Lauren J. Mapp | The San Diego Union-Tribune (TNS)

SAN DIEGO — Donning one of her favorite unicorn-themed nightgowns and perched comfortably in an extra large beanbag chair, Alyssa Tracy watches videos on her tablet.

It’s a quiet, early April morning at the Lakeside, California, home where the 10-year-old lives with her parents, Dustin and Debra Tracy, and older sister Grace Tracy, age 12.

But just a few minutes earlier, Alyssa was a little fussy. Being on spring break means her school routine is disrupted. Plus, there’s a reporter and photographer visiting.

Alyssa Tracy, 10, engages with an activity on her tablet at home. In some cases, an autism diagnosis is delayed because girls may be seen merely as quieter or shy, rather than demonstrating clear symptoms. Research over the past decade has helped reveal that boys and girls may present symptoms in different ways. (Alejandro Tamayo/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS)

Having a stable routine can be really important for children like Alyssa, who is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

“Her hair, her routine, it always has to be done a certain way,” said her mom. “She has to have ponytails every day. It can’t be braids. It used to be braids for a while, for a few years. But now it’s just ponytails.”

Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disorder, characterized by difficulty with communication, social interactions and behavior, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

Some early signs of autism are when a child fails to make or keep eye contact or if they don’t respond to their name by the time they’re 9 months old. They may also seem unaware when someone speaks to them. At a year old, they might use few or no gestures — such as not waving goodbye — and they may not play simple games, like pat-a-cake.

While Alyssa was diagnosed with autism at age 2 — under the average diagnosis age of 4½, according to the CDC — many other girls and women with the condition are not diagnosed until much later than their male counterparts. That latent diagnosis can impact when or if they receive support therapies, which experts says are key to improved long-term outcomes.

Gender-based differences in autism

The Organization for Autism Research reports that while 25 percent of boys with autism are diagnosed before age 6, only 8 percent of girls receive a diagnosis by that time. By 11 years old, about half of boys have been diagnosed, compared with 20 percent of girls.

UCLA Health reports that nearly 80 percent of autistic women are undiagnosed at age 18.

Among those not diagnosed until adulthood is Jennifer Cook, author of the memoir“Autism in Heels” and nine other books about autism. Her virtual coaching for neurodiverse people is featured on the Netflix series “Love on the Spectrum U.S.,” which was renewed for a third season earlier this month.

In 2011, Cook was identified as being on the spectrum at 35, after her three children were diagnosed. At the time, some of the specialists working with her daughter, then 7, would ask questions about why Cook was using specific methods during home school lessons.

After several specialists asked similar questions, Cook started to question whether she, too, had autism spectrum disorder. But at the time, she couldn’t find information about what autism looked like in women and girls.

So, Cook listed how she thought the condition showed up in her life, “Chicklist Check List,” which she later published in her memoir. She brought it to her therapist, who agreed with her self-assessment.

She said that while getting a diagnosis can be self-affirming, people shouldn’t think it in any way limits who they are and what they are capable of.

“I went to two Ivy League schools, I was the social chair for my sorority and a college cheerleader,” Cook said. “I don’t fit the bill of what a stereotypical autistic person looks like and I think that’s cool.”

Why fewer girls and women get diagnosed early

There are several reasons that may cause a gender-based disparity.

Because a lot of autism research has historically focused on males, the diagnostic criteria has long been based on how they experience the condition. That has led to biases in screening practices, leading to girls and women being less likely to be identified.

“It’s really in the last decade or so that we have been trying to get better at looking at some of the differences between girls and boys in terms of their presentation,” Yanan Guo said.

Related Articles

States want to make it harder for health insurers to deny care, but firms might evade enforcement

‘Are nursing homes our only option?’ These centers offer older adults an alternative

Sugar cravings could be caused by loneliness, study finds

When rogue brokers switch people’s ACA policies, tax surprises can follow

Emergency rooms refused to treat pregnant women, leaving one to miscarry in a lobby restroom

She is a licensed clinical psychologist at the Developmental Evaluation Clinic with Rady Children’s Hospital and board-certified behavior analyst who specialized in autism spectrum disorder before starting her doctorate.

