Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Sorry for the big email dump (128 items), but one of the three soldiers that
works for me died two weeks ago, and I personally took charge of getting
support for his family, including a 2-1/2 y.o. son and 9 month old daughter,
and coordinating his memorial ceremony and his funeral mass and burial.
After working through my accumulated 1000 plus emails, this is what I come
up with, not counting my 200 emails to get to. So if you sent me an email
over the past two weeks, I may not have gotten to it yet; but I promise to
get to all of them by the end of next week. Scott

Items 1 through 20 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.


21. Attitudes about Autism – Behaviors, Treatments, and Outcomes
Information Sheet. You are invited to participate in a research study to
find out more about what parents and teachers are the most important
behaviors associated with autism, as well as views on treatments for autism.
This study is being conducted by a group of school psychology doctoral
students in the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M
University. With the rates of autism steadily increasing, the purpose of
this study is to learn more about your perceptions of the various behaviors
and treatments of this disorder.
Completing the survey should take approximately 10-15 minutes of your time.
You may complete the survey on-line at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=52442488413. If you prefer a
pencil-paper version, please send an email to criccio@... and one will
be sent to you with a business reply envelope. For more info, contact
Cynthia A. Riccio, Ph.D., Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A & M
University at (979) 862-4906 or cyndi-riccio@....

22. A mom recommends computer software at EducationMax.com.
EducationMax.com has a great selection, great prices (the best I found),
plus recommendations by age or subject matter. They have popular characters
(Blues Clues, Scooby Doo etc) as well as the same software used by schools
that teach reading and math as well as other subjects. My son loves to play
"Millie's Math House" at school and I found it on this site for $3.95 while
another site charged $19.95! KidPix is another favorite with the kids at
school and I got it for $15.95 compared to $25.95.

23. IOM WORKSHOP ON AUTISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT: CHALLENGES AND
OPPORTUNITIES FOR RESEARCH on April 18th and 19th in Washington, DC. This
workshop is being organized in response to a request from the U.S. Secretary
of Health and Human Services, and will be hosted in collaboration with the
IOM's Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine.
The workshop will feature presentations and discussions on strategies to
develop a framework for a broad research agenda focusing on the potential
relationship between autism and non-vaccine-related environmental exposures.
An ad hoc planning committee will organize a public workshop that will focus
on the following three questions:

1. What are the opportunities and challenges for improving the understanding
of potential environmental factors of autism?
2. What scientific tools and technologies are available, what
interdisciplinary research approaches are needed, and what further
infrastructure investments will be necessary in the short- and long-term to
be able to explore potential relationships between autism and environmental
factors?
3. What opportunities exist for public private partnerships in the support
and conduct of the research?

Public Input: We welcome the variety of perspectives offered in order to
help make this a highly productive workshop and look forward to valuable
contributions and discussions. The workshop will be a public meeting with
opportunities for public input, both formal and informal. To provide
information to the planning committee in written form, please send an email
to neuroforum@... <mailto:neuroforum%40nas.edu> .

Registration for the workshop will be required. For more information about
this meeting and to register for the workshop please visit
http://www.iom.edu/CMS/3740/35684/39826.aspx. The workshop will be webcast
live with interactive capabilities in its entirety and will be available to
watch after the workshop concludes, also at the above web address.

24. "FDA's Gluten-Free Proposal Will Benefit Millions of Americans" in a
press release from the American Celiac Disease Coaliation at
http://www.americanceliac.org/news.htm.

"Under an FDA proposal published yesterday, food companies will have to meet
new standards before labeling their products as gluten-free. It also
provided a new definition for 'gluten-free' which will give individuals with
celiac disease greater confidence that specially labeled foods are in fact,
safe for them to eat, according to the American Celiac Disease Alliance
(ACDA). The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA)
passed by Congress in 2004, requires food manufacturers to clearly state if
a product contains any of the eight major food allergens: milk, eggs,
peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat, and soy. It also required the
FDA to develop and implement rules for using the term ‘gluten-free’ on food
packaging. Adhering to the gluten-free diet is the only course of treatment
for celiac disease, a genetic digestive disorder. The condition, triggered
by eating the protein gluten which is found in the grains wheat, rye, and
barley, and hybrids of these grains affects an estimated 2 to 3 million
Americans. There is no single, world-wide accepted definition of
gluten-free labeling. The levels of acceptable gluten vary from country to
country, as do the symbols and terminology, permissible in the labeling.
Research establishing a safe threshold of gluten consumption for those with
celiac disease was recently published in the American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition. The study, conducted by members of the ACDA at the University of
Maryland and referenced by the FDA, concludes that celiacs can safely
tolerate up to 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten a day.

“The FDA listened to patients, food manufacturers, and members of the
scientific community and came up with a well thought out proposal,” said
Andrea Levario, Executive Director of the ACDA.

-- There is so little research about the gluten-free diet and safe
consumption levels that the agency is seeking comments on a number of
related issues including:
-- The appropriateness of 20 ppm gluten as the proposed threshold level
as determined using an ELISA based testing method;
-- The effect that adoption of a lower threshold level would have on
individuals with celiac disease and on industry;
-- Whether a lower threshold level might effect (limit availability of)
commercially available foods labeled gluten-free in the United States;
-- Whether a reduced availability would have a negative impact
individuals with celiac disease; and
-- Whether oats should be included in the definition of prohibited
grains.

'In the absence of federal rules, food companies have been using a variety
of standards in manufacturing gluten-free products. This creates confusion
and skepticism among individuals whose health depends on clear, accurate
labeling. With only 90,000 out of an estimated 2 million celiacs diagnosed,
manufacturers know that uniformity and consistency will benefit them as well
consumers,' said Levario. The FDA has prepared a series of questions and
answers to help consumers understand the provisions of the proposal. For a
copy go to: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/glutqa.html ; and for a copy of
the gluten-free labeling guidelines go to:
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/fr070123.html.

25. "Year 2006 Tax Benefits for Parents of Children with Learning
Disabilities" by Michael O'Connor in a press release from Charles Schwab
Learning.org at http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.aspx?r=1130.

"If you have a child with a severe learning disability, you may qualify for
valuable tax benefits. If your child has AD/HD, or other physical, mental,
or emotional impairment, you may also qualify for tax benefits. Because tax
laws are complex, and many tax preparers often do not have occasion to use
these unique tax benefits, families are at risk of losing refunds worth many
thousands of dollars. It’s likely that 15-30 percent of families with a
disabled child have one or more unclaimed tax benefits. This guide provides
a summary of the most significant federal income tax benefits and should not
be considered legal advice. Tax decisions should not be made simply on the
basis of the information provided here. You are advised to print out this
guide and give a copy to your tax advisor. You should also explore potential
state income tax benefits, which are too numerous for review in this guide.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) “Publications” represent the most accessible
form of guidance to the tax rules for the general public, and relevant IRS
publications are cited for each of the tax benefits listed below. The IRS
also issues interpretations of the code and regulations called “Revenue
Rulings.” These interpretations are formal, binding policy statements. Tax
professionals rely on revenue rulings in advising clients about tax
liabilities and tax benefits. For example, Revenue Ruling 78-340, discussed
later, authorizes a medical expense deduction for tuition or tutoring fees
paid for a child with a severe learning disability who is attending a
special school at the recommendation of the child’s doctor. …"

26. "Numbers Added To Flat Earth Theory of Autism" from an oped article by
Rick Rollens.

