Autism Speaks Walk Now For Autism 2008
By Richard | May 8, 2008
We’ll be participating again this year and I’ll be posting donation information soon!
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Autism Speaks Walk Now For Autism 2008 | Saturday, November 8, 2008 - National Mall, Washington DC
Join Autism Speaks as we tackle autism! Experience the power of thousands united by a single cause by joining Walk Now for Autism. Start a corporate, school or family team today!
Walk Now for Autism offers everyone a fun-filled experience with entertainment, refreshments, an autism community resource fair, and much, much more. Be sure to raise $100 to earn your commemorative Walk Now for Autism t-shirt. We look forward to seeing you at the event!
Topics: Walk Now | No Comments »
Autism Parents and Mental Disorders
By Richard | May 5, 2008
Mental Disorders In Parents Linked To Autism In Children, Study Shows
ScienceDaily.com
ScienceDaily (May 5, 2008) — Parents of children with autism were roughly twice as likely to have been hospitalized for a mental disorder, such as schizophrenia, than parents of other children, according to an analysis of Swedish birth and hospital records by a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher and colleagues in the U.S. and Europe.
“We are trying to determine whether autism is more common among families with other psychiatric disorders. Establishing an association between autism and other psychiatric disorders might enable future investigators to better focus on genetic and environmental factors that might be shared among these disorders,” said study author Julie Daniels, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the UNC School of Public Health’s epidemiology and maternal and child health departments.
“Earlier studies have shown a higher rate of psychiatric disorders in families of autistic children than in the general population,” she said. “We wanted to see if the parents of autistic children were more likely to be diagnosed with mental disorders.
“Our research shows that mothers and fathers diagnosed with schizophrenia were about twice as likely to have a child diagnosed with autism. We also saw higher rates of depression and personality disorders among mothers, but not fathers,” Daniels said. MORE
Topics: Parents, Research | No Comments »
Parents Suffer Too
By Richard | May 5, 2008
Parents are autism’s hidden victims
Paul Nyhan | Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sharky Munat was 2 years old when the police came.
For 45 minutes the toddler’s screams pierced the thin walls of his mother’s two-bedroom apartment, until a neighbor finally called the cops.
His mother was used to screaming from her unusual child, who cried for hours if she simply laughed while watching television. But Lillie Addams felt sick when a police officer stopped them to check her son for bruises as they walked to the park.
The officer quickly realized there was no attack — he was just one of “those kinds of kids” — but his mother wouldn’t know the kind was autistic for two more years.
“Check it out, buddy. If you keep it up, they are going to take you away,” the one-time ballet dancer told her son once the officer let them go. Then she sat on a park bench and cried for an hour.
Children have autism, but parents are often invisible casualties. Their child’s disorder ricochets through their lives, breaking up marriages, draining bank accounts and robbing them of sleep. University of Washington researchers found these parents, among all with disabled children, suffer the highest levels of depression and anxiety symptoms, and parenting stress.
Since Sharky was diagnosed, his mother has dealt with depression, chest-seizing anxiety attacks, insomnia and incessant guilt that she wasn’t doing enough.
“It’s this overwhelming sense of powerlessness,” Addams said. “I feel blamed by society, by insurance companies. As if it was somehow our fault.” MORE
Topics: Parents | No Comments »
Allison Foundation Casino Party and Silent Auction - May 3!
By Richard | May 2, 2008
2nd Annual Casino Party and Silent Auction
May 3, 2008 | Ironsides Rescue Squad | 6 - 10PM
A fun evening for adults. Admission will include dinner and $50,000 in “fun money” per person to play casino games and win fantastic prizes…try your luck at blackjack, roulette, chuck-a-luck, horse races and other exciting games! The silent auction will feature great deals on haircare, lawn service, car detailing, and more!
Ironsides Rescue Squad
Price: $25.00 per person, includes dinner and games!
Topics: Events | No Comments »
Surprising Language Abilities
By Richard | April 28, 2008
Children With Autism Display Surprising Language Abilities
Medical News Today
What began as an informal presentation by a clinical linguist to a group of philosophers, has led to some surprising discoveries about the communicative language abilities of people with autism.
Several years back, Robert Stainton, now a philosophy professor at The University of Western Ontario, attended a presentation by his long-time friend Jessica de Villiers, a clinical linguist now at the University of British Columbia. The topic was Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). De Villiers explained that many individuals with ASD have significant difficulties with what linguists call “pragmatics.” That is, people with ASD often have difficulty using language appropriately in social situations. They do not make appropriate use of context or knowledge of what it would be “reasonable to say.” Most glaringly, many speakers with ASD have immense trouble understanding metaphor, irony, sarcasm, and what might be intimated or presumed, but not stated.
