Items 1 through 3 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.

4. Unlocking Autism, through its
<BLOCKED::http://www.talkautism.com/Sponsors/UA/ExpertFind.aspx?Page=Add>
ExpertFind service hosted by TalkAutism, helps families find better local
health resources. Input your zip code on our ExpertFind page and you will
find a list of medical
professionals in your area trained to work with kids with autism. You can
also share resources with others in the autism community.- we're especially
interested in finding more developmental pediatricians, ABA therapists and
diagnostic specialists across the country. TalkAutism will check for
duplicates, and reach out to the experts themselves to confirm the accuracy
of the resource information. With your help, families like yours can get
one step closer to finding the resources and support they need.

5. Behavior Analyst Certification Board newsletter for March 2006 is at
<BLOCKED::http://www.bacb.com/newsletter/page1.html>
http://www.bacb.com/newsletter/page1.html.

6. "American Academy of Pediatrics fights efforts to ban thimerosal" dated
15 June 2006 from the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons at
<http://www.aapsonline.org/nod/newsofday300.php>
http://www.aapsonline.org/nod/newsofday300.php.

"In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the U.S. Public
Health Service recommended the removal of thimerosal from vaccines intended
for American children. In the past two years, state chapters of AAP have
been extremely active in efforts to block state legislation to ban the use
of thimerosal in pediatric vaccines-even though most vaccines are available
in a reduced-thimerosal or thimerosal-free formulation. All pediatric
vaccines in the UK are free of this preservative, and it has been banned in
Scandinavia for years. Many Americans simply do not believe the CDC's
assertions that injected mercury is safe, especially as pregnant women are
advised to avoid eating tuna wraps. States that currently ban thimerosal in
vaccines are California, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, New York, and
Washington. But even before the law was enacted in Illinois, the Illinois
chapter of the AAP had planned an exemption. In its view, the single gravest
issue is the potential unavailability of enough thimerosal-free influenza
vaccine for infants and young children. The AAP has wholeheartedly endorsed
the CDC recommendation to administer influenza vaccine yearly to healthy
infants and young children. Strangely, the Illinois Department of Public
Health failed to notify physicians of the change in the vaccine laws. As
shown by documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, it managed
to mandate the continued use of mercury-containing vaccine for 18 months
after the deadline in the law, by "documenting" a shortage of a vaccine that
was actually available in surplus. Drs. F. Edward Yazbak and David M. Ayoub
conclude: "Individuals and organizations requesting the removal of
thimerosal from vaccines and their scientific advisors appear to be
primarily interested in the welfare of children. It is not clear what their
opponents' ulterior motives are" (
<http://www.redflagsdaily.com/yazbak/2006_apr19.html> Redflagsdaily.com
4/19/06)."

7. "Family's Plight Catches World's Eye" dated 28 June 2006 by ANDREA
ZELINSKI from The Jouirnal at
<http://www.journal-topics.com/pr/06/pr060628.8.html>
http://www.journal-topics.com/pr/06/pr060628.8.html.

"The Waters' family household in Park Ridge was flooded this month---with
e-mails. After the Park Ridge Journal published a story about the family's
autistic daughter Candace, the Waters said they never imagined they'd get
such a positive response. Robert and Sandy Waters told the Journal about
5-year-old daughter Candace and their struggles with her autism earlier this
month in the paper's June 7 edition. They said the disorder left their
daughter with difficulty communicating and explained how their daily
struggle raising Candace lead them to pen a song. They titled it "Faith,
Love, and Hope," and said those words represent the inspiration every family
needs when they struggle with autism. After the article was published,
waves of responses came rolling in from as close as their neighbors in town
to as far away as a family in Australia. "We got over a hundred e-mails"
asking for a copy of the song, said Mr. Waters. "And we got back to every
one of them," Mrs. Waters added. Alderman Rex Parker (6th) e-mailed the
family, saying he'd like to meet them personally. "Parker said I was the
greatest dad in the world," said Mr. Waters. "I have to come over and meet
you," Mr. Waters recalled Parker saying to him last week. They also
received responses from Judy Bar Topinka, republican candidate for governor,
who said she loved the story and thought the song was beautiful.
Christopher Kennedy, an attorney for the Autism Society of Illinois put the
article in the group's e-mail newsletter which has since spanned around the
globe. ..."

8. "Pharmaceutical Industry Cannot Be Trusted To Deal With Biased Reporting
Of Clinical Trials Without Stricter Regulation, Royal Society Of Medicine"
dated 30 June 2006 from Medical News Today at
<http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=46284>
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=46284.

