Word: millers
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...good reason for that. SPD is not listed in medical texts or in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM), the bible of psychiatric disorders. Doctors acknowledge sensory issues as a common feature of autism and a frequent feature of ADHD but not as a stand-alone disorder. Lucy Jane Miller, a former protégé of Ayres and head of the STAR Center, is spearheading a campaign to change that. She has organized a national effort to have SPD added to the next edition of the DSM, the fifth, due out in 2012. Earning a spot in the DSM V would make...
...research so far is provocative but limited. "It's hard to get grants for a disorder that doesn't exist," laments Miller, whose recent book, Sensational Kids, offers a guide to both research and treatment. Many studies are flawed by vague criteria for identifying the condition, samples that include kids with other disorders, and an utter lack of standardized treatment...
...Miller and others have been slowly building a research base. Studies at her SPD Research Institute, adjacent to the STAR clinic, have identified neurological differences between children with sensory-processing problems and typical kids. In one set of experiments, electrodes are attached to children's hands to measure nervous-system activity in response to a series of stimuli that include a siren, a powerful wintergreen scent, the brush of a feather against the cheek--each repeated eight times. A healthy child will show a strong electrodermal response--basically a measure of sweating or stress--to the first exposure but will...
...with certainty how many kids are severely affected by sensory problems, though preliminary work by Miller suggests it may be 1 in 20. A critical question is where to draw the line between what's normal and what's pathological (see sidebar). Studies conducted by Alice Carter, professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, suggest that 40% of children ages 7 to 10 are so sensitive to touch that tags in clothing annoy them, and 11% overreact to sirens. But no one would claim that all these kids have a sensory disorder. Carter thinks SPD is too vaguely...
...wasn't that long ago that U.S. citizens held views similar to those of today's Muslims. Fifty years ago, most Americans considered public breast-feeding indecent, the comedy of Lenny Bruce criminal, George Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words" punishable and Henry Miller's now classic Tropic of Cancer obscene. Likewise, prior to the 1960s most people openly prayed. In my travels to Muslim countries, I found the younger generation to be just as hip as most of our teenagers. Once they come to power in 30 years, their idea of what's indecent will be closer to ours. Jeffrey...