Jo Ann Riniti, Ph.D. specializes in infant attachment, developmental issues with young children, family therapy and adolescents with Asperger’s issues. She provides individual, couples and family sessions as well as group therapy. Her California License Number is PSY 12418.
Dr. Riniti facilitates various educational talks including: Knowing What We Know: How to Cultivate and Communicate Our Truth; What is Your Hurry? – The Disappearance of Creativity and Play; A Sense of Play: The Value of Active Engagement and Emotional Attunement.
Dr. Riniti’s office is located at 9099 Soquel Drive, Suite 11, Aptos, CA 95003. Telephone 831 427-8282
This is a true story with some information changed to protect privacy.
The boy, I will call him Mark, is nearly seven years old. He was diagnosed with Autistic Disorder a year ago.
The diagnosis was given after a thorough assessment by a licensed California psychologist up in the Bay Area. Mark and his parents live in the Monterey Bay area. Mark goes to a public school kindergarten.
In the course of just one year, Mark’s functional abilities have improved considerably. He no longer meets criteria for a diagnosis of Autistic Disorder.
Since the diagnosis , Father, a computer type, now spends much more time engaged with Mark has an Individual Education Plan (IEP) which provides a full time aide and public school speech services. Mother also takes him to private social learning classes and to horseback riding classes for children with disabilities. And there is a normally developing same age boy who lives close. The parents put in an outside hot tub and child oriented playground to encourage other children to come visit.
Of note: There was no Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) services in place. Mother appears to use a soft, developmentally oriented approach. And it IS working! So, YES, children can dramatically improve in one year. Instead of having 6 out of 9 functional areas quite low, now there are only three. What more improvements will happen over the next year? I expect more great, positive changes ….
written by Cameron Jackson DrCameronJackson@gmail.com
Going into the Santa Cruz COSTCO ahead of me was a woman with a labrador dog. The dog looked like a well trained dog. The lab had a blue cover on his back. I said how nice to see well trained dogs out and about with people. She said that she has a disability and hence the dog goes with her everywhere. She got her dog through Canine Companions for Independence.
Anybody else out there that wants to take their well trained dogs into COSTCO and other places?
Why is it that only people with disabilities can take dogs everywhere? So long as a dog is trained why not include the dog in many more places than they usually are?
In Watsonville, California, Lance Stackhouse runs Canine Clinic. Dogs can be certified as therapy dogs and there are other certifications they can earn.
DiagnosisMedical Diagnosis: You go to a doctor. He/She says that you have a diagnosis of cancer. You say, what do I do …? The doctor suggests various treatments. Here, diagnosis is the flip side of treatment. Nobody BUYS or WANTS a diagnosis of cancer. If a person has cancer then treatment may involve radiation, surgery or chemotherapy or a combination of all three. All these treatments have significant medical side effects. None of these should be undertaken lightly.
Psychiatric/psychology diagnosis: Parents are concerned about mental and emotional development of their child. They take their child to a doctor — this one is a psychologist and / or psychiatrist. The parents want maximum services to address the concerns they see in the development of their child. So long as the services don’t hurt the child why not maximize them? That is the parents point of view.
Does the doctor conservatively diagnose or? Most of the treatments offerred for children with a diagnosis of autism do not have substantial side effects as in cancer. No lose of hair or feeling lousy because of radiation. So why not maximize treatment to assist the child? Why not “err” and offer maximum kinds of treatment?
Ethics: I say that it is best to do as accurate a diagnosis as possible and not “err” in order to maximize services. Better to incrementally come back and add necessary services rather than overload at the beginning.
This is an ethical dilemma. Does the MD give out drugs that are not necessary but the patient came all that way, waited an hour and expects to get “something”? Does the psychologist diagnose Autistic Disorder 299.0 and not PDD-NOS knowing that one will probably maximize all possible services and the other may not?
Another issue is who pays. If the patient pays for it akin to buying groceries then he may decide that some services are crucial and others can wait. If the “government” is paying the tab — how does that affect decisions?
looking at eyes an important abilityPersons with autism often cannot make eye contact. They often will look at mouths rahter than focus on the eyes, Oxytocin increased the abilitiy of autistic persons to pick up non-verbal social clues.
“Autism is characterized by difficulties in communicating effectively with other people and developing social relationships. The team led by Angela Sirigu at the Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive (CNRS) has shown that the inhalation of oxytocin, a hormone known to promote mother-infant bonds and social relationships, significantly improved the abilities of autistic patients to interact with other individuals.
To achieve this, the researchers administered oxytocin to 13 autistic patients and then observed their social behavior during ball games and during visual tests designed to identify ability to recognize faces expressing different feelings. Their findings, published in PNAS on 15 February 2010, thus reveal the therapeutic potential of oxytocin to treat the social disorders from which autistic patients suffer.Oxytocin is a hormone that promotes delivery and lactation. It plays a crucial role in enhancing social and emotional behavior. Previous studies that measured the levels of this hormone in the blood of patients showed that it was deficient in those with autism.
