Turkish police battle protesters after Erdogan warning

By Nick Tattersall and Ece Toksabay

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish riot police using tear gas and water cannon battled protesters for control of Istanbul's Taksim Square, hours after Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan demanded an immediate end to 10 days of demonstrations.

Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu appeared on television, declaring that police operations would continue day and night until the square, focus of demonstrations against Erdogan, was cleared.

Police fired volleys of tear gas canisters into a crowd of thousands - people in office clothes as well as youths in masks who had fought skirmishes throughout the day - scattering them into side streets and nearby hotels. Water cannon swept across the square targeting stone-throwers in masks.

The protesters, who accuse Erdogan of overreaching his authority after 10 years in power and three election victories, thronged the steep narrow lanes that lead down to the Bosphorus waterway. Many drifted gradually back into the square and lit bonfires, only to be scattered by more tear gas.

Governor Mutlu said 30 people had been wounded on Tuesday.

Erdogan had earlier called on protesters to stay out of Taksim, where a heavy-handed police crackdown on a rally against development of the small Gezi Park abutting the square triggered an unprecedented wave of protest.

Gezi Park has been turned into a ramshackle settlement of tents by leftists, environmentalists, liberals, students and professionals who see the development plan as symptomatic of overbearing government.

The protests, during which demonstrators used fireworks and petrol bombs, have posed a stark challenge to Erdogan's authority and divided the country. In an indication of the impact of the protests on investor confidence, the central bank said it would intervene if needed to support the Turkish lira.

Erdogan, who denies accusations of authoritarian behavior, declared he would not yield.

"They say the prime minister is rough. So what was going to happen here? Were we going to kneel down in front of these (people)?" Erdogan said as action to clear the square began.

"If you call this roughness, I'm sorry, but this Tayyip Erdogan won't change," he told a meeting of his AK party's parliamentary group.

Western allies have expressed concern about the troubles in an important NATO ally bordering Syria, Iraq and Iran. Washington has in the past held up Erdogan's Turkey as an Islamic democracy that could be emulated elsewhere in the Middle East.

Victor in three consecutive elections, Erdogan says the protests are engineered by vandals, terrorist elements and unnamed foreign forces. His critics, who say conservative religious elements have won out over centrists in the AK party, accuse him of inflaming the crisis with unyielding talk.

MARKET TURMOIL

"A comprehensive attack against Turkey has been carried out," Erdogan said. "The increase in interest rates, the fall in the stock markets, the deterioration in the investment environment, the intimidation of investors - the efforts to distort Turkey's image have been put in place as a systematic project."

Riot police also clashed with protesters in Kizilay, the government quarter of the capital, Ankara, firing tear gas

Despite the protests against Erdogan, he remains unrivalled as a leader in his AK party, in parliament and on the streets.

Mutlu appealed to people to stay away from the square for their own safety. "We will continue our measures in an unremitting manner, whether day or night, until marginal elements are cleared and the square is open to the people," he said in the brief television announcement.

"From today, from this hour, the measures we are going to take in Taksim Square will be conducted with care, in front of our people's eyes, in front of televisions and under the eyes of social media with caution and in accordance with the law."

The unrest has knocked investor confidence in a country that has boomed under Erdogan. The lira, already suffering from wider market turmoil, fell to its weakest level against its dollar/euro basket since October 2011.

The cost of insuring Turkish debt against default rose to its highest in 10 months, although it remained far from crisis levels.

The police moved back into Taksim a day after Erdogan agreed to meet protest leaders involved in the initial demonstrations over development of the square.

"I invite all demonstrators, all protesters, to see the big picture and the game that is being played," Erdogan said. "The ones who are sincere should withdraw ... and I expect this from them as their prime minister."

Protesters accuse Erdogan of authoritarian rule and some suspect him of ambitions to replace the secular republic with an Islamic order, something he denies.

"This movement won't end here ... After this, I don't think people will go back to being afraid of this government or any government," said student Seyyit Cikmen, 19, as the crowd chanted "Every place is Taksim, every place resistance".

Turkey's Medical Association said that as of late Monday, 4,947 people had sought treatment in hospitals and voluntary infirmaries for injuries, ranging from cuts and burns to breathing difficulties from tear gas inhalation, since the unrest began more than 10 days ago. Three people have died.

Erdogan has repeatedly dismissed the protesters as "riff-raff" but is expected to meet leaders of the Gezi Park Platform group on Wednesday.

