Items 1 through 12 have been deleted, since they are primarily for families
living in Virginia and Maryland, and I did not want to send useless
information to the folks in the rest of the country. However, please let me
know if you live in Virginia, Maryland or DC; so that I can add you to my
private email distribution list for events in those states.


13. The mother of a 29 y.o. son with HF autism is helping to coordinate
some autism studies at Catholic University. They are now trying to connect
with families of newly diagnosed preschoolers (age 2 to 4 1/2) who are not
yet enrolled in an intensive early intervention program, to try an
experimental social attention program developed with NIH funding. Their
plan is to work with the child for up to a few weeks in the interval between
diagnosis and the start of intensive early intervention. They would
especially like to find children who have an older sibling who could
participate occasionally. They have openings right now for two children,
and then come January they may be able to begin working with a third child.
We plan to work with 22 children total this year. They can be pretty
flexible with scheduling. For more info, contact Cheryl Trepagnier at
trepagnier@... <mailto:trepagnier@...> or (202) 319-5780 to get a
copy of the study announcement and the Parent Informed Consent to look over.

14. "Officer Uses TASER on Autistic 15 Year Old in FL School" dated 1
December 2005 from WFTV at http://www.lineofduty.com/default_main.htm
<http://www.lineofduty.com/default_main.htm> .

"A school resource officer is being accused of excessive force after using a
taser on an autistic student. Now, that boy's mother says a misunderstanding
has left her child confused and bruised. Dennis Caliguri, 15, has bruises
to show for what happened when he encountered a school resource officer and
his taser. Investigators said Dennis was so violent and out of control that
it took five faculty members to restrain him and the taser was used to calm
him down. Dennis is autistic and functions at the level of a six-year-old.
But at 5'8" tall and 220 pounds, his mother, Susan Caliguri, said he is big
but harmless. So she was shocked to get a call from Cypress Lake High School
saying he was acting out. When she got to the school, she was horrified.
"It was a nightmare. They had him handcuffed, his legs were tied, he was on
the ground. They had four sheriffs on top of him. I mean, he is bruised down
his back, they were stunning him and he was already down. He couldn't do
anything," she said. Susan calls it excessive force, but the Lee County
Sheriff's Office said the taser was the only way to calm him down. "The
matter is that the deputy, if he is that tired out and he has a fear of
being overpowered, his weapon being taken away from him, he has to be able
to overpower and be able to take control of the situation," said Charles
Ferrante, Lee County Sheriff's Office. School administrators said Dennis
got upset after being told not to come to school one day last week. He
misunderstood and thought he was in trouble and started throwing papers.
Despite his mother's concerns, Dennis was arrested and charged with
disturbing the peace and resisting arrest."

15. "Learning-Disabled Students Blossom in Blended Classes" dated 30
November 2005 by Michael Winerip from The New York Times at
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/30/education/30education.html>
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/30/education/30education.html.

"Sarah Jacobs' son Jed, 9, has a learning disability. He's easily distracted
and, if asked to do too many things at once, panics. At his former school, a
private academy that cost $20,000 a year, his mother says Jed got into
trouble daily ("kicking and even some biting") and stopped learning. "He was
reading 'Captain Underpants' in kindergarten and he was in third grade and
still reading 'Captain Underpants,'" she says. So in September she switched
him to a nearby public school, P.S. 75 on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Jed was a new boy. His fourth grade had two full-time teachers and the class
was so well-organized, Jed moved smoothly from one task to the next. When
Ms. Jacobs asked how he liked it, Jed said he thought his teachers must have
a disability too, because they made it so easy to understand the work. "I
haven't had one call about his behavior," she says, "and he's learning
again. He's gone from 'Captain Underpants' to 'Harry Potter.' " Jed was
surprised when he found out there were 8 other special ed children in his
class of 31. "I couldn't tell who they were," he says. "I thought I might be
the only one and I was wrong." It is hard to tell. Class work is so
individualized, students can be reading books on a dozen levels at once. And
though one of his teachers, Denise West, is certified in special education,
she circulates around the room, helping general education students, too.
"The extra help Jed gets is invisible," says his mother. Indeed, even after
two days at P.S. 75, it was hard for me to pick out many of the special ed
students. This collaborative team teaching model - pairing a general ed and
special ed teacher in a classroom that is up to 40 percent special ed
children - is considered one of the best hopes for mainstreaming more
handicapped children. In New York City, about 12,500 special ed students -
nearly 10 per cent of the special ed population - now attend these classes.
..."