One way autism can differ between genders is that autistic girls can sometimes present as being more social. They also might be quiet and less disruptive, meaning they might not be perceived as needing additional services, said Doris Trauner, Department of Neurosciences professor emerita at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

There are also cultural biases at play.

“If a 3- or 4-year-old girl doesn’t want to talk to anybody else, kind of hides behind her mother or wants to look at books instead of talking to people, they are described as shy,” Trauner said. “If a boy wants to do that, that’s sometimes deemed to be more concerning because boys are supposed to be running around and playing with other kids.”

Girls and women with autism are more likely to employ camouflaging strategies, masking their symptoms by imitating neurotypical social behaviors. This adaptive technique allows them to blend in with their peers, often leading to difficulties in receiving an accurate or early diagnosis.

“Even though they do these things, they’re not necessarily understanding the nuance of the more subtle things that are included in these social relationships,” Guo said.

Big sister Grace Tracy, 12, speaks to a reporter at the family’s Lakeside home. (Alejandro Tamayo/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS)

This coping mechanism, aimed at fitting in, can also lead to increased mental health challenges for autistic girls and women.

“It’s very stressful for somebody to do that because they’re not being themselves, and so that may actually end up resulting in more behavior problems because of the stress and anxiety,” Trauner said.

Camouflaging can also lead to someone being misdiagnosed. Some common diagnoses girls and women with autism receive include borderline personality disorder, eating disorders, Tourette syndrome, bipolar disorder, social anxiety disorder or generalized anxiety disorder, the Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network reports.

“I’ll see kids who come with a diagnosis of anxiety disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, attention deficit disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, one kid with four or five different diagnoses,” Trauner said. “It turns out when you put it all together, they meet criteria for autism.”

Getting connected to autism resources

Researchers say early diagnosis is imperative because the therapies to support children with autism are most effective when they receive those resources before they’re 3 years old.

Speech therapy for children with autism focuses on improving communication skills, occupational therapy enhances everyday functional abilities and independence, and behavioral therapy helps manage behaviors, developing coping strategies for social interaction and emotional regulation.

All three can play important roles in supporting people with autism, fostering their communication skills, independence and emotional well-being.

These therapies provide tailored support, recognizing the unique strengths and challenges of each person, and empowering them to navigate the world with confidence and autonomy. By focusing on holistic approaches and respecting the diverse abilities of people with autism, these therapies promote inclusivity and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Alyssa Tracy, who is on the autism spectrum, plays on her tablet during spring break while her father, Dustin, offers help. Dustin Tracy points out that they were fortunate that their primary care physician understood autism. It meant they could start the intervention process sooner rather than later. (Alejandro Tamayo/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS)

Having an early diagnosis helps families learn what support is available and can help them gain access to the services, especially if there are long wait lists for programs.

“You have to keep advocating for your children to make sure that they get what they need,” Guo said.

Dustin Tracy said that his older daughter, who does not have autism, had worked with a speech therapist when she was young because she had a minor speech delay. When Alyssa was experiencing delayed speech a few years later, he and his wife initially thought that she was following in Grace’s footsteps.

By the time Alyssa was about 18 months old, she was using about 20 to 30 words, but became nonspeaking by the time she turned 2. That’s when the Tracys brought Alyssa to her primary care physician, who screened and diagnosed her with autism.

“We were really fortunate that our primary care physician understood autism because not all of them do, especially when it comes to recognizing those symptoms in women,” Dustin Taylor said.

The San Diego Regional Center— which reports that about 40 percent of clients have autism — supports individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities and their families from birth throughout their lives. The center is the local coordinator of the California Early Start Program, which ensures that eligible infants and toddlers receive evaluation and support services.