Drawing on his philosophical training, however, Stainton noticed less-than-obvious pragmatic abilities at work in de Villiers’ examples, which were drawn from transcripts of conversations with 42 speakers with ASD - abilities that had been missed by clinicians. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: In The News | No Comments »
CNN: Mom wins fight for autism insurance
By Richard | April 28, 2008
Mom wins fight for autism insurance
CNN.com
Ryan Unumb just turned 7 years old. He has about 100 words in his vocabulary, even if they are difficult to understand. He’s potty trained. He loves playing with water. He follows instructions, he asks for food when he’s hungry, and he gives lots of kisses.
He’s not where a 7-year-old should be developmentally, but for a child with severe autism, his parents are thrilled with his progress.
Lorri and Dan Unumb attribute these achievements to the 40 hours of intensive therapy Ryan gets every week. Tears streaming down her face, Lorri says they know they’re lucky they can afford the team of private therapists who spend all day at their house outside Columbia, South Carolina.
“I’ve met so many other moms who were doing the best they could, and I just wanted to say to them, ‘You know, an hour a week of speech therapy for your child is never going to make him better,’ ” the mother of three says.
“But I didn’t want to tell them what they needed is 40 hours a week of therapy, because there’s nothing they can do to buy that.”
Nothing they can do because most medical insurance policies generally don’t cover autism treatment, and it’s too expensive for many parents to afford out of pocket. Ryan’s therapy costs between $70,000 and $80,000 a year. That’s Lorri Unumb’s entire salary. MORE
Topics: Insurance | No Comments »
Sensory Treatment
By Richard | April 26, 2008
Autistic Mannerisms Reduced By Sensory Treatment
Science Daily
Parents of children with autism are increasingly turning to sensory integration treatment to help their children deal with the disorder, and they’re seeing good results. In 2007, 71 percent of parents who pursued alternatives to traditional treatment used sensory integration methods, and 91 percent found these methods helpful.
A new study from Temple University researchers, presented this month at the American Occupational Therapy Association’s 2008 conference, found that children with autistic spectrum disorders who underwent sensory integration therapy exhibited fewer autistic mannerisms compared to children who received standard treatments. Such mannerisms, including repetitive hand movements or actions, making noises, jumping or having highly restricted interests, often interfere with paying attention and learning.
The children assigned to the sensory integration intervention group also reached more goals specified by their parents and therapists, said study authors Beth Pfeiffer, Ph.D., OTR/L, BCP, and Moya Kinnealey, Ph.D., OTR/L, from the Occupational Therapy Department in Temple University’s College of Health Professions. The children made progress toward goals in the areas of sensory processing/regulation, social-emotional and functional motor tasks.
Sensory integration is the ability of the brain to properly integrate and adapt to the onslaught of information coming in through the senses. Dysfunction in this area makes it difficult for people with autism to adapt to and function like others in their environment. They may be hypersensitive to sound or touch, or unable to screen out distracting noise or clothing textures. Their response might be impulsive motor acts, making noises or running away. MORE
Topics: Research | No Comments »
Environmental Mercury
By Richard | April 24, 2008
Autism Risk Linked To Distance From Power Plants, Other Mercury-releasing Sources
Science Daily
ScienceDaily (Apr. 25, 2008) — How do mercury emissions affect pregnant mothers, the unborn and toddlers? Do the level of emissions impact autism rates? Does it matter whether a mercury-emitting source is 10 miles away from families versus 20 miles? Is the risk of autism greater for children who live closer to the pollution source?
A newly published study of Texas school district data and industrial mercury-release data, conducted by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, indeed shows a statistically significant link between pounds of industrial release of mercury and increased autism rates. It also shows—for the first time in scientific literature—a statistically significant association between autism risk and distance from the mercury source.
“This is not a definitive study, but just one more that furthers the association between environmental mercury and autism,” said lead author Raymond F. Palmer, Ph.D., associate professor of family and community medicine at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio. The article is in the journal Health & Place.
Dr. Palmer, Stephen Blanchard, Ph.D., of Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio and Robert Wood of the UT Health Science Center found that community autism prevalence is reduced by 1 percent to 2 percent with each 10 miles of distance from the pollution source.
“This study was not designed to understand which individuals in the population are at risk due to mercury exposure,” Dr. Palmer said. “However, it does suggest generally that there is greater autism risk closer to the polluting source.”
