SAR "Healing Autism:
Schafer Autism Report No Finer a Cause on the Planet"
________________________________________________________________
Monday, October 29, 2006 Vol. 10 No. 188



EDUCATION
* Justices to Take Up Autism-Case Dispute

POLITICS
* Activists Putting Heat On Barton
* Republican Congressman Joe Barton Calls Police On Autism Parents
* Drug Makers Pour Money Into Key Races

PUBLIC HEALTH
* Vaccination Litigation
* Round One -Case Against FDA to Ban Mercury Fillings

RESEARCH
* Cure Autism Now and Autism Treatment Network to Merge Operations

CARE
* Patients, Caregivers Connecting With Self-Help Internet Start-Ups

EDUCATION
* NJ Public Schools Open Their Doors To Autism

MEDIA
* Student Band Lures People Magazine
* Visionary Artist, Singer, And Songwriter Shirley Levi Special
on Autism One Radio



EDUCATION

Justices to Take Up Autism-Case Dispute

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/28/washington/28scotus.html

AP - The Supreme Court agreed Friday to consider an appeal by an autistic
child and his parents, who want to sue over his school accommodations without
hiring a lawyer.
The parents, Jeff and Sandee Winkelman, say they cannot afford a lawyer to
argue their court case against the school district of Parma, Ohio, near
Cleveland, over the education of their son, Jacob.
The federal appeals court in Cincinnati ruled that the Winkelmans, suing
under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, had to find a lawyer to
represent Jacob, although other federal courts have ruled differently in cases
involving that law.
The Bush administration then urged the justices to take the case, saying
that in adopting the measure, Congress clearly intended that parents be able to
represent their children in such court proceedings.
The Winkelmans’ suit contested Parma’s plan to educate Jacob
at a public school. They wanted the district to pay his yearly tuition of
$56,000 at a private school that specializes in educating autistic children.
Whether Jacob should have private schooling at public expense is not
before the justices, only the question of his parents’ right to go into
federal court without a lawyer.






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• • •

POLITICS

Activists Putting Heat On Barton
Autism, breast cancer bills on hold; he says agency needs overhaul

By Sudeep Reddy And Randy Lee Loftis / The Dallas Morning News
http://tinyurl.com/wk9u5

Heading one of Congress' most powerful committees, Rep. Joe Barton has
become the No. 1 enemy of groups pushing for more research into two of the
nation's most prevalent diseases – autism and breast cancer.
The Ennis Republican is blocking two bills that have widespread support on
Capitol Hill while he tries to overhaul the federal agency that directs most
disease research.
The result has been a torrent of attacks from advocacy groups, families
and others fighting for research dollars, including talk show host Don Imus.
They're furious at the 11-term congressman, saying he is thwarting efforts to
find cures. Others have raised questions about whether his opposition is tied to
aspects of the research that would look into environmental issues.
"Why would he do this? Why would he throw his body in front of this
train?" asked Elizabeth Emken, a board member of Cure Autism Now whose
14-year-old son has the mysterious neurobiological disorder. "Autism is a
national emergency and needs immediate attention."
Mr. Barton, chairman of the far-reaching House Energy and Commerce
Committee, says he wants to remove politics from decisions about which diseases
get federal research funds.
"I'm opposed to continuing to do business the old-fashioned way, where
whichever group can create the most pressure is the group that's taken care of,"
he said. "We have lots of health areas that need to be addressed in a
comprehensive and fair way."
Each of the blocked bills would tag money for research into possible
environmental causes of the disorders – $180 million over six years for
breast cancer; $45 million over five years for autism, part of a $1 billion
package for autism research and programs.
While Mr. Barton has frequently clashed with environmentalists over topics
ranging from air pollution to global warming, he said his opposition has nothing
to do with those environmental components. Such decisions should be left to
scientists, he said.
But his Democratic opponent, David Harris, is raising the environmental
issue in their congressional race. He suggested that Mr. Barton is blocking the
bill because of the environmental component.
"It just doesn't sit well with me," Mr. Harris said, that "you don't want
environmental considerations in the bill because people that support your
campaign are major polluters of the environment."
Mr. Barton, he said, is "trying to push more coal power plants into the
district, create more pollution and more mercury. It's just one big vicious
circle."
The 6th District includes portions of southern Tarrant County and sprawls
southward.
Both the autism and breast cancer bills have a majority of House members
co-sponsoring them – a sign that they would pass overwhelmingly if
released from Mr. Barton's committee.
Parents of autistic children are appealing to House Speaker Dennis Hastert
to overrule Mr. Barton. They plan to demonstrate Monday in Richardson, where Mr.
Hastert will be attending a fundraiser.
Proponents of the research bills say they find Mr. Barton's opposition
incomprehensible.
"Here's a group that did everything right, had an overwhelming majority of
support in the Senate and the House," said Fran Visco, president of the National
Breast Cancer Coalition. "All the research and analysis gets shut out by Joe
Barton. It's absolutely infuriating. What a horrible civics lesson to give to
the public."
Mr. Barton said majority support doesn't guarantee that any bill even gets
a hearing. But he's heard the concerns of parents and others and said he's
willing to work toward a solution.
"This idea that I've somehow double-crossed people is just flat wrong," he
said. "I am on the side of the parents and grandparents of autistic children. I
want to find a way to treat their children, to prevent the disease or alleviate
it."

