Governors Ball

This year’s version of the now-regular outdoor festival moves from its previous home on Governors Island to Randall’s Island but retains a strong lineup. Saturday has a dancey, up-tempo set of acts, including Passion Pit, Chromeo, James Murphy and indie rap stalwarts Atmosphere. Sunday slows things down with guitar soundtrack maestros Explosions in the Sky, as well as Beck and Modest Mouse, plus a plethora of other melodic, granola-pop bands. While the performers are about as middle-of-the-road as it gets in modern Indieland (look for experimentalism and risk-taking elsewhere), all of them are established acts. This one might be worth the money.

June 23-24; $180 for the weekend. Randall’s Island Park, governorsballmusicfestival.com. 

Catalpa Festival

Kicking off its first year, the Catalpa Festival offers yet another chance to see top-tier musical acts playing outdoors within city limits. The fest will feature more than 40 performers, including blues rock superstars The Black Keys and Snoop Dogg rocking his seminal album Doggystyle in its entirety. Other highlights include NYC faves TV on the Radio, Girl Talk and hip-hop instrumental wizard AraabMUZIK. There will also be a reggae stage sponsored by High Times magazine, a “sculpture” that belches fireballs in the air and various other novelties (inflatable “sham marriage” church?) included to distract from the fact that music lineup is mostly weak, aside from the headliners.

July 28-29; $140–$180 for the weekend. Randall’s Island Park, www.catalpanyc.com.

Electric Zoo

This is for those who dance. A lot. It’s three days; an all-night(s) blitz of modern dance music from the likes of David Guetta, A-Trak and more. If you appreciate the contemporary offshoots of what we used to call techno, this fest will be something of great joy. A zoo—of dancing people. 

Aug. 31-Sept. 2; $299 for all three days. Randall’s Island Park, electriczoofestival.com.

CITYWIDE

Make Music New York

Started in 2008, Make Music New York is a festival that has been offering an annual feast of soundbites across the city on the first day of summer. From 10 in the morning to 10 at night in hundreds of spots throughout the city, normal sidewalk sounds will be replaced by thousands of free concerts. Some of last year’s highlights were a rendition of Xenakis’ Persephassa on Central Park Lake, in which audience and musicians alike enjoyed seating on boats. Also in Central Park were middle school jazz groups from the Bronx, and Bryant Park was the site of a rock ‘n’ roll showdown between musically inclined corporate execs.

June 21; free. makemusic.org. 

DOWNTOWN

4Knots Music Festival

This annual music fest at the South Street Seaport is an indie rocker’s dream come true, with buzz bands like Bleached, Hospitality, The Drums, Crocodiles and more playing on Piers 16 and 17 along the East River. The fest benefits from the Seaport’s concentration of restaurants and bars, not to mention the food trucks that will inevitably pull up for the event—as long as you pack sunscreen and enough water to keep from daydreaming about jumping into the river, it sounds like a pretty much perfect day.

July 14, 1 p.m.; free. South Street Seaport, Fulton St. at Front St., facebook.com/4knots.

DOWNTOWN

Washington Square Music Festival

Consisting of four Friday night concerts in July, the Washington Square Music Festival is now in its 54th year of entertaining New Yorkers in one of our most beautiful parks. This year, the festival will include a night of music and poetry, a night of Viennese chamber music, a night of music for strings and wings and one of the West African sounds of the Deep Sahara Band. Seating is first-come, first-served, so get there early to enjoy a night of music beneath the stars—and the park’s famous arch—or at St. Joseph’s Church, where the first two concerts will take place.

July 10, 17, 24 & 31, 8 p.m.; free. St. Joseph’s Church, 371 6th Ave. at Waverly Place and Washington Square Park, 5th Ave at Waverly Place, washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org.

MIDTOWN

Madison Square Park’s Oval Lawn Series

Beneath the canopy of Madison Square Park’s trees—and just a dash away from Shake Shack—is one of New York’s best  summer-long music series, featuring performances from Grammy-nominated jazzman Gregory Porter, singer and actress Nellie McKay and a night of family music with Suzzy and Maggie Roche, Sloan Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche. Chairs aren’t welcome here, but bring a blanket and some snacks (or buy them from the Fatty Crab kiosk nearby) and set up camp for an unforgettable night.

 June 20-Aug. 8; free. Madison Square Park, enter park at E. 23rd St. and 5th Ave.,
madisonsquarepark.org.