"I for one am really sick and tired of the current stock of "the world is
flat" thinkers who continue to spew the notion that there has been no real
increase in autism, that the prevalence and incidence of autism has remained
the same all these years, and in years past we simply over looked thousands
of persons with autism, and today we finally found them. Bottom line: they
have always been here. I believe that applying a little common sense and
facts provided by our California Department of Developmental Services (DDS)
we can once and for all drive the spike of fact and truth into the heart of
these modern day flat earth society members who may be living in our world,
but seem to be far removed from it's obvious realities. Premise: If there
has not been a true, dramatic increase in the incidence of autism creating
an autism epidemic, then we should have among us a proportional and sizeable
number of adults with autism. Since DDS's data only includes those persons
with autism who have a professional diagnoses of full syndrome (i.e. worst
form) of autism, we can assume that hiding, misplacing, loosing or not
recognizing thousands of adults with moderate to severe behavioral issues,
extremely apparent bazaar social behaviors, and moderate to severe language
deficits would be impossible. We are not talking about a person here who
melds into society and is not noticed and/or is not in need of major
supports and assistance. They would have to be somewhere, and somewhere for
adults likes these in California would either be in the community or in an
institution. Now I guess it is possible that some could be homeless, but as
far as I know there has never been reports of large numbers of persons with
moderate to severe autism running amok through homeless shelters and soup
kitchens, if they were there, I am sure we would have heard about it by now.
California's developmental services system has been in place since 1969...38
years for adults with autism and their families to find their way into the
system. Facts: According to the latest data from DDS, there are 32,809
persons with autism in California's DD system...16% or 5125 are adults over
22 years old. That means for the autism population that 84% are under the
age of 22, with 78% under the age of 18. It is a remarkable fact that adults
with autism make up only 16% of the autism population, while in the same DD
system 55% of the cerebral palsy population, 61% of the mental retardation
population, and 63% of the epilepsy population are adults over the age of 22
years old. Using an average of the CP, MR, and epilepsy populations, it is
safe to assume that adults over the age of 22 with moderate to severe autism
should constitute roughly 60% of the total autism population, not 16% as
they do and have for many years. So, rather then having just 5125 adults
currently in our system with full syndrome autism, we should have somewhere
around 19,685 adults with full syndrome autism if you believe the flat earth
folks that there has been no real change in the incidence of autism. We do
know that there are a very small number of adults with autism in
California's five remaining state institutions... 358 to be precise. So
doing the math leads me to these conclusions:Based on the fact that roughly
60% of adults with the three other conditions served by California's DD
system (MR, CP, and Epilepsy) are over the age of 22 years old, and
recognizing that we have only 5125 (16%) of the autism population over the
age 22, add in the 358 who currently reside in state run institutions, we
are short 14,202 adults with autism in our system that should be there! That
number represents 43% of the entire current autism population in
California's DD system. 43% of the population missing? Over 14,000 adults
in California suffering with full syndrome autism and no one has seen or
heard from them? Is this possible, or is it that they simply do not or ever
existed. Is it also a fact that DDS has documented, in two separate Reports,
that California's autism epidemic began roughly 22 plus years ago. Believe
me when I say....The world is round."

27. "Region's schools want to leave this list behind- Albany, Schenectady,
Troy have kids failing to meet standards; suburbs like South Colonie,
Shenendehowa have problems, too" dated 11 January 2007 by Rick Karlin from
the Albany Times-Union at
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?newsdate=1/11/2007&navigation=nex
tprior&category=REGION&BCCode=HOME&storyID=552664.

"Several schools in the Capital Region plagued by persistently low scores in
English or math will be required to make significant changes that could
include a longer school year or staff changes. Statewide, 699 schools were
cited as needing improvement federal or state guidelines. That includes 90
schools cited for the first time this year, according to a list issued
Wednesday by the state Education Department. Under the federal No Child
Left Behind law, schools need to show consistent year-to-year improvement on
standardized test scores, and that they are testing the bulk of students who
normally may not do as well as others, such as those with disabilities.
Test results are also examined by race, so a district cannot, for example,
mask poor performance by disadvantaged minority students by folding their
results into an overall score. As a result, it's easy to get on the list,
although some of the sanctions are relatively light. A number of Capital
Region schools in Albany, Schenectady and Troy, in theory, face some of the
heaviest sanctions, which require restructuring their programs. Albany's
Hackett and Livingston middle schools, as well as Schenectady's Mont
Pleasant and Oneida middle schools are in various phases of restructuring.
Troy's Doyle middle school also is in restructuring. Restructuring is
required after several years of stagnant performance and can include
changing curriculum, instituting a longer school year or school day and even
removing key personnel who are responsible for the school's poor
performance. It wasn't immediately clear, however, if local school leaders
or teachers have been transferred or fired due to poor test scores. Under
state labor laws, unionized school employees, including principals, are
extremely difficult to fire, although they can be transferred. All the
sanctions announced Wednesday are based on performance during the 2005-06
school year and are based on English or math scores. Also included on the
list were schools in South Colonie, Watervliet, East Greenbush,
Lansingburgh, South Glens Falls; Ballston Spa, Saratoga Springs High, and
Shenendehowa. Some officials of those schools cited said it was expected
since it takes at least two years of improvements to get off the list. The
information was "not a surprise," said Albany schools Superintendent Eva
Joseph. She said a middle school restructuring plan is employing tactics
like down-sized middle schools, a new English curriculum, and "pacing" maps
that aim to keep daily lessons pegged to learning standards on tests.
Schenectady was making similar moves, said Lori McKenna, director of the
district's federal and state programs. "We need to continue doing what
we're doing, drilling down to the student level to look at students'
strength and weaknesses so students so they can perform well on these
assessments," she said. "It's a community effort. Certainly the school can't
do it alone and we need parental involvement." …"

28. "And Now For Something Completely Different: Special Ed Rates FALL
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/and-now-for-something-com_b_39075
.html> " dated 19 January 2007 by David Kirby in The Huffington Post blog at
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/and-now-for-something-com_b_39075.
html.

"For the past several years, news from the nation's special education
program has been nearly as bleak as the headlines out of Baghdad: A litany
of rising casualty figures, increased hardship, soaring financial costs and
seemingly no end in sight. But now it looks like Americans have genuine
reason to celebrate: For the first time since records were kept, our
youngest kids are showing up at school with fewer learning disabilities than
their older brothers and sisters. And the rate of speech or language
impairment is falling fastest of all. In 1990, Congress passed the
Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), to help schools provide better
services and early intervention for children and youth with disabilities.
Since then, data has been collected on the number and types of disabilities
in US schools, broken down by age groups. By looking at the youngest
children (3-5 year olds) each year, we are offered a glimpse into what the
future might look like, if this welcomed rate of decrease in childhood
disabilities continues. In 2003, the rate of enrollment among 3-5 year olds
in the US IDEA program was 587 per 10,000 kids, continuing a rising trend
each year for over a decade. In 2004, the rate went up again, to 594/10,000
children. But then, in December, 2005 (last year's data will be out in
June) the rate fell, for the first time ever, to 580/10,000: a decline of
2.4%. Even more extraordinary was the tumbling rate of 3-5 year olds
entering school with speech or language impairments, which make up nearly
half of ALL disabilities in the IDEA program. In 2003 the rate was
286/10,000. In 2004 it fell to 282/10,000 and in 2005 it was 272/10,000 - a
nearly 5% decline in just two years. In some states, the drops have been,
well, jaw-dropping. In Maine, the Special Ed rate among 3-5 year olds fell
from 1,178/10,000 to 1,080/10,000 - down 3.3% in a single year. In New
Jersey, services required for speech/language impairment among 3-5 year olds
fell by 8.1% between 2003 and 2005. In Minnesota, state compiled figures
show that the number of S/L impairments among 0-2 year olds plummeted 25%
between 2003 and 2005. Why is this happening now, and what does it all
mean? A few caveats: These figures reflect kids largely enrolled in public
schools, and do not indicate actual incidence rates in the population. They
are useful, however, for looking at trends. And while it's a bit too early
to declare a "trend" here, it sure is interesting. Could it be that more
parents are sending their disabled kids to private schools, or else home
schooling them? Perhaps, but that is not likely to explain the entire drop.
Are American pathologists getting SLOPPIER at diagnosing disabilities? I
don't think so. Then there is the obvious question of funding, and new IDEA
criteria adopted in 2004 (though the Federal regulations did not take effect
until October, 2006). Maybe budget cuts and stingy case workers really are
responsible for ALL of the decrease. But if that is the case, then why are
we still spending more money each year on federal grants to states for
special education (about $10 billion in 2004 vs $11 billion in 2006)? Or,
maybe, this has something to do with the gradual reduction in the mercury
content of childhood vaccines, which began around 2000? Maybe it does.
Maybe. …"

29. "Dubious autism article retracted" dated 23 January 2007 from Consumer
Health Digest.

"The journal Autoimmunity Reviews has retracted a poorly reasoned article
which claimed that mercury toxicity can cause autism and that the
prescription drug Lupron may be useful in treating autistic children and
adolescents. The article was written by Mark R. Geier, M.D., and his son
David A. Geier, B.A., who have two patent applications pending for an autism
treatment using Lupron. The retraction occurred after a blogger complained
that the research described in the article violates internationally-
accepted standards for the protection of human research subjects and that
the authors had (a) insufficiently disclosed their conflicts of interest,
(b) relied on suspect sources, (c) misrepresented the work of other authors,
and (d) provided inadequate case documentation."

30. "Vaccines with Mercury Discussed" dated 24 January 2007 from KOMU8 News
at
http://www.komu.com/satellite/SatelliteRender/KOMU.com/c261de75-c0a8-2f11-01
63-66f433d41528/5644bad0-c0a8-2f11-00d5-36b3995aabbe.

"Mid-Missourians showed up at the Capitol for a hearing held by the State
Health Department and State Senator John Loudon. Vaccines with mercury may
be more common than you may think. The hearing discussed the medical
concerns many have with mercury in vaccines. Lujene Clark is the president
of a group called "No Mercury." She has a personal connection with the
fight. "As the mother of a mercury-poisoned child, who reached his
toxic-tipping level at seven and a half, the risk of harming a child
outweighs cost to mothers every day of the week," Clark said. Experts came
from across the country to speak about the effects of mercury on the body.
"We're finding that even tiny doses of mercury cause major immune effects to
the system," said MU professor, Dr. Al Barrier. Thimerosal acts as a
preservative to prevent contamination in multiple vials. But opponents say
it all comes down to money. "Well, I personally say that, our first and
highest priority from a public health stand point is to provide the safest
possible vaccine, not the most profitable," said Clark. The FDA is working
to remove thimerosal from vaccines in the future. As of April first of this
year, Missouri Law will prohibit giving vaccines with more than trace
amounts of mercury to pregnant women and children under the age of three."

