1. The Westfield High School PTSA Special Education Committee is
coordinating a parent meeting on AD/HD and you are invited and welcome to
attend. The meeting will take place at Westfield High School on Thursday,
March 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the school's Lecture Hall. The meeting topic is
AD/HD and we will have speakers (one of whom will be a doctor and another is
the FCPS ADD Partnership Group Chair) addressing this issue as well as a
video and an extended period of time for your questions. According to the
organization CH.A.D.D (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit
Disorders), "[a]s educators and parents, we must recognize that
developmental problems may appear at any age." Please join us and learn
what to look for as well as strategies that parents, teachers and students
can put in place to help manage this disorder. In addition, you are welcome
to share this information with friends and parents at your schools.
Westfield High School is located in Chantilly, VA on Stonecroft Boulevard.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Karen Freiberg, WHS
PTSA SpecEd Rep at freibergs4@... <mailto:freibergs4@...> .

2. The Arlington County Parent Resource Center/Office of Special Education
presents "Teaching Social Communication Skills to Students with Autism
Spectrum Disorders and other related disabilities" by Deborah R. Parks, MA
CCC-SLP on Thursday, March 30, 2006 from 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. at Kenmore Middle
School Library (2nd floor), 200 South Carlin Springs Road, Arlington, VA.
Registration is required. Please call l703-228-7239 or email
<BLOCKED::mailto:eparral@...> eparral@....
Ms. Parks gave this presentation to Arlington County teachers and staff
earlier this year. Come learn the communication development strategies that
the teachers have been taught.

3. Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is cosponsoring a free workshop on
inclusion in public schools, titled Life Planning Tools: A Workshop on
Inclusion in Public Schools 2006, on Saturday, April 1 from 8:30 a.m. to
1:30 p.m. at Patrick Henry Elementary School in Alexandria, VA. FCPS is
sponsoring the event along with the Arc of Northern Virginia and the Special
Education Parent Resource Centers from Alexandria City Public Schools,
Arlington Public Schools, and Falls Church City Public Schools. The
regional workshop will provide families with the opportunity to learn more
about best practices for inclusion and how to facilitate relationship
building and communication strategies for the best outcomes for students.
Alan Abeson, former director of the Arc of the United States, will make a
special presentation along with the directors of special education of the
four sponsoring school systems. Mark Melson, a licensed clinical social
worker, will discuss building collaborative communication skills. A
resource fair, along with activities for students with special needs, will
be available.

4. FCPS Workshop on "Dealing with Challenging Behaviors: Part 2" by Todd
Streff on April 4, 2006. This is intended to be a follow up to the parent
workshop on March 7, 2006. This training is for family members of preschool
and school-age children with autism. This workshop will be held at Jackson
Middle School (Recital Hall), 3020 Gallows Road, Falls Church, VA. If you
have any questions, contact Liane Sprunk at 703-246-7774. Information flier
is available at: http://www.fcps.edu/ss/ABA/April_4_06_workshop.pdf
<http://www.fcps.edu/ss/ABA/April_4_06_workshop.pdf> .

5. Have a child who has health care needs, and claims for payment or for
approval for services for those needs have been denied by your health
insurance company? THEN THIS WORKSHOP IS FOR YOU!!! Participants will
learn... How to identify instances in which an appeal is appropriate; What
an "Explanation of Benefits" is, and how to read them; Steps to be taken
prior to filing a formal appeal of a rejected claim; The information needed
before an appeal can be filed; Which State and Consumer agencies are
available if an appeal fails. Wednesday, May 10, 2006 from 6:00 p.m. to
8:00 p.m. at Charlotte Hall Library, 37600 New Market Road, Charlotte Hall,
MD. Presenter is Melissa Alexander, Parent Educator, Parents' Place of
Maryland. This workshop is free, but registration is required ·Please
R.S.V.P. to Melissa Alexander,
301/884-4662 Para los de habla español comuníquense con Linda Pinos al
410-768-9100 extensión 105 o por correo electrónico: Lpinos@...
<mailto:Lpinos@...> .

6. The REACH research program presents a special training opportunity for
Pivotal Response Training: An Effective Treatment Strategy for Young
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Pivotal Response Training (PRT) is
an empirically-validated intervention based on the principles of Applied
Behavior Analysis which has been effectively implemented with young children
with autism. Dr. Katherine Holman, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, will lead this clinical
training workshop on May 11th and 12th, 2006 at The Center for Autism and
Related Disorders, Kennedy Krieger Institute, 3901 Greenspring Avenue,
Baltimore, MD 21211. The workshop is appropriate for parents, related
service providers, early special educators, paraprofessionals, daycare
providers, and other early intervention team members. Call 443-923-7623 to
get more info.