UPPER WEST SIDE

RCTA Sunset Concert Series

Nine concerts over the course of the summer, from evenings of jazz to nights of Middle Eastern sounds, will grace the tennis lawn overlooking the Hudson River at West 97th Street. Kicking off with a concert from jazz bassist Ron McClure, the series will include sets from Gotham Winds, Dave Glasser, Musica Bella Orchestra, The Atwaters, Efendi, Dartmouth Boys, Los Hermanos Cintron and Steve Tarshis and his Instrumental Trio. You won’t need to bring a racquet or even be any good at sport in order to make a night at these tennis courts a win.

June 10-Aug. 19, 7 p.m.; free. Riverside Clay Tennis Courts, enter Riverside Park at W. 96th St. and Riverside Dr., rcta.info.

CITYWIDE

New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Park 

The New York Philharmonic will play a series of six concerts around the five boroughs. Performing classical favorites—and in two cases conducted by superstar baton-wielder Alan Gilbert—the group will provide listeners with those only-in-New-York evenings of music and entertainment, which we’ve found goes quite well with a picnic meal and a discreetly dispensed bottle of wine.

July 11-17; free. nyphil.org.

CITYWIDESummerStage 

Founded in 1986 at the Rumsey Playfield in Central Park, SummerStage expanded to venues in all five boroughs two years ago. The program—featuring everything from screenings, dance performances and concerts—has now become synonymous with summer in the city; the best part is that the programming is largely free. This season kicks off with the SummerStage Gala June 5 honoring the music of Jimi Hendrix and featuring performances by G. Love & Special Sauce, Bebel Gilberto and The Roots.

June 5-Aug. 30. summerstage.org. 

The Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Series 

If ticket prices for the Met Opera are a bit too steep for your wallet, check out the Opera’s annual Summer Recital Series. The tenors and sopranos get to practice their vocal dexterity while you take in genius performances at no cost at all. You also don’t have to travel too far, as the series travels to all five boroughs throughout the summer—even Staten Island! This year will feature soprano Danielle de Niese, bass-baritone John Del Carlo and tenor Dimitri Pittas.

July 25-Aug. 9; free. metoperafamily.org. 

CITYWIDE

Blue Note Jazz Festival 

While the Blue Note Jazz Festival is a relative newcomer on the summer concert scene—it only started last year—the Blue Note jazz club was started in Greenwich Village in 1986, and the record imprint of the same name has brought listeners the likes of Norah Jonest debut. This year, Blue Note is once again offering an eclectic mix of sounds and artists ranging from Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def), Béla Fleck and Kathleen Battle.

June 4-30; prices vary. bluenotejazzfestival.com. 

CENTRAL PARK

Naumburg Orchestral Concert Series 

While classical music isn’t the usual top pick for summer concerts, who can pass up the opportunity to listen to classic orchestral arrangements from the likes of Wagner and Schumann outdoors in Central Park—did we mention that it’s free? Celebrating its 107th year of providing gratis concerts, the Naumburg series is sure to please in its 700-seat uptown venue.

June 19-Aug. 7; free. Concert Ground at Central Park, south of Bethesda Terrace betw. 66th & 72nd Sts.,  naumburgconcerts.org.

UPPER EAST SIDE

Harlem Meer Performance Festival 

Summer is the optimal season to enjoy the sights and sounds that New York City has to offer, and there is perhaps no better program or venue for this than the Harlem Meer Performance Festival. Entering its 19th year, the festival is situated lakeside in Central Park at 110th Street. The program features a mix of sounds, from emerging jazz musicians to Latin and gospel music. Attendees are encouraged to pack a picnic, bring a chair and relax for this free outdoor concert series.

June 17-Sept. 2; free. Plaza of the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center, 110th St. betw. 5th & Lenox Aves., centralparknyc.org. 

MIDTOWN

Scandinavian Summer Sessions 

Scandinavia,—especially Sweden,—is known for its smart furniture, eclectic cuisine and unbelievable catchy pop music. While this summer series held at the Scandinavia House leans more to the acoustic and jazz side, the range of artists, from a Danish songstress to an Icelandic guitarist, combined with the locale, Smörgås Chef’s terrace cocktail bar, is sure to please. Dubbed an alternative to happy hour, the series runs through August and will only set you back $12.