(Additional reporting by Daren Butler, Ece Toksabay and Humeyra Pamuk; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Giles Elgood and David Stamp)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/turkish-riot-police-enter-istanbuls-taksim-square-051953142.html

2012 ncaa bracket john carlson greg smith catamount mike dantoni bulls heat goldman sachs

How do you feed nine billion people?

June 9, 2013 ? An international team of scientists has developed crop models to better forecast food production to feed a growing population -- projected to reach 9 billion by mid-century -- in the face of climate change.

In a paper appearing in Nature Climate Change, members of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project unveiled an all-encompassing modeling system that integrates multiple crop simulations with improved climate change models. AgMIP's effort has produced new knowledge that better predicts global wheat yields while reducing political and socio-economic influences that can skew data and planning efforts, said Bruno Basso, Michigan State University ecosystem scientist and AgMIP member.

"Quantifying uncertainties is an important step to build confidence in future yield forecasts produced by crop models," said Basso, with MSU's geological sciences department and Kellogg Biological Station. "By using an ensemble of crop and climate models, we can understand how increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, along with temperature increases and precipitation changes, will affect wheat yield globally."

The improved crop models can help guide the world's developed and developing countries as they adapt to changing climate and create policies to improve food security and feed more people, he added.

Basso, part of MSU's Global Water Initiative, and his team of researchers developed the System Approach for Land-Use Sustainability model. SALUS is a new generation crop tool to forecast crop, soil, water, nutrient conditions in current and future climates. It also can evaluate crop rotations, planting dates, irrigation and fertilizer use and project crop yields and their impact on the land.

SALUS was initially designed by Joe Ritchie, MSU emeritus distinguished professor. Basso continued Ritchie's work and added new features to better predict the impact of agronomic management on crop yield over space and time.

"We can change the scenarios, run them simultaneously and compare their outcomes," Basso said. "It offers us a great framework to easily compare different land-management approaches and select the most efficient strategies to increase crop yield and reduce environmental impact such as nitrate leaching and greenhouse gas emission."

For the study, the team looked at simulated yield from 27 different wheat crop models. Through SALUS, Basso forecasted the impact of changes in temperature, precipitation and CO₂ emissions on wheat yield from contrasting environment across the planet.

SALUS has been employed in several other projects monitoring grain yield and water use in water-sensitive areas, such as the Ogallala aquifer (spanning from South Dakota to Texas), Siberia, India and Africa.

"I have the ambitious goal to enhance scientific knowledge for living in a better world, and hopefully with less poverty and enough food for the planet," Basso said.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/oYiLQYqRw8A/130609195713.htm

brooke mueller all star weekend undercover boss tupelo honey limp bizkit stations of the cross nike foamposite galaxy

US: No plans to end broad surveillance program

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration considered whether to charge a government contractor with leaking classified surveillance secrets while it defended the broad U.S. spy program that it says keeps America safe from terrorists.

Facing a global uproar over the programs that track phone and Internet messages around the world, the Justice Department continued to investigate whether the disclosures of Edward Snowden, 29, an employee of government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, were criminal.

Meanwhile, the European Parliament planned to debate the spy programs Tuesday and whether they have violated local privacy protections. EU officials in Brussels pledged to seek answers from U.S. diplomats at a trans-Atlantic ministerial meeting in Dublin later this week.

The global scrutiny comes after revelations from Snowden, who has chosen to reveal his identity. Snowden has fled to Hong Kong in hopes of escaping criminal charges as lawmakers including Senate intelligence chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California accuse him of committing an "act of treason" that should be prosecuted.

Officials in Germany and the European Union issued calm but firm complaints Monday over two National Security Agency programs that target suspicious foreign messages ? potentially including phone numbers, email, images, video and other online communications transmitted through U.S. providers. The chief British diplomat felt it necessary to try to assure Parliament that the spy programs do not encroach on U.K. privacy laws.

And in Washington, members of Congress said they would take a new look at potential ways to keep the U.S. safe from terror attacks without giving up privacy protections that critics charge are at risk with the government's current authority to broadly sweep up personal communications.

"There's very little trust in the government, and that's for good reason," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who sits on the House Intelligence Committee. "We're our own worst enemy."

A senior U.S. intelligence official on Monday said there were no plans to scrap the programs that, despite the backlash, continue to receive widespread if cautious support within Congress. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive security issue.