Parents can also work with their child’s school to start the process of receiving an Individualized Education Program, a personalized plan tailored to their unique strengths and challenges.

In some cases, parents may also qualify to be paid for the care they provide their children through the county’s In-Home Supportive Services. Debra Tracy said that because she may need to pick up Alyssa from school at a moment’s notice if an issue arises, working a job outside the home is not possible at this time.

“I’ve always been a very independent woman, so being able to say that I’m providing for my family, it’s a big thing,” she said.

Because his daughter was so young when she was diagnosed, Dustin Tracy said they were able to get Alyssa connected to resources through the San Diego Regional Center and the Autism Society San Diego, the latter of which he’s the treasurer. Alyssa received early intervention services for speech therapy and occupational therapy, and her mom and dad were able to learn from other parents in local support groups.

Alyssa continues to work with specialists, which Dustin Tracy said contributed to the success of a recent vacation to Hawaii.

“We never thought we could travel with her or anything like that just based on early experience and her behaviors,” he said. “We were able to get on the plane, go out for a week and have an incredible time in a place we never thought we’d visit together and really enjoy ourselves.”

©2024 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Visit sandiegouniontribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By Gretchen McKay, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Protein bowls are appealing for many reasons, the biggest of which is they’re incredibly versatile.

Whether you top them with a lean meat like roasted chicken or a fatty, good-for-you fish like salmon — or opt for a vegetarian source of protein such as tofu or canned chickpeas — bowls can fill you up with countless combinations, while also making you feel great about how well you’re eating.

Related Articles

Recipe: Asian grilling unleashes dazzling flavors in meat and vegetables

Recipe: Artichokes are in season. Here’s a great way to enjoy them

Yes, you can wash cast iron: 5 big kitchen myths, debunked

Passover Recipe: Floater Herbed Matzo Balls

Recipe: Micah Siva’s Passover Black and White Cookies

Plus, they’re easy to assemble on a busy weeknight or quick lunch break, without the need for any fancy-pants equipment. Besides its namesake dish, all that’s really required to create the perfect lunch or dinner bowl is a cutting board for all the chopping (of toppings) and a small bowl for a bit of mixing (of sauce).

Start with a base of rice, quinoa, farro or another grain. Or choose a sturdy, leafy green such as spinach, Romaine lettuce or baby kale. After the chosen protein, pile on whatever crunchy vegetables are killing time in your fridge, add a healthy fat such as feta cheese and sliced avocado or a handful of nuts or seeds. Then, drizzle it with a yogurt-based sauce, vinaigrette or squeeze of lemon.

This recipe, which was adapted from a similar dish that showed up on my social media feed, features aromatic, Mediterranean-style chicken shawarma cooked in a loaf pan with red onion and then shredded. Chickpeas and assorted veggies complete the combo, along with a generous scoop of white rice.

If you prepare the grains and chop the toppings while the chicken thighs are roasting, you’ll only need about 5 minutes to pull it all together come meal time. Sweet!