Jun. 14-Aug. 2, doors at 6 p.m., concerts start at 7; $12. 58 Park Ave., betw. 32nd & 33rd Sts., scandinaviahouse.org.

MIDTOWN

Summergarden: New Music for New York 

As is its tradition, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) presents its annual summertime concert series in the sculpture garden, tapping the talent of performers from The Juilliard School and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Spanning four evenings, the series offers the best in “adventurous contemporary music” with premieres each night. While the event is always free, seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

July 10-31; free. The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden at MoMA, enter through the Sculpture Garden gate on W. 54th St. betw. 5th & 6th Aves., moma.org. 

Are you a fan of boating, cycling, golf, hiking, camping, and even hunting and, fishing? Then mark your calendar to attend the first Hudson Valley Outdoor Adventure Expo on the weekend of June 2 and 3 at Waryas Park, Poughkeepsie.

Dedicated to outdoor recreation, the expo is organized by the Dutchess County Tourism office with the help of Adventure Junction, Ulster County Tourism and the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum.

There will be exhibitor booths at the Children’s Museum pavilion representing all types of outdoor pursuits including demos on golf, ziplines, mountain biking and paddle sports. Hyde Park’s Big Bear Ziplines is constructing a zipline on site for attendees to try out. The main stage will also have live music.

RaceIt is organizing a 5K run/walk on Saturday, June 2. The course includes the Walkway Over the Hudson loop trail. Start on the east side of the Hudson River and end at the expo in Waryas Park. There will also be a children’s road race. You can also sign up now for two Open Water Swims, with the 5K taking place Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and the 2.5K at 12:15 p.m.

Plans are also under way for 5- and 10-mile kayak races, plus a mountain biking race. The short, adventure-packed urban style mountain bike event will have a qualifying round, with a time trail, a semifinal, and final race over both days of the expo.

The Expo’s main site is directly across from the Poughkeepsie Metro-North train station and admission is only $10. Visi www.outdooradventureexpoHV.com for more details.

Michael J. Gelb

Authors Michael J. Gelb and Kelly Howell recently released Brain Power: Improve Your Mind As You Age, a book that attempts to demystify the long-standing belief that memory declines with age and offers simple tricks and techniques to improve brain activity and enhance overall mental well-being.

Gelb, who leads seminars around the world on the subject, has written 12 books, including How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day and Innovate Like Edison: The Five-Step System for Breakthrough Business Success. He has won a number of awards, including the Brain Trust Charity’s “Brain of the Year” award. A former professional juggler, Gelb once performed with The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan.

We spoke with Gelb about their new book, the biggest misconception people have about memory and aging and the different methods people can use to increase their mental acuity.

Why did you decide to write this book?

I wrote it for two reasons. One is because there are tens of millions of baby boomers who need to read it—the book provides simple lifestyle and attitude changes people can make so they can live happier and more fulfilling lives. There’s a personal reason, too. I’m approaching 60 myself, so I’m at an age where I’m thinking about my memory and mental well-being.

Why were you a good person to co-author it?

I have been passionately studying the mind and how to develop it for a very long time. And I don’t just study it theoretically; I put the techniques I talk about to practice in my everyday life. At my age, I’m a good candidate to try them out. I also lecture all over the world and see them work in the people in the audiences.  I’ve also closely studied some of the greatest minds in history, including Leonardo da Vinci and Thomas Edison, when writing my books.

What kind of research went into writing the book?

I studied a variety of research to see what the average person can do as they get older to strengthen their memory. I interviewed experts in the field, including physicians, gerontologists and neuroscientists. My goal was to discover what simple, research-validated techniques there are to improve our mental well-being.

What is the biggest misconception people have about memory?

Most people think that their memory is doomed to decline and they are destined to forget everything when they get older. That’s totally absurd. Even when people are young, if they forget something they say, “Oh, I’m having a senior moment.” But ask any elementary school teacher; kids forget things all the time. They don’t dwell on it, though. You never hear them say, “I’m having a junior moment.” They just move on with their day. It’s when people start commiserating with each other that they’re getting older and are forgetting everything—they begin to self-hypnotize and they actually do start forgetting things.

What are some things people can do to improve memory in the long run?

Exercise is key. Getting the blood pumping to deliver oxygen to the brain helps improve mental activity. Weight training and tai chi both improve posture, strengthen the ligaments and muscles and strengthen the immune system. Practicing your balance also helps. Try standing on one leg or a balance board. It’s important to keep strengthening and nurturing your balance.