The programs were revealed last week by The Guardian and The Washington Post newspapers. National Intelligence Director James Clapper has taken the unusual step of declassifying some of the previously top-secret details to help the administration mount a public defense of the surveillance as a necessary step to protect Americans.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he was considering how Congress could limit the amount of data spy agencies seize from telephone and Internet companies ? including restricting the information to be released only on an as-needed basis.

"It's a little unsettling to have this massive data in the government's possession," King said.

One of the NSA programs gathers hundreds of millions of U.S. phone records to search for possible links to known terrorist targets abroad. The other allows the government to tap into nine U.S. Internet companies and gather all communications to detect suspicious behavior that begins overseas.

Snowden is a former CIA employee who later worked as a contractor for the NSA on behalf of Booz Allen, where he gained access to the surveillance. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine said, it was "absolutely shocking" that a 29-year-old with limited experience would have access to this material.

FBI agents on Monday visited the home of Snowden's father, Lonnie Snowden, in Upper Macungie Township, Pa. The FBI in Philadelphia declined to comment.

The first explosive document Snowden revealed was a top secret court order issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that granted a three-month renewal for a massive collection of American phone records. That order was signed April 25. The Guardian's first story on the court order was published June 5.

In a statement issued Sunday, Booz Allen said Snowden had been an employee for fewer than three months, so it's possible he was working as an NSA contractor when the order was issued.

Snowden also gave the Post and the Guardian a PowerPoint presentation on another secret program that collects online usage by the nine Internet providers. The U.S. government says it uses that information only to track foreigners' use overseas.

Believing his role would soon be exposed, Snowden fled last month to Hong Kong, a Chinese territory that enjoys relative autonomy from Beijing. His exact whereabouts were unknown Monday.

"All of the options, as he put it, are bad options," Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, who first reported the phone-tracking program and interviewed Snowden extensively, told The Associated Press on Monday. He said Snowden decided to release details of the programs out of shock and anger over the sheer scope of the government's privacy invasions.

"It was his choice to publicly unveil himself," Greenwald told the AP in Hong Kong. "He recognized that even if he hadn't publicly unveiled himself, it was only a matter of time before the U.S. government discovered that it was he who had been responsible for these disclosures, and he made peace with that. ... He's very steadfast and resolute about the fact that he did the right thing."

Greenwald told the AP that he had more documents from Snowden and expected "more significant revelations" about NSA.

Although Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with the U.S., the document has some exceptions, including for crimes deemed political. Any negotiations about his possible handover will involve Beijing, but some analysts believe China is unlikely to want to jeopardize its relationship with Washington over someone it would consider of little political interest.

Snowden also told The Guardian that he may seek asylum in Iceland, which has strong free-speech protections and a tradition of providing a haven for the outspoken and the outcast.

The Justice Department is investigating whether his disclosures were a criminal offense ? a matter that's not always clear-cut under U.S. federal law.

A second senior intelligence official said Snowden would have had to have signed a non-disclosure agreement to gain access to the top secret data. That suggests he could be prosecuted for violating that agreement. Penalties could range from a few years to life in prison. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the process of accessing classified materials more frankly.

The leak came to light as Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was being tried in military court under federal espionage and computer fraud laws for releasing classified documents to WikiLeaks about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other items. The most serious charge against him was aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence. But the military operates under a different legal system.

If Snowden is forced to return to the United States to face charges, whistle-blower advocates said Monday that they would raise money for his legal defense.

Clapper has ordered an internal review to assess how much damage the disclosures created. Intelligence experts say terrorist suspects and others seeking to attack the U.S. all but certainly will find alternate ways to communicate instead of relying on systems that now are widely known to be under surveillance.

The Obama administration also now must deal with the political and diplomatic fallout of the disclosures. Privacy laws across much of Western Europe are stricter than they are in the United States.

"It would be unacceptable and would need swift action from the EU if indeed the U.S. National Security Agency were processing European data without permission," said Guy Verhofstadt, a Belgian member of the European parliament and a leader in the Alde group of liberal parties.

Additionally, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters Monday that Chancellor Angela Merkel would question President Barack Obama about the NSA program when he's in Berlin on June 18 for his first visit to the German capital as president. In Germany, privacy regulations are especially strict, and the NSA programs could tarnish a visit that both sides had hoped would reaffirm strong German-American ties.