31. "Autism father effect- Calcutta study finds possible cause" dated 24
January 2007 by G.S. MUDUR from The Calcutta Telegraph (India) at
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070125/asp/frontpage/story_7308461.asp.

"In the first study of the genetics of autism in India, scientists in
Calcutta have found that some fathers may transfer a version of a gene that
makes their children susceptible to autism. The researchers at the
Manovikas Biomedical Research and Diagnostic Centre and other city
institutions have found what they describe as a “possible paternal effect”
that may underlie susceptibility to autism — a brain disorder marked by
unusual behaviour and lack of communication abilities. The scientists
caution that their finding is based on a small sample of autistic children
and will need to be verified through larger studies. “We don’t want anyone
to jump to conclusions about a paternal role in autism, but this study
raises issues that need to be explored further,” said Swagata Sinha, a
psychiatrist at the Manovikas Centre and a member of the research team.
“We’re seeking clues to unravel the cause of autism — this is important
for
science and for parents with autistic children. Every parent wants to know
the exact cause. And, at the moment, we have no answer to give them,” Sinha
told The Telegraph. The findings have been published this month in the
journal American Journal of Medical Genetics: Neuropsychiatric Genetics.
Medical researchers have long suspected that autism is a multiple gene
disorder with several genes and perhaps other unknown factors in the
environment leading to the disorder. “But it is also a highly heritable
disorder — it can run in families,” said Usha Rajamma, a geneticist and
principal investigator in the study. The Calcutta researchers analysed
sequences of a gene called reelin ina group of 73 autistic children and 80
children with no neurologicaldisorders as well as their parents who
volunteered for the study. Six years ago, scientists in Italy had shown
that reelin may have a role in susceptibility to autism. “The reelin gene
is known to play a role in the development of thebrain and has been
suspected to be a candidate gene involved inautism,” Rajamma said. When
Rajamma and her colleagues analysed reelin sequences in a group of 58
autistic children and their parents, they detected what they have described
as “significant paternal transmission” of a particular variant of reelin.
“The reelin variant we’ve observed is very common in India, but byitself, it
does not lead to autism,” Rajamma said. Autism is a multi-factor disorder
and only when the right combination of all the susceptibility genes and the
environmental factors are present does a person get autism, she said. While
there are no statistics from India, international studies suggest that 1 in
500 to 1 in 1,000 people have autism, indicating that India may have nearly
two million autistic persons."

32. "Teen dies at Bowling Brook- Student in facility for youth offenders
collapsed as staff tried to restrain him" dated 24 January 2007 by Gadi
Dechter for the Baltimore Sun at
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/annearundel/bal-death0124,1,762499.st
ory?ctrack=1&cset=true.

"Sheriff's deputies and state police are investigating the death of a
17-year-old East Baltimore youth who collapsed Tuesday evening while being
restrained by staff at a privately run residential program for juvenile
offenders. Isaiah Simmons III was pronounced dead at Carroll Hospital
Center after paramedics found him in cardiac arrest at the Bowling Brook
Preparatory School near Westminster, officials said. Staff at the school
attempted to subdue the youth after an outburst in which he allegedly
threatened to harm other students and school personnel, according to the
Carroll County sheriff's office. An autopsy will be performed, but a
preliminary investigation by the state medical examiner's office Wednesday
revealed no apparent trauma to Simmons' body, the sheriff's office said.
Still, his death has raised questions. "Children in state custody should be
safe from harm, and last night's death reminds us of the work that needs to
be done to reform our Department of Juvenile Services," Gov. Martin O'Malley
said in a statement. Simmons was sent to Bowling Brook after he was
effectively found guilty in juvenile court of armed robbery. In February, he
used a box cutter to rob another juvenile of a cell phone near the Inner
Harbor, according to police records. This is the first death of a youth in
the custody of juvenile services since a girl committed suicide at the
state-run Waxter Children's Center in Laurel in 2001, a department spokesman
said. Bowling Brook officials declined to comment Wednesday. O'Malley
dispatched his chief of staff to Bowling Brook Wednesday morning and
directed juvenile services officials and state police to help sheriff's
deputies investigate the incident. Simmons' grieving family and youth
advocates are also demanding an investigation. "I'm trusting in the Lord
that the truth will come out," his mother, Felicia Wilson, said. "So it
won't happen to another child. They need to look over their policies. They
need to be retrained." Among the 20 or so relatives gathered at Wilson's
Aisquith Street rowhouse Wednesday afternoon were Simmons' 22-month-old
daughter, Shakiya, and the child's mother, Quequerra Johnson, 15. Johnson
said she was having a hard time acknowledging Simmons' death. "It isn't
true," said the New Era Academy tenth-grader. "He's still alive." Relatives
described Simmons as a basketball and football fan with a gentle demeanor
who was excited about going to Bowling Brook. The school's incorporation of
organized sports into its curriculum has drawn praise as a progressive
alternative to troubled state-run facilities. After graduating from Bowling
Brook, Simmons hoped to attend Michigan State University, where his sister,
Danielle Wilson, is a graduate student, his family said. "My impression of
Bowling Brook has been generally favorable, but I do know of some incidents
where kids had injuries," said Stacey Gurian-Sherman, who runs an advocacy
group in Montgomery County for families of delinquents. "There should be a
thorough and independent investigation. We should not rely on [the
Department of Juvenile Services] to evaluate this." Since September,
Bowling Brook has reported 22 incidents to the department in which staff
have used physical force to restrain a student, according to agency
spokesman Edward Hopkins. Wednesday, several state police officers and
county sheriff's deputies guarded the long driveway to the school in rural
Keymar. The hum of bulldozers could be heard flattening earth around the
facility, which is expanding. …"

33. "Pinellas County School Board: body sock used correctly" dated 24
January 2007 from Bay News9 at
http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2007/1/22/217390.html.

"The Pinellas County School Board has released the results of its
investigation into the use of a body sock on a 4-year-old boy. The report,
released Monday, said a boy who was put into the body sock was out of
control and the body sock was the best way to calm him down. Body sox are
meant for autistic children or for those with learning disabilities, but the
4-year-old is not learning disabled. The boy's father, Patrick Holt, said a
body sock was used as punishment on his son without his permission. "I
don't like it at all," Holt said. "I don't think it should be used on
anybody." But the school board's investigation says the body sock was used
correctly. "Teachers behaved in an appropriate manner in responding to a
situation where a student needed to be calmed down for the safety and
security of all the students in the classroom," said Pinellas County School
Board spokeswoman Andrea Zahn. The district said it will continue to use
body sox on any child. "By the manufacturer's own design they are a
multi-use type of instructional tool," Zahn said. The Holts said they
strongly disagree with the board's findings and have hired an attorney. They
are considering suing the school board and the teachers. The school board
said the parents were not aware that body sox could be used on their son,
but they plan to include the possible use of the device in orientation next
year."

34. "Force Is Not the Only Way to Administer a Vaccine" dated 24 January
2007 by Courtland Milloy
<http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/courtland+milloy/> from The
Washington Post at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/23/AR2007012301
502.html.

