrees. In Unstrange Minds, Grinker writes

The widespread dissemination of information via the World Wide Web sometimes makes us ordinary parents believe we are experts, or at least paraprofessionals…Physicians sometimes find themselves arguing with families about the difference between scientific research, anecdotes, and conspiracy theories.

Although they can be right about a diagnosis, parents who try to diagnose their child through panic-inducing websites such as WebMD are often wrong.

            Since Leo Kanner initially theorized about the disorder that we now call autism in the 1940s, autism’s definition has changed greatly over the years, especially through each edition of the DSM. Originally, Kanner specified that there were five features for diagnosis of autism: a lack of affective contact, an anxiously obsessive desire for sameness, fascination for object (most often handled with good fine motor movement), mutism or odd language patterns, and good cognitive potential. The first two (lack of affective contact and desire for sameness) were the two essential features for a diagnosis of autism (Goldberg 27). However, this narrowness of having five features that could define an autistic person led to many misdiagnoses. While they were no longer diagnosed as being “feebleminded,” autistics were misdiagnosed as having brain dysfunction, schizophrenia, epilepsy, and child psychosis, to name a few (Grinker 104). However, through the years, this description of autism broadened, as it became nearly impossible to define an apparent developmental disorder by five features. Even now, it is incredibly difficult to diagnose a child with a mental disorder because children have different mental states at different developmental stages (Grinker 109). However, in later years, psychiatrists wanted to find a stronger way to diagnose autism:

A new generation of child psychiatrists was demanding more reliable, more scientific methods. As with the drift in the definition of schizophrenia, they began to see mental illnesses as brain disorders rather than as disorders of the self. And, as scientists, they wanted psychiatry to develop definitions and classifications of disorders that everyone could agree on. This marked an important change in the study of autism because the emphasis on definition led to more case descriptions.

(Grinker 109). This was incredibly important because when psychiatry as a whole developed a definition of autism (and relied on that definition), they could present more cases to each other to expand psychiatry as a whole’s knowledge of autism. Even though a broader definition of autism has led to more successful diagnoses, there are some who believe that with each broadening of the definition, we become further and further away from understanding what ASDs really are:

Today, a child with autism is a child “on the spectrum,” a classification that tells us just how murky the diagnostic water of autism have become. It is so imprecise that it tells us mainly that the person has deficits in communication and social interaction, has restricted interests and activities, and falls somewhere between profoundly mentally retarded and exceptionally intelligent.

(Wiseman 141). Psychiatrists who believe that the diagnostic waters of autism are “murky” at this point are also frustrated by the announcement that in the fifth edition of the DSM that will come out in May 2013, all autism subtypes will be merged under the umbrella of ASDs.

            Contrary to the beliefs of many scared parents, vaccinations do not cause autism.  This belief began when AJ Wakefield, a British medical researcher, published a paper in the British medical journal The Lancet that there was a connection between the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine and developmental disorders. He stated that there was a direct causation between the two, especially in children who were predisposed to mercury toxicity. This theory was later discredited, and Wakefield admitted to having fabricated evidence to support his claim. The Lancet later retracted the study (The Lancet). Despite the fact that the connection between vaccination and autism was found to be nonexistent, the actress Jenny McCarthy went public with her belief that her son’s autism was caused by his MMR vaccination (NIMH). She wrote a book and gave many interviews on the topic, despite having no evidence or medical knowledge (Forbes). Although parents may think that they are protecting their children by not giving them this vaccine, they are, in most cases, exposing them to illnesses that modern medicine has cured. Between the times The Lancet published the study linking vaccines and autism and when they retracted the study, 60% of two year-olds went unvaccinated in the United Kingdom. This led to an almost tenfold increase in mumps cases, skyrocketing from 1936 cases in 1995 to 15503 cases in 2004 (Grinker 145).

            Yet another misconception about the causes of the rising number of autism diagnoses is that autism is not a developmental disorder, but a disease of epidemic proportions. In his book The Myth of Autism: How a Misunderstood Epidemic is Destroying Our Children, Dr. Michael Goldberg discusses how “without the myth of autism, we would be figuring out how a disease process could strike down and destroy a potentially normal child—not children mysteriously miswired, congenitally beyond hope of a true recovery (the basis for the concepts we call “autism”)” (Goldberg 25). Goldberg theorizes that what we call “autism” is actually a central nervous system dysfunction (30). He bases most of this theory on the fact that his wife had a central nervous system dysfunction while she was pregnant with their son, and their son was diagnosed with autism. Benedict Carey of the New York Times also believes that autism is not a disorder, claiming that between 1 and 20% of children who are diagnosed as being autistic no longer qualify for an autism diagnosis even a few years later. He claims that this is either due to a misdiagnosis or that children are actually recovering from autism.