"An article in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine examines the
conduct of pharmaceutical companies in drug trials and urges changes to
ensure their research is scientifically trustworthy. Sir Iain Chalmers said
stricter regulation is needed to curb biased under-reporting of clinical
trials conducted by pharmaceutical companies. "Research undertaken by
pharmaceutical companies cannot be trusted. Their systematic under-reporting
of negative results and lack of transparency is blatant scientific
misconduct and unethical. Without radical change this will continue," said
Sir Iain. "It is particularly disappointing that many doctors collude with
the industry in this form of scientific misconduct. They have too often
simply acquiesced in scientific misbehaviour driven by the marketing
departments of pharmaceutical companies." The paper examines how policies
of greater transparency, led by Glaxo Wellcome in the 1990s and adopted by
the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, were reversed
following Glaxo Wellcome's merger with SmithKlineBeecham. "Guidelines for
good publication practice, which were written by employees at Glaxo
Wellcome, were dropped by GlaxoSmithKline and the employees who drafted them
were dismissed," said Sir Iain. Sir Iain recently requested that a draft of
his paper be presented for comment and criticism to a meeting of staff from
the medical departments of member companies of the Association of the
British Pharmaceutical Industry. "No participant from the pharmaceutical
industry challenged the contents of the paper. Rather they asked for
suggestions about what could be done to improve the currently poor public
image of the industry," said Sir Iain. "The first and most obvious step
would be for all companies to publicly endorse the Good Publication Practice
Guidelines for Pharmaceutical Companies. However, given industry's
reluctance to take voluntary steps to ensure the scientific integrity of
their research, stricter government regulation is likely to be needed," he
said. Sir Iain's paper is published days after a study by Consumers
International called for an end to the unscrupulous marketing practices by
pharmaceutical companies, which spend US$60 billion annually on drug
promotion. ..."

9. "'Academic Redshirting' Is Getting a Mixed Report Card- The popular
practice of delaying schooling is not necessarily helpful, researchers say"
dated 5 July 2006 by Michelle Keller from the Los Angeles Times at
<http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-redshirt5jul05,1,5742143.story?
coll=la-news-learning>
http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-redshirt5jul05,1,5742143.story?c
oll=la-news-learning.

"Many parents and educators swear by the practice of "academic redshirting"
- waiting an extra year before enrolling a child in kindergarten in hopes of
giving the kid more confidence, greater size or perhaps an academic edge.
But does it really work? New research - including a federal study of 21,000
youngsters released in May - suggests that the benefits are a mixed bag,
both academically and socially. As often happens with education techniques,
redshirting appears to help some, harm others or have no effect at all. For
Suzanne Weerts of Burbank, the value was clear enough. As her son Jack
neared his fifth birthday last September, his parents sought out teachers
and other parents to help them decide whether their boy was ready for
kindergarten. Eligibility wasn't an issue: The Burbank Unified School
District's cutoff birth date is Dec. 2 and Jack was born on Sept. 15. But
Weerts worried that her shy son would be intimidated by children who had
turned 5 months earlier and would have a tough time keeping up academically.
This September, Jack will start kindergarten at William McKinley Elementary
School and is likely to be one of the older kids in his class. "In
preschool he was a follower," said Weerts. "This year he was a leader in the
classroom. He's more confident. You can't go wrong with the extra year."
Weerts said that, among her friends, about half opted to give their children
an extra year. It's a decision lots of parents have to make as fall
approaches. And a lot are deciding to redshirt, a term borrowed from sports
lingo, where freshmen athletes are held back a year to give them more time
to build strength. The concept isn't new, but it's impossible to say how
common it was, say, a generation ago. Recent national studies estimate that
6% to 9% of children eligible for kindergarten are redshirted each year.
Research and anecdotal reports have found that, in some school districts, as
many as 50% of kids are held back an extra year before starting
kindergarten. Some kids benefit, but others don't. That was the conclusion
of the report on 21,000 children released in May by the U.S. Department of
Education. The study of boys and girls entering kindergarten in 1998 looked
at their abilities when they were in first grade. It found that the children
who had been redshirted had lower math knowledge and skills than
first-graders who started kindergarten on time. ..."

10. "Genetics behind developmental brain disorders may play a wider role
with congenital diseases- UCI study finds basis for breakdown of 'skeleton'
proteins in brain cells" dated 6 July 2006 from the Universoty of
California, Irvine at http://today.uci.edu/news/release_detail.asp?key=1494
<http://today.uci.edu/news/release_detail.asp?key=1494> .