16. "Study confirms parents' claims: Birthday home videos prove existence
of autistic regression" dated 1 August 2005 by Joel Schwarz from the
University of Washington at
http://www.uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=11483
<http://www.uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=11483> .

"Researchers studying home videotapes of children's first and second
birthday parties have confirmed what a number of parents have been claiming
for years -- that some youngsters who are seemingly normal at age 1 regress
and exhibit the characteristic behaviors of autism by the end of their
second year. In a study published today in the Archives of General
Psychiatry, research done at the University of Washington's Autism Center
provides the first objective evidence for autistic regression. This form of
autism is estimated to account for about 25 percent of all autism cases in
the United States. The study did not address the cause of autistic
regression or the possible role that childhood vaccines might play in
children developing autism, according to lead author Geraldine Dawson,
director of the UW's Autism Center. "Once again, this study provides an
important lesson that parents are good reporters on what is happening with
their children. It underscores the importance of professionals to listen to
parents," said Dawson. "And it certainly suggests that in early screening
for autism that we need to screen at 18, 24 and 36 months to find children
who develop normally at first, but then experience a regression." The
researchers examined the birthday videos of 56 children -- 15 who were later
diagnosed with autism and whose parents reported that their children
experienced regression in the first three years of life; 21 whose parents
reported that their child had symptoms early in life and had no regression;
and 20 typically developing youngsters. The children's behavior was coded by
trained observers who were not aware of which children had been diagnosed
with autism or regression. Parents also filled out a detailed questionnaire
about their child's development during the first two years of life. ..."

17. "RPT-State laws may hurt U.S. flu efforts - regulators" dated 30
November 2005 by Maggie Fox from Reuters at
<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N30282059.htm>
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N30282059.htm.

"State laws forbidding the use of a controversial vaccine preservative could
threaten efforts to protect the population against an avian flu pandemic,
health officials said on Wednesday. They said more than 20 U.S. states have
laws pending that would limit or forbid the use of thimerosal, a
mercury-based preservative. Six states have enacted legislation that takes
effect as soon as January 2006. Several people speaking at a meeting of the
National Vaccine Advisory Committee said the laws would be an impediment to
efforts to speed delivery of vaccines should the H5N1 avian flu, or any
other virus, mutate into a pandemic strain. "The states that passed these
laws have just introduced a huge barrier to influenza programs," said Mary
Beth Koslap Petraco, coordinator of child health for the Suffolk County
Department of Health Services in New York. She noted recent shortages of
influenza vaccine, and hitches this year with distribution of the vaccine.
"If we think we have a problem this year with getting angry phone calls, I
can't imagine what's going to happen next year," Koslap Petraco said. Most
doctors say thimerosal is safe and studies have shown there is no
association between vaccines of any type and neurological diseases such as
autism. Experts say the type of mercury used in thimerosal does not affect
the body in the same way as mercury found in pollutants. But several groups
dispute this and some high-profile books have claimed that mercury is
causing an epidemic of neurological disease. They claim that U.S. health
officials have covered up evidence of this. ...:"

18. "The Age of Autism: Nuts" dated 30 November 2005 by Dan Olmsted from
the United Press International in The Washington Times at
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/upi/20051122-025651-1722r.htm>
http://www.washingtontimes.com/upi/20051122-025651-1722r.htm.