"Let's get something straight: I am not against a vaccine that prevents
strains of the human papillomavirus, as some readers have contended. Nor am
I for cervical cancer, which is caused by the sexually transmitted HPV.
However, as my previous column on this subject indicated, I am opposed to
the government mandating the vaccine. I say leave the role of strong-arm
drug pusher to the thugs on the street. There is no reason that a voluntary
program, based on an informed and sensitive health education campaign, would
not work. New Hampshire, consistently one of the nation's healthiest states,
has a voluntary HPV vaccine program, with plans to vaccinate 63,000 girls
ages 11 to 18 over the next four years. But wait, you say: Nearly 12,000
Maryland students could not go to school Monday because they failed to get
their required vaccinations for chickenpox and hepatitis. If a mandatory
program doesn't work, what chances does a voluntary plan have? Here's the
deal: Running a government-funded, voluntary immunization program doesn't
mean doing nothing. It means getting serious about providing health
education and access to health care. "Education is something that we do --
in the schools and, most importantly, in our communities and in the
pediatrician's office," said Greg Moore, a spokesman for the New Hampshire
Department of Health and Human Services. "How do we do it? Old-fashioned
legwork. We make sure the right people have the right information. We have
people who go out at the regional and local level, sit down and talk to
health-care providers and ask, 'What can we do for you?' Cervical cancer is
a huge issue for us, and now we have this tremendous opportunity to educate
and protect women even more." The New Hampshire approach encourages
residents to take more responsibility for their lives. With the government
acting as partner -- instead of some antebellum massa -- parents are
encouraged to make choices that are in the best interest of their children.
And guess what? They usually do. So far this month, about 3,300 doses of
the HPV vaccine have been made available to girls in New Hampshire. State
health officials say they are receiving feedback and determining where
demand is greatest and how soon to order more vaccine. "We are at the
beginning of the process, but from the anecdotal evidence, there appears to
be a great demand from parents," Moore said. All child vaccinations in New
Hampshire are voluntary. The state doesn't kick girls out of school because
they didn't get a vaccine. It understands that parents can become
overwhelmed and need encouragement -- not just threats and kicks in the
butt. And as a result, the state has one of the highest rates of child
immunization in the nation. "We know that there are parents who have
expressed concern about children and childhood vaccines," Moore said. "Our
program was designed with an emphasis on education and addressing whatever
concerns parents might have." Legislation mandating the HPV vaccine for
pre-adolescent schoolgirls is pending in the District, Maryland and
Virginia. Those who advocate it are quick to note that parents can opt out
of the program. But few can say exactly how many bureaucratic hoops a parent
will have to jump through to do that. Besides, why should the onus be on the
parents to figure out how not to be in a government-mandated program? In New
Hampshire, parents opt in -- and the burden is on the government to show how
the vaccine can benefit their children. The District does have more
poverty, but we also have more money to deal with it. D.C. public schools
get more than $1 billion a year to educate roughly 76,000 students. Use
those resources wisely. With all of the teaching hospitals in this region,
surely somebody can figure out a way to set up a realistic and relevant
health-education curriculum in our schools. …"

35. "Many fear special ed backlash" dated 25 January 2007 by Tyler B. Reed
from The Sudbury Town Crier at
http://www.townonline.com/sudbury/homepage/8998979969166082047.

"Parents of children with autism and other special needs said they fear the
fallout from last week's fatal stabbing at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High
School could spur backlash against special education students and the
educational programs that place them in mainstream public schools. The
stabbing death on Friday of freshman James Alenson has focused the public's
attention on a neurobiological condition known as Asperger's syndrome, a
mild form of autism. The youth who stands accused of killing Alenson, John
Odgren, had been diagnosed with the condition and was reportedly taking
several medications. Experts claim they have never linked violent behavior
to Asperger's, but some fear the incident could attach an added stigma to
students who are already perceived as different. Rebecca Goniwich, who is
co-chairwoman of the Lincoln-Sudbury Special Education Advisory Council and
has a son with autism, said Tuesday she had received more than 100 e-mails
from parents worried about backlash. "Everyone is worried about the
backlash," she said. "I think it's going to set back inclusion quite a ways,
where people are questioning people who are a little bit different. They may
not want their children to associate with them." Autism experts said other
factors must have contributed to Odgren's alleged attack on Alenson. "It's
no more or less surprising because it's a child with autism," said Vincent
Strully, executive director of the New England Center for Children in
Southborough. "I think it's an aberration whenever it occurs from whomever."
Asperger's syndrome affects about one out of 500 people and often causes
those with it to have trouble reading body language and other social cues
from people around them, according to the Asperger's Association of New
England Web site. Asperger's patients are also prone to clumsiness, often
obsess over certain topics and have trouble maintaining social
relationships. "I've never in my 35 years of working with kids with autism
heard of a child with that diagnosis allegedly murdering somebody," Strully
said. Pam Kaufmann, director of special education for the Framingham school
system, said she was disappointed to hear Odgren's attorney link him with
the condition in court on Friday. "I don't feel that people should leap to
a conclusion, as seems to have happened by the attorney representing the
child that there is a relationship, a cause and effect relationship, between
the disability and the act," Kaufmann said. She said any education
professional "should be concerned" by the effect the stabbing could have on
the perception of special education programs and students. "We're all
concerned about what this may mean," said Cat Kaner, a leader of
Framingham's Special Education Parent Advisory Council. "We're also
concerned about misconceptions being bantered about."

36. "When school days include dog days- Two educated Rottweilers use canine
therapy training and plain old friendliness to teach children new behaviors"
dated 25 January 2007 by MARYAN PELLAND from the St. Petersburg Times at
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/25/Hernando/When_school_days_incl.shtml.

"In most schools, it would be an unusual - even alarming - sight: two
100-pound Rottweilers in the hallways and classrooms. But at Challenger
K-8, Zoie and Zeus are almost part of the population, thanks to counselor
Monica Lovett, who brings the trained, certified therapy dogs to work almost
every day. Lovett says the canines are an invaluable part of the school's
team and have worked near miracles with kids. The therapy dog story began
by accident when Lovett was at West Hernando Middle about six years ago.
Her Boston terrier, recovering from surgery for a brain tumor, needed
constant supervision. Principal Ken Pritz suggested that Lovett bring the
dog to school. "A young boy with emotional issues took an interest. We let
him walk the dog, pet him, talk to him. Soon the student was having
conversations with his counselor, something that had never happened before,
and I knew. I knew this could be something," Lovett said. Soon after,
Lovett got Zeus. She had him trained and, when he was a year old, she and
the dog enrolled in therapy dog certification school. The six-week classes
included supervised visits to senior citizen facilities, where Zeus spent
time with patients. To be certified, he had to be calm and friendly, even
when touched by strangers, and even when Lovett was out of the room. Lovett
says Zeus passed as if he were valedictorian. Off he went to work at
Challenger K-8, at the invitation of principal Sue Stoops. Meanwhile, Zoie,
still a baby, waited her turn for training - and then she became another
star student. The dogs have worked at Challenger since it opened. When the
dogs skip school, people notice, and Lovett hears complaints. "I have a
Dutch door on my office. People come by all the time to pat dogs' heads or
say hi. Some say their day isn't going so well and they need a dog-hug,"
Lovett explained. Zoie and Zeus' therapy clients range in age from 5 to 13.
The canines teach positive behavior reinforcement, help reduce anxiety and
stress and teach responsibility. Students learn the value of the
animal-human bond. The four-legged therapists are an inspiration in many
ways. Kids who might not like to read will actually volunteer to read to
Zeus or Zoie. Fifth-grader Sierra Ruiz painted a professional-looking
portrait of them, which hangs in the counseling office. It's unusual for
anyone to be fearful of the dogs, but Lovett places herself between them and
a shy child or adult. She talks calmly, explaining the dogs' nature, their
training and their skills. Before long, those who were slightly reticent
are hugging a Rottie or taking one for a walk. Lovett and her husband,
Bobby, live in rural Brooksville with the Rotties, two Boston terriers and
horses, one of which Lovett has had since she was in the seventh grade. She
hopes to put the terriers to work at school in the future. If she could
find a way to get horses into school, she probably would do that, too."

37. "Vigil Ups the Ante- Crowd Prays for Police Accountability" dated 25
January 2007 by Matt Davis from the Portland Mercury at
http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=110794&category=22101.

"A crowd of over 100 gathered to light candles, pray, and call for an end to
police violence on the corner of NW Hoyt and Broadway last Saturday—near the
spot where a 15-year-old autistic boy, Sir Millage, survived being Tasered
repeatedly and struck by Portland Police on December 5. Police found
Millage—who at 240 pounds is described by his own mother, Grace Forbes, as
"big for his age"—wearing only shorts as he walked across the Broadway
Bridge in the early hours that morning. He'd escaped through the window of
his great grandmother's house in North Portland. Officer Andrew Griggs, the
first to encounter Millage, wrote in his report he was struck by the
teenager's "fixed gaze" and refusal to comply with the officers' verbal
commands to stop. Griggs also wrote that Millage, who was holding a piece of
plastic from a chain-link fence, was "coming at me with the physical actions
of attack"—so he Tasered him 11 times, believing he was impervious to the
effects of the weapon because he might be high on drugs. It turns out the
Taser's probes did not make proper contact with Millage's skin. Backup
Officer Michael Chapman then struck Millage seven times with his baton as
the boy tried to get up. Millage was then Tasered again—that officer's name
hasn't been released—before being taken into custody. Millage's relatives,
including his great grandmother and legal guardian, Pastor Mary Overstreet
Smith of North Portland's Powerhouse Temple Church, say the cops should have
realized he was autistic and that they used "excessive force" in
apprehending him. Millage's name is even kept on file with the bureau as a
disabled teen. "He made eye contact with the policeman. You just have to
look in his eyes and realize something is wrong," Overstreet Smith told the
Mercury. "This is not going to stop here." Whether or not the officers used
excessive force will be decided by the police bureau's use-of-force board.
But the cops' spokesperson, Brian Schmautz, defends their actions. "You
can't just let a guy walking down the street in the middle of the night go
and get hit by a car," he says."