Taking on autism
The autism fight has drawn the most national attention, amid worries over
an explosion in the number of autistic children.
In the 1980s, doctors found one of the developmental problems known
collectively as autism spectrum disorders in 4 to 5 of every 10,000 U.S.
children. In the 1990s, the rate had jumped to 30 to 60 per 10,000.
The increase could be due to more awareness, better and earlier diagnosis
and a broader definition of autism. However, the figures are sobering: The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says as many as 1 in 166 American
kids has an autistic disorder.
Mike Bernoski, an Arlington resident who lives in Mr. Barton's district,
learned last summer that his then-2-year-old son, Nathan, has autism. The family
had known something was wrong since Nathan was 15 months old.
"He spent over 50 percent of every waking moment in a fit, crying," Mr.
Bernoski said. "He was apathetic. There was no connection. He didn't look at
you."
Extensive behavioral treatment – at a cost of more than $60,000 a
year – turned Nathan around. He's started showing a personality, talking,
laughing and hugging people, said Mr. Bernoski, who is racking up debt to pay
for the therapy.
"It is unbelievable. You would not recognize the two kids," Mr. Bernoski
said. "That's not the case for everybody. They have to watch their kids bang
their heads against the wall because they don't have enough money. Imagine
having to make that choice.
"All any autistic family wants, all any doctor wants, all the millions of
people who work with autistic kids want is to find out what causes it and how to
stop it."
For Mr. Bernoski, the battle over research funding has become a political
motivator. He says he voted for Mr. Barton in the last election as part of his
straight-ticket ballot. Next month, he said, he'll vote for Mr. Harris.
Mr. Harris said his campaign has been flooded with supporters since the
autism issue drew national attention. Checks are flowing in; one of the first
was $2,100 from a New York man, he said.
"I believe if we can spend $8 billion a month in Iraq, we can certainly
allocate $1 billion for autism research and support networks for families of
autistic children," said Mr. Harris, an Iraq war veteran.
Even if Mr. Barton retains his seat but Democrats take over the House on
Nov. 7, he would be out of the energy and commerce chairman's job.

Mercury seen as culprit
Much of the research into what causes autism has been devoted to finding
genetic links and environmental agents – whether drugs, pollution or
other factors. A prime suspect is mercury, a toxic metal that is a powerful
nerve poison.
Some researchers believe they've found mercury's fingerprints on autistic
children. In one study, they tested the urine of children given drugs to force
toxins out of their bodies. Autistic children excreted three times as much
mercury as children without autism.
Many parents suspect thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative once
widely used in vaccines, as an autism trigger. But the research remains in
dispute.
+ Read more: http://tinyurl.com/wk9u5





EVIDENCE OF HARM DISCUSSION LIST HEATS UP
AS MERCURY LINK TO AUTISM QUESTION SPREADS

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• • •

Republican Congressman Joe Barton Calls Police On Autism Parents

From the Imus Show Blog.
http://imusblog.com/congressman-joe-barton-calls-police-on-autism-parents/

This post and video is a description from a parent who attempted to
attend a meeting on Autism held by Congressman Joe Barton. Instead of allowing
the parent of an Autistic child to attend the meeting, or even talk with the
parent, Rep. Joe Barton called the police. In the coming days I hope to have
more information from people who attended the meeting.