"You may have seen the brief news stories this week: A 15-year-old Canadian
girl with a severe peanut allergy kissed her boyfriend -- and died. The New
York Post perfectly captured the tabloid pathos. The headline: "Allergy
teen's fatal kiss." The lead: "Her allergy to peanuts may have been the kiss
of death for a Canadian 15-year-old who died after smooching with her
boyfriend, who'd just had peanut butter, authorities said. "Christina
Desforges died last Wednesday in a Quebec hospital, where she was being
treated for the allergic reaction to the kiss the weekend before. The fact
is that even a trace amount can cause a severe reaction." A CNN reporter
asked: "Could it really have been ... the kiss of death?" (Could it really
have been ... a crass clich? worth avoiding?) The network quoted three
people -- ages 13, 15 and 20 -- who all have severe peanut allergies and
recounted near-death experiences as a result. It quoted a doctor as saying,
"I've lost three patients due to anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction).
They're all teenagers. One was a baked good, one was Chinese food, one was a
candy. None of them had epinephrine (antidote) available." Now, why are so
many young North Americans suddenly at risk of death from eating common
foods or kissing those who have? ..."

19. "An Ill Wind Blows into a Child's Life- Bioaccumulation of heavy metals
in autistic children" dated 30 November 2005 by James Ottar Grundvig in The
Epoch Times at <http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/5-11-30/35161.html>
http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/5-11-30/35161.html.

"Most Americans remember with clarity where they were when they first heard
the news of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
Life-defining moments like 9/11 are those rare events that reshape society
and culture, forever changing how people take stock of their lives. This
holds especially true for those who witnessed the tragedy firsthand. For
me, a rooftop witness to the fire and smoke that poured out of the Twin
Towers, the day after 9/11 has lingered in my mind with equal brilliance and
anxiety. Confined at home with work closed, my son and I appeared safe in
the shutdown city with Navy jets flying over the empty skyline. And why
shouldn't I have felt that way? We lived Uptown at 94th Street and Third
Avenue on the opposite end of the island, six miles away from the smoldering
ruins of the collapsed buildings that made up the World Trade Center
complex. Yet what happened that morning unnerved me. With our 14th floor
living room window ajar, I began to smell an acrid, burning smoke that I had
never smelled before. I raced around the apartment looking for the source of
the fire. I found nothing. Watching my son, Fridrik, play by the open
window, wondering where the pungent odor was coming from, I had a delayed
reaction. The smoke that I saw drift east to Brooklyn on 9/11, blew north as
the wind changed direction the next day. I closed the window. But my gut
feeling told me it was too late. ..."

20. "Advocate criticizes use of stun gun- Autistic man's death unnecessary,
he says" dated 30 November 2005 by Brendan McCarthy from The Chicago Tribune
at
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/northwest/chi-0511300206nov30,1,529
0050.story?coll=chi-newslocalnorthwest-hed
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/northwest/chi-0511300206nov30,1,52
90050.story?coll=chi-newslocalnorthwest-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true>
&ctrack=1&cset=true.

"A disability rights advocate said Tuesday that better training may have
prevented an incident last week in which an autistic man died after Des
Plaines police officers used a stun gun in their attempts to subdue him.
The circumstances surrounding the death of Hansel Cunningham, 30, remain
under investigation by Illinois State Police, and officials said the probe
could take a year to complete. Cunningham, a resident of a group home in
Des Plaines, died Nov. 20 after he was shocked twice with a Taser by police
officers who had responded to a 911 call from a caregiver at the home.
Officers also used pepper spray and tackled him before paramedics injected a
sedative. Don Moss, a disability rights advocate who works with
Evanston-based Rimland Services for Autistic Citizens, which operates the
group home, questioned the use of force and the judgment of Des Plaines
police officers and paramedics. Cunningham "never had a history of violence
but was sensitive to people touching him," said Moss, who also is executive
director of United Cerebral Palsy of Illinois. "The force likely caused more
agitation to Hansel. It's common for people with autism to be sensitive to
sounds, to bright lights, to touch. "This type of force was not needed, the
action was not necessary. The restraint was not protocol. Apparently the
police were aware it was a home for autistic adults. But perhaps the police
weren't framed or trained in less violent techniques." Des Plaines Police
Chief Jim Prandini said officers used appropriate force to subdue
Cunningham, who had bitten his caregiver and, according to Prandini, was
combative and could have harmed himself or others. ..."