7. The Medical Assistance (Medicaid) program in Maryland can be very
helpful to children with disabilities and special health care needs. This
basic introduction to Medical Assistance will explain the various programs,
why they can be helpful, and who is eligible to apply. This training will
be held at the Charlotte Hall Library, 37600 New Market Road, Charlotte
Hall, MD on Wednesday, April 19, 2006 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Speaker
is Melissa Alexander, Family Advisor with Maryland's Family Access
Initiative, a Partnership with The Parents' Place of Maryland. Registration
is required for this training. Please RSVP to Melissa Alexander at
301-884-4662. PARA LOS INTERESADOS DE HABLA HISPANA, Comuníquense con
Linda Pinos, 410 768-9100 o 800 394-5694 (llamada gratis)

8. Seeking participants for a free pilot study of the QuestionTrainer
software program. The GrammarTrainer is an innovative linguistic software
curriculum designed by a professional linguist specifically for children
with Asperger's/Autism. It promotes active language learning by having
children click or type his or her answers onto the screen. The program
provides hundreds of exercises and clear, systematic, interactive feedback
that guides the child towards the right answer. The QuestionTrainer focuses
on the grammar of questions. It teaches the concept of question-asking, how
to discriminate between different types of questions, and how to put the
words in the right order and the verb in the correct form. If your child
can read and type, but has trouble asking grammatical questions, he or she
may be eligible for 7 free lessons of question training. Find out more by
contacting <mailto:beals@...>
beals@....

9. "Lifelong vaccine will end booster jab ordeal" dated 20 March 2006 from
The Telegraph (UK) at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?xml=/health/2006/03/20/nbooster
18.xml
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?xml=/health/2006/03/20/nbooste
r18.xml> .

"Booster jabs could soon become obsolete following the discovery by a
British scientist of the world's first effective way to control the speed at
which vaccines are released in the body. The breakthrough has the potential
to save health services billions of pounds, eliminate dangers to children by
removing the need for top-up injections and prevent the deaths of hundreds
of thousands of people in developing countries. Scientists have
demonstrated that the technique works in preliminary experiments and today
the Department of Trade and Industry will announce the award of a £1.5
million grant to make the new vaccines available to doctors within five
years. The introduction of slow- release vaccines would
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=OSEPEVGGH22ZHQFIQMFSF
GGAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2006/02/09/njab09.xml> avoid the need for a total of
seven boosters - for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, haemophilus
influenzae B, meningitis C and measles, mumps and rubella. With each
booster jab costing £40, the total saving would be about £175 million per
year. The slow vaccine release technique is an ingenious combination of a
method used by plants to stay alive in arid conditions and the harnessing of
the body's natural mechanism for mending and reshaping broken bones. A fern
called the resurrection plant is able to remain alive in a desiccated state
in North American deserts for years by preserving moisture in a solidified
sugar solution. Dr Bruce Roser, the lead scientist at Cambridge
Biostability, devised a way to create stable vaccines that can be kept at
room temperature by suspending tiny, water-soluble particles in an inert
liquid. ..."

10. "Project Life Saver Works" dated 23 March 2006 by Sloane Heller from
WHBF4 News at http://www.whbf.com/Global/story.asp?S=4673270
<http://www.whbf.com/Global/story.asp?S=4673270&nav=menu81_2> &nav=menu81_2.

"Last Friday night Scott County had its first success story with the
program. Police were able to track down a young man with autism in less than
a half an hour. Modesto Martinez, a 24-year-old man from Eldridge, likes to
wander off late at night and collect cans. The problem is he doesn't always
come home until the next morning. After one too many sleepless nights, his
mom, Lori decided to enroll Modesto in Project Lifesaver, a tracking system
for people with mental disorders. "If you turn your back he would probably
go into the river, I worry about that. I'm trying to be a real good mother."
Lori Martinez said. Last Friday night, Modesto went missing again, but
thanks to the program, it only took the Scott County response team 20
minutes to find him. "This helps to do some of the talking for those
persons that are missing and it helps us to speed up the process of finding
somebody." Major Mike Brown with the Scott County Sheriff's Department said.
Modesto and others in the program wear a band on their wrist or ankle, which
emits a radio signal every second. Major Brown says the signal helps police
find someone in just minutes rather than hours or days. Lori Martinez says
the program gives her and Modesto more freedom and peace of mind. "It's
less stressful, I don't have to worry about him, things happening to him,
him wandering off." Lori said. Right now, Scott County has two sets of
equipment but a third is in the works. Major Brown said his two biggest
challenges are getting more equipment and getting the word out to families.
Project Lifesaver is used in 39 states. Since it was created eight years
ago, it's helped find 1,300 missing people."

11. "A call that may save a life- New system alerts neighbors when a child
is missing" dated 25 March 2006 by BENITA Y. WILLIAMS from The Kansas City
Star at <http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/14181904.htm>
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/14181904.htm.