What are some quick tips and techniques people can do every day?

The most important thing people can do is learn something new every day for just 15 minutes. Get out of your habitual rut and do something different. This could be reading a book, learning about a new subject, having a lively conversation, going to a museum or playing a brain game. It should be challenging and stimulate your mind. Another technique is to use your non-dominant hand for 15 minutes.

What would you say is your favorite tip?

One of the best reactions I get from people who hear me speak is when I tell them to take a daily dose of GFH—that’s gratitude, forgiveness and humor. These are really simple things that anecdotal wisdom tells us is good for us, but now there is scientific backing that validate their benefits.

At what age should people start actively working to improve their memory?

I recommend doing these things if you want to maintain mental acuity at any age. It’s flat-out common sense for living a happy and fulfilling life. It’s never too early to start. However, as you get older, your margin of error declines. In your twenties, you can get away with abusing your body, but that gets harder in your forties and even harder in your fifties. So as you get older, it’s something you should think about more and more.

Did you come across any controversy in the scientific community on these subjects as you conducted research for the book?

One neuroscientist argued that we do lose brain cells as we get older. And I don’t dispute that. However, we both came to the agreement that it is not so much the number of brain cells we have but how we use them. The goal is to use them often and extensively.

For more information, visit 

www.michaelgelb.com. 

“Susan” was burned out. Nine months earlier, she had taken what she thought would be a temporary leave of absence from her job to care for her 85-year-old mother, who was recuperating from surgery after falling and breaking her hip.

Her mother never fully recovered. She still needed help with bathing, dressing, cooking, cleaning and almost everything else. In the last couple of months, she had become forgetful and confused. She neglected paying her bills, and Susan had to take over managing the checkbook.

Susan found that she was spending almost all of her time taking care of her mother. She was close to using up her savings. She hadn’t spent an evening with a friend or visited her daughter, son-in-law or grandson for over six months. She was lonely, exhausted, scared and often angry. She wasn’t sleeping well. Her back was bothering her. She seemed to catch every virus that was going around.

“Susan” is a composite case, but her suffering is similar to that of many of the family members, companions and friends caring for disabled loved ones with whom we have worked over the last decade. Stress, isolation, impoverishment, exhaustion, increased vulnerability to illness and injury are too often the costs of such care.

Securing the services of a professional home health or personal care aide is usually the single most effective way of alleviating caregiver burnout. Often, an aide allows the caregiver to get some rest, return to work, visit other family members and have a social life.

You can secure the services of an aide by calling a licensed or certified home care agency. Long-term care insurance will usually pay for home care. Medicare and other health insurance programs will sometimes pay for limited amounts of home care.

Medicaid will pay for home care. If your loved one’s income or assets are above the financial limits, a knowledgeable social worker, geriatric care manager or elder care attorney, in most cases, can show you legal ways to reduce assets and shelter “surplus” income to receive full Medicaid benefits.

Roy Herndon Smith is with Community Geriatric Care Management, a subsidiary of Foremost Home Care.

Donna Greenstein knew something was wrong with her son, but no one believed her. The mother of four first had two daughters and went through the usual pediatric milestones with them. Then her son was born and began to grow up.

“He would have tantrums that would last for hours and went above and beyond the normal realm of the terrible twos,” said Greenstein, a nurse. “He would rip wallpaper off walls, urinate on walls and throw feces at his sisters.”

Preschool and kindergarten teachers kept saying, “Boys will be boys. It’s nothing. He’s immature, he’ll catch up; this is typical boy behavior.”

When he started first grade, she received a call from his teacher, who told her, “‘We need to have a meeting; something is wrong.’ Finally someone was listening to me. Before, everyone told me I was crazy,” she recalled.

Her son was tested and diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder and bipolar disorder. Now 16, he is active in school and sports and is preparing for college. Without intervention, therapy and medication, his story would have had a different outcome.

ADHD is a chronic condition that affects millions of children in this country, and it affects boys four times more often than girls. There are three types of the disorder: inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive and combined ADHD, the most common, which involves all symptoms.

With the inattention type, a child has difficulty paying attention to details, is easily distracted, procrastinates and fails to complete homework or chores. These symptoms are often missed until a child faces the challenge of a structured classroom.