Joe Barton’s “Parent” Meeting on October 25, 2006.
My name is Mike B. and my 3 and ½ year old son has autism. I try like
all parents affected to keep up with legislation and research coming out of our
national representative groups. I became aware like so many others that Joe
Barton had decided to hold the Combating Autism Act hostage in his committee
only recently. Of course I immediately called to discuss this with him and was
rebuked by his staff members, them telling me “It is not Joe’s
fault, it is someone else’s fault”. I found this disingenuous so I
decided to get really involved and try to let all my elected representatives
know how important this legislation was. I also went about learning more details
about the CAA and the NIH reform bill Joe Barton would like to pass. I was
unable to get a meeting with Joe Barton, even though I am generally a republican
supporter and in his district. I heard he was having a “Meeting with
Parents of Autistic Children” so I called to request that I be allow to
come. His staff told me “there was not enough room to accommodate
me” and I could not come. I obviously found this frustrating after
watching the NBC special the night before where Joe is claiming to be a friend
of the autism community. I decided to go anyway and see if they might change
their mind and allow my views to be heard.
+ See video:
http://imusblog.com/congressman-joe-barton-calls-police-on-autism-parents/


ALSO:
Don Imus talking about Joe Barton.
http://imusblog.com/audio-clips/

• • •

Drug Makers Pour Money Into Key Races

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06298/732856-103.stm

By John D. McKinnon, The Wall Street Journal
Few businesses have more at stake in next month's congressional elections
than pharmaceutical makers. Assailed by Democrats, drug companies are pouring
millions of dollars into close races, giving some Republicans a financial edge.
In the process, the industry is becoming not just a campaign backer, but also a
campaign issue.
Pennsylvania Republican Rick Santorum is a big beneficiary of the
industry's push. He was a leading proponent of the 2003 law that gave seniors
Medicare coverage for prescription drugs, and helped shape the law in ways that
benefited the industry. Battling to keep his seat in a crucial Senate race, Mr.
Santorum's campaign has received almost $500,000 from pharmaceutical interests
and their employees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a
nonpartisan research group.
The industry has also helped fund television advertisements and aided
get-out-the-vote efforts.
Mr. Santorum's opponent, state treasurer Bob Casey Jr., regularly attacks
the Medicare program as "a giveaway to Big Pharma," in part because it bars the
government from negotiating prices. He and many fellow Democrats say they will
overhaul the benefit if they win control of Congress on Nov. 7. Not
surprisingly, Mr. Casey counts just $11,850 in contributions from pharmaceutical
interests.
Companies and business groups have long thrown money at candidates to
further their interests. But with a Democratic victory increasingly likely, few
recent elections have been so critical, particularly for the drug industry. On
the campaign trail, Democrats frequently lump "Big Pharma" with "Big Oil" in
attacking Republican ties to industry.
Within the first 100 hours of taking over the House, promises House
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Democrats will rewrite the prescription-drug
benefit to take away most of the advantages it handed to pharmaceutical
companies.
+ Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06298/732856-103.stm

• • •

PUBLIC HEALTH

Vaccination Litigation

After almost killing the childhood vaccine market, Trial Lawyers, Inc. takes
another stab at these vital medications.

http://www.triallawyersinc.com/healthcare/hc04.html

Vaccines are among the greatest accomplishments of modern medicine,
eliminating the widespread scourge of killer diseases like diphtheria, polio,
and smallpox. Each year, millions of American children are vaccinated against
many such infectious diseases, an essential precaution for the broader public
health.[101] Unfortunately, a very small percentage of vaccinated children can
develop side effects, or even die.[102] Thus it was that, beginning in the 1960s
and accelerating in the early 1980s, the market for vaccines faced a new plague
that threatened its very existence—one that continues to infect vaccine
manufacturing today and that has proven itself resistant to statutory remedy.
The plague, of course, is the virulent lawsuit abuse sponsored by Trial Lawyers,
Inc.