In London, British Foreign Secretary William Hague was forced to deny allegations that the U.K. government had used information provided by the Americans to circumvent British laws. "We want the British people to have confidence in the work of our intelligence agencies and in their adherence to the law and democratic values," Hague told Parliament.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama was open for a discussion about the spy programs, both with allies and in Congress. His administration has aggressively defended the two programs and credited them with helping stop at least two terrorist attacks, including one in New York City.

Privacy rights advocates say Obama has gone too far. The American Civil Liberties Union and Yale Law School filed legal action Monday to force a secret U.S. court to make public its opinions justifying the scope of some of the surveillance, calling the programs "shockingly broad." And conservative lawyer Larry Klayman filed a separate lawsuit against the Obama administration, claiming he and others have been harmed by the government's collection of as many as 3 billion phone numbers each day.

Army records indicate Snowden enlisted in the Army around May 2004 and was discharged that September.

"He attempted to qualify to become a Special Forces soldier but did not complete the requisite training and was administratively discharged from the Army," Col. David H. Patterson Jr., an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, said in a statement late Monday.

___

Associated Press writers Donna Cassata, Frederic Frommer and Matt Apuzzo in Washington, Robert H. Reid in Berlin and Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

___

Follow Lara Jakes on Twitter at https://twitter.com/larajakesAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-no-plans-end-broad-surveillance-program-073602699.html

karl rove Election 2012 Results polling place comedy central philadelphia eagles obamacare Todd Akin

All the New iOS Features Your Old iPhone Won't Get

As expected and widely reported ahead of today's keynote, Apple introduced a completely revamped iOS at WWDC. Not only did they ditch the skeuomorphic design scheme in favor of something a little more colorful and fun, the company added a handful of neat new features?some old, some new. But as with any major update to the mobile OS, there are a handful of features that won't be coming to older generation iOS devices. (Hint: It's because Apple wants you to upgrade.)

For starters, iOS 7 will be compatible with the following devices, so anything baked into the OS, like Find My iPhone, will be included:

Now, according to Apple "features are subject to change" and "not all features are available on all devices." Here's what you're getting and not getting based on each device. (And in some instances some services will be limited to 10 devices.)

AirDrop (which requires an iCloud account): iPhone 5, iPad(4th generation), iPad mini, iPod touch (5th generation)

Siri: iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad (Retina and newer), iPad mini, iPod touch (5th generation)

Panorama: iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (fifth generation)

Square and video formats and swipe to capture: iPhone 4 and newer, iPad 3rd generation and newer, iPad mini, iPod touch (fifth generation)

Filters in Camera: iPhone 5, iPod touch (fifth generation)

Filters in Photos: iPhone 4 and up, iPad (3rd generation and newer)

iTunes Radio: See supported iOS 7 device list above

Source: http://gizmodo.com/all-the-new-ios-features-your-old-iphone-wont-get-512359950

torrey smith oakland raiders Jessica Lange NFL scores week 3 kat dennings Steve Sabol Yom Kippur 2012

Engadget and Joystiq's Microsoft event wrap-up broadcast: live from E3!

Microsoft may have gotten the first word in at E3 (thanks to having the earliest press event) but will its litany of exclusive announcements enough to steal the show? Maybe, but we did hear a few gasps escape the audience when the firm dropped that $499 price tag. Let Engadget's Ben Gilbert and Joystiq Editor in Chief Ludwig Kietzmann break down the price, the games and presentation's technical difficulties for you in our post-event live stream. Join the fun after the break.

Follow all of our E3 2013 coverage at our event hub.

Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft

Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/NgUHyFUm2QE/

margaret thatcher MET GALA 2013 proflowers Susannah Collins George Jones funeral Jeff Hanneman twerking

17 Incredible Photos From the Dawn of California's Electrical Age

Los Angeles is inextricably bound to the advent of electricity in American cities?it might technically be the city of angels, but it?s really the city of lights. And lucky for us, the transformation of LA from a dark backwater to radiant city of lights was widely documented.

At Huntington Library's sprawling Edison Archives, 70,000 photos of LA?s so-called ?electrical age? tell the story of how electricity?aka "white gold"?made the city what it is. And thanks to a new digital exhibit called Form and Landscape (part of the ongoing Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in LA program), a group of historians and curators have parsed the most fascinating for us. The curators explain:

Boosters spoke fervently about the opportunity a regular supply of electricity created and the benefit it would provide a mass of people for whom ready access to white gold meant extended hours of productive labor, enhanced quality of their leisure hours, and greater safety while traveling in and about the company?s service area by foot, by mass transit, or by automobile. It is a story of private enterprise elevating individual and collective wellbeing and in doing so contributing toward the public good by taking the smoke out of manufacturing; by making the labor of workers, both wage-earners and domestic, more efficient; by increasing safety and deterring crime; by improving health.