Chicken Shawarma Bowl

Serves 4

For chicken

2 pounds boneless chicken thigh, fat trimmed

2-3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly cracked black pepper

2 tablespoons plain yogurt

Juice 1 lemon

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Dash of ground nutmeg

1/2 large or 1 small red onion, thinly sliced

For bowl

1 1/2 cups cooked white or brown rice

1 cup whole canned chickpeas

2 small cucumbers, sliced into half-moons

1 red or yellow bell pepper, seeds and ribs removed, chopped

1/2 cup feta cheese crumbles

Chopped parsley, for garnish

For sauce

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

Juice of 1 lemon

Prepare chicken: Trim fat off chicken thighs, season generously with salt and pepper and place in a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil.
In small bowl, mix yogurt and lemon juice, then add to bowl with chicken and toss to combine with a rubber spatula.
In another bowl, combine thyme, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne, turmeric, cumin, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add to pan with chicken, and toss well to combine. (Feel free to add more or less of any particular seasoning.)
Add sliced onion to bowl, toss to combine and then allow to marinate for an hour or up to a day in the fridge. Or you can place it in a loaf pan and cook it right away.
When ready to cook, preheat oven to 425 degrees, and bring chicken mixture up to room temperature (if it’s been in the fridge). Pack chicken and onions into a loaf pan, then cook in hot oven for 45-55 minutes (instant thermometer should read 160 degrees.)
While chicken is cooking, prepare rice according to package directions, drain and rinse chickpeas and chop vegetables. Prepare sauce by mixing together yogurt, garlic, dill and lemon juice, then set aside.
When chicken is done, drain excess juices from the pan and flip the loaf pan onto a cutting board. Cut the meat into thin strips or chunks.
Assemble bowls with a scoop of rice, 1/4 cup chickpeas, sliced vegetables and feta. Add chopped chicken, then drizzle with sauce. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper, if desired, and serve. Use leftover chicken (there will be plenty) for a salad or sandwich the next day,

— Gretchen McKay, Post-Gazette

©2024 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By 2023, artificial intelligence had seeped into enough corners of a nervous film industry — buoyed by Barbenheimer, but fully aware of an imminent 2024 shortage of new titles — to become a seriously effective tool of labor unrest. Last year’s Screen Actors Guild contract, achieved after a lengthy, costly staring contest with industry producers and streamer honchos, added some guardrails designed to protect actors’ collective livelihood, noting “the importance of human performance in motion pictures and (AI’s) potential impact on employment.”

Tye Sheridan knows about that impact. He’s an actor, having made a formidable screen debut in the 2011 Terrence Malick film “The Tree of Life.” He’s best known for Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One” and as Cyclops in the “X-Men” movies.

Sheridan is also really into AI. He co-founded Wonder Dynamics in 2017 with his partner, visual effects supervisor and filmmaker Nikola Todorovic. They now oversee 70 employees in the U.S. and in Todorvoric’s native Serbia.

What is Wonder Dynamics, besides a name promising both wonder and dynamism?

Its founders say it’s an affordable, easy-to-use shortcut for filmmakers with projects  calling for computer-generated characters. The AI platform (monthly subscriptions start at $20) offers the user a variety of characters. A robot. An alien. A bearded professor, with the slump-shouldered, underpaid air of the average adjunct.

Let’s say your screenplay calls for a shot of your alien running out of a building, stopping, looking both ways with a worried expression, and then running off again. In a real location, you film your real actor, running. You then take that raw footage and, with the Wonder Studio software, you turn your human into an alien, without any pricey motion-capture suits or lengthy post-production effects phase.

Todorovic and Sheridan have many fans and customers, including the Russo Brothers (“Avengers: Endgame,” “The Gray Man”). Joe Russo is on the Wonder Dynamics advisory board. The Russos hired Wonder to work on their next project, “The Electric State,” due in late 2024 or early 2025.

They also have their fair share of skeptics. One LinkedIn commenter said this of the Wonder Studio AI: “Someday this will be reverse. They will film a robot and use AI to bring back a legend from the grave.” Another said: “Say hello to job loss as well.”

 

In the wake of a Chicago Humanities Festival event featuring them, I spoke with Todorovic and Sheridan to get my head around the implications of what they’re selling. Our conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: Consider me AI-agnostic at best, Tye. What’s your sales pitch?

Sheridan: Our main goal, really, is to create opportunities for artists. To allow stories that were completely unattainable to most filmmakers to be told. We’re trying to bridge a gap, reduce (filmmaking) costs, reduce the time it takes, for the industry and the creators. The audience just wants a good story, and there’s a lot of good storytellers out there that haven’t had the opportunity to tell their stories.

Q: Nikola, at the Chicago Humanities Festival talk, you explained your company’s approach to some of the ethical questions. You said that you’re not doing generative AI, you’re “just extracting (visual) information, observing actors moving and performing.” Can you elaborate on that?