"Findings of a recent genetic study on developmental brain disorders may be
the "tip of an iceberg" revealing factors involved with a number of
congenital diseases, according to UC Irvine researchers. The study is the
first to find that mutations in the structural proteins in brain cells -
beta-actin - are linked to disorders such as deafness and dystonia, a
debilitating neural disease, and further suggests that genetic variants of
these proteins may play a wider role with inherited human diseases. Study
results appeared in the June issue of the American Journal of Human
Genetics. The findings give vital clues to the basis of some developmental
disorders and make early diagnosis possible for diseases such as dystonia,
allowing for greater treatment opportunities, said Dr. Vincent Procaccio of
UCI's Center for Molecular and Mitochondrial Medicine and Genetics and lead
author, though the study does not point to potential therapies. "These
types of actin proteins are prevalent throughout the body and play a key
role in processes that are an essential part of development," said
Procaccio, who is also an assistant professor of pediatrics. "To find that
these mutations are involved with brain disorders seems to be the tip of an
iceberg. Since beta-actin is involved with many developmental cell
functions, it would appear that its genetic variants can be involved with a
number of other congenital disorders." Procaccio and his colleagues studied
brain tissue samples from deceased twins who had a number of developmental
disabilities including dystonia, a neurological disorder that causes
twisting or jerking movements in parts of the body. Genetic analysis
revealed mutations in the beta-actin gene. These mutations affected protein
conformation, which would not allow beta-actin to bind with ATP - the
chemical fuel synthesized by mitochondria that give a cell its energy.
Beta-actin is a structural protein that helps form the cytoskeleton - a
cell's skeleton that gives it structure and strength. Unable to receive
fuel, the mutated beta-actin proteins break down, ultimately damaging and
destroying the cell. In the brain, this leads to the neural tissue damage
related to congenital neurological disorders like dystonia. Taking this
information, Procaccio and his fellow researchers are working to demonstrate
that beta-actin mutations are a common cause of neurological disorders. They
are currently analyzing several DNA samples from patients to identify
additional abnormalities. In addition, they are investigating the cellular
and biophysical abnormalities resulting from beta-actin mutations, which
will serve as a basis to identify other mutations and disease phenotypes
arising from genetic abnormalities of beta-actin proteins. ..."

11. "Level of Mercury in Vaccines for Children is Shocking and Toxic" dated
6 July 2006 by Michael Wagnitz in an oped article of the Hawaii Reporter at
<http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?21440de1-d4e2-4d58-8126-ce34ccf3c5
2d>
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?21440de1-d4e2-4d58-8126-ce34ccf3c52
d.

"Thanks to the Hawaii Reporter for discussing the mercury/vaccine issue. As
a chemist with 20 years experience evaluating material for mercury, I was
shocked to discover the quantity of mercury in vaccines (50,000 parts per
billion (ppb) Hg in vaccines, 200 ppb to qualify as liquid hazardous waste).
It dwarfs all other sources of childhood mercury exposure. This doesn't even
take into account that the main ingredient in thimerosal, Ethylmercuric
Chloride, arguably, is one of the most toxic forms of mercury that exists
(see Merck Index for detail). Lisa Randall (Hawaii Reporter, 7/2/06) cites
the six major epidemiological studies as the conclusive science on this
subject. She dismisses the 5 published epidemiological studies done by
independent researchers Dr. Mark and David Geier which reach a totally
different conclusion. All of the other studies she refers to are from Europe
where the vaccine schedule is substantially different than the U.S. These
countries did not expose newborns to mercury at birth via the Hepatitis B
vaccine as was the case here. Most countries only used 3 thimerosal
containing vaccines versus 12 in the U.S. In Denmark, where 2 of these
studies were done, thimerosal was banned in 1992. In one study, they claimed
rates of autism went up after thimerosal was banned. This was because in
1995, they started counting autistic outpatients as opposed to only
inpatients for the years prior to 1995. Since outpatients exceed inpatients
by a 13:1 ratio in Denmark, you would expect a minimum 13 fold increase. If
only inpatient data had been compared, rates would have dropped
substantially. Why are rates of autism in Denmark a fraction of what they
are in the U.S. ( 7/10000 as compared to 60/10000)? Nobody asks this simple
question. The authors of the Denmark studies work for the Statens Serum
Institute, a European vaccine component provider. This is never mentioned.
The study in the U.S. has 5 different conclusions dating from 2000-2004.
Each subsequent evaluation, which was totally controlled by the CDC, lowered
the risks of thimerosal containing vaccines. When the watered-down study
was officially published by Pediatrics in 2004, the lead author had already
been employed, since 2001, with a major thimerosal vaccine manufacturer.
Pediatrics did not believe this little tidbit was worth mentioning. If you
go to the medical search engine "Pubmed" and type in thimerosal, you will
get references to 1108 published, peer-reviewed papers. The over-whelming
message of these papers is the extreme neurotoxicity of thimerosal."

12. "Court of Appeal rules autism therapy age cut-off is not
discriminatory" dated 7 July 2006 by CARLYE MALCHUK from CBC News at
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/060707/x070710.html
<http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/060707/x070710.html> .