The study should encourage further investigations designed to determine the multiple routes of mercury exposure. “The effects of persistent, low-dose exposure to mercury pollution, in addition to fish consumption, deserve attention,” Dr. Palmer said. “Ultimately, we will want to know who in the general population is at greatest risk based on genetic susceptibilities such as subtle deficits in the ability to detoxify heavy metals.”
The new study findings are consistent with a host of other studies that confirm higher amounts of mercury in plants, animals and humans the closer they are to the pollution source. The price on children may be the highest.
“We suspect low-dose exposures to various environmental toxicants, including mercury, that occur during critical windows of neural development among genetically susceptible children may increase the risk for developmental disorders such as autism,” the authors wrote.
Topics: Mercury/Thimerosol | No Comments »
Retraining Brain Waves?
By Richard | April 24, 2008
Neurofeedback May Help ‘Retrain’ Brainwaves In Children With Autism
Science Daily
ScienceDaily (Apr. 24, 2008) — Playing a video game called ‘Space Race’ that requires nothing more than brainpower to make rockets on a computer screen move forward is more than just fun and games. A University of Missouri researcher is using video games to see if the brainwaves of children with autism can be ‘retrained’ to improve focus and concentration.
“We are trying to awaken their brains. Often children with autism disconnect and we want to use neurofeedback to teach them how it feels to pay attention and be more alert. We want to teach them to regulate their own brain function,” said Guy McCormack, chair of the occupational therapy and occupational science department in the MU School of Health Professions. “The ultimate goal is to lay down new neural pathways and, hopefully, see changes in focus and attention span, social interaction, improved sleep, and appetite.” Read the rest of this entry »
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The Debate Continues
By Richard | April 22, 2008
What the Autism Studies Show Isn’t Reflected in What the Candidates Say
Washington Post
Two leading presidential candidates have now wandered into an exceptionally emotional medical debate in which they have no known scientific expertise. Several advocacy groups and families of children with autism are embroiled in a long-running court case seeking billions of dollars in damages because of alleged links between autism and a preservative in vaccines given to children at a young age. While some doctors have testified that there is a link, the medical establishment in the form of the World Health Organization, the Institute of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has dismissed the allegations as scientifically unfounded.
THE FACTS
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has set aside $2.5 billion to compensate children suffering from autism and a number of other illnesses if it can be demonstrated that their condition is caused by vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella, usually administered between ages 1 and 2. The fund is financed through a 75 percent tax on vaccine doses. In November, the court agreed to compensate a 9-year-old Georgia girl, Hannah Poling, after concluding her underlying illness may have been aggravated by the vaccines, predisposing her to autism-like symptoms.
Whatever the outcome of the court case, the overwhelming weight of scientific opinion is that there is no proven link between autism and the vaccines, which include a preservative known as thimerosal that contains mercury. Edwin Trevathan, a senior CDC official, told reporters in March that the Poling case did not demonstrate any link between vaccines and autism.
At least five major studies have found no link between autism and thimerosal. A study released by the California Department of Public Health in January found that the autism rate in children continued to rise even after vaccine manufacturers stopped using thimerosal in childhood vaccines after 2001.
According to the CDC, “there’s no convincing scientific evidence of harm caused by the low doses of thimerosal in vaccines, except for minor reactions like redness and swelling at the injection site.” Similar conclusions have been reached by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Food and Drug Administration.
According to Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the connection between vaccines and autism is nothing more than a sad coincidence. Offit told CNN in March that 20 percent of children with autism “regress between their first and second birthday,” at more or less the same time that they receive their vaccine shots.
“Statistically, it will have to happen where some children will get a vaccine. They will have been fine. They will get the vaccine, and they will not be fine anymore. And I think parents can reasonably ask the question, ‘Is it the vaccine that did this?’ ”
THE PINOCCHIO TEST
The alleged link between thimerosal and autism has spawned numerous investigations, including a sensational Rolling Stone article by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asserting that the government was engaged in a medical coverup. The scientific debate will continue, but the body of evidence assembled so far suggests no proven link. Both McCain and Obama are wrong to suggest that the scientific verdict is still hanging in the balance.
ONE PINOCCHIO: Some shading of the facts;
TWO PINOCCHIOS: Significant omissions or exaggerations;
THREE PINOCCHIOS: Significant factual errors;
FOUR PINOCCHIOS: Real whoppers;
THE GEPPETTO CHECK MARK: Statements and claims contain the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Topics: In The News, Mercury/Thimerosol, Vaccines | No Comments »