21. "Family fighting MCPS steadies for long haul" dated 1 December 2005 by
Amy K. Rowland from The Sentinel at
http://www.thesentinel.com/284791502408721.php
<http://www.thesentinel.com/284791502408721.php> .

"Peter Lindner is thankful. While his son P.J. suffers from a horrible and
possibly fatal illness, his family is together this year. But, they still
have to fight Scrooge, in the form of the Montgomery County Public School
system as MCPS denies their son, time and again, the help the family is
requesting. So, the Lindners are planning on having a quiet Thanksgiving at
home this year. After all, it is hard to get into the holiday spirit when
you are involved in a due process hearing. The due process hearing
involving P.J. Lindner's IEP is no closer to a resolution at this time. The
hearing has now been extended to include the dates Nov. 28 and Dec. 9 for
additional testimony. "[An extension is] a decision that's going to be made
during the process if it needs to be extended for whatever reason," said
Brian Edwards, spokesperson for Montgomery County Public Schools. The
reason seems to be because two days of the hearing have been devoted to
examining Peter Lindner, which has slowed down the progress of the hearing.
Lindner's cross-examination has been both heated and exhausting, a back and
forth debate between lawyers, a judge and a father. The lawyer for
Montgomery County Public Schools called into question the Lindner's good
faith by accusing them of building a case against Montgomery County for
their own benefit. Because P.J. never received grade-level testing in
Montgomery County, MCPS is claiming that it is impossible to know if P.J.
actually is below grade level. However, the Lindners have claimed that
testing P.J. would be a stressful and detrimental experience for P.J.
because of his disease, which is why they have previously refused to allow
MCPS to administer testing. ..."

22. ""Bioshield II" legislation threatens our freedom" dated 29 November
2005 by Randi Airola and John Gowan from the Health Sentinel at
<http://www.healthsentinel.com/org_news.php?id=065&title=%93Bioshield+II%94+
legislation+threatens+our+freedom&event=org_news_print_list_item>
http://www.healthsentinel.com/org_news.php?id=065&title=%93Bioshield+II%94+l
egislation+threatens+our+freedom&event=org_news_print_list_item.

"Since the attacks of September 11th, 2001, the citizens of the United
States have been challenged by elevated alerts predicting bioterrorism. The
facts, however, do not support this paranoia. In the only biological attack
in our nation's history our country was assaulted with anthrax spores that
originated from a "domestic" source according to the FBI and the White
House. We are told that we will not let the terrorists change our lives, but
that's exactly what our Government is mandating through legislation. While
the Government attempts to evade detection for misleading the American
people in policies abroad, they are diverting their attention, and ours, to
new undetectable domestic threats. The intended solutions to bioterrorism
and the risk those solutions place on our citizens needs sharp review. In
the midst of the diversionary hype our Government is simultaneously
indemnifying itself and Biodefense manufacturers against any liability from
damages caused by their vaccines or drugs meant to protect us against these
new threats, real or not. Compliance will be mandatory. Senator Burr (R-NC)
has introduced a bill titled the "Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug
Development Act of 2005" (S. 1873, aka: "Bioshield II"), co-sponsored by
Senators Frist (R-TN), Enzi (R-WY) and Gregg (R-NH). From the title, the
intent appears to be for the protection of the American people; however,
upon closer scrutiny, this Act is more concerned with protecting the
pharmaceutical industry. In fact, it strips the citizens of the United
States of their basic human rights. ..."

