4-9-10

In case you missed it...

GHOSTS, DIETS AND COLORED DRINKS
Rosie started today's program talking a little about the ghost of Helen Hayes (whoops!  A helpful blogger let me know they were talking about the ghost of Marie Tharp, not Helen Hayes.  My bad.) that haunts the radio studio and menopause and hot flashes she's experienced.

She referred to the "Robin Quivers green drink diet" that Robin successfully lost weight on. After Rosie's vacation in Miami she has decided she has to do something (diet related) because she feels like she's been eating "too much crap." She's going to start walking with Tracy and wants to change her eating habits, too. Bobby recommended she gets MBT shoes. Janette also recommended those shoes to Rosie and has been wearing them for years! Bobby and Janette love them. Shoshana said she has a pair but does not find them comfortable.

Rosie is thinking about doing the Robin Quivers diet to jump starting her weight loss. She's debating the 21 pounds in 21 days diet as a jumping off point to get the ball rolling. Rosie thought of trying to do it for a week just to see if there's an improvement in how she feels after cutting out the crap. Janette said she fasted in college and it made her feel horrible. Pete said he would try it with Rosie (she didn't believe him because he also said he'd quit smoking....)!

There was some discussion over the drinks that James brought into the studio that he bought at Whole Foods and the differences between those drinks and the ones Robin Quivers did. Rosie looked up Martha's Vineyard Detox Diet online and did the Interactive Diet Detox Quiz with the staff. Janette mentioned the documentary Food Inc and how messed up our food industry is.

They all sampled the drinks that James got at Whole Foods and the consensus was they liked them (pretty much).

TEMPLE GRANDIN AND MARGRET ERICSDOTTIR!

Rosie then interviewed Margrét Ericsdóttir and Temple Grandin who were both recently featured in the documentary A Mother's Courage: Talking Back To Autism (previously called the Sunshine Boy). In the documentary Margrét takes her son to a woman named Soma Mukhopadhyay in Austin, Texas, who taught her son who has autism how to read and communicate. In the documentary Margrét has exhausted all options for her son in her country and she goes out to find not only what the causes of Autism are but to meet with the experts on the disorder. One of the experts Margrét meets with is Temple Grandin! There is also a fantastic HBO film on the life of Temple entitled Temple Grandin. Rosie loved the movie of Temple's life and told her so. Temple talked about how much she loved Claire Danes in the film and who basically transforms herself into Temple. It is an amazing performance! Temple Grandin (the movie) is coming out on DVD on August 17th! Here's a LINK where you can pre-order a copy. Temple talked with Rosie about how she's been on nonstop travel for her book Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals.

Margrét said that when she hears Temple explain Autism she understands her son and what it means to have Autism so much better. ME TOO! In the documentary, "A Mother's Courage" Temple explains how in Autism there is a failure of the connections between brain parts. Temple explained that further to Rosie. Temple talked about how essential it is to work on speech with children who have autism, but if you come to the realization that speech is not going to occur, it's time to get the keyboard out and teach them how to type to communicate.

Rosie asked Temple if she's often sought out by mother's of children with Autism and she said she was. Temple said she tries to get back to thousands of emails she receives as best she can but also writes about many of the issues she is asked about in her books. For example, teaching concepts to kids who have autism. Temple said that kids who have autism need to be taught by specific examples and have trouble making generalizations to other things that typical thinking people do. She said as an example, you can't just say "don't be rude" to a child who has autism. You need to tell them specifically what is rude behavior. Like cutting in line at the movies or taking all the dessert before others have a chance.

Margrét said when she was making the film (A Mother's Courage) she met with Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay who wrote How Can I Talk If My Lips Don't Move: Inside My Autistic Mind. Tito is Soma's son who also has Autism and whose disability was very similar to her own son's. He was communicating by typing. Soma is in the United States now teaching others with no hope to communicate how to type. Margrét was told that her son had the mental ability of a 2 year old and he should be institutionalized. When she brought him to Soma she was reluctant to do so because she had tried everything, so she thought. She expected nothing. She's since been amazed by the progress he has made. She said it has been slow and gradual but at least now he has the means to communicate. Unlike Temple, Margét's son is very auditory and perceives the environment through hearing. She didn't even know that her son loved music as much as he did and one of the first things he asked for when he could finally communicate was an ipod! Margret said her son never got the proper academics because people assumed he was 'mentally retarded'. In the film, Margrét hopes that it shows we should always assume typical intelligence first, when dealing with Autism. Lack of speech does not mean lack of intelligence and interests.