"The refusal by the Ontario government to pay for an expensive therapy for
all autistic children older than five does not amount to age discrimination,
the province's highest court ruled Friday. The decision by the Ontario
Court of Appeal - worth tens of millions of dollars to taxpayers - came
after a lower court ruled in favour of parents who are forced to bear the
expense of the treatment. At stake was funding for a specialized autism
therapy known either as intensive behavioural intervention or applied
behavioural analysis. The government began funding the therapy for autistic
kids aged two to five in 2000. Children were cut off from government money
when they turned six. The original ruling by the Ontario Superior Court
found the cut-off to be discriminatory on the basis of age, and therefore a
violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In its appeal, the
government argued that the intensive one-on-one process works best for
children under age six, and that other forms of treatment work better for
older children. The Court of Appeal agreed. "Exclusion of (older autistic
children) because of their age from a program so particularly designed to
assist another disadvantaged group does not deny their human dignity or
devalue their worth as members of Canadian society," the ruling stated. The
Appeal Court also ruled the children were not discriminated against because
of their disability. "We are left with profound admiration and respect for
the struggle of (autistic children) and their families," the ruling stated.
"However . . . the charter cannot guarantee success in such a struggle, nor
can it require the state to provide whatever assistance is needed to achieve
that success, as compelling as that may be on moral or policy grounds." The
therapy is based on the idea that autistic children can improve their
behaviour through repetitive actions. Its cost ranges from $30,000 to
$80,000 per year per child, depending on the number of hours per week.
Autism is a poorly understood disorder but is believed to be caused by an
underlying physical dysfunction within the brain or central nervous system.
Its symptoms are impaired social function, lowered communications skills and
behavioural problems. About 8,000 kids under the age of 18 have been
diagnosed with autism in the province. Children and Youth Services Minister
Mary Anne Chambers said Friday's ruling will change nothing in terms of
service provided to autistic children. The minister said that since July
2005 - nearly five months after the original court ruling - the province has
provided funding to treat any autistic child over the age of six if they are
assessed as needing it. "We recognize we have to build capacity in the
system," she said."

13. "FDA gives MedImmune OK on new way to make FluMist- Md. biotech to use
'reverse genetics" dated 7 July 2006 by Tricia Bishop from the Baltimore Sun
at
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.flumist07jul07,0,7718374.story?
coll=bal-business-headlines>
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.flumist07jul07,0,7718374.story?c
oll=bal-business-headlines.

"A technique widely used to produce possible pandemic flu vaccines will soon
be used to make at least one seasonal version: MedImmune Inc. announced
yesterday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given it the
go-ahead to create its nasally inhaled FluMist using "reverse genetics."
Though the manufacturing process won't affect the FluMist's formulation or
the way it is administered, the technique is thought to be a more efficient
and reliable means of production - faster and safer than the current
standard. The company says it will be the only vaccine on the market using
this technique. MedImmune, based in Gaithersburg, is hoping that others
will follow its lead and license the technology. "The technique allows the
rapid generation of seed viruses for vaccine candidates that exactly match
the anticipated epidemic strain," said congressional testimony from Dr.
Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases - or NIAID. The typical way of making flu vaccines -
called "classical reassortment" - dates to the 1960s and requires a lot of
time-consuming guesswork by scientists. It involves injecting two flu
strains into a fertilized chicken egg, where they mix and multiply into as
many as 256 gene combinations. Researchers then sort through all of those
combinations to find the one they want to manufacture as that season's
vaccine. In reverse genetics, scientists can specifically construct the
combination of flu strains they need. They do this by splicing genes
together and manufacturing the seeds of the vaccine in mammal cells - in
MedImmune's case, kidney cells from an African green monkey. They also can
remove any harmful pieces of the flu virus and modify its reproduction rate.
..."

14. "Federal rules often unenforced- SCHOOLS ARE LEFT TO POLICE THEMSELVES"
dated 9 July 2006 by Paul Jacobs from The Mercury News at
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/15000020.htm
<http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/15000020.htm> .

"The National Institutes of Health has strict rules requiring universities
to monitor and report financial conflicts of interest, but the sprawling
federal agency does little to enforce those rules. Instead, it leaves the
schools -- which receive billions of taxpayer dollars in NIH research
funding each year -- to police themselves. NIH doesn't maintain reliable
statistics on the number of conflicts reported by universities that receive
its grants. And it does not routinely ask schools to explain how they
resolve the financial conflicts they do report. ``It is largely a `don't
ask don't tell' scenario,'' said Dr. Edward Greg Koski, former director of
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services office of human research
protections. Both NIH and university officials say there is no way the
agency could effectively monitor the thousands of universities and
non-profit organizations that get federal grants. Dr. Joe Ellis, director
of NIH's extramural research administration policy office, said, ``While it
is both fiscally and physically impossible for NIH staff to directly monitor
nearly 3,000 grantee organizations that receive approximately $18 billion in
grant awards annually, the NIH has provided oversight of these activities.''
In 2001, the agency reviewed the conflict of interest policies of 300
institutions. Since 1999, it has conducted 37 campus visits to review
compliance with conflict of interest rules and other grant regulations. Last
fall, it began a new series of site visits specifically intended to collect
data on how universities and other institutions enforce conflict of interest
rules. The agency has not visited Stanford University, which is
consistently ranked in the top 20 institutions receiving NIH grants. NIH in
1995 began requiring universities that receive grants to monitor major
conflicts that could affect the integrity of research it funds or the safety
of patients. Virtually every major university has enacted a policy and many,
like Stanford, have rules that go beyond what NIH requires. But when the
Mercury News asked Ellis' office for the number of conflicts reported by
universities, the agency said it had no figures before 2000. Since then,
more than 400 conflicts have been reported. And the numbers have generally
increased every year, growing to 116 in fiscal year 2005. However, those
figures greatly underestimate the extent of conflicts because the NIH's
centralized records are incomplete. Over the past five years, for example,
Stanford reported eight research-related conflicts to institutes within NIH.
But NIH's central office of extramural research, which tracks the reporting
of conflicts, received only two reports. And because of its own error,
Stanford failed to notify the agency of six additional conflicts, bringing
the actual total to 14. The story is similar at the University of
California-San Francisco. ..."