Todorovic: We’re accelerating artists’ work, not generating it ourselves. We don’t train our models on existing art. We work with what the artists have made. We don’t really want a future where there’s no performance, or there’s no cinematography as we know it, and it’s all getting digitalized.

Q: So you’re saying you’re on solid ethical ground because you’re not leaving a human performer completely out of the process? That you’re selling the equivalent of responsibly sourced ingredients?

Todorovic: Yes. I mean, Tye is an actor. We don’t want to put him out of work.

Q: The other night you acknowledged the possibility of a film production future where shooting a movie in person, on a set, has become passé, or at least as rare as a black-and-white film. I guess I’m nervous about where this might go without guardrails. So. Assuage my fears.

Todorovic: It is a fear of ours as well. I hope that future doesn’t happen. We have to have performers, and performance art, which is a huge part of the magic of storytelling. Even if the future means (computer) generating certain environments, the performance in my mind is still going to be performed by an actor. Otherwise it’s hard to generate characters with feelings. That’s why we’re building our company holistically, and keeping it in the 3D space. That way the result is always going to be only as good as what your cinematographer did with the light, in real space.

The audience will tell us where it all goes in the future. Will the audience like watching something completely synthetic? I don’t think so. We love to watch other people. At Wonder Dynamics we don’t want to be part of the wrong kind of future.

Sheridan: It really does come down to the audience. They’ll dictate the stories we tell, and what the medium becomes. You also have to consider the economics. We’ve seen them change a lot in the last five, 10 years. Theatrical distribution has completely  shifted, and the economics of making certain films has changed. I’m not talking about the “Avatars,” but about the films getting pushed out of the industry because not enough people are going to see them.

Q: I have to assume that coming off a long strike, as both an actor and the co-founder of an AI platform company, you’ve taken some (heat) from some actor colleagues about this sort of technology.

Sheridan: When something has the potential to shake up our industry in a fundamental way, like AI, it’s our natural impulse to get defensive. If you’re an actor you’re afraid that what you value, what you have to offer, won’t be valuable in the future. People tend to jump to an extreme reaction and say (AI) is going to replace everyone. We definitely heard that during the strikes.

I also heard a lot of folks who saw the benefits, and there are some people trying to pump the brakes a little (on the anti-AI rhetoric).  Saying AI is bad or good, that’s too general. It’s like saying the internet is either one or the other.

Q: So how do you stay on the right side of the ethical line, when your technology could so easily go in the direction you say you don’t want effects-driven filmmaking, or filmmaking of any kind, to go?

Tudorovic: Every time we add a new feature, we have to use our compass to see if it will affect our ethical mission. You’re 100% right. This is probably something our investors wouldn’t like to hear, but yeah, we are tempted a lot. New research comes out, and you think, “Oh, this would be so cool, this is super flashy, this would be amazing for social media! A lot of the (generative AI companies) just want to build tools for social media, where they have billions of users. Instead of building tools for a few creatives, which is what we’re doing. I mean, you’re tempted to package something that could be a quick and easy new feature that gets you millions more users. But Tye and I don’t want to build something that we, as artists, don’t respect.

The fear comes from where we’ll all be in three to five years.

Phillips is a Tribune critic.

By Jim Rossman, Tribune News Service

I sleep with a fan blowing to move the air in my bedroom.

Over the years I’ve had all sorts of fans, but for the last few years, my choice has been a Dyson fan sitting on a small table.

The Dyson fan I’ve been using was the Pure Hot+Cool. The Pure meant it had a HEPA filter, and Hot+Cool means it’s a heater as well as a fan. I loved that the HEPA filter meant I was cleaning the air in the bedroom as I was being lulled to sleep by the cool breezes.

Earlier this year, Dyson asked if I wanted to review the latest version, the Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde ($849.99, Dyson.com), which is quite a mouthful. It has a model number of HP09, so let’s call it that for this review.