From a nuclear power plant worker fashion show to the installation of the city's first street lights, check the images out below?or head over to Form and Landscape exhibit site for the entire collection.

1927: The construction of Shaver Lake Dam in Big Creek, by G. Haven Bishop.

Undated: An Edison snow surveyor prepares to force a hollow tube into the snow.

1936: Booth at restaurant Men's Display at Biltmore Hotel, by G. Haven Bishop.

1959: The automated menu at Scrivner's Drive-In, by Joseph Fadler.

1956: An ad from the Electric Clothes Drying Promotional Campaign, also by Joseph Fadler.

1957: The Drake Transmission Lines, which shuttled electricity to Los Angeles, shot by Joseph Fadler.

1970: An electrical workers fashion show, shot by Joseph Fadler.

1958: The Mammoth Pool Dam, where work went on around the clock in the late 1950s. Photo by Joseph Fadler.

Undated: The neon glow of a restaurant, by Doug White.

1960: A man surveys land, by Joseph Fadler.

1906: The creeping lights of LA, as seen from Mount Wilson, shot by G. Haven Bishop.

1965: Clifton's Cafeteria by Art Adams.

1960: A display meant to introduce buyers to the "effects of lighting on office efficiency," shot by Joseph Fadler.

1954: The iconic?and neon?golden arches of McDonald's. Shot by Joseph Fadler.

Undated: Commercial Lighting, by Doug White.

1964: New Luxury Home, by Joseph Fadler.

1967: Streetlights in storage, by Art Adams.

All images ? The Huntington.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/17-incredible-photos-from-the-dawn-of-californias-elec-510021481

john derbyshire kinkade thomas kinkade paintings navy jet crash virginia beach isiah thomas easter recipes live free or die hard

E3 2013: What to Look For at Year's Top Gaming Expo

Source:

michael bay zsa zsa gabor illinois primary trayvon martin 911 call kiribati vernal equinox mr rogers

Feds to comply with NY morning-after pill ruling

FILE - This undated file photo provided by Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., shows a package of Plan B One-Step, an emergency contraceptive. The federal government on Monday, June 10, 2013 told a judge it will reverse course and take steps to comply with his order to allow girls of any age to buy emergency contraception without prescriptions. (AP Photo/Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., File)

FILE - This undated file photo provided by Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., shows a package of Plan B One-Step, an emergency contraceptive. The federal government on Monday, June 10, 2013 told a judge it will reverse course and take steps to comply with his order to allow girls of any age to buy emergency contraception without prescriptions. (AP Photo/Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? The federal government on Monday told a judge it will reverse course and take steps to comply with his order to allow girls of any age to buy emergency contraception without prescriptions.

The Department of Justice, in the latest development in a complex back-and-forth over access to the morning-after pill, notified U.S. District Judge Edward Korman it will submit a plan for compliance. If he approves it, the department will drop its appeal of his April ruling.

"Once the court confirms that the government's understanding is correct, the government intends to file with the Circuit Court notice that it is voluntarily withdrawing its appeal in this matter," the department said in a letter to the judge.

Last week, the appeals court dealt the government a setback by saying it would immediately permit unrestricted sales of the two-pill version of the emergency contraception until the appeal was decided. That order was met with praise from advocates for girls' and women's rights and with scorn from social conservatives and other opponents, who argue the drug's availability takes away the rights of parents of girls who could get it without their permission.

Advocates for girls' and women's rights said Monday the federal government's decision to comply with the judge's ruling could be a move forward for "reproductive justice" if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration acts quickly and puts emergency contraception over the counter without restriction.

Annie Tummino, lead plaintiff in a lawsuit over unrestricted access to the morning-after pill and coordinator of the National Women's Liberation, said women and girls should have "the absolute right to control our bodies without having to ask a doctor or a pharmacist for permission."

"It's about time that the administration stopped opposing women having access to safe and effective birth control," she said in an emailed statement.

The government had appealed the judge's underlying April 5 ruling, which ordered emergency contraceptives based on the hormone levonorgestrel be made available without a prescription, over the counter and without point-of-sale or age restrictions.