15. "Temple Grandin on Autism & Language" dated 10 July 2006 by Vikki
Valentine and Jon Hamilton from NPR at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5488844
<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5488844> .

"Temple Grandin, famous for convincing McDonald's to work with more humane
slaughterhouses, is not a social butterfly. An evening out, filled with
"endless chitchat and silly jokes," what a bore, she says. For Grandin, who
is autistic, language isn't about making social connections, it's a tool to
get information. She shares that view with many autistic people.
Researchers and therapists say autistic children, independent of their
intelligence, often have trouble understanding the thoughts and feelings of
others. They're not very good at recognizing social cues -- or even the
spoken words -- that most people take for granted when they communicate.
Grandin says these differences in how autistic people think and process
information have have made learning to communicate effectively a life-long
struggle for her. But she says there's another dimension to the challenge.
Autistic people can be isolated, she says, not only because they have
difficulty making a connection with so-called "normal" people, but because
normal people find it difficult to put themselves in an autistic person's
shoes and see the world from their perspective. Grandin spoke with NPR
about the challenges she's faced learning to speak, and what she's learned
about language and autism. ..."

16. "Autism Reveals Social Roots of Language" dated 10 July 2006 by Jon
Hamilton from NPR at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5503688
<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5503688> .

"People with autism often struggle to learn language, and they also struggle
with personal relationships. Scientists say that's probably not a
coincidence. There's growing evidence that language depends as much on the
brain circuits that help us navigate a cocktail party as those that
conjugate verbs. One of the people who believes that evidence is Temple
Grandin. She teaches animal science at Colorado State University and has
written several best-selling books. She's also autistic. Grandin says it
has taken her most of her life to reach the point where she can speak with
other people in a way that sounds natural. She says that's because she's had
to learn language without the social abilities most people have. Grandin
didn't begin speaking until she was 3 ½ years old. Her first words referred
to things, not people, she says. "I'd point at something that I wanted, you
know like a piece of candy or whatever, and say, 'there,'" Grandin says.
She wasn't using language to reach out to her parents or to other children,
the way most kids do, so she didn't have the same motivation to talk. ..."

17. "Before she died, Angie had finally found her place- Foster family says
7-year-old still had tantrums but was making progress" dated 10 July 2006 by
KEVIN HARTER from the Twin Cities Pioneer Press at
<http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/15002307.htm>
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/15002307.htm.

"Abandoned by her birth parents and transferred in and out of foster homes,
Angellika Arndt was prone to fits of anger followed by a calm sweetness and
her signature "light-up-your-life smile." The 7-year-old was making
progress. Her Ladysmith, Wis., foster parents of about 18 months had high
hopes for her to begin first grade this fall in a regular classroom. Donna
and Daniel Pavlik said the girl they affectionately called Angie still had
tantrums, but it always seemed possible to redirect her attention and calm
her. But those dreams of a better future for the girl ended May 26 when
Angie died from injuries she suffered while being restrained at a Rice Lake
treatment facility. "She had been getting time-outs at school,'' Donna
Pavlik said, explaining why the family enrolled her in the treatment
program. "We thought it would help get her caught up. ... She was a little
behind academically. We just wanted her to be a normal 7-year-old and be
ready for the fall." An investigation into Angie's death by the Rice Lake
Police Department and Barron County district attorney is expected to
conclude this month. In an earlier investigation into the girl's death, the
Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services cited "multiple
violations" of state law at the Northwest Counseling and Guidance Clinics,
including the law governing physical restraint of clients. During her month
attending the weekday treatment program, she was restrained face down by two
clinic workers nine times, the state report said. Clinic officials deny any
wrongdoing. The Pavliks won't discuss the investigation or any related
legal issues. But they agreed to talk about the girl they loved because they
want others to know more than the cursory biography of Angie released by
authorities after her death, which said that she was born in Milwaukee to
parents who signed away rights to her and her siblings and that she had
bounced around the child-protection system. ..."