Hyperactivity symptoms present themselves in very young preschoolers. They include talking excessively, always being on the go, fidgeting, running or climbing excessively. Impulsivity symptoms involve inappropriate behavior, conversations, blurting out answers before questions are asked, interrupting others in social situations, knocking over objects or banging into people.

Dr. Lenard Adler, professor of psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center, said, “Girls are less likely to be diagnosed in childhood because they carry a higher load of the inattentive symptoms. So in a classroom, if you are daydreaming and not paying attention and distracted, you may be seen as underperforming, as compared to a boy, let’s say, who is behaviorally disruptive, in and out of his chair, interrupting his teacher.

“That doesn’t mean that girls don’t have any hyperactive impulses and boys don’t have any inattentive. But the balance is different,” he explained.

The causes of the disorder remain a mystery.

” We think the lion’s share of the transmission of ADHD—probably about 80 percent—is familiar,” said Adler. “It’s a disorder that tends to run in families.

“That being said, we also look for environmental causes that might be contributing; certainly it has been shown that maternal smoking during pregnancy may raise the risk for ADHD,” he said. “Another environmental factor that has been shown has been maternal abandonment.”

Other possible causes linked to the disorder are lead exposure, certain food additives and, possibly, gluten.

Children with ADHD without proper intervention often struggle in the classroom, tend to have more accidents and injuries, are more likely to have trouble interacting with peers and adults and are at increased risk for alcohol, drug abuse and delinquent behavior.

Making the diagnosis of ADHD is not always easy, since there is no one specific test such as a blood test or CAT scan that can make the definitive diagnosis. Instead, it is usually made by gathering the child’s history, first with the parents and later from the observations of teachers, before the child is brought in for evaluation.

Standard treatments for ADHD include medications and counseling. Often, children can go on to lead productive lives. Typical medications include stimulants such as Ritalin, Adderall and Dexedrine, but there is no one perfect medicine, and it is often a trial to see which one or combination of them will be the most effective.

The stimulants help boost and balance the neurotransmitters, or brain chemicals, that help improve inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity.

There are side effects to all meds; some may include decreased appetite, weight loss, insomnia and irritability. It may take several rounds of fine-tuning to find the perfect combination. Nonstimulant medications, along with antidepressants and clonidine, have also been used successfully.

Greenstein advises parents like her to seek treatment early.

“A lot of parents, I have found, are afraid of medications, so they allow their children to suffer for so many years because ‘I don’t want to put my son or daughter on medication,’” she said. “I think they do more harm than good, because the child’s self-esteem takes a major blow when they are not able to function in a classroom with other children.

“Once you medicate them and get them under control, their self-esteem starts to blossom, they learn, they start to feel better about themselves.”

Her son had difficulty maintaining friendships his first years in school. Now as a teenager, he has friends, is active and is looking forward to college.

“I have him burn off energy so he does mixed martial arts and track,” Greenstein said. “You have to keep all of that energy focused in a positive direction.”

The early arrival of spring in New York meant a March filled with returning birds and budding flowers. But the season also means the miserable return of hay fever.

Hay fever, or allergic rhinitis, is the allergic reaction to indoor and outdoor allergens such as pollen and dust. Usually brought on by a genetic predisposition early in life, seasonal allergies affect a little under half of the American population, or 150 million people, said allergist Dr. Morris Nejat. This year, because of the dry, mild winter, hay fever symptoms began early and strong for allergy sufferers.

Even in an urban environment like New York, pollen counts are high because pollen can travel airborne for almost 100 miles, said Dr. Marjorie Slankard, director of the allergy clinic at New York Presbyterian/Columbia Medical Center. Pollen counts in the city have been registering at medium/high levels, or around a 10 out of 12 on the pollen scale, according to Pollen.com. Slankard said that some of her patients even feel better in the suburbs or more rural areas than in the city.

“In New York City, people are miserable,” said Nejat. “With the early spring, you want to enjoy the outside, as opposed to stay inside and work.”

But if you suffer from allergies, enjoying the spring weather is probably the last thing you can do. Slankard said hay fever sufferers should cut down their exposure by keeping their windows closed and turning on air conditioners to cleanse the air of pollen. She also suggested that allergy sufferers shower and wash their hair when they come inside to avoid increasing the pollen in their homes.