It asked the judge to suspend the effect of that ruling until the appeals court could decide the case. But the judge declined, saying the government's decision to restrict sales of the morning-after pill was "politically motivated, scientifically unjustified and contrary to agency precedent." He also said there was no basis to deny the request to make the drugs widely available.

The government had argued that "substantial market confusion" could result if the judge's ruling were enforced while appeals were pending, only to be later overturned.

The morning-after pill contains a higher dose of the female hormone progestin than is in regular birth control pills. Taking it within 72 hours of rape, condom failure or just forgetting regular contraception can cut the chances of pregnancy by up to 89 percent, but it works best within the first 24 hours. If a girl or woman already is pregnant, the pill, which prevents ovulation or fertilization of an egg, has no effect.

The Food and Drug Administration was preparing in 2011 to allow over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill with no limits when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled her own scientists in an unprecedented move.

The FDA announced in early May that Plan B One-Step, the newer version of emergency contraception, the same drug but combined into one pill instead of two, could be sold without a prescription to those age 15 or older. Its maker, Teva Women's Health, plans to begin those sales soon. Sales had previously been limited to those who were at least 17.

The judge later ridiculed the FDA changes, saying they established "nonsensical rules" that favored sales of the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill and were made "to sugarcoat" the government's appeal.

He also said they placed a disproportionate burden on blacks and the poor by requiring a prescription for less expensive generic versions of the drug bought by those under age 17 and by requiring those age 17 or over to show proof-of-age identification at pharmacies. He cited studies showing that blacks with low incomes are less likely than other people to have government-issued IDs.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-10-Morning-After%20Pill/id-5f7783aa7065428fa043427098072621

yahoo news regions Google News Pray For Boston Anne Frank What Happened In Boston gold price

Biting | Ping Special Education

I have been teaching since 1997.

Sensory processing disorder or SPD is a new label; some doctors don?t even know it is.

It is not autism although many kids with ASD have it.

A bites when he is excited. He chews paper, bits of plastic & non-edible stuff. He also ?slaps? others on legs & arms. Sometimes he is angry but mostly, he has to express his feelings/excitement via actions (slapping or biting). He is 3+, going on 4 this year. A has a history of language delay; last year, he started speaking phrases but had much difficulties understanding instructions & explanation. A has not seen any specialists. He behaved like any normal preschooler in 1970s in terms of development & achievement. Some fathers will argue that there is nothing wrong with him.

B was around 8 years old when I met him. He had seen many paediatricians; most refused to diagnose him with ASD which his family wanted (so that they can send him to a autism-specific school.) He had undergone many treatments, including a particular behavior therapy centre where he picked up many inappropriate behaviors from ASD kids.

B pinches & bites when he is excited/aroused. I have seen the arms of his family members covered in bruises. He has also bit/broke & chewed off some of my pencils, toys, puzzles. It was a first for me when he chomped up a pencil in one bite.

I saw C when he was around 10-11 years old. He has ASD & mumbles & chews pencils. His speech is almost unintelligible to strangers; I could understand 50-70% of his speech even though I?m fairly good at deciphering mumbled speech. He takes about 1 hour to chew through a pencil before it takes on the look of squashed sugar cane.

All three kids exhibit similar behaviours eg mood swings, inappropriate emotional reaction like laughing or excitement, biting, chewing. They have SPD.

For B I managed to get him to stop pinching me by flipping (turning away) immediately. He feels shocked/rejected when I do that. I feel bad as I?m like his surrogate mother; he REALLY adores me. As I?m talking to B, he may impulsively pinch me & watch my reaction. It?s almost a tic-like behavior. B has mild intellectual disability.

Some children with SPD love watching faces. They can get more excited & do more inappropriate behaviors to get attention. Scolding, time out & explanation do not work well.

Sometimes they may suddenly become angry. It?s because they are tired. They behave like toddlers in terms of emotional regulation.

Kids with high or normal IQ can rationalize behaviors. Some will switch to chewing fingernails compulsively. Some will have problems dealing with pride, mistakes, relationships, etc.

It?s impossible to do educational therapy without strong family support. Behavior change is required & it starts at family home.

Like this:

Like Loading...

Source: http://pingsped.wordpress.com/2013/06/09/biting/

cough matt groening brandon phillips summerfest summerfest fidel castro rick santorum