18. "New model of brain sheds light on triggers of autism- iSTART model
illustrates brain mechanisms that lead to autistic behaviors" dated 10 July
2006 in a press release from Boston University at
<http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-07/bu-nmo071006.php>
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-07/bu-nmo071006.php.

"Approximately 1.5 million children and adults in the U.S. have autism and
it is estimated to be the fastest growing developmental disability with a 10
- 17 percent increase each year. While much is known about the symptoms of
autism, the exact cause of the condition is not yet defined. A new model of
the brain developed by Dr. Stephen Grossberg, professor and chairman of the
Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems at Boston University, and Dr. Don
Seidman, a pediatrician with the DuPage Medical Group in Elmhurst, IL, sheds
light on the triggers of behaviors commonly associated with autism. The
paper, "Neural Dynamics of Autistic Behaviors: Cognitive, Emotional, and
Timing Substrates," appears in the July issue of the journal Psychological
Review, published by the American Psychological Association. "Autism
involves multiple genes and correspondingly, people with autism are known to
have multiple cognitive, emotional, and motor symptoms - such as impaired
development of speech and difficulty expressing emotions," said Dr.
Grossberg. "The iSTART model describes the various brain mechanisms that
underlie autism and how they may give rise to the symptoms of the
condition." iSTART, which stands for Imbalanced Spectrally Timed Adaptive
Resonance Theory, is derived from the earlier START model developed by
Grossberg to explain how the brain controls normal behaviors. The new model
describes how brain mechanisms that control normal emotional, timing, and
motor processes may become imbalanced and lead to symptoms of autism. START
and its imbalanced version iSTART are a combination of three models, each
one of which tries to explain fundamental issues about human learning and
behavior. The first, called Adaptive Resonance Theory, or ART, proposes how
the brain learns to recognize objects and events. Recognition is
accomplished through interactions between perceptually-driven inputs and
learned expectations. Inputs attempt to match expectations which helps
prompt the brain to anticipate input/expectation patterns. "When a match
occurs, the system locks into a resonant state that drives how we learn to
recognize things; hence the term adaptive resonance," explained Grossberg.
The degree of match that is required for resonance to occur is set by a
vigilance parameter which controls whether a particular learned
representation will be concrete or abstract. Low vigilance allows for
learning of broad abstract recognition categories, such as a category that
is activated by any face; high vigilance forces the learning of specific
concrete categories, such as a category that is activated by a particular
view of a familiar friend's face. iSTART proposes that individuals with
autism have their vigilance fixed at such a high setting that their learned
representations are very concrete, or hyperspecific. ..."

19. "Alberta's autism services draws families from other provinces" dated
10 July 2006 from CBC News at
<http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2006/07/10/autism-therapy.html>
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2006/07/10/autism-therapy.html.

"Parents with autistic children are leaving their home provinces for
Alberta, which pays up to $60,000 per child annually on an intensive
treatment that some other places don't cover at all. Autism, or autistic
spectrum disorder, is a neuropsychiatric disorder that impairs a person's
ability to communicate and interact with others. It is estimated to affect
between two and six children in every 1,000. A treatment called applied
behavioural analysis (ABA) has spurred controversy and lawsuits in several
provinces in recent years, as parents battled to have governments pay the
$30,000 to $80,000 a year that it costs per patient. Other parents have
simply opted to pack their bags and move to Alberta - including Cynthia
MacKenzie and her family, who moved from Regina to Edmonton in search of
better care for their four-year-old autistic son. Saskatchewan does not pay
directly for ABA, which experts say should involve 20 to 40 hours of therapy
a week and start while children are young. Schools are expected to meet the
needs of all students - even those with autism - from education funding.
MacKenzie said that in Regina, her family had to pay about $1,000 a month
out of pocket for half of the ABA treatments they felt were needed by their
son, Anson. They also faced long waiting lists for the treatments. "When
you hear that you know not only can they do very little, but you're going to
wait years for anything, I mean - you're just devastated," MacKenzie said.
..."

20. "Autism trailblazer Schopler dies at 79- He inspired shift in field's
outlook" dated 10 July 2006 by Catherine Clabby from The News and Observer
at http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/458599.html
<http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/458599.html> .