The 1980s Vaccine Litigation Explosion
The sordid story of lawsuits targeting vaccine side effects is one of the
most compelling examples of what ails our liability system. As late as 1965, the
Second Restatement of Torts opined that drug and vaccine manufacturers could not
be held strictly liable for selling unavoidably dangerous products, since such
products are "apparently useful and desirable . . . with a known but apparently
reasonable risk."[103]
In the 1960s and 1970s, however, courts loosened these requirements in
permitting liability for the Sabin live-virus polio vaccine under a "failure to
warn" theory.[104] Moreover, the federal government assumed liability for side
effects caused by the swine-flu vaccine in the 1970s and soon faced more than
4,000 claims, upon which it paid out over $72 million.[105] As the courts
continued to apply novel liability theories, vaccine manufacturers were flooded
with lawsuits, which, in the case of the diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus
(“DPT”) vaccine, escalated from one suit in 1979 to 255 in
1986.[106]
A watershed was breached in 1984, when juries slapped vaccine makers with
huge verdicts over two individual claims: the first—against a
manufacturer of the DPT vaccine—was for over $1 million;[107] and the
second—against a manufacturer of the Sabin polio vaccine—was for
$10 million, including $8 million in punitive damages.[108] Each case was
predicated on the theory that alternative vaccines were available or could have
been developed[109]—an interesting irony. Although the latter verdict was
subsequently overturned, the damage had been done. Claims multiplied: vaccine
maker Lederle estimated that total sales of its 1983 polio vaccine were only
one-twelfth the value of claims filed against it;[110] its 1983 DPT vaccine
sales were dwarfed by claims 200 to 1.[111]
Vaccine manufacturers responded predictably to this avalanche of lawsuits.
First, they exited the market: of the 26 vaccine manufacturers in business in
1967, 15 were still extant in the early 1980s, but the number plummeted to three
by the middle of the decade.[112] Second, they raised prices: DPT vaccine cost
10,000 percent more in 1986 than it did in 1980.[113] The few remaining
suppliers reported that they were having trouble finding liability insurance at
all, and the Centers for Disease Control, fearing a shortage, asked doctors to
delay giving children DPT booster shots.[114]

Congress Steps In
Responding to the crisis, Congress passed legislation in 1986 establishing
the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program ("VICP"), which bars all tort claims
until parents of children allegedly injured by a vaccine have exhausted a
no-fault remedy.[115] In essence, the system makes the federal government the
insurer for vaccine-related injuries, with payouts coming from a fund supported
by a small vaccine surtax.[116] Claimants appear before a special master and
have the burden of establishing injury, according to a "vaccine injury table,"
and if successful, the Justice Department has the option of contesting the
finding if it can show that the injury was not caused by the vaccine.[117]
The VICP largely stemmed the tide of vaccine lawsuits. Having reached a
high of 255 suits in 1986, the number of DPT suits fell to only 19 by 1990 (see
graph).[118] In general, the program effectively compensated those legitimately
injured and rejected bad claims.[119] The average award under the system has
been high—$824,463—for the minority of claims that have been
compensated,[120] but with much lower administrative costs than traditional tort
litigation—only 9 percent under the VICP, compared with 54 percent for
the average tort claim.[121]
With the liability climate more stable and predictable, research into new
vaccines began to proliferate: safer "whole cell" DPT vaccines replaced older
versions, and several new vaccines were widely adopted.[122] Having only
recently been a dead-end field for R&D, the vaccine industry was now attracting
new entrants, including biotechnology firms.[123]

Trial Lawyers, Inc. Fights Back
+ Read more: http://www.triallawyersinc.com/healthcare/hc04.html

• • •

Round One -Case Against FDA to Ban Mercury Fillings Our case of Moms Against
Mercury v. FDA heads to a ruling on the merits.

