WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2010 COMMUNITY 11

Don’t rule out Autism

Spectrum Disorders
schools.
You mention several behav-
iors which make me wonder Expat Living is a section dedicated to the daily
about a possible diagnosis of living of expatriates.
It is printed on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
Asperger’s Disorder, which is an To share stories about your life abroad, send stories
By Curie Park or story ideas to Matthew Lamers at
Autism Spectrum Disorder. mattlamers@heraldm.com
More specifically, you mention Submissions may be edited for length or clarity.
Curie Park writes a column on that Frank has a strong interest
advice. To ask her a question, e- in cars almost to the exclusion of
mail curipark@yonsei.ac.kr — Ed. other things. This is called a “re-
stricted interest” and likely
Dear Dr. Park causes difficulties when other
children want to play with toys
I am the mother of 6-year-old other than cars or want to talk
Frank and 8-year-old Sarah. I about topics that are not car re-
am writing you because I’m not lated.
sure what to make of my son’s He does not show much inter-
behavior. Frank has a hard time est in other children, and seems
sitting still and tends to wander more interested in cars. He
around during circle time unless doesn’t answer when other chil-
his teacher is talking about cars, dren try to speak to him and has
which is his favorite topic. He is doesn’t really “chat” with any-
always on the fringe when kids one including you, his own
are playing and seems more in- mother. These are difficulties in
terested in the cars that other the area of communication and
kids are holding than in the kids reciprocal social interaction
themselves. which are also characteristics of
Frank seems brilliant be- Asperger’s Disorder.
cause he can talk like an adult Many people think of Dustin
about car parts and types of cars Hoffman in the movie “Rain
and memorizes whole sections Man” when they think of
of books about cars, but at other Autism Spectrum Disorder or
times seems delayed because he they think of Sean Penn’s char-
can’t hold his pencil well and acter in the movie “I am Sam.”
doesn’t answer when other kids In other words, they think of in-
try to speak to him. He is an ex- dividuals who have no interest
tremely quiet and serious child in other people and exhibit ex-
and he can an- treme impair-
swer questions if ment in their
I insist but never Istrongly social interac-
comes and talks tions or individ-
to me on his own recommend that uals with men-
unless he needs Frank receive a tal retardation.
something from H o w e v e r,
developmental Members of the Seoul Flyers running club make their way along the Han River. Photo courtesy Seoul Flyers
me. A u t i s m
He is so differ- assessment, in Spectrum

Expats on the run

ent from his sister Disorders are
Laura, who was a part icul ar,an on a “spectrum”
chatterbox. He at- A utism ranging from in-
tends a Korean dividuals who
kindergarten and evaluation to see are severely im-
should be starting i
f he meets the paired in their
first grade in ability to func-
March but his criteria for an tion to individu- By Paddy Wood one of the most attractive as-
kindergarten A utism Spectru m als who have pects of running. Some run to
teacher is worried professional Bright and early on weekend keep healthy, and for others,
about him and Disorder. jobs. The core mornings, Seoul Flyers mem- like McDonald, running is an
says that maybe It is important for difficulty that bers meet, ready to run along escape and a time to think.
we should hold all of the indi- the Han River snow or shine. Running is humbling, she
him back a year him to be viduals diag- “This is where we leave our explained. “When I run I can
and send him to diagnosed early nosed with daily worries behind and do the think through issues that are
school next year. A u t i s m thing we love,” Mark Son ex- bothering me, and I realize
What should I do? so that he can Spectrum plained. “It keeps us healthy that my problems don’t
receive Disorders have and takes us to some interest- amount to a hill of beans.”
Dear reader, in common is ing places around Seoul.” But for the Flyers, running
intervention their difficulty Many expats experience in a group makes the experi-
The first thing serv ices t hat are with social in- Korea in two ways: From with- ence all the more rewarding.
to do would be to teractions. in the confines of a bar or by McDonald explained that it
get a develop- specifically geared However, per- looking out a bus window. But has made her more versatile. “I
mental assess- for children with sons with members of this club experi- used to detest running quick-
ment to clarify Asperger ’s ence Korea in a different way. ly,” she explained. “But with so
his diagnosis. It A utism Spectru m Disorder tend to They run. many great runners in the club
is sometimes Disorders. be high func- The club was founded by a there is always someone chal-
hard to tell the tioning and are small group of running enthu- lenging you to move out of your
difference be- more difficult to siasts five years ago. “It started comfort zone. Not in a high-
tween a quirky and precocious identify for that reason. as a gathering place to run to- pressure way, but in a support-
child and a child with a serious I strongly recommend that gether and exchange informa- ive way.”
developmental disorder. It Frank receive a developmental tion about running,” explained Son agreed. “The best thing
seems like mental health pro- assessment, in particular, an Son, who is a cofounder. about running in a club is the
fessionals these days quick to Autism evaluation to see if he Seoul Flyers has since ex- motivation and camaraderie,”
put a diagnostic label on all of meets the criteria for an Autism panded, and now includes run- he said. “It’s cheaper than gym
the children who seem even a Spectrum Disorder. It is impor- ners from across the world, in- membership, and you can
little bit “different.” tant for him to be diagnosed ear- cluding Australia, France, make friends from all over the
However, the process of a for- ly so that he can receive inter- South Africa, and, of course, world.”
mal diagnostic assessment is vention services that are specifi- Korea. But outside the kinship of
quite laborious and thoughtful, cally geared for children with “Now we have many mem- the club, running also provides
and anything but “quick.” The Autism Spectrum Disorders. bers with ideas and energy to kinship with Koreans.
mental professional has to take The whole process will take self-perpetuate the club activi- “When you’re pushing the
into consideration the child’s about a month from the initial ties,” Son explained. last 5 km of a marathon,”
current behavior, the child’s de- evaluation to getting feedback Indeed the Flyers take part McDonald explained, “nation-
velopmental and medical histo- on the results of the testing. in a variety of activities, but al- run all year round, and indeed “Compared to running in the very, very full here,” McDonald ality doesn’t seem to matter.
ry, and needs to gather informa- That will give you enough time ways foremost are the orga- the Flyers do — braving the States,” McDonald said, “Korea explained. “At least twice a We’re all from the same tribe at
tion about the parents and their to make a well informed deci- nized training runs. biting cold and snow-covered is heavenly. month you can run a full that moment and the feeling is
parenting styles, and the child’s sion about whether to hold him Secretary Shira McDonald paths. The view is always “I did quite a few training marathon, a half-marathon, or very special.”
relationships with other family back for one year or to go ahead joined the Flyers just under a striking and the lanes are well runs at 9pm during the sum- a 10k.” For more information on the
members, and needs to identify and to let him begin first grade. year ago. To her, Seoul is a run- lit and maintained. mer and had zero issues — no The Flyers have several com- Seoul Flyers, go to their web-
any current or past stressors in ner’s dream. “The river alone is Long distance running is ex- hassles, no fuss, no harass- petitive runners who regularly site http://seoulflyers.com
the child’s life. worth it,” she said. “Catching a tremely popular in Korea, ment.” place in races. Others compete
For children who have lived Curie Park, Ph.D., is a li- sunrise on the Han is a won- meaning there exists a wide ar- The Flyers also take part in against themselves, always
in many different countries, it is censed psychologist and is direc- derful way to start a weekend, ray of excellent running routes Korea’s extremely vibrant rac- striving to better themselves To comment, e-mail matt-
also important to include a de- tor of the Yonsei Center for and catching a sunset is a great other than the Han. ing culture. There are numerous and beat their own personal lamers@heraldm.com; to con-
tailed history of the languages Psychological Health. Park can way to forget about your day.” Another big drawcard is cheap, well-organized events. bests. tact the author, e-mail
that they were exposed to both be reached at curipark@ The Han is a great place to safety. “The running calendar is The personal challenge is pwoo9849@usyd.edu.au — Ed.
within their home and in their yonsei.ac.kr — Ed.