"Eric Schopler, an international pioneer in the humane and effective
treatment of autism, died from cancer Friday at age 79. Forty-one years
ago, the UNC-Chapel Hill psychologist co-founded a program that rejected the
notion that destructive parents caused autism. Instead, he recognized autism
as a brain disorder -- one that could be managed. He observed that people
living with autism did not learn in traditional ways but were capable of
learning, especially with customized interventions from therapists, family
and teachers. Those insights led to the development of Division TEACCH --
Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication-Handicapped
Children -- a network of nine state-funded clinics that are still operating.
To this day, families stream to North Carolina to enroll in the TEACCH
programs, which have inspired autism therapy programs in countries
throughout the world. "He influenced tens of thousands of people," said
Catherine Lord, a prominent University of Michigan psychologist who worked
with Schopler in Chapel Hill early in her career. "Not only did he develop
treatment, he had this understanding about what autism is and how it could
be treated in the family and broader context of the community and in the
schools. That was unique," Lord said. The child of German parents forced to
flee Hitler in the 1930s, Schopler was deeply motivated by injustice,
friends and family said Friday. He saw stark unfairness while training in
psychology at the University of Chicago with the Freudian psychoanalyst
Bruno Bettelheim, who compared the parents of autistic children to
concentration camp guards. But while working with those families, Schopler
saw instead caring people who frequently raised normal children in the same
household. As a young professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, he and child
psychiatrist Richard Reichler started a research project that described
autism as a brain disorder, not an emotional problem, and developed
strategies to help parents accommodate their child's disabilities. "It was
very courageous of him. He came as an assistant professor and took on the
whole establishment in his department as well as the whole country," said
Gary Mesibov, who took over as executive director at TEACCH after Schopler
retired from that post in 1993. ..."

21. "Bessemer man convicted of sex charge" dated 10 July 2006 by MARGARET
LEVRA from the Daily Globe at http://www.ironwooddailyglobe.com/0710fave.htm
<http://www.ironwooddailyglobe.com/0710fave.htm> .

"A 20-year-old Bessemer man was convicted of criminal sexual conduct-second
degree Friday, following a three-day jury trial in Gogebic County Circuit
Court. It took the 12-person jury 90 minutes to reject the accidental
touching defense for Alan Favero and decide this was an intentional touching
for sexual purposes incident, according to prosecuting attorney Richard
Adams. Favero, who was running an inflated slide ride at the Gogebic County
Fair two years ago, groped a six-year-old girl as he helped her onto the
ride, Adams said. When interviewed by Ironwood Public Safety Department
officers Mike Rimkus and Sheryl Saippa, Favero first denied knowing anything
about the incident, and then said he recalled the incident and termed it an
accident, Adams said. Favero claimed he had apologized to the girl after
his hands slid inside her sweat pants and accidentally touched her private
areas. while he lifted her up to go on the ride, Adams said. Defending
attorney Jim McKenzie from Bessemer argued that Favero had ADD and
borderline autism and so his statements to officers, "where he admitted that
what the little girl said more likely than not did happen as she described
it, were not to be trusted, as he was easily lead," Adams said. Local
special education teacher Jamie Stiffarm was called by the defense as an
expert witness. However, school records showed that Favero was of average
intelligence and did not have problems understanding the English language or
of expressing himself, but did have problems with impulse control, Adams
said. The incident was not immediately reported to officials. McKenzie
argued that because the girl did not report the incident immediately, she
must have felt it was an accident, as well. He said the girl's mother (who
reported the incident after leaving the area) was overreacting, Adams said.
..."

22. "Hawaii Medical Association Urges Legislature to Uphold Thimerosal Ban"
dated 10 July 2006 by Paula Arcena from the Hawaii Reporter at
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?089ae614-aafa-4799-86e4-2e8c9c573ba
8
<http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?089ae614-aafa-4799-86e4-2e8c9c573b
a8> .

"The Hawaii Medical Association (HMA) urges the legislature to uphold
Governor Linda Lingle's intended veto of SB2133, SD2, HD2, CD1 Relating to
Health, which would limit and then eventually ban the use of
mercury-containing vaccines in Hawaii. HMA has issued this statement in
light of reports that Hawaii Union leaders are pushing Democratic
legislators to call a special session in order to override all of the
Governor's intended vetoes and as a show of unification and strength of the
Democratic Party. HMA is appealing to legislators to uphold a veto of the
thimerosal ban, which is in the best interest of the health and safety of
Hawaii's citizens, and not to allow politics to interfere with sound public
health policy. On June 27, 2006, HMA and the Hawaii Chapter of the American
Academy of Pediatrics (HAAP) issued a joint statement thanking Governor
Lingle for the announcement that she intends to veto SB2133, SD2, HD2, CD1
Relating to Health. HMA and HAAP thanked the Governor for listening to the
medical community, which overwhelmingly opposed this bill. HMA and HAAP
support Governor Lingle's veto because scientific evidence has failed to
confirm fears that the ethylmercury in thimerosal causes any harm and
because banning the substance will create a shortage in the supply of
pediatric flu vaccine for the upcoming season. The U.S. government's
Centers for Disease Control (www.cdc.gov) have established that thimerosal
creates no imminent or substantial hazard to public health. Further, in
2004, a report by The Institutes of Medicine (IOM) concluded that there is
no association between autism and vaccines that contain thimerosal as a
preservative. In July 1999, the Public Health Service agencies (PHS), the
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and vaccine manufacturers agreed that
thimerosal levels in vaccines should be reduced or eliminated as a
precautionary measure, not because there was scientific evidence of harm,
but because there was fear of harm that might cause some parents not to have
their children vaccinated. ..."