Many people experience only minor hay fever symptoms, such as sneezing, lethargy and itchy, watery eyes, but for more uncomfortable cases of wheezing and difficulty breathing, there are many options. Nejat said treatment should be based on the range and severity of symptoms. For allergies affecting the nasal passageways, use a nasal spray; for itchy eyes, eye drops may be the answer.

“If you’re in the more moderate to severe case, you really want to cut down your exposure to allergens,” said Nejat.

For an over-the-counter symptom alleviator, allergy specialists suggest Claritin or Allegra. But in moderate or severe cases of hay fever, prescription antihistamines like Clarinex are a better option than over-the-counter medication, said Nejat.

If allergy symptoms persist, an allergy shot, which alleviates symptoms in three in four people, may be the answer, said Slankard. She also said that children with allergies should take allergy shots to reduce the risk of asthma later on in life.

Because of the range of symptoms and their severity, doctors suggest visiting an allergy specialist to get the medication you need to end the suffering.

Hay fever is affected by the pollen count, which can increase with dry, windy days and warm weather. This year, Slankard said her patients began seeing symptoms in February, which is unseasonably early. This is bad news for hay fever sufferers, because early high pollen counts may mean worse symptoms.

Dr. Beth Corn of Mt. Sinai Hospital said that early pollen counts prime the immune system, so it takes less pollen to feel uncomfortable.

And the sneezing and wheezing will most likely not abate.

“It’s still early April, so it will get much worse in the next few weeks,” said Nejat. “I expect pollen counts to get much higher.”

Class at Rebecca School, which teaches children with autism. Photo courtesy of Rebecca School

Autism now affects one in 88 children in the United States, according to a recent study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month. That’s a 23 percent increase over the last two years and a 78 percent increase in the last decade.

Doctors and experts agree that this staggering jump may bring feelings of fear and confusion to an already little understood disorder.

The cause of autism, a neurological developmental disorder, is still unknown, though most science currently available points to a mixture of genetic and environmental factors. Similarly, the cause of the recent increase is not fully understood; it’s unclear whether the number represents more cases or simply better detection and screening.

“The most important thing is that there are more kids who are identified with autism spectrum disorders, so we need to plan accordingly for services that address that,” said Dr. Catherine Lord, director of the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and Columbia. “No matter why they’re there, they clearly exist.”

The actual diagnosis of autism can be just as confusing.

The three most common disorders on the autism spectrum are autism, Asperger’s syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD NOS). Autism is characterized by difficulties in social interaction and verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors.

Asperger’s syndrome is considered to be on the high end of the autism spectrum; the symptoms are less severe and people with this disorder tend to preserve linguistic and cognitive development. PDD NOS is the diagnosis used to describe individuals who do not fully meet the criteria for autism or Asperger’s syndrome.

Dr. Andrew Gerber, assistant professor of clinical psychology and director of the Developmental Neuropsychology Program at Columbia University, said this last diagnosis tends to be the most difficult for parents to understand because it does not seem to be defined.

“It can be terribly confusing,” he said, “because it could mean so many different things.”

However, Gerber emphasizes that the focus should not be on the diagnosis but on the individual needs of the child.

“The optimal model of care is to focus on a description of your child’s strengths and weaknesses and what we can do to bolster the child’s strengths and address his or her weaknesses,” he said.

The diagnosis is important, however, to help families get the services they are entitled to.

While it varies from state to state, children in New York with PDD NOS are entitled to the same services as those with other disorders on the autism spectrum, though they may be entitled to fewer hours of service. These include early intervention for children under 3, which can consist of at-home educational treatments and occupational, language and speech therapy. When kids get older, they are eligible for special preschools, which are run by both for-profit and nonprofit agencies.

All school-aged children are entitled to “free and appropriate” public education, according to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Insurance companies may also pay for some services like speech, language and behavioral therapy, as well.

Children and adults with PDD NOS are treated similarly to those with other disorders on the autism spectrum. The most well-studied method of treatment is applied behavioral analysis, which relies on intensive behavioral intervention and teaches targeted skills and behaviors through positive reinforcement.

“It encompasses a lot of different techniques, but they all involve the idea that you learn to do things in a certain situation by recognizing the signs that now is a good time to act in a certain way, then you are rewarded for acting in that way,” Lord explained.

A perhaps lesser-known model, the developmental individual differences relationship-based model, is utilized by Rebecca School, a private day school for children with autism in Manhattan.

