Autism prevalence rates are sign of improved detection

The highly-politicized responses to revised autism prevalence rates underscore the importance for me to articulate my own viewpoints and experiences as a person on the autism continuum.

Animals enrich our lives

Left to right: Elizabeth and Sasha

The rain has been a welcome respite to everyone but Elizabeth, the ruling queen of our household. While Sasha remained content to warmly bask indoors, Elizabeth became restless and desperate to be let outside. She views the rain as a personal betrayal of infathomable magnitude.

Emotional Intelligence

I recently finished reading a book called Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. Written in 1995, what I thought intriguing about the book was that it described individual traits that today are recognized among tendencies attributed to Asperger’s syndrome.

Alexithymia, for instance, from the Greek: a- for “lack,” lexis for “word” and thymos for “emotion.” People with this tendency have difficulty expressing their emotions.

Psychologists also applied the term dyssemia, from the Greek: dys for “difficulty" and semes for “signal.” The condition is a learning disability in the realm of nonverbal language.

The book was written in 1995, immediately prior to Asperger’s syndrome becoming a recognized diagnosis in the DSM IV.

I’ve now begun reading Social Intelligence, which is by the same author but was published 11 years later. What a difference those 11 years make! Asperger’s syndrome is referenced by name in Goleman’s later book.

Transcribed from a personal journal

Toastmasters club meets in new location

FINLEY — Toastmasters Club No. 8731, the Tenacious Talkers, meets at 6:15 p.m. each Thursday at its new location, 2150 Argonaut Road in Finley.

From Highway 29, turn onto Thomas Drive (at Steele Wines and Rainbow Ag) and right onto Argonaut Road. Take the first driveway on the left-hand side across from the Steele Wines crush facility.

Toastmasters International is a nonprofit organization that provides its members with training in public speaking and leadership. For information, visit www.toastmasters.org.

For more information about Tenacious Talkers, call 263-5350 or visit http://tenacioustalkers.freetoasthost.net/.

Cynthia Parkhill

Vice president of PR

Tenacious Talkers