First of all, the researchers observed the social behavior of the patients while they were interacting with three other people during a ball tossing game. Three profiles were represented: a player who always returned the ball to the patient, a player who did not return the ball, and finally a player who indiscriminately returned the ball to the patient or to other players. Each time the patient received the ball, he or she won a sum of money. The game was restarted ten times in order to allow the patient to identify the different profiles of his/her partners and act accordingly. Under a placebo, the patients returned the ball indiscriminately to the three partners. However, patients treated with oxytocin were able to discriminate between the different profiles and returned the ball to the most cooperative partner.
The scientists also measured the patients’ degree of attentiveness to social signals by asking them to look at series of photographs of faces. Under a placebo, the patients looked at the mouth or away from the photo. But after inhaling oxytocin, the patients displayed a higher level of attentiveness to facial stimuli: they looked at the faces, and indeed it was even possible to see an increase in the number of times they looked specifically at the eyes of the faces in the photographs.
During these tests, the scientists also verified these behavioral effects by measuring physiological plasma oxytocin levels before and after nasal inhalations. Prior to the inhalations, plasma oxytocin levels were very low, but they rose after an intake of the hormone.
The results of these tests thus showed that the administration of oxytocin allowed autistic patients to adjust to their social context by identifying the differing behaviors displayed by those around them and then acted accordingly, demonstrating more trust in the most socially cooperative individuals. Oxytocin also reduced their fear of others and promoted closer social relations.
This is one of the first studies to have demonstrated a potential therapeutic effect for oxytocin on social deficits in autism. Evidently, variations between individuals were observed in terms of their response to treatment, and the researchers acknowledged the importance and necessity to pursue this work. They will in particular be studying the long-term effects of oxytocin on improving the everyday living disorders of autistic patients, and its efficacy at an early stage of the disease.
Bob Lee was elected 8 years ago as District Attorney. So, why re-elect Bob Lee?
At that time, Bob Lee ran against D.A. incumbent Kate Canalis.
Lots of people told Bob Lee that he could not win against the incumbent. Well, he did. With lots of support from all sorts of sources.
So how has Bob Lee done as District Attorney? In the last 5 years he has won every major criminal case Wow!
How involved is he? Bob Lee gets up in the middle of the night and goes to the crime scene. He is a “hands-on” D.A. Great!
Who gets hired? The Santa Cruz District Attorney office seeks — and gets — excellent beginning attorneys. Let’s hope that “those beginners” stay around whether as Assistant D.A. or in private practice. Great!!
What kind of training do the D.A.’s get? Bob Lee’s office trains continually so that experienced attorneys pass on what they know. That makes sense. Great!
How are cases assigned? The attorney assigned takes the case from start to finish. No more who has my case this week. Great!
What is morale like in the office? Bob Lee’s enthusiasm permeates the office. Every government office needs this!
How are victims of crimes treated? There are criminals and there are VICTIMS of crimes. Victims of crime are treated with sensitivity. The physical environment where they are interviewed is attractive and supportive. Good Job!
Bob Lee is a “hands on attorney” who is fair, honest and cares about all of the citizens in Santa Cruz County.
Thank you, Bob Lee! Good job! Let’s RE-ELECT Bob Lee as D.A.
A political ad paid for by Dr. Jackson, Monterey Bay Forum
DrCameronJackson@gmail.com
P.O.Box 1972, Aptos, CA 95001-1972
“Why do you publish the Amy Goodman tripe weekly? Might I suggest a once-a-year story for her: Somewhere a child cries, somewhere a sparrow limps. Blame the United States of America. Somewhere a life is saved, somewhere medicine is delivered. Praise the United Nations.”
Fr. Ron Shirley, Resurection Church, Aptos, CA
When I look around the Feb. 13, Sat. 5 pm service at Resurrection Catholic Church, Aptos, CA I see many of the same people sitting in the same pew as the week before. The Liturgy has a sameness that provides a reassuring security. And I see many people I have never seen before.
I see a diverse congregation: families, and singles, old and young, many different ethnicities. One woman looked like she might have come in a horse and carriage. Wearing a red jacket, she is formally dressed with a striking black hat and veil. There were visitors from other cities and states.
Fr. Ron Shirley presided. He opened with a few brief remarks about what it is to be holy – to know our holes and weaknesses and to seek God to be made whole.
His homily was brief: two toasts to a couple at a marriage feast. He holds a wine glass up to make the toasts. The first toast, made by a friend of the bridegroom, included comments such as, may you always be rich and well thought of. And may you always be happy… The second toast, offered by someone not well dressed nor invited to the celebration, was quite different. May you be poor at times and turn to God… May you feel empty at times …and be filled by God. May you at times cry …
Fr. Ron’s brief messages connect the gospel and biblical readings to a Christian, spiritual life. He tells stories that are easy to remember. And worth remembering.
Pastor Shirley concluded the service with the words, The Mass never ends…it must be lived! Go forth to serve…” Ah, yes!
Great place for lunch in Watsonville, CA. There is a small inside counter for about 8 people and a deck outside. Most people get sandwiches or the special to go.
The hot special changes daily. Good food. Decent prices. Fresh ingredients. Brownies to die for. They give you as much or little food as you want. Friendly service. And ONE copy of the Sentinel newspaper to share.
It will be closed on President’s Day. Next Wednesday the special is Chicken Fried Steak.
You can sign up and get the weekly menu sent to you by email.
written by Cameron Jackson DrCameronJackson@gmail.com