Margrét also included that her son's manners are much improved now. Before he learned to communicate, they couldn't take him to restaurants because they had no expectations and demands of him because they didn't know if he understood. Now that they know he can understand them, they started to believe in him more and his assurance and independence increased. Temple said she is seeing too many highly functioning children with autism do too many inappropriate behaviors because parents are afraid to set limits. She said there needs to be expectations of kids with Autism. However, she said that some situations should be avoided if you want good behavior out of a child with Autism. For example, don't take a child with extreme sensitivity to noise to a crowded, loud restaurant and expect great behavior.

Jeannie, who is a speech-language pathologist for children ages birth to age 3, asked Temple if she thinks when you're dealing with very young kids who may be Autistic if there is a way to tell at an early age whether or not they are going to be visual or auditory learners. Temple did not think you can tell that young. She suggested that all families really try hard with their kids to get them to learn speech first and only if that fails change tactics to other measures of communication. Jeannie asked if Temple thought using PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) is the best thing you can do to improve a child's speech. Temple said she thought the best thing for a child who has autism and limited speech is many, many hours a week of one-to-one teaching with an effective teacher.

Rosie asked Temple if certain scenes in the movie Temple Grandin effected her emotionally. Temple said "yes" that some of the scenes in the film brought back many of the the bad feelings she felt at the time. Temple was one of the first people to present what was Autism was like from the inside. In the past, people had wrongfully assumed that people with Autism, who are non-verbal, don't have a mind.

Temple has many, many books available so check them out! Here is a LINK to many of her titles on Amazon. Here is a LINK to her Autism website and a LINK to her website on animal behavior. Rosie thanked them for calling in and wished them both continued success!!

CALLERS AND A DISCUSSION WITH HELEN AND MARGARET FROM NYACK
Rosie took a few callers and talked to them about Broadway and Ricky Martin coming out.

Rosie then introduced Helen who is a 98 year old woman who has owned a dress store in the town of Nyack for 55 years. Rosie met Helen one day while coming out of therapy and had an instant connection with her. Helen knew it was Rosie because she had seen her on TV a couple of times. The actress Helen Hayes lived in the town of Nyack and was a steady customer at her store. She got Helen Hayes the dress she wore on the Jack Parr show (I have heard Rosie tell this story 15 times I think, lol I could probably do a pretty good impression of it too at this point). Helen talked about her life with Rosie and what it was like growing up in Hungary. She suffered many losses in her life including the loss of her mother when she was a baby and the loss of her father who died when she was 4. She and her 5 sisters stayed together, the eldest raising them all. Helen and her daughter Margaret wrote a book all about her life, her arranged marriage, her near-death experiences and the losses she has suffered. Recently Helen was hospitalized with congestive heart failure but she's doing better now. She also put all her kids and grandkids through college! Helen hopes to live to over 100 years old and has never smoked or drank! Rosie said she wants to help Helen have her book about her life published. You can go see Helen at her dress shop called Twigs at 83 Main Street in Nyack, New York! Who knows, you could run into Rosie! :)

After the interview with Helen the staff talked about how much they admire Helen for her fantastic outlook on life and how old they would like to live to. Janette said 86 years old because that's as long as her father lived and Bobby said he wants to go when he can't take care of himself anymore. They talked a bit about all that has happened already in their lives like the invention of call waiting, the microwave and the personal computer. Rosie talked about how she thought she was going to die at the same age as her mother and after she surpassed that age she had to make a whole other plan for the second half of her life.

Rosie closed the show saying that she will be gardening this weekend and she's going to see Master Class in DC starring Tyne Daly!

and that's what you missed - kw