From Angela Medlin, Moms Against Mercury.

The United States Court of Appeals has rejected a motion by Food and Drug
Administration lawyers to toss out our case on procedural or technical grounds.
The case now moves forward to a ruling on the merits. Winning the first round
is significant, because courts and legislatures in recent years have limited the
remedies for public interest groups petitioning for federal agencies obey the
law.
To update: On April 27, four nonprofit groups, two state officials, and
three individuals,* with Bob Reeves and me as their lawyers, sued FDA seeking a
ban on mercury fillings -- because FDA is violating several federal laws. FDA
refuses to classify mercury fillings; FDA won't do an environmental impact
statement, and FDA approves mercury fillings without requiring proof of safety.
Were FDA not dodging its legal duty to enforce the law, mercury fillings would
no longer be on the market. We filed in the United States Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia, the nation's second most important court.
The government moved to dismiss, arguing that we could not file the case
in the appeals court and that the Court should allow FDA more time to complete
its work. We replied that a quarter of a century of deceiving the public by
promising to regulate is long enough, and the Court of Appeals needs to pull the
plug on FDA lawlessness.** The court agreed the case has merit, and asked each
side to submit briefs on the merits. In the upcoming months -- the legal team,
Bob, Sandy Duffy, Johann Wehrle, and I -- will be preparing briefs.
Three forces are now bearing down on FDA's illegal and unconscionable
protection of mercury fillings -- oversight by the Senate Health Committee,
rejection of FDA's pseudoscience by two scientific panels, and this lawsuit A
day of reckoning may come, and come soon.
Charles G. Brown, National Counsel
Consumers For Dental Choice

* Our nine petitioners "dream team" includes Moms Against Mercury,
Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice, Oregonians for Life, California
Citizens for Health Freedom, California Dental Board member Kevin Biggers,
Arizona state Senator Karen Johnson, consumer advocate Linda Brocato, Dr. Andy
Landerman, and consumer advocate Anita Vazquez Tibau.

• • •

RESEARCH

Cure Autism Now and Autism Treatment Network to Merge Operations

From an organization announcement.

Cure Autism Now and the Autism Treatment Network are merging operations to
strengthen and accelerate their efforts to advance a standard of care for autism
and related disorders. A memorandum of understanding has been accepted by both
organizations with the board of directors of CAN and ATN unanimously supporting
the merger. As a combined organization, ATN will become a program in Cure Autism
Now’s clinical research portfolio.
“Autism is a national health crisis and it’s a tragedy that
there is no standard of care available to individuals who struggle with the
myriad challenges associated with the disorder,” says Peter Bell,
president and CEO of Cure Autism Now. “Families should no longer be told
‘There’s nothing you can do to treat your child’s
autism.’ Autism can be treated and we must develop evidence-based
standards and ultimately a medical home so that their quality of life is
maximized in every way."
Cure Autism Now and ATN share a commitment to the biomedical treatment of
autism and a belief that a better quality of life is possible for those affected
by this developmental brain disorder. The two organizations expect to conclude
due diligence and final board approvals by Nov. 30. ATN will then become a
fully-funded clinical research program of Cure Autism Now, joining the Autism
Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) and Clinical Trials Network (CTN).
“ATN is a collaborative of leading centers in autism treatment. The
centers share information and successful practices to create and continually
improve a standard of care for autism,” says James M. Perrin, M.D.,
professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and director of the Division
of General Pediatrics and the Center for Child and Adolescent Health Policy at
the MassGeneral Hospital for Children and an ATN board member. “We looked
at the successes of other disease research and treatment models, such as
childhood cancers and cystic fibrosis, and dedicated ourselves to developing a
network of physicians and scientists that would share discoveries and
collaborate on solutions."
ATN is working toward evidence-based practice parameters for the
biomedical treatment of individuals affected by autism and related disorders;
establishing and supporting a community of engaged physicians, clinicians,
researchers and families; providing collaborative opportunities for careful
evaluation of new treatment approaches; creating a shared, standardized national
database; and promoting healthcare reform in the realm of autism treatment.
The boards of both Cure Autism Now and ATN, together with their founders,
are thrilled to announce the merger. The new structure will greatly facilitate
access to a multidisciplinary network of practitioners that will offer
state-of-the-art diagnostic testing and treatment services for autism as well as
provide critical infrastructure to investigate and validate new therapies. For
more information about ATN, visit www.AutismTreatmentNetwork.org.