38. "The Age of Autism: 'Unstrange Minds'" dated 25 January 2007 by Dan
Olmsted from United Press International at
http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20070123-015724-5447
r.

""You're going to hate my book," Roy Richard Grinker told me a few weeks ago
when I met him at George Washington University. Actually, I don't hate
"Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism," his newly published,
beautifully written look at autism through the lens of history and culture.
I just disagree with it. Grinker -- an anthropology professor and father of
a teenage daughter, Isabel, who has autism -- sees a genetic brain-based
disorder that, contrary to widespread belief, has not truly increased.
Rather, he says, it's just better-recognized. Plus, the categories have
expanded to include a "spectrum" of related disorders including the milder
Asperger's. "Maybe we are finally diagnosing and counting autism correctly,"
he writes. Grinker, who mentions my reporting in the book, marshals an
impressive body of research to support his contention. Time magazine gave it
a full-page review and found his argument "persuasive." Regardless of one's
point of view, it's good to have the case against an "autism epidemic"
spelled out as clearly and convincingly as possible. That said, I do
suspect autism has exploded in ways that are not satisfactorily explained by
Grinker's argument -- and, therefore, that some new "environmental insult"
interacting with genetic susceptibility is behind the rise. My basis for
that is not solely the ten-fold increase in diagnoses in the past two
decades; it goes back much further. Read the first words of the first
scientific paper written about autism in 1943 by Leo Kanner, the Johns
Hopkins University child psychiatrist who introduced the disorder to the
world: "Since 1938, there have come to our attention a number of children
whose condition differs so markedly and uniquely from anything reported so
far, that each case merits -- and, I hope, will eventually receive -- a
detailed consideration of its fascinating peculiarities." Years later, he
called it "a behavior pattern not known to me or anyone else theretofore."
Does that sound like something that's been around for ages at the same
prevalence? Not to me. What gives Kanner's comments heft is that he had just
written the first comprehensive tome on child psychiatry ever published in
the United States -- aptly titled "Child Psychiatry." Of the 11 initial
cases documented by Kanner, four of the fathers (accounting for more than
one-third of the cases) were psychiatrists. Grinker calls this referral bias
-- in other words, if you're a psychiatrist and you notice something wrong
with your own child, you're much likelier to avail yourself of the services
of an acknowledged leader in the field like Leo Kanner. But, to my mind,
that raises another question about the "no epidemic" argument. …"

39. "The Asthma Epidemic- Asthma Cases Continue to Rise: Why?" dated 25
January 2007 by Eder W, Ege MJ, and von Mutius E N in Engl J Med. At
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/550780?src=mp.

"Summary: The study authors have written a very clear and helpful summary of
the current state of the asthma epidemic. Some of the trends in regard to
asthma have been disturbing. For example, they pointed out that the US
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted an increase in the
prevalence of asthma in children in the United States from 3.6% in 1980 to
5.8% in 2003. Only pneumonia and injuries are responsible for more
hospitalizations among those under 18 years of age in the United States.
More striking increases in the prevalence of asthma have been seen in other
countries. For example, approximately 1 in 5 children in Australia in 1964
were reported by their parents to have symptoms of asthma during their first
7 years of life; by 1990 that number had increased to nearly 1 in 2.[2] The
study authors also pointed out that no single instrument can be used to
reliably diagnose asthma in any given individual. They noted that asthma is
a diagnosis made clinically by combining the patient history, physical
examination, and spirometry (including confirmation of reversible airway
obstruction). Atopy is strongly associated with asthma, and in some
countries the incidence of atopy is increasing; this may or may not be
accompanied by a concomitant increase in the incidence of asthma. The study
authors also noted that exposure to passive cigarette smoke has consistently
been shown to increase the incidence of asthma. Children whose parents smoke
are more likely to develop asthma compared with those whose parents do not
smoke."

40. "Abuse trial's focus shifts to behavior of autistic" dated 25 January
2007 by Rene Stutzman from the Orlando Sentinel at
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/seminole/orl-garrett2507jan25,0,66
14822.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-seminole.

"Kathleen Garrett, the teacher charged with abusing autistic students in her
classroom, will try to win her acquittal today by calling to court the
teenagers she is accused of hurting. One is the profoundly disabled boy she
is accused of "caging" by repeatedly placing him in a closed, dark closet.
The teenager is blind, cannot talk and is not mentally competent, but
defense attorney Tom Egan said it's important for jurors to see how he
behaves. The boy, who lives in a group home, screams and hits himself in
the head when he gets upset, according to two classroom aides. Teaching
assistant Jennifer Rodriguez told jurors Wednesday that Garrett ordered the
boy into the large closet -- a makeshift time-out room -- because he was
screaming or singing too loudly. Once, Garrett left him there for more than
an hour, Rodriguez said. The boy is one of four students Garrett is charged
with abusing at South Seminole Middle School early in the 2004-05 school
year. None was seriously injured. In fact, much of the abuse that Rodriguez
and another teacher's aide described could be considered relatively minor: a
head slap, a swat on the bottom, an ear flick. She did not beat the
children, the aides said, but she did strike three of them. She also
twisted backward the thumb of one of the boys, causing it to turn black and
blue, and spread one child across his desk, then lay on top of him until his
lips turned blue and his eyes bulged out, they said. The swatting, the
slapping, "Is that child abuse?" asked Circuit Judge Clayton Simmons. He
appeared to be on the verge of throwing out most of the charges Wednesday
afternoon, after prosecutors rested their case. They had put on evidence
that Garrett violated Seminole County School Board policy, which bans
corporal punishment, but it's not clear they proved she committed felony
child abuse. In the end, Simmons concluded that jurors should decide.
Garrett, who resigned shortly after her arrest, is not expected to testify.
For the three boys she is accused of striking, jurors must decide whether
she is not guilty; guilty of felony child abuse; or guilty of a far less
serious offense -- battery. Then there is a fourth charge, involving the
boy Garrett is accused of "caging" in the closet. Egan asked the judge to
dismiss that charge, too. Egan said Garrett made a decision "maybe
unnecessarily, maybe stupidly," to put the boy in the closet, but it is
larger than some jail cells and it is clearly no cage, he said. The case is
expected to go to the jury Friday."

41. "Teacher: Autistic Students Not Abused" dated 26 January 2007 from
Orlando Local 6 news at http://www.local6.com/news/10845819/detail.html.

"A former Central Florida teacher accused of torturing disabled students
admitted on the witness stand that she physically restrained the children
but said it was not abuse. Kathleen Garrett, 50, has denied allegations
that she abused several students and said it was necessary discipline, Local
6 News reported. Garrett showed defense attorneys how she restrained the
severely disabled children, who she said would not comply with verbal
commands. "They were so agitated, they weren't responding to that, so the
best thing at that point was to take them down," Garrett said. The state
said the physical restraint turned to abuse for four of Garrett's autistic
students at South Seminole Middle School. "Did you ever abuse these
children?" an attorney asked. "No," Garrett said. Garrett also said she
was taught how combative students should be restrained. "They taught me
that you take your hip and put it in to the student and you lower them to
the ground," Garrett said. Also Thursday, a guidance counselor who worked
at South Seminole Middle School testified there was an occasion when a child
in Garrett's class showed evidence of abuse but it was Garrett who brought
it to her attention. "If a child has a bruise or an injury of some kind or
is verbally abused or whatever, if I suspect there is some abuse going on, I
call the DCF," guidance counselor Joyce Carefoot said. "Did you ever hear
any complaints concerning abuse about Kathy Garrett?" an attorney asked.
"No," Carefoot said. Defense attorneys are also questioning the character
of the two teacher's aides who testified against Garrett earlier in the
week. An attorney pointed out that the school district has a policy that if
anyone suspects abuse, it should be immediately reported to the Department
of Children and Families. The aides did not offer reports, Local 6's Louis
Bolden said. If convicted, Garrett could be sentenced to 45 years in
prison. Garrett rejected a plea deal last week that would have placed her
on five years of probation."

42. "Fairfax Resists 'No Child' Provision- Immigrants' Tests In English at
Issue" dated 26 January 2007 by Maria Glod from The Washington Post at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/25/AR2007012502
327.html.