“We focus on relationships as the foundation of learning and pay close attention to each child’s individual needs,” said Dr. Gil Tippy, the school’s clinical director.

Instead of using reinforcement, Tippy said, children learn to relate, communicate and think critically about the world through developing relationships with teachers, staff and each other.

There has been an ongoing push to change the definition of autism in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The new criteria is more restrictive and would combine the three subgroups of the autism spectrum into one category, requiring children to exhibit more pronounced symptoms to qualify for the diagnosis.

Some fear that these changes will reduce the number of people who are diagnosed with autism and qualify for treatment.

“The main concern that I have is that state and federal governments and health care providers will use the new severity scale to exclude those people who look like their ASD [autism spectrum disorder] is less severe,” said Tippy.

However, opposing voices say the new changes will help improve autism diagnoses.

“These redefinitions are part of a general effort to improve all diagnoses in mental health,” Lord said. “It’s not that autism was picked out specifically. The American Psychiatric Association periodically tries to look at what has been learned in the last decade or two to make the definitions more accurate.”

Jonas Elrod is a filmmaker in New York who woke up one day to discover that he was having visions and could see angels, demons, ghosts and auras.

“My first vision was pretty personal,” he said. “I was in San Francisco working on a film when I woke up in my hotel room and started seeing energy and feeling energy. I saw these geometric figures and shapes—it was all very overwhelming and I didn’t understand what was happening to me.”

To get some answers, Elrod traveled the country with his girlfriend Mara, focusing on all things spiritual and religious—even the occult—to find out what was happening to him. He went to several doctors to check if there was anything physically wrong with him, but to no avail.

Elrod filmed his cross-country experience with the help of filmmaker Chloe Crespi, creating the documentary Wake Up to show the world his experience with the spiritual.

In the film, he seeks knowledge from a slew of physicians, scientists, religious teachers and spiritual leaders about his sudden metaphysical visions, but no amount of MRI scans or psychological tests determine how or why Elrod sees and hears the supernatural. In the end, he realizes that his visions are part gift, part curse, and he embraces both.

Growing up in a Southern Baptist family, Elrod was always surrounded by conservative Christians.

“You either grow up the preacher’s son or you completely rebel,” he says. “And I rebelled. It’s not like I despise religion, I certainly believe in and trust Jesus. But I wouldn’t consider myself religious. I’m certainly more of a spiritual person.
“When I visited my parents and told them about the visions, they were hesitant at first, like I was,” he continued. “But it was my mother who embraced it and started asking me questions about it. Our relationship has opened up since then, but my father does not ask me anything about my visions.”

The reaction to Elrod’s journey in Wake Up has been overwhelming. It had its festival premiere at the Southwest Film Festival in March 2009 and its New York City premiere, hosted by Sting and Trudie Styler, in April 2010.

The film has been on a series of tour and private screenings hosted by Elrod and others. The next New York City screening is scheduled for Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. at Jivamukti Yoga at 841 Broadway.

“The audience reaction has been really reassuring. There are always going to be people who think you are crazy for seeing and hearing angels and dead people. But then there are those who truly believe and are moved to tears by my experiences. There is a bigger reality than the one we’re sold, and people are looking deeper than ever before. Our job as filmmakers is to get people to start asking questions, and we’ll continue doing it despite all the skeptics.”

By Paulette Safdieh

Bundling up and walking to the gym for yoga class seems less and less appealing as the New York winter rolls on. The hundreds of yoga apps offered on smart phones and tablets mean you can still roll out a mat and enjoy a moment in shavasana pose after a long day’s work in the comfort of your apartment. Yoga junkies can use apps for guided instruction, playlist curating and class locators to enhance their regular routines.

Hundreds of yoga apps, both free and for purchase, have competed for yogi love since the 2007 release of the iPhone and the subsequent launch of Android, the Google operating system. According to Sergio Tacconi, the mind behind the Pocket Yoga app, necessity was the mother of invention.

“I needed a way to do yoga any time, anywhere,” said Tacconi, 37, whose app sells for $2.99 on both Apple and Android devices. “I started looking at yoga apps and didn’t like the ones I saw, so I made my own.”