• • •

CARE

Patients, Caregivers Connecting With Self-Help Internet Start-Ups "We see autism
as our first product"

By Michael Tutton for Canadian Press http://tinyurl.com/ykyku8

Ann West peers hopefully at the blue, flat- panel screen, curious to see
how a website might help her cope with the wide ranging and potentially
frightening symptoms of her husband's Alzheimer's disease.
The DementiaGuide.ca website being presented to her by Kathryn Garden,
vice president of DementiaGuide Inc., is an online health information business
that helps track the disease and provides caregivers with information on how to
manage it.
Once thought unlikely bets as for-profit ventures, the sites are springing
up in an era when high-speed Internet access has become widespread.
West, 67, says she still is considering if the monthly subscription of
$17.50 is worth it.
However, if her 68-year-old husband Fred - who has had the illness for six
years - starts to show more serious symptoms like violent behaviour or repeating
the same question endlessly, she'll be willing to sign on.
"The medications are fairly new and if they fail then the person goes down
very fast. If that happened, I would probably be running for this, to see what
was going on . . . before pressing the panic button," West says as Garden guides
her through the features.
In his office at the Veteran's Memorial hospital in Halifax, Dr. Ken
Rockwood - author of the 800 pages of information on the site - argues the web
is the ideal method to track and provide information on the complex symptoms in
dementia.
"People initially said nobody's going to go the web to get their
information. They pointed to the first big busts on the electronic-health side,"
says Rockwood. "But it's 2006, huge numbers of patients go to web, first thing."
In the United States, $20-per-month sites that deal with mental health,
such as MySelfHelp.com, are successful enterprises.
Other companies have sprung up in Atlantic Canada, taking advantage of a
skilled pool of labour in the online learning industry centred in Fredericton.
Cynthia Howroyd, a speech pathologist who founded Virtual Experts Inc. in
Fredericton, says the idea to create a subscribers-only website for children
with autism started in 2001, while she was recovering from a car accident.
Isolated from the families she treated, she developed the idea of what she
calls a "virtual autism clinic."
"That's when I started to go on the quest to get the money to do it," she
says. "It was a long struggle to find the financing and build the business."
+ Read more: http://tinyurl.com/ykyku8

• • •

EDUCATION

NJ Public Schools Open Their Doors To Autism
Explosion in autism and costs put pressure on property taxes

By Kathleen Carroll http://tinyurl.com/mdyvc

The growing number of children identified as autistic -- and the steep
cost of educating them -- is fueling a boom in public school programs.
In Bergenfield, a dozen preschool students are attending the inaugural
class of the TriValley Academy, a collaborative effort with New Milford and
Dumont. Districts including Leonia and West Paterson also opened new autism
classrooms this month.
Existing programs are growing quickly. Hawthorne, Paterson and Teaneck
have added classes. A two-year-old program for teenagers run by the Bergen
County Special Services School District grew 50 percent this fall.
Public awareness of the disorder is at an all-time high, and more children
are being classified as autistic under special-education rules. Plus, the
state's stellar reputation for autism programs has attracted families from all
over the country, creating demand for more services.
Last year, there were 7,400 students throughout the state -- a
jaw-dropping 30-fold increase since 1991. There were 2,150 students in Bergen,
Passaic, Morris and Hudson counties.
"We know a lot more about autism than we did a decade ago," said acting
Education Commissioner Lucille E. Davy. "People are focused on, the sooner you
intervene, the more likely it is that you can really bring about positive change
for these young students."
That means the pressure is on the public education system, which is
responsible for those students from age 3 through 21.
Enormous bills
Every school district in North Jersey includes at least one autistic
student. Some -- such as Tenafly, Ramsey, Oakland and Mahwah -- have dozens.
Wayne has 67. Teaneck has 59. North Bergen has 36.
Educating autistic students, who need intensive instruction and customized
speech and occupational therapies, is a complicated and expensive job.
Services for 2,755 students last year -- the neediest autistic students,
whose bills exceeded $40,000 each -- cost taxpayers $170 million. Sending a
single child to a separate school for the disabled can cost over $100,000 per
year.
School districts are responsible for the bulk of those bills. And they
haven't been getting much help.
+ Read more: http://tinyurl.com/mdyvc