"The Fairfax County School Board last night defied the U.S. Department of
Education -- and challenged the No Child Left Behind Act -- by declining to
force thousands of immigrant students to take a federally mandated test
because local educators think it is unfair. Fairfax school officials said
they will continue to test how well those students are learning to read,
speak and write English and will report those results. But this year they
will not, as the federal government requires, give the students reading
exams that cover the same grade-level material as tests taken by peers who
are native-English speakers. "It is wrong for our students to take a test
they are predisposed to fail," said board member Phillip A.
Niedzielski-Eichner (Providence). "We will continue to test their
proficiency twice a year and continue to move them forward as quickly as
possible. This resolution is not, by any stretch, an attempt to shy away
from accountability." The bold step taken in Fairfax, a highly regarded
school system that is also the nation's 13th-largest, puts Virginia at the
forefront of a growing debate over the best way to measure the progress of
millions of students across the country who are learning English as a second
language. The Harrisonburg school board passed a similar measure, and
Arlington County school officials are considering such a step. "This will
help build political pressure to find a sensible solution where you keep
accountability, but you test kids fairly," said John F. Jennings, president
and chief executive of the District-based Center on Education Policy.
"Schools are saying it makes no sense to test kids who don't understand
English. The U.S. Department of Education is saying that they should be
tested the same way as other students. There has to be a third way." The
Virginia Department of Education has asked the federal government to allow
use of the old test for another year, so there is time to develop an
alternative. The state is awaiting an answer. Fairfax and other localities
say that a deferral would be the best short-term solution. Across Virginia,
about 10,200 students are affected by the change, state education officials
said. About 4,000 are in Fairfax. The dispute between Virginia and federal
officials, which comes as Congress prepares to debate renewal of the
five-year-old No Child law, began last summer when the U.S. Department of
Education found problems with the way Virginia and 17 other states test
students learning English. Often, they said, the exams were not demanding
enough. Testing programs for English learners in Maryland and the District
have withstood federal scrutiny. Federal officials say that all students in
a given state must be held to the same standards regardless of whether
English is their native language. An Education Department spokesman said
that its mandated test helps pinpoint areas where students are struggling
and identifies successful teaching methods. Federal officials also stress
that students can be allowed accommodations, such as extra time or the use
of a bilingual dictionary. Supporters of the federal provision also say
that it forces school districts to focus on students who need extra help to
catch up with their classmates. "We don't want English-language learners to
be left out of education," said Peter Zamora, acting regional counsel for
the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "If you remove this
set of standards from the No Child Left Behind accountability system, you
are removing the incentive to teach them." …"

43. "Play sheds light on 'cutting'- Self-mutilation by teens a
little-understood mental health issue" dated 26 January 2007 by BAO ONG from
the Twin Cities Pioneer Press at
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/16548160.htm.

"Teens who deliberately cut themselves with everything from razor blades to
their fingernails typically have one goal: to release tension or stress in
their lives they cannot resolve. Steve Orth, a language arts teacher at
Metcalf Junior High School in Burnsville, has seen the growing mental health
problem firsthand. A teacher at Metcalf for nine years, Orth said it's only
been in the last few that the disturbing trend of "cutting" has come up.
Students have approached him to confide about their addiction. Although
many teens who cut are girls, it's a problem that includes boys and spans
races, ages and cultures. So when Orth, who is also the school's drama
director, couldn't find a play addressing the trend, he wrote "Sliced," a
full-length production addressing the warning signs and dangers of cutting.
Orth and about 30 Metcalf students will perform the play through Saturday.
The goal, he said, is to educate audiences and create awareness of a problem
that can be difficult to identify. Cutting, sometimes called the "new age
anorexia," is not new, but experts say the growing problem is a concern for
teens — including some of Orth's students. Committing suicide is often not
the intent, but death and infections always loom as possibilities. In the
production, eighth-grader Katy Nelligan plays the main character, Lissy, who
is in denial about her cutting addiction and lands in a hospital bed next to
a girl who tries to help her. At the final dress rehearsal the day before
Thursday's opening night, Nelligan delivered the opening monologue: Students
can blend in with their peers despite struggling with cutting. Although
Nelligan does not have friends who cut, she said she's aware that it happens
at Metcalf. Castmate Sarah Strain said students hear about the dangers of
drugs and alcohol regularly, but "people forget this can still kill you."
Students said the topic has been an uneasy one for some staff members to
address because cutting is often viewed as a suicide attempt. Some teachers
avoided making an announcement about "Sliced" in class. And only recently
have doctors and counselors started asking about cutting, said Donna
Miliotis, a child psychologist at Children's Hospital and Clinics of
Minnesota in Minneapolis. It is now common practice for her and other health
professionals to consider cutting when diagnosing adolescents. The
incidence of cutting is difficult to pin down, but experts estimate at least
1 in 1,000 adolescents cut themselves. Depression is often attributed to the
disorder, and the treatment often requires therapy or counseling. Students
do not always think about the long-term consequences of cutting. The
physical scars serve as reminders, said Miliotis, who recalls a patient with
a 22-inch scar on the inside of an arm. The self-inflicted injury and
mutilation can be difficult to detect because students can wear clothing to
cover scars, said Metcalf counselor Lori Maidment. Part of teacher training
includes identifying students who practice cutting, she said. At the
Wednesday rehearsal, Orth told his students they had an opportunity to make
an impact on people they have never met. "Doing nothing wasn't an option,"
said Orth, who fears that one day a student of his will die from cutting.
"The students revel in doing something that matters, something that could
make a difference in the lives of their peers."

44. "In wake of incident, autism expert, police give tips for safety" dated
26 January 2007 by MAXINE BERNSTEIN from The Oregonian at
http://www.oregonlive.com/metro/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1169794677212
540.xml&coll=7.

"A national expert on autism and parent of an autistic young man came to
Oregon on Thursday night to give other parents of autistic children tips to
keep them safe and avoid encounters with law enforcement. The Autism
Society of Oregon and the Northwest Autism Foundation invited Dennis
Debbaudt of Florida in the wake of a police encounter last month with a
15-year-old autistic boy who had climbed out a window of his Northeast
Portland home. Central Precinct Cmdr. Mike Reese and Officer Paul Ware, the
Portland Police Bureau's crisis intervention coordinator for the past four
years, joined Debbaudt in addressing about 40 parents of autistic children
as well as caretakers and educators in an Oregon City auditorium. They
advised that families tell law enforcement about their child's developmental
disability. The information should be kept in a 9-1-1 emergency database
that flags a child's name and address, as well as behavioral and
communication characteristics, they said. The Portland Police Bureau, for
example, maintains a disability accommodations registry, with information on
people with special needs. Updated information helps officers approach with
special care if they encounter an autistic child on the street, Ware said.
Also, because autistic children frequently wander away from home, families
should have their child wear a medical alert bracelet, carry a special
handout or have something sewn into a garment that would put police on
notice that they may be dealing with someone who doesn't understand commands
or can't communicate. And once a child wanders off, police urged families to
alert 9-1-1 right away, even before they conduct their own search. "The
sooner you get the information out to us, the better it is for us and for
your child," Reese said. Tom Kauffman, a Canby area parent, urged police to
go into schools and meet with autistic children so they recognize officers
as friends, not foes. Debbaudt, now an author who trains law enforcement
workers on interacting with autistic people, has a 23-year-old son with
autism. At age 5, his son had a serious temper tantrum in a store in
Detroit, and Debbaudt had to carry him out of the mall. Debbaudt said he was
stopped in the parking lot by police who responded to a call of a possible
child abduction. …"

45. "Transition program helps students gain independence- Washington
Unified focuses on guiding 18- to 22-year-olds with developmental
disabilities" dated 26 January 2007 by Lakiesha McGhee from the Sacramento
Bee at http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/113843.html.

"Danielle Westervelt, 19, made a common mistake among her peers in budgeting
monthly expenses. She set aside too much money for entertainment. "Instead
of spending $100 on movies and snacks, you can cut back so you can do your
laundry," advised Richard Greenbaum, a teacher in the Washington Unified
School District's Transition to Adult Living Program. Westervelt quickly
re-examined her budget lesson for a better idea. "Or I can go to my mom's
house and do my laundry there," she said. Each week, Westervelt and her
classmates gather in a small West Sacramento home where they learn how to
become independent and overcome the challenges of being developmentally
disabled. Balancing a budget is only part of their studies. The students --
age 18 to 22 -- also receive hands-on instruction with how to shop for and
prepare meals, maintain a household, take public transportation and create a
social life. Twice weekly, they intern at Pride Industries, which provides
employment for people with disabilities and outsourcing solutions for
companies. In November, the California Services for Technical Assistance
and Training recognized the West Sacramento program as a state leadership
site. The agency has conducted a competitive application process since 2004
to award special and general educational programs throughout the state
exemplifying excellence. The goal is to encourage educators to share their
efforts, brainstorm solutions and mentor others, CalSTAT Project Manager
Linda Blong said. "They learn from each other and continue to develop their
programs across the board," Blong said, explaining that Washington Unified
will be among 32 leadership sites selected in the past three years for
federal funding. CalSTAT will have to reapply for the federal grant this
year to maintain the project. Leadership sites receive $5,000 in cash to
improve their programs and help with professional development. An additional
$1,200 is awarded to provide at least three training workshops or visits to
their sites and a smaller stipend to promote their work online, Blong said.
Educators participate in a CalSTAT-sponsored State Leadership Institute.
Diana Blackmon, director of special services at Washington Unified School
District, said building its Transition to Adult Living Program has
translated into success for students. "Students leave here with a concrete
plan for how they will live," Blackmon said. School districts are required
under federal law to provide a free, appropriate public education for
students with developmental disabilities until they graduate with a general
diploma or reach age 22. Historically, the outcome for such students has
not been good. Studies show that when compared to their non-disabled peers,
students with developmental disabilities nationwide are less likely to
receive a regular high school diploma, that they drop out twice as often,
and that they experience lower college entrance and graduation rates and
higher rates of poverty, according to the state Department of Education.
Until the West Sacramento program was created three years ago,
developmentally disabled students were bused 20 miles each day from their
community to participate in a county program, Blackmon said. They were
taught in a modular classroom and there was no opportunity for job training
or learning how to get around their city. Now students like Lia Yang are
getting permanent jobs. Yang, who has cerebral palsy, works part time at a
local grocery store and is set to complete her probation period soon. But
the program's success isn't measured only by the students' ability to
financially support themselves. They also support each other in daily
activities, such as riding public transportation and reaching destinations
safely and on time. The Transition to Adult Living Program operates like a
family from a two-bedroom rental home. Photos of current and former students
line shelves and a fireplace. The rooms are furnished mostly with items the
students selected. They prepare meals for each other and share them in a
dining room that's also used for instruction. They take field trips and run
daily errands together. For Westervelt, support from her peers and teachers
is key to gaining independence. During her budget lesson, she recalled
shopping with her classmates for Christmas gifts. "I like having my own
checkbook," Westervelt said. "It's fun."

