So over the past month, this instance has used a whopping 30gigs. That comes solely from being connected to other Lemmy instances. I appreciate the people from other instances who have found this place and find what I (and hopefully one day others!) post here, but it's tapping out the capacity of the tiny little server I run this instance on.

After talking to a lot of people about docker and other tools I do not understand so well, I have a new shiny purge post tool. It will purge any posts from the server that no one from this instance has interacted with after a week. If no one from this instance has liked, bookmarked, etc a post, it's gone in a week.

That should allow me to keep this place going for a while longer. I should probably have the tool attached to a bot user, instead of me, but meh.

Sorry everyone. I'm currently doing some investigation into why the resources this instance is using is spiking. There is more disk space being used than expected, so I need to take some time to figure out if this is a lemmy thing or something else. Then what to do about it.

From the sanctuary of my rooftop, I listened as my family clamored around the dinner table, laughing, joking, and chatting away. My behaviors, I learned, were primarily the result of undiagnosed ADHD and OCD, and my family was reacting to symptoms that were too difficult for them to understand at the time. My repetitive behaviors, like playing the same song over and over again for months, or watching the same movie endlessly, also drove them away. I would be disciplined for my "Bad " behavior, and I frequently carried a deep sense of shame and embarrassment for being so "Mean, " "Crazy, " and such a "Problem. " I was constantly seeking affection and attention from my siblings, who only saw me as needy and overbearing. My siblings and I did the best we could do at a time when there was very little education or acceptance around behaviors like mine. The behaviors I exhibited in childhood that caused so much strife were traits of real mental health conditions and neurodivergence - body-focused repetitive behaviors, OCD compulsions, and stimming. Today, diagnosed and treated, these behaviors sometimes still drive me crazy.

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Sorry they make you sign up for their newsletter to get it. You can just unsubscribe, once you have the guide.

Together with the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and ACM Lifting Lives, SENSE Theatre recently presented a two-night performance Circus del Sé. Written by Blythe Corbett, PhD, James G. Blakemore Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and director of the SENSE Lab, the play about a young boy with aspirations of joining the circus featured 12 typically developing peer students and actors and 12 children with autism. Through theatrical games and role play, they entertained the crowd and, according to a study published the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, sharpened their social skills in measurable, meaningful ways. One in 36 children in the United States have autism spectrum disorder, a neurodevelopmental condition that effects cognitive function, communication and social skills. "The purpose of the study was to see if SENSE Theatre, a unique social skills program that includes trained typically developing peers, theatrical techniques and active performance of a play, can enhance social competence in youth 10 to 16 years of age with autism spectrum disorder," said Corbett, who was the principal investigator. The final sample in the study involved 207 autistic youth from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, University of Alabama and Stonybrook University who were randomized to SENSE Theatre® or Tackling Teenage Together, an active control treatment condition. "The findings show that the interactive theatrical intervention enhances social salience for relevant social information, such as faces, and this increased social interest results in greater motivation to engage with others," Corbett said. "As clinicians, it is important to consider novel ways to treat social skills beyond individual and group didactic approaches. Moreover, it is valuable to develop and study innovative ways to provide treatment for our patients that may otherwise be overlooked."

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"My ASD son continues to be bullied at school, but nobody there seems to take it seriously. His teach said that 'he seems to start the arguments by annoying some of the other students.' O.K. Fine. Maybe this is true, but that doesn't justify bullying. How can I get the school to take this seriously?". P.S. Warning to parents: According to statistics, it is very likely that YOUR child with ASD HAS BEEN or IS BEING bullied. You need to investigate this now - BEFORE your child has been tormented for weeks or months or years! If after your investigation, you discover there has been no bullying against your child, then thank God for it. We changed schools to one that has zero tolerance for bullying and our son is in the playground without supervision and doesn't hit anymore, he is happy and wanting to go to school, stomach up sets are no longer and it was affecting him mentally and physically. The child with autism that is being bullied is being blamed for starting it by annoying others. Not only have there always been the bullying kids, there have been bullying adults who must interact him. Anonymous said... Putting it blunty,the little bastards who make these poor kids life a living hell,usually have 1 or maybe 2 big bastard bullies at home learning them there greedy bombastic bullying ways.

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A collaborative effort to improve the outcomes for youth with autism spectrum disorder transitioning to adulthood has been awarded a total of $1 million over the next three years from the Cleveland Foundation. The grant will help to support the work of a three-year pilot in which The MetroHealth System, Autism Speaks and Milestones Autism Resources will partner to build a model of coordinated medical, behavioral and social transition planning that can be scaled and replicated in other locations, within Ohio and beyond. "Transition services and supports are critical for young people with ASD to be successful and participate to the fullest extent possible in the broader community. Transition planning should start early." The first seed for the collaboration was planted when Autism Speaks reached out to the Cleveland Foundation in the spring of 2021 to talk about the looming service crisis precipitated by the unprecedented number of adolescents with ASD leaving high school and flooding the adult disability system. The Cleveland Foundation recommended the national autism organization collaborate with MetroHealth to leverage their complementary strengths to build an autism transition model focused on planning for adulthood.