In focus — Sometimes it pays to be neutral

The Photo Challenge is spon-
sored by Hyosung Camera
(English: 010-7203-9599) and
Babo Shirts (www.baboshirts.
com). Winners of the weekly com-
petition receive a 50,000 won
store credit at Hyosung Camera
and a Babo Shirt. To take part
in the competition, simply up-
load your photo at
www.flickr.com/groupsseoulph
otoclub — Ed.
By Aaron Raisey
Did you ever take a picture
with a few cool clouds around,
only to have them appear as fea-
tureless white blobs in the final
image? Or have you ever been
frustrated at not being able to
PHOTO CHALLENGE — weekly winner — A sunset at Sagyel, utilize a large aperture because
Jeju-do in early February. Mario Taradan the scene is just too bright? It all
has to do with amounts of light,
and one way of controlling the
light that enters your camera is
by way of Neutral Density filters.
This week we’ll look at a cou-
ple of different kinds of Neutral
Density filters and how they can
be of benefit and creative use in
your photography.
ND filters come in two differ-
ent flavors — regular Neutral
Density and Neutral Density
Grad — and like most photo-
graphic filters, screw into, or are
otherwise mounted on the front
of your lens. The job of ND fil-
ters (in either case) is to simply
reduce the amount of light en-
tering the camera. ND2 and
ND4 are the two most popular
— an ND2 reduced the light by
half, and the ND4 by half again.
This has the effect of allowing
you to shoot at a larger aperture
for a given shutter speed.
How is this useful? When
shooting portraits for example,
we often want a very narrow
depth of field (in focus area) to
isolate the subject. This requires
large apertures, which on a very
bright day can raise the speed of
the shutter beyond the camera’s
capabilities, leading to over-ex-
posure. Using an ND filter in
this circumstance reduces the
light entering the camera and
forces the shutter to slow down
in compensation bringing it
back into the camera’s working
range. Likewise, if you want to
introduce motion blur on a sun-
ny day, the ND will again slow
the shutter to allow this option.
You could make that waterfall
silky smooth, though you will
need a tripod or be well braced.
Extremely dark ND filters are
available — ND10,000 for exam-
ple — to enable super-long shutter
speeds in daylight. Static objects
will be captured but anything
passing by such as pedestrians or
traffic won’t transmit enough light
through the filter to leave an im-
age. Imagine a picture of seeming-
ly deserted city streets at noon.
ND Grad — Neutral Density
Graduated — filters are full ND
(commonly 2 or 4) toward the
top, but gradually fade to trans-
parent towards the lower half of
the filter. These are extremely
useful for landscape photogra-
phy or for any application where
there is too much contrast be-
tween one half of the potential
image and the other. Use of an
ND Grad in a landscape photo
for example, will reduce the light
from the sky and allow attractive
cloud detail to be captured while
not impacting optimum exposure
in the foreground or lower por-
tion of the image.
Neutral Density filters can be
very handy on the right occa-
sions and are one of the few fil-
ters whose effects cannot be du-
plicated during post-processing
in Photoshop or similar image
manipulation programs. I rec-
ommend getting out there with
an ND filter sometime and ex-
perimenting a little.
(raisey@hanmail.net)