23. "Surprising Research, Lessons at Cerebral Palsy Organization" dated 30
November 2005 by Ken Millstone from the Connections Newspapers at
<http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=59417&paper=70&cat=
104>
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=59417&paper=70&cat=1
04.

"There are a lot of things Dr. Mindy Aisen wishes people understood about
cerebral palsy, probably enough to make a top 10 list. 1) It's not a
disease. It's a disorder or developmental disability. It is not progressive,
degenerative or communicable. 2) It isn't really one disorder but a
category of similar neurological impairments noticed in infancy. 3) Most
people with cerebral palsy have no mental impairment and many - perhaps an
unusually high proportion - pursue careers in science, medicine, law and
other high-skill professions. .... Aisen, a Potomac resident who took over
Nov. 1 as the director and CEO of the nonprofit United Cerebral Palsy
Research and Educational Foundation, knows that demystifying cerebral palsy
is an uphill battle. The very name is arcane. What does "palsy" mean,
anyway? People feel more comfortable donating to more familiar medical
causes. "It sounds sort of crass, doesn't it, that ... we're competing with
cancer," Aisen said in an interview at her home near Piney Meetinghouse
Road. "Everything's important. But that's the reality. It's hardly an
idyllic world." ..."

24. "Let's end the sham debate about MMR right here- The divergence between
scientific and public opinion is the key to the dogged persistence of the
autism controversy" dated 1 December 2005 by Michael Fitzpatrick from The
Guardian (UK) at
<http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/comment/story/0,,1654948,00.html>
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/comment/story/0,,1654948,00.html.

" Like many parents of autistic children, I was hoping that it was all over.
For the past eight years, the campaign against MMR has been at best a
distraction from the important issues in autism - scientific research and
matters of education and care provision. At worst, for many parents, it has
raised - and dashed - hopes of compensation and forced many more to carry an
utterly unwarranted burden of guilt over giving their children MMR. A
Cochrane review published last month concluded that there was "no credible
evidence" of a link between the MMR vaccine and either inflammatory bowel
disease or autism. This review, which followed a series of studies coming to
the same conclusion, suggested that the scare launched by Andrew Wakefield's
notorious Lancet paper in 1998 had reached the end of the road. Instead, it
appears to have provoked a resurgence of the old controversy, with polemical
exchanges between rival newspapers and a return of the familiar rancorous
disputes on the internet. All this brought me back to my first encounter
with the MMR-autism thesis in 1998. My son was five and, though he had
followed a course of apparently normal development before regression into
autism at the age of 18 months, said to be typical of children affected by
MMR, we had no recollection of when he had received his vaccination. On
digging out his baby clinic book, we discovered that he had had the jab,
without any apparent adverse effects, about four months before we first
noticed the signs of his autistic withdrawal. ..."

25. "Critics lambaste bird-flu bill
<http://www.mercurynews.com/images/common/spacer.gif> " dated 1 December
2005 by Steve Johnson from The Mercury News at
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/13300107.htm
<http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/13300107.htm> .

"A bill moving through Congress to speed production of bird-flu vaccines and
other drugs has ignited alarm from critics who claim it would not only
shield manufacturers from lawsuits, but also prevent the public from
learning if the medicines hurt people more than help. Under the measure
backed by Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist, which critics hope to derail at a
meeting today, bird-flu and bioterrorism preparedness would be overseen by a
new agency able to operate in unprecedented secrecy. The Biomedical Advanced
Research and Development Agency would be the first federal agency not
required to make at least some of its activities public under the Freedom of
Information Act. The bill's supporters say the law is needed to encourage
more companies to join the few firms, such as Chiron and Gilead Sciences in
the Bay Area, making drugs to counter bird flu and deadly biological agents
-- without fear of being sued if the drugs produce bad side effects. But
others including Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine
Information Center, denounced the measure as dangerously misguided. Without
public scrutiny or the ability to take the companies to court, ``these drugs
are going to be developed in secret, and if there are deaths and injuries,
they're going to be covered up,'' she said. ``And there will be no way to
hold anybody accountable.'' ..."