Tacconi teamed up with Vinyasa Flow Yoga Studios in Dallas, where he practiced for eight years, to select the content. The app offers 27 sessions with varying difficulty levels and styles, default playlists (and the option to draw from your personal iTunes library) and a dictionary of poses. The app has earned a four-and-a-half-star rating in the Apple app store since its launch in 2009 and was made available for Android in 2010.

“The app is not a replacement for your full yoga experience, it’s a supplement that will help you along,” said Tacconi, whose app has reached over a half-million users. “I wouldn’t completely replace my yoga class with an actual teacher with the app. It’s a tool that will help you when you need it.”

Tacconi also launched Practice Builder in November, an app to help yoga teachers build customized routines. Manhattan yoga teacher Jennilyn Carson, the mind behind the acclaimed yoga news website YogaDork.com, uses a similar app called Yoga Journal. In a city with as many yoga classes as taxicabs, Carson says it helps narrow down the selection.
“The apps are great for people stuck in the subway when the train’s delayed and they need to relax,” said Carson, 31, who uses apps on her iPhone. “It helps you use every opportunity to get your yoga in.”

Eighty-five percent of Tacconi’s customers are Apple users like Carson. Like most apps, Pocket Yoga is available for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Macbook computers. A free trial version of Pocket Yoga is offered on Apple systems, but not for Android users.

“The Android market is the Wild West,” said Tacconi. “The Apple market is better for consumers, since they approve and disapprove the apps submitted. You have a guarantee you’ll get what you’re going to get.”

For those with the strength to get to class, Yoga Local NYC—available on both Apple and Android devices—caters specifically to New Yorkers. The app pulls up your location using your device’s GPS and provides the addresses of nearby studios, class times, instructor names and, of course, prices.

“When the iPhone came out, I expected it to have an app for yoga the same way it comes built in with the stocks,” said Ben Fleisher, 33, who worked to create Yoga Local. “Nobody did it and I thought, ‘This is crazy!’ Everyone here is on the run even when they’re sitting down. When you want to go to class you don’t want to have to look up so many different websites on your phone.”

Fleisher works as an acupuncturist and massage therapist on the Lower East Side in addition to having practiced yoga since 1995. He plans to expand the app to San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago over the next few months since receiving positive feedback for the New York City version.

“Technology is driving us toward shorter and shorter attention spans,” said Fleisher. “Yoga Local and other technology platforms make it easier to get to classes, stay inspired and stay motivated. To that extent, they make our lives more efficient.”

While yoga apps certainly help yogis in a bind, they also change traditional yoga practice. Instead of turning off a cell phone to wind down, app users spend even more time looking at the glowing screens of wireless devices.

Achieving mind-body awareness through breath and movement, the goal of practicing yoga, is better reached in a classic, group setting. For that reason, Carson suggests using apps just as a supplement to a regular yoga practice. Some apps, like Relax Melodies, which has close to 5,000 ratings averaging at five stars, just provide soothing music to ease meditation and relaxation instead of poses.

“I don’t think apps make up for classes, but they’re really good when you need some inspiration for your practice,” said Carson. “They’re useful to look at and remind or refresh yourself.”

Tired of no snow this winter? This Saturday, Recreational Equipment, Inc. is giving New York its snowfall of the year to create a winter wonderland in SoHo. REI encourages the responsible use and enjoyment of the outdoors, and to do that this year they’ve set up a variety of events for their Winter Festival. Through several 15 minute mini-clinics, attendees will learn about Nordic skiing, winter camping, and snowshoeing from expert instructors.
In addition participants will get hands on outdoor product demos of the newest skiing and snowboarding gear available at REI’s new SoHo store on 303 Lafayette Street as well as a lift ticket which they can redeem for in-store giveaways and discounts. Participating retailers include North Face, Patagonia, Smartwool, Garmin, Columbia, Cascade Designs/MSR, Burton and others.
To add to the festive atmosphere REI will also be hosting live ice sculpting by Okamoto Studio, tasty hot beverages and other engaging activities by their retail partners such as Burton Boot Pong.
Its been a warm January, so lets hit the snow as REI brings the slopes to us!

When is it?
Saturday, Jan. 14 between 9 a.m. And 6 p.m.

When will they be doing ice sculpting?

At 9:30 AM, 12:00 PM & 4:00 PM

When are the mini-clinics?
Nordic Skiing – 10:30 AM & 12:15 PM
Winter Camping – 11:00 AM & 3:00 PM
Snowshoeing – 11:30 AM & 3:15 PM