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Approximately 20% of people identify as neurodivergent, representing one-fifth of the entire world's population. Given this, it's shocking that most professional environments don't put more effort into accommodating neurodivergent people, whose abilities can contribute in significant ways to the company's success. Unemployment rates among neurodivergent adults are alarmingly high, ranging from 30 to 40%, a rate three times greater than that of individuals with physical disabilities and eight times higher than those without disabilities. As if we needed more proof that workplaces across the globe are simply engaged in diversity theater, a recent study discovered that 50% of leaders and managers express discomfort with hiring individuals who are neurodivergent. Neurodivergent individuals possess unique talents, perspectives, and problem-solving abilities that can give organizations a competitive advantage. Leaving these skills untapped does a huge disservice to neurodivergent individuals and employers who are constantly exhorting employees to think outside the box. Supporting neurodiverse employees Many resources exist on how employers can support neurodiverse team members, but as someone who only recently discovered that I am neurodivergent, the most effective way I've found to overcome my dyslexia-related challenges has been to talk about it with my colleagues.

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With support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Dr. Caroline Boxmeyer, professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine with the UA College of Community Health Sciences, led a study on Mindful Coping Power, a new format of the Coping Power prevention program. Mindful Coping Power provides training to increase a child's social competence and self-regulation to reduce aggressive behavior and prevent later problems such as substance use and delinquency. Mindful Coping Power also coaches parents on positive parenting and mindfulness. In previous research, the Coping Power prevention program had long-lasting effects on reducing proactive aggression, a more intentional, goal-directed form of aggression. "Our team at UA has been leading this work, nationally and internationally, through the development, testing and dissemination of the Coping Power prevention program, which has more than 25 years of evidence demonstrating its effectiveness," Boxmeyer said. "Despite the proven effectiveness of Coping Power, it can be challenging to impact behaviors that are more biologically and temperamentally based, such as impulsive and reactive anger and aggression." Boxmeyer and the other researchers, including Dr. John Lochman, the developer of Coping Power, tested the effects of the Mindful Coping Power and Coping Power programs in a one-year, school-based clinical trial that included 102 randomly selected fifth-grade students with elevated levels of reactive aggression. Children who participated in Mindful Coping Power also exhibited improved social skills at the end of sixth grade.

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Mikami researches peer relationships, specifically focusing on children with ADHD. Additionally, she developed a parental friendship coaching model where parents of elementary school-age kids can learn to support their child in making friends. Participants meet with mental health professionals and other parents of kids with ADHD for 10 sessions over several weeks to practice strategies to improve their child's social behavior. A key goal for many parents who use this approach is to help their child have successful playdates and - ideally - deepen their friendships. "Many parents, especially parents of kids with ADHD, have had the experience where they tell their child something - and maybe it's even really good advice - but it's like the brick wall goes up. The child gets very defensive," said Mikami. At a family game night, for example, parents may help their child improve social skills by incorporating breaks if the child gets worked up or praising the child when they are able to stay calm. Lastly, the PFC model helps parents learn how to structure successful playdates for their child. A parent of a child with ADHD may initially choose to host playdates because they have more control over the environment than if their child is a guest at a peer's house.

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Children with autism have memory challenges that hinder not only their memory for faces but also their ability to remember other kinds of information, according to new research from the Stanford School of Medicine. The research, which is published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, clarifies a debate about memory function in kids with autism, showing that their memory struggles surpass their ability to form social memories. Memory is a key predictor of academic success, said Liu, adding that memory challenges may put kids with autism at a disadvantage. "Impairments in forming these associative memory traces could form one of the foundational elements in autism. " Comprehensive memory tests Autism, which affects about one in every 36 children, is characterized by social impairments and restricted, repetitive behaviors. Some research has also suggested that children with autism have broader memory difficulties, but these studies were small and did not thoroughly assess participants' memory abilities. To clarify the impact of autism on memory, the new study included 25 children with high-functioning autism and normal IQ who were 8 to 12 years old, and a control group of 29 typically developing children with similar ages and IQs. For children with autism, the ability to retain non-social memories was predicted by connections in a network centered on the hippocampus-a small structure deep inside the brain that is known to regulate memory.

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How do we ensure that the lives of children with autistic traits are not harmed by rejection? We know that young children with autistic traits are more likely to experience rejection and non-acceptance, even when the traits are at a low level. Our study identified a particularly vulnerable group of young children with autistic traits: those who are also aggressive and disruptive. Children with autistic traits who also have behavioral problems need the most support with their peer relationships. Some programs focus on reducing children's behavior problems, especially when the problems are above and beyond the autistic traits that most convincingly predicted poor relationships in our study. In many cases, children with autistic traits can and do have friendships and experience acceptance. Our findings suggest many opportunities for improving the relationships of children with autistic traits.

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A recent poll has found that 1.8 million people in the UK are self-medicating using cannabis, a 29 per cent rise from 2019. The number of people using weed to self-medicate is rising too, up 29 per cent since 2019, with Brits spending roughly £3.57 billion a year on cannabis for health reasons. As of March 2023, there are roughly 20,000 people in the UK using medical cannabis - but there should be so many more. "Patients are eligible to get a medical cannabis prescription if they have tried two traditionally prescribed medications that have not worked. Once you have proof of this, including your medical records and patient history, you will need to speak with a specialist or be referred to a specialist." Essentially, it's a long, drawn out process - so it's easy to see why some people choose to just hit up their dealer, in spite of the risks that come with it. Eve no longer self-medicates - she stopped once she discovered Sapphire Clinics, the UK's first private medical cannabis clinic - and now, she gets her weed prescribed. There's a reason people have been using cannabis for its medicinal reasons for centuries. There's still a long way to go - in terms of decriminalisation, legalisation, and improving access to medicinal cannabis - but the writing's on the wall, as more and more research seems to suggest that cannabis has the potential to transform the lives of neurodivergent people.

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