• • •

MEDIA

Student Band Lures People Magazine

By Chris Gullick http://www.chicoer.com/newshome/ci_4565545

Rock music thrummed over the heads of a few hundred students at Chico
Junior High School at lunch time Friday, while dozens of students swarmed to the
front of the stage - hopping, waving, head-banging and cheering - to the sounds
of Jet Fuel Only.
The four performers - Chico Junior High students Sawyer Goodson and David
Love, Hooker Oak student Emma Blankenship and Citrus student Evan Goodson -
played renditions of classic rock songs to students, teachers, parents and
family members.
Also among the audience were four people who traveled from Los Angeles to
see them, planning to feature the band in People magazine.
Johnny Dodd, a staff reporter from the magazine, said he intends to write
a human-interest story about the band's success in using music as therapy for
autism.
Jet Fuel Only's success musically has played second fiddle to the success
of the band's drummer, Sawyer, who has a type of autism known as Asperger's
Syndrome.
Through his music, Sawyer found a socially acceptable way to communicate
and connect with his fellow students and with others.
His youngest brother, Cameron, who has another form of autism, has also
benefited from the music and the rich social interaction surrounding having a
band in the family.
Dodd, who got the idea for the story after seeing an article in the Jan.
25 edition of the Enterprise-Record, co-authored the book "Mozart and the Whale:
An Asperger's Love Story,"
which was made into a 2005 movie starring Josh Hartnett.
The magazine also sent two freelance photographers and a wardrobe stylist
to cover the event and help with the story.
A complete, professional sound system was set up by Kevin Looker and the
Good Sheppard Studio, a nonprofit organization that provides support for young
musicians.
Jet Fuel Only got its start more than two years ago, when Sawyer and
Evan's father, Dan Goodson, brought home a guitar and encouraged his sons to
learn music. He had been reading research about the use of music to promote
brain development, and he wondered if it would also help Sawyer learn ways to
interact socially.
+ Read more: http://www.chicoer.com/newshome/ci_4565545

• • •

Visionary Artist, Singer, And Songwriter Shirley Levi Special on Autism One
Radio

www.autismone.org/radio Halloween, October 31, 1:30 pm ET

On Halloween, tune in to hear the Waters’ special broadcast with
visionary artist, singer, and songwriter Shirley Levi. Shirley is a concerned
and active advocate who has worked with persons with autism. Visit Shirley
Levi’s website to hear her beautiful recording of “Anne
Marie,” written for a woman with ASD who Shirley worked with. This song
is available on Shirley Levi’s website, www.shirleylevi.com, in both
English and Spanish (televised performance on Telemundo). You can also visit
http://www.myspace.com/shirleylevi. Bob Waters begins this program with a
Halloween song dedicated to the Waters’ 1-year old son Evan, whose
birthday is on Halloween. Tune in; this music is great!


Public Service Announcement to the Reader:

AUTISM IS TREATABLE. Consult these sources:

. Autism Research Institute http://tinyurl.com/ccxco

. Generation Rescue http://www.generationrescue.org

. UK - Autism Treatment Trust http://www.autismtrust.org.uk


IMPORTANT: IF YOUR CHILD OR FAMILY MEMBER HAS BENEFITED FROM BIOMEDICAL
TREATMENT [OR NOT!] WE WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IT: WRITE TO editor@...


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Lenny Schafer, editor@...
The Schafer Autism Report is a non-profit corporation