26. "Critics question provision in vaccine plan" dated 29 November 2005 by
Tom Walker from WTHR13.com at http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?s=4177341
<http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?s=4177341> .

"The government's strategy for fighting bird flu includes doing everything
possible to keep it from becoming a pandemic in the first place. President
George W. Bush has said, "The best way to deal with it is to isolate and
contain it in the region in which it begins." In case that fails, Congress
is working up a $7 billion plan to encourage production of potentially life
saving vaccines. But critics are now taking aim at a part of the plan they
say would also give drug makers sweeping new protection from lawsuits,
protection they say goes beyond bird flu "A couple of cases of measles
could be considered an epidemic that then would be covered under this
legislation." Barbara Loe Fisher runs the watch-dog group National Vaccine
Information Center that she founded after her son developed learning
disabilities she believes were related to childhood vaccine. She and other
critics of the pharmaceutical industry, including Indiana Congressman Dan
Burton, are gearing up to oppose the liability provisions. President Bush
and others say the number of makers of vaccine has plunged, largely because
of fear of lawsuits. And they argue that without protection companies won't
make the drugs. But there is growing opposition from groups, including the
politically powerful Association of Trial Lawyers, that say fear of pandemic
should not close the courthouse door to those injured. ..."

27. "Group finds discipline problems a major hindrance in class" dated 2
December 2005 by Alisa Marie DeMao from Online Athens.com at
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/120205/news_20051202039.shtml
<http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/120205/news_20051202039.shtml> .

"Discipline problems that pervade Clarke County schools, along with a lack
of language skills that's influenced by poverty, are key issues that must be
dealt with to help special-education students improve their reading
abilities and test scores, a monitoring group from the state Department of
Education said Thursday. A pervasive student attitude of defiance and
disrespect leads to too many classroom disruptions - not just for
special-education students, but for all students in the Clarke County School
District, according to an exit briefing by the group, which talked to
parents, teachers and administrators and visited schools this week.
Teachers need to find preventive ways to deal with discipline problems - to
stop them before they start - because punishments aren't working, said Ginny
O'Connell, a program specialist with the education department who headed the
team. "That is huge," O'Connell said Thursday as she presented the group's
preliminary findings. "You have instructional time being interrupted by
discipline problems on a daily basis. ... It's just amazing. And it's a
general-education and a special-education problem." "You're just reacting,"
she added later. "You're dealing with the problems after they happen, so
it's punitive, and I have to ask how that's working. I would suggest that
it's not working so well." ..."

28. "Study: Men and women differ in brain use" dated 1 December 2005 from
the University of Alberta at
<http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-200512
01-19253100-bc-us-brainuse.xml>
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-2005120
1-19253100-bc-us-brainuse.xml.

"University of Alberta researchers say they've determined men and women
utilize different parts of their brains while they perform the same tasks.
The study -- led by Emily Bell, a graduate student in psychiatry -- involved
volunteers who performed memory tasks, verbal tasks, visual spatial tasks
and simple motor tasks while their brain activity was monitored with
functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging technology. "The results jumped out
at us," said Bell, "Sometimes males and females would perform the same tasks
and show different brain activation, and sometimes they would perform
different tasks and show the same brain activation." Dr. Peter Silverstone
-- a UA psychiatrist and an author of the study -- said: "It is widely
recognized there are differences between males and females, but finding
different regions of the brain are activated in men and women in response to
the same task has large potential implications for a variety of different
clinical situations. "The larger implications of this work, as well as
other work pointing in the same direction, is that we may increasingly find
out that there are differences in the 'hard wiring' of male and female
brains." The research is reported in the journal NeuroImage."


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]