46. "Bill would ban mercury compounds in vaccines" dated 27 January 2007 by
JoANNE YOUNG from the Lincoln Journal Star at
http://journalstar.com/articles/2007/01/27/news/politics/doc45baaf3eec7a6847
459956.txt.

"By the time they are 5 years old, children can get 24 vaccines against
illness, some of them given in combination shots. While many childhood
vaccines no longer contain thimerosal, a mercury compound, some brands still
contain a trace or more. The preservative has been questioned as the cause
of autism and other neurological disorders. Sen. Carol Hudkins of Malcolm
would like to see thimerosal banned from drugs and vaccines in Nebraska.
Her bill, LB49, would not allow even a trace of the preservative to be
administered without a written consent signed by a parent or legal guardian.
A vaccine could be exempt in case of a public health emergency. Money is
one reason people oppose calling for a ban on mercury in vaccines, Hudkins
said. Mercury-free vaccines cost more. “The studies are out there (about
the effects of mercury in vaccines) and there are more every day,” she said.
Everyone at the hearing agreed immunizations for children are good. But
some just want them mercury-free.
And others testified against the bill, saying benefits of the vaccines far
outweigh any harm. Vaccines that contain thimerosal are some
diphtheria-tetanus, meningitis, and influenza vaccines, and all tetanus. In
addition, a number of drugs, some that can be bought without prescription,
contain the preservative. Boyd Haley, chemistry professor at the University
Kentucky, testified Friday at a hearing on the bill that many children with
neurological disorders who are tested are found to be severely mercury
toxic. “We ought to eliminate all the mercury exposure we can,” he said.
“We have a major problem … We are destroying families.” “This is
something
that scares the daylight out of me.” Linda Weinmaster, a Nebraskan who
moved out of the state in 1999, also testified in favor of the bill. She
said her 15-year-old son was born with serious neurological problems because
she was given a thimerosal-containing Rhogam shot to protect her baby from a
blood disease which can result when a mother’s blood type is Rh-negative.
Although babies’ brains are especially sensitive to the effects of mercury,
her son was even more vulnerable because of his genetically higher levels of
testosterone, which his two older brothers also have. But they are healthy
because she did not have the Rhogam shot when pregnant with them. Dr.
Steven Seifert, professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and
medical director of the Nebraska Regional Poison Center, said doctors and
scientists don’t know what causes autism. Although mercury is potentially
toxic, acceptable exposure levels are based on science, federally regulated
and set below any level that would be unsafe. Mercury in thimerosal, he
said, is less able to penetrate the brain and therefore less toxic. He said
Hudkins’ bill has the potential to harm public health by creating an
irrational fear of vaccinations and reducing vaccination rates. But Hudkins
said parents just want a safe vaccine. The government has required lead be
taken out of paints and gasoline, she said. Why not take mercury out of
vaccines?"

47. "Frederick family visits The View" dated 27 January 2007 by Pamela
Rigaux from the Frederick News-Post at
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display_breakingDaily.htm?sto
ryid=56149 .

"Comedian and "The View" talk show co-host Rosie O'Donnell interviewed a
Frederick family last week about a growing problem in America: 500,000
children in the United States have autism, but after they graduate from high
school and turn 18, very few programs are available to help them as adults.
For years, Maria and Dean Calcagni have been worried about what they will do
when their daughter, Gina, who is now 17, becomes an adult next year.
They've re-mortgaged their house twice and have poured money into therapy
and services to supplement the public school programs their daughter
receives. But Gina is likely to need one-on-one supervision with highly
trustworthy adults for the rest of her life, Maria Calcagni said Saturday.
Gina has the trust level of a 5-year-old, Dean Calcagni said. She always
thinks the best of people, but in a real world environment, someone could
easily take advantage of her. "That's part of her charm, she's so sweet,"
he said. The Calcagni's appearance on "The View," which will air Monday at
11 a.m. on ABC, will take a close look at how autism affects different
families. Autism varies depending on the person, but is generally defined
by three traits: difficulty with communication, impaired social skills and
rigid behavior, such as obsessive compulsive disorder, Maria Calcagni said.
O'Donnell wanted to know the Calcagnis' biggest fear and what they believed
might happen to their daughter next year. They told her they were facing
their worst fear every day -- they were about to go from receiving 70 hours
of support services a week to none. "Eighty thousand people were on the
list (for residential facilities) in 2003," Maria Calcagni said. "Most have
been on it for 10 years." In some cases, 80-year-old parents are taking
care of 60-year-old autistic children, and those are the lucky ones, Dean
Calcagni said. They're the ones who, like Gina, are living with relatives
who have, or are trying to find, the means to support them. "Without that,
they fall through the cracks," he said. "It's a hellish situation."
O'Donnell, live and in person, was compassionate and well-informed, Dean
Calcagni said. "She immersed herself in the research. She knew what our
concerns were. We were very, very impressed," he said. Initially the talk
show crew had called a friend of the Calcagnis to be a guest, but the friend
had a prior engagement and suggested them. Maria, Dean and Gina went to New
York City on Wednesday. They spent two days in the recording studio and were
shuffled back and forth from the hotel to the studio by a stretch limousine.
"It all happened in one week: the invitation, the pre-interview questions,
then the trip up," Maria Calcagni said. The panel consisted of a few
families, all of them with younger children who seemed to have more upbeat
stories, Maria Calcagni recalled. Waiting to talk behind the bright lights
was nerve-racking. "I worried my mind would go blank on air," she said.
Dean Calcagni said his wife's appearance was fabulous. "See for yourself on
Monday," he said."

48. "Florida Ex-Teacher Gambles And Loses- Guilty On 1 Count: Pinning
autistic boy to desk. Kathleen Garrett faces up to 5 years in prison" dated
27 January 2007 by Rene Stutzman from the Orlando Sentinel at
http://tinyurl.com/2gf4sf.