"Overland Park's deputy police chief still remembers a case from two decades
ago where a boy with autism became lost and was later found dead. "There
are probably more recent ones, but that's one I remember that ended in
tragedy," Mark Kessler said. The child, who was about 10 years old, had
wandered from home, apparently looking for his favorite fast-food
restaurant. He wound up in a nearby creek. Kessler wonders whether the boy
would have survived had police been able to quickly tell neighbors to look
for him. That is exactly what area police will be able to do now with A
Child Is Missing, a nonprofit program based in Florida that calls residents
on the telephone about a missing child or vulnerable adult from their
neighborhood. Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline introduced the program
this week to Kansas law enforcement officials. "This is a vital tool that
will assist you greatly anytime that a child is missing," Kline said Friday,
announcing the program at the Overland Park Police Department. The service,
free to local law enforcement, is financed with federal funds, private
donations and fundraising. ..."

12. "Report: mental health services to poor lag in Fairfax County" dated 26
March 2006 on the Associated Press in Daily Press.com at
<http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-va--fairfaxmentalheal0326m
ar26,0,794775.story?coll=dp-headlines-virginia>
http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-va--fairfaxmentalheal0326ma
r26,0,794775.story?coll=dp-headlines-virginia.

"The mentally ill who are not insured or underinsured can wait as long as
six months to see a therapist in Fairfax County, a community services board
found. For a group home, the wait can stretch into years, the Fairfax-Falls
Church Community Services Board told supervisors in an annual report this
month. The agency operates mental health, mental retardation and substance
abuse programs for the county on a $149 million budget. "We're in bad
shape," John DeFee, director of mental health services, told supervisors.
As of March 1, according to agency records, 173 people were awaiting initial
screening by therapists, and the wait could stretch as long as six months.
Once they have received diagnoses, patients can wait anywhere from two weeks
to two months for placement in adult outpatient programs. More than 660
people are seeking temporary or permanent spaces in group homes, where a
wait for one of the 575 beds can run from eight to 10 months to "literally
years," depending on the length of the stay, DeFee said. "Quite frankly, it
depends on whether someone moves out or passes away," he added. The
mentally ill aren't the only county residents struggling for access. Agency
waiting lists show 344 adults seeking alcohol or drug treatment. The average
wait is described as "variable." Supervisors, concerned by the waiting
periods, gave the Community Services Board 90 days to devise a plan to
address the issue. "I shudder to think that someone might have to wait six
months for a diagnosis," Supervisor Penelope A. Gross said. ..."

13. "Spurlock Speech Causes Stir at Pa. School" dated 26 March 2006 on the
Associated Press in MSN.com at
http://entertainment.msn.com/celebs/article.aspx?news=219531
<http://entertainment.msn.com/celebs/article.aspx?news=219531&GT1=7704>
&GT1=7704.

"The filmmaker who ate nothing but McDonald's meals for a month for his
Oscar-nominated film "Super Size Me" gave a profanity-laced, politically
incorrect speech at a suburban Philadelphia high school, but not everyone
was lovin' it. Speaking at Hatboro-Horsham High School's first-ever health
fair, Morgan Spurlock joked about the intelligence of McDonald's employees,
about "retarded kids in the back wearing helmets" and teachers smoking pot
in the balcony. The special education students in the back row were led by
teachers out of the hourlong presentation. "If you put the whole package
together, the use of the F-word and poking fun at teachers and the comments
about special-needs students, it just wasn't appropriate," Superintendent
William Lessa said. Most of the 700 students laughed, gave him a standing
ovation and mobbed him for autographs. A speech Spurlock was to make at the
school later Friday night for community members was canceled. ..."

14. "Project Lifesaver proves its worth" dated 27 March 2006 by Dustin
Lemmon from the Quad City Times at
<http://www.qctimes.net/articles/2006/03/23/news/local/doc44223ea5921db25218
9498.txt>
http://www.qctimes.net/articles/2006/03/23/news/local/doc44223ea5921db252189
498.txt.