What is it?

The HP09 is a beautiful machine, it is silver, gold and white.

If you are not familiar with Dyson fans, they are cylindrical at the bottom, where the air is drawn in and passed through a filter before being forced out through the oval-shaped exhaust at the top. So, when the fan is taking in air, that air is being filtered.

The Dyson HP09 Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde, a fan/heater/air purification system, can be controlled with an app on your phone. (Dyson/TNS)

When I had non-filtering fans in the past, I’d turn those off when I was not in bed, but now I leave the Dyson on all day.

The HP09 has integrated sensors to analyze the air, displaying the live results on its LCD screen.

The HP09 has an app that lets the user run an air quality report showing the monthly average of your room’s air quality index. The air quality report will also show you the day with the highest average pollution and list the dominant pollutants and their exact levels.

Formaldehyde filtering

According to the EPA, formaldehyde is a colorless, flammable gas at room temperature and has a strong odor. Exposure to formaldehyde may cause adverse health effects.

The EPA says formaldehyde is found in resins used in the manufacture of composite wood products like plywood, particle board and medium-density fiberboard. These are very commonly used wood products found in many homes and offices.

It is also used in glue, paint, permanent press fabrics, lacquers and finishes, as well as in some paper products.

Formaldehyde is also a byproduct of combustion and can be found in the emissions from gas stoves, kerosene space heaters and cigarette smoke.

The HP09 has a catalytic filter that continuously traps and breaks down formaldehyde molecules into water and carbon dioxide. This filter never needs replacing.

HEPA filtering

Besides the formaldehyde filter, the HP09 has a replaceable HEPA filter that captures 99.97 of particles 0.3 microns in size and it has a layer of activated carbon to remove odors and gases.

The filter is not hard to access or replace, and the app displays the amount of filter life remaining.

I’ve been running the HP09 for almost three months and my filter life is showing 61 percent remaining.

Replacement filters are available from Dyson for $79.99.

Room temperature

Besides the excellent filtering, don’t forget the HP09 is a whole room fan and heater. There are 10 fan speeds, and because of the air flow method used, the noise level is low.

In heat mode, you can set a target temperature and the HP09 will automatically turn on and off the heat when its needed to keep you comfortable.

There is an automatic mode, which changes the fan speed to keep the air clean as needed.

Light sleepers will appreciate the night mode, which purifies the air with the quietest settings and dims the display.

Finally, if you just want the HP09 to purify the air and not be blowing on you constantly, you can reverse the output direction, so that instead of blowing the air out the front, it blows out the rear of the machine.

Other features

The HP09 can oscillate up to 350 degrees, to heat or cool an entire room. The oscillation is also customizable, so you can set the angle you need for your situation.

There is an included remote control, with a built-in magnet so you can keep it on top of the HP09, but I keep mine on my nightstand.

You can also completely control the unit from the Dyson app on your phone or tablet. You connect the HP09 to your home’s Wi-Fi network, so you can use the app to control it from anywhere, even when you are away from home.

It is compatible with voice control from Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri and Google Home, so you can make adjustments with just your voice.

Conclusions

The Dyson HP09 is a little on the expensive side, but people with serious allergies or sensitivity to pollutants and chemicals will find it does a terrific job at keeping the air clean. Just knowing your room’s air quality is a huge step in keeping the air clean.

It is a room-sized fan. It is not a whole-home solution. It can heat or cool relatively large rooms, but it works best if it can concentrate on one area. I found it perfect for our bedroom.

We like to burn incense occasionally, and when we do, the HP09 has no problem detecting the increased smoke in the air and jumping into action.

The app control and voice control are both super convenient, and I love the fact that the formaldehyde filter never needs changing.

There is an ongoing cost of changing the HEPA filter once or twice a year, but that’s not too much to pay for better air.

Jim Rossman is a tech columnist for Tribune News Service. He may be reached at jrossmantechadviser@gmail.com.

©2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.