23. "Unequivocally, There is Strong Evidence Linking Thimerosal to Autism"
dated 11 July 2006 in an Open Letter to Gov. Linda Lingle by Richard C.
Deth, PhD from the Hawaii Reporter at
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?6262fd9c-3e87-4331-90d3-8439e50ac60
7
<http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?6262fd9c-3e87-4331-90d3-8439e50ac6
07> .

"I am a neuropharmacologist and Full Professor at Northeastern University in
Boston who has been investigating the molecular origins of
neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders. For the past few years
much of my lab's work has focused on autism, including an evaluation of the
possible contribution of thimerosal, the ethylmercury-containing vaccine
preservative. Based upon my expertise in this area I have testified to
Congress on several occasions, appeared on NBC Nightly News and in several
documentaries and presented our findings at numerous scientific conferences.
I understand that you are currently evaluating legislation to removal
thimerosal from vaccines used in Hawaii. Let me state unequivocally that
there is strong scientific evidence linking thimerosal to autism, so taking
steps to remove it from vaccines is a true "no-brainer". Moreover, it is
vital that states indicate their expectation of thimerosal-free vaccines in
order to shift the pharmaceutical industry to this safer form. Public
confidence in the vaccination program will be greatly increased when mercury
is removed, allowing the full public health benefits without the unnecessary
mercury burden. Our research has shown that very low concentrations of
thimerosal, typical of those found in the blood following vaccination, cause
strong inhibition of metabolic processes that are crucial to neuronal cell
well-being and survival. The most sensitive of these processes involves
sulfur metabolism, including the anti-oxidant defense mechanism that is
critical to all cells. The effect of thimerosal is to significantly lower
levels of glutathione, the primary cellular antioxidant. Studies of autistic
children clearly show that they are suffering from oxidative stress and
their glutathione levels are reduced by 40-50%. Thus the toxic metabolic
actions of thimerosal are paralleled in clinical studies of autistic
children. ..."

24. "New Rulings Clarify Job Protections For Parents of Disabled Children"
by Sue Shellenbarger from the Wall Street Journal at
<http://online.wsj.com/public/us> http://online.wsj.com/public/us.

"As a human-resources executive for a consulting firm, Debra Shafer was a
heavy hitter -- until her 6-year-old son was diagnosed with autism. Her
career was soon history as Ms. Shafer, of Newtown, Pa., struggled to get her
son to five weekly therapy sessions, plus testing and evaluations, while
scurrying to cover her bases at work. Her supervisor asked, "OK, we
understand this is a crisis. When is the crisis going to be over?" she says
of the incident a few years ago. The only response Ms. Shafer could give,
she says, was "I don't know." Left increasingly out of the loop, cut out of
emails and excluded from meetings, she wasn't surprised when she was soon
laid off, says Ms. Shafer, now a special-education consultant. Employees
who care for children and other family members with disabilities face acute
work-family hassles. Until recently, little attention was paid by courts and
enforcement agencies. But amid an increase in lawsuits and questions from
the public, new, in-depth guidance on caregivers' rights is emerging on
several fronts, from court rulings to Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission advisories. Chris Kucyznski, assistant legal counsel for the
EEOC, sees "more interest in this area in the courts," including rulings
that delve more deeply into the issue of caregivers at work. The rulings
promise fairer treatment for working parents, and clearer guidelines for
employers in how to manage them. In a 2004 survey of 349 parents of children
with emotional or behavioral disorders, 27% said they'd been fired at some
point because of work disruptions arising from their children's special
needs; 48% had quit jobs to care for their kids, say researchers at Portland
State University in Oregon. In focus groups with 28 mothers of such
children, the women said they lived in fear of negative performance reviews
and regularly worked extended hours to make up for job interruptions because
of their children's crises or appointments, say Julie Rosenzweig and Eileen
Brennan, professors at Portland State, and other researchers involved in the
study. Under current law, these parents aren't entitled to special
accommodations. While the Americans with Disabilities Act outlaws
discrimination against caregivers to the disabled, it doesn't require
mployers to change schedules or job duties to oblige them. In April, a
Federal appeals court in Cincinnati ruled in a case called Overley v.
Covenant Transport that caring for a disabled daughter didn't entitle a
truck driver to miss a regular weekend shift that she had worked in the past
without providing an acceptable excuse or a backup driver to fill in. Court
rulings leave room for reasonable people to disagree, however, on how much
disruption at work is too much. A 2004 ruling by a federal appeals court in
Chicago, Larimer v. IBM, maps out areas where employers are vulnerable to
charges of discrimination against caregivers to the disabled. For example,
parents can't be fired, demoted or harassed simply because they're "somewhat
inattentive" at work. Employees who are distracted by family needs, but who
still manage to get the job done without accommodations, are protected, the
court held. ..."


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