"Modesto Martinez is a 22-year-old autistic Davenport man who has a tendency
to get lost when he leaves his house to go hunting for cans. His mother,
Lori Martinez, said he's left home at 10 p.m. before and not shown up again
until 6 a.m. the next day, leaving her to worry about him all night.
Recently, Martinez signed up her son with the new Project Lifesaver Program
in Scott County, which placed a locator band on his wrist. When Modesto
Martinez got lost Friday night, police were able to find him in less than an
hour. Martinez said she's glad he is in the program. "It's less stress for
me," she said Wednesday. "I don't have to worry about him wandering off. I
would recommend all families with special-needs children to get on this
program." Major Mike Brown of the Scott County Sheriff's Department said it
was the first time police have used the program. They've signed up nine
people since the first of the year, and Martinez was the last one to join.
"I was always wondering how it would go," he said. "I don't think any of us
expected to get a call out this soon." Martinez was reported missing about
9 p.m. Friday. About a half-hour later, Eldridge police officers Tim Doty
and Rick Heppe, who are members of the Project Lifesaver response team,
arrived in Davenport with the locator equipment. Brown said as soon as they
arrived, the locator picked up radio signals from Martinez's wrist band and
the officers found him within 20 minutes. "They were able to make contact
with him and talk to him," Brown said. Doty said the device worked just as
it had in training. Each person signed up with Project Lifesaver has a file
with personal information and picture, Brown said. In Martinez's case,
officers knew from the file that he's skittish around police, so they wore
their jackets to cover their uniforms, Brown said. ..."

15. "A giant US study on children's health might be orphaned, researchers
fear" dated 27 March 2006 by Scott Allen from the Boston Globe at
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2006/03/27/a_giant_
us_study_on_childrens_health_might_be_orphaned_researchers_fear/
<http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2006/03/27/a_giant
_us_study_on_childrens_health_might_be_orphaned_researchers_fear/> .

"The 100,000 children who are supposed to be in the study have not even been
conceived yet, but scientists have been preparing for their birth for six
years. Congress voted in 2000 to create the biggest pediatric study ever to
showcase a new commitment to children's health, and the researchers planned
to follow the children from the womb to their 21st birthdays to find the
roots of diseases from autism to asthma. But, before scientists could
recruit their first mother-to-be, the White House proposed eliminating the
$2 billion National Children's Study altogether. Seven senators have called
for the study to be saved, but analysts say it's an uphill fight at a time
when overall spending on medical research could be frozen for the second
straight year. The uncertain fate of the Children's Study is putting the
spotlight on a field where researchers feel they're still battling for
respect. Despite political rhetoric about the importance of children,
pediatric research accounts for only about one-ninth of federal research
funding even though people under 18 represent a quarter of the population.
''Lots of us do research on a shoestring with funds and time borrowed from
all kinds of places," said Dr. Linda Grossman, director of developmental
pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. ''It reflects
the general tendency in our society to give children short shrift." ..."

16. "Defective Immune System Response to Smallpox Vaccine Detailed in New
Study" dated 27 March 2006 from the Kansas City Infozine.com at
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/13824/
<http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/13824/> .

"Scientists supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have
identified a defect in the immune response of people with the skin condition
atopic dermatitis that puts them at risk of developing serious complications
following smallpox vaccination. Led by Donald Y.M. Leung, M.D., Ph.D., of
the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, the researchers
used laboratory-grown human skin cells to show that an immune system protein
called LL-37 is critical in controlling replication of vaccinia virus, the
live virus that is the key component in standard smallpox vaccine. The
investigators are part of NIAID's Atopic Dermatitis and Vaccinia Network,
which was created in 2004 to integrate clinical and animal research aimed at
reducing the risk of eczema vaccinatum, a potentially deadly complication of
smallpox vaccination. Eczema vaccinatum occurs almost exclusively in people
who have a history of atopic dermatitis, a common, non-contagious skin
disorder also known as eczema. "This new research, the first to be
published by Atopic Dermatitis and Vaccinia Network scientists, illuminates
one potential mechanism leading to eczema vaccinatum and improves our
understanding of the immune responses to smallpox vaccine of people with
atopic dermatitis," says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. ..."

17. "Retired judge, teacher investigated for multiple sexual assaults"
dated 27 March 2006 by Meagan Frank from the Dunn County news at
http://www.dunnconnect.com/articles/2006/03/27/news/news01.txt
<http://www.dunnconnect.com/articles/2006/03/27/news/news01.txt> .

"A former municipal court judge in Colfax has been charged with second
degree sexual assault of a mentally deficient man. Eugene E. Dunagan, 69,
has been charged with assaulting a 22-year-old man with autism. The
criminal complaint referenced a letter referenced from Dr. Rhonda Davis, a
child adolescent psychiatrist at the Marshfield Clinic in Eau Claire, who
described the victim as high functioning in terms of his autism, but one who
still struggles with function skills that would involve impulsivity control
and judgment-based decisions. Colfax police chief, Peter Gehring,
acknowledged, "Mr. Dunagan had been under investigation for a number of
different incidences and I believe that was probably knowledge that the
victim had. When he was victimized, he came forward to us." The victim told
police that he knew Mr. Dunagan because he was a friend of his parents. The
22-year-old often went to Dunagan's residence to mow the lawn or do chores
around the house. Starting in the summer of 2005, the victim claims that
Dunagan began soliciting him to engage in lewd conduct. ..."


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