"Kathleen Garrett had gambled before and won. When the mother of an autistic
child complained seven years ago that Garrett was an abuser, she fought back
and kept her teaching job. And earlier this month she rejected a plea deal,
gambling that she would beat a second round of child-abuse complaints. But
on Friday, the gamble failed. Jurors convicted her of pinning a 60-pound boy
to the top of his desk, his head hanging off the edge, and staying on top of
him until his lips turned blue. Photo gallery: Kathleen Garrett's trial
Kathleen Garrett Garrett, 50, who spent 26 years teaching disabled children
in Seminole County public schools, faces up to five years in prison. She is
to be sentenced March 7. She left the courthouse late Friday afternoon
without comment, free on $7,000 bail. Her lawyer also would not comment.
Although now a felon, Garrett overcame four other counts of felony child
abuse that could have sent her to prison for up to 75 years. Jurors
acquitted her on a charge of bending backward the thumb of an autistic boy.
A judge threw out two other counts and, just as the trial got under way,
prosecutors abandoned a fifth charge, the most serious. Even so, the mother
of the boy with the bruised thumb said the one conviction was enough. "I
was very happy," she said. "We got her on child abuse. . . . Children are
safe." The mother of a girl who accused Garrett of slamming her head onto
her desk seven years ago at a different school, though, had hoped for more.
"I'm happy for the one conviction, but I wish prosecutors could have brought
charges to defend every child that she has hurt," the woman said. Carolyn
Tavel, past president of the Learning Disabilities Association of Florida,
said jurors never got to decide some of the more serious allegations against
Garrett. "The individuals involved in this are still hurting," said Tavel,
who counseled several of the parents whose children were in Garrett's class
at South Seminole Middle School. Garrett resigned shortly after her arrest
in November 2004. Her teaching certificate expired 18 months ago. Garrett
took a chance two weeks ago when she rejected a plea deal that would have
placed her on five years of probation. She has maintained she did not abuse
any of the students. Her trial began Monday, and for much of the week, it
appeared her gamble might pay off. Piece by piece, the case against her
crumbled. On Monday, prosecutors dropped the first count, that she had
slammed a boy's head down on his desk, breaking two of his front teeth. No
one saw what happened. Then Friday morning, Circuit Judge Clayton Simmons
dismissed two other counts. One was an allegation that Garrett had lifted a
boy from his chair and flung him toward a cabinet. The other was that she
had "caged" a blind, autistic student by placing him in a large closet.
Simmons wrote that the Florida Legislature did not intend for parents to
face a possible prison sentence every time they send a child to his room for
time-out. In the end, jurors were left with just two incidents to judge.
Assistant State Attorney Donna Goerner told the panel of five men and one
woman, all parents, that there still was enough evidence to convict. Two
teacher aides testified they were in the classroom when both boys were hurt.
Jurors would not discuss the verdict. None of the victims appeared in
court. None is mentally competent, and most cannot talk, witnesses
testified. Autism is a developmental disorder with wide-ranging symptoms.
They are mild in some people but severe in others. Many lead normal lives.
Some symptoms include repetitive motion, such as swaying; repeating words;
and self-injury, such as a child hitting his head against his knee. The
parents of some autistic children said they were horrified by what teacher
aides said went on in Garrett's classroom: swatting, punching, ear flicking.
"That is not how you discipline a child who is autistic," Tavel said.
Seminole School Superintendent Bill Vogel called the incident in Garrett's
classroom "extremely isolated." Since her arrest, the School Board has
toughened its policy on the reporting of child abuse. It is also giving its
teachers assigned to autistic classes more training and moving their
classrooms into higher-traffic areas, Vogel said. "These are children,"
Goerner said, "who cannot speak for themselves."

49. "Youth describes struggle with staff- Judge orders 3 removed from
juvenile facility after teen being restrained dies" dated 27 January 2007 by
Gadi Dechter from the Baltimore Sun at
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.juvenile27jan27,1,5092417.stor
y?ctrack=1&cset=true.

"At least four youths at a private residential program for juvenile
offenders have independently told their lawyers that they witnessed staff
members sit on a struggling Isaiah Simmons for three hours Tuesday until he
passed out and died, Maryland's chief public defender said last night. The
statement by Nancy Forster came after a Baltimore judge ordered three city
youths removed from the Bowling Brook Preparatory School in response to an
emergency request by public defenders. The emergency hearings will continue
next week across the state, Forster said, until all of her office's clients
at the school have had their cases reviewed by a juvenile court. "We want
our children out of there," she said. In three hearings that lasted until
7:30 p.m. yesterday, Baltimore Circuit Judge Edward R.K. Hargadon released
one youth, remanded one to house arrest and sent the third for a brief stay
at the Maryland Youth Residence Center, a juvenile shelter in Baltimore.
The youth who was released, Ronnell Williams, 18, told The Sun that he and
other students watched as "four or five guys" held Simmons to the ground for
more than two hours Tuesday. During that time, Williams said, Simmons cried
out several times that he couldn't breathe. "We watched a guy die,"
Williams said after he was released into his mother's custody. Hargadon,
who is in charge of the city's juvenile court, will hear removal petitions
Thursday on behalf of 13 other city youths at Bowling Brook, Forster said.
Of the 170 students at Bowling Brook on Tuesday, 74 were sent there by
Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services, which has a contract with the
private school in Carroll County, according to a department spokesman. The
spokesman, Edward Hopkins, said the department did not know where it could
place all those youngsters if they are ordered out of Bowling Brook.
Sheriff's deputies are continuing to investigate the death of Simmons, 17.
According to the Carroll County Sheriff's Office, staff at Bowling Brook
said Simmons collapsed Tuesday evening while being restrained after an
outburst in which he threatened to harm other students and school personnel.
It was the first death of a youth in the custody of juvenile services since
2001. The Department of Juvenile Services has dispatched staff to provide
indefinite 24-hour supervision inside the school, Hopkins said yesterday.
Bowling Brook has been in operation for decades and has enjoyed a positive
reputation among youth advocates. School officials did not respond to
requests for comment yesterday. Williams said that Simmons was having a
hard time adjusting to the program, which he had entered two weeks before
his death. He was in the custody of the Department of Juvenile Services
after a juvenile court effectively found him guilty of armed robbery.
According to Williams' account, Simmons told him Tuesday afternoon, "I'm
gonna spaz out," and then had a disobedient outburst before school
counselors. "He couldn't deal with the pressure," said Williams, who spent
about a year at Bowling Brook. Simmons had been physically restrained by
staff once before, on Jan. 10, according to a "use of force" report provided
by Bowling Brook to the Department of Juvenile Services. Though the report
was not sent to the department until Jan. 16, it would not have caused alarm
among department officials, Hopkins said. In 2006, school personnel made
nearly 50 such reports to juvenile services, according to records provided
by the department. Of those, three included "minor injuries" to the faces of
the restrained youths. In the three emergency hearings yesterday,
prosecutors did not object to the removal of the students from the school,
and the death of Simmons was not explicitly mentioned. …"

50. "Couple seek answers in autistic son's treatment- Parents sue for data
they believe will reveal abuse" dated 28 January 2007 by MICHELE MORGAN
BOLTON </TUNews/author/AuthorPage.aspx?AuthorNum=20> from the Albany Times
Union at
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=558018&category=REGIONOTH
ER&BCCode=&newsdate=1/28/2007.

"As Jonathan Carey presses his face into a horse's tangled mane, he inhales
the warm scent of leather and steamy animal breath sweetened by oats. The
chestnut mare nuzzles the 13-year-old's cheek, and he is like any other boy.
His parents wonder: Does he remember what happened? There is no way to know.
Mike and Lisa Carey say they have worked since October 2004 to discover who
may have hurt their autistic and mentally retarded child while he was a
resident of the Anderson School in Dutchess County. The boy is nonverbal and
can't tell them himself. The Glenmont couple want to expose what they call
a cover-up of abuse that hinges on 400 pages of documents that the state
Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities has refused to
disclose. The Careys sued Anderson School in 2005 in state Supreme Court in
Albany, claiming the institution and its staff violated Jonathan's right to
safety and nourishment. And now that a new administration is in place, they
seek legislation that will force state agencies to disclose information they
said could prove the abuse. Their efforts also come as parents of autistic
children confronted lawmakers at the Capitol on Tuesday, demanding changes
in insurance law that currently limits and denies treatment options. For
Jonathan, treatment has meant living at the O.D. Heck Developmental Center
in Niskayuna since he was removed from Anderson. He was removed after Mike
Carey made an unannounced Oct. 10, 2004, visit to the school for autistic
children in Staatsburg. Carey says he found his son naked, bruised and lying
in a bed soaked with his own urine. The boy had been isolated and denied
regular meals for weeks as a behavior modification therapy for his
compulsion to remove his clothes, his father said. "No parent or guardian
should ever have to go through what Lisa and I have had to endure just to
get answers," Mike said. "We would have been arrested if what happened to
Jonathan had happened at home." The Careys' case also comes at a time when
the state Board of Regents has banned controversial behavior modification
techniques, called aversives, after an inspection found a Canton, Mass.,
school that takes New York students had compromised "privacy and dignity" by
using the tactics. A one-page summary of the investigation into Anderson by
the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities found
school administrators had been cited for one incident of withholding food.
The family's Freedom of Information Law request for the entire case file has
been denied under confidentiality clauses in state mental health law and the
federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA.
Anderson's attorney, Michael Murphy, said school officials continue to deny
the Careys' allegations but can't comment further because of confidentiality
laws and litigation. OMRDD spokeswoman Deborah Sturm Rausch said that
although the agency is sensitive to the concerns of parents, it must abide
by confidentiality laws that preclude the release of certain documents.
"Denying the records does not help protect the most vulnerable," Mike Carey
said. "In fact, it's just the opposite." …"

51. "Autistic artist speaks in language of color- Autistic Cleveland Hts.
artist discovers voice' on canvas" dated 28 January 2007 by Karen Sandstrom
from The Cleveland Plain Dealer at
http://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living/116997749
635860.xml&coll=2.

"Seth Chwast pads around his Cleveland Heights home in a T-shirt and sweat
pants. He's 6 feet tall in his stocking feet, a dark-haired young man with a
faraway gaze. What he glimpses in that vague distance is a mystery. Seth,
who has autism, has few words for it. But on this mild January morning, a
blank canvas nearly 6 feet tall and 7 feet wide stands in the studio he has
made in his mother's living room. Painting is how Seth, 23, shows the world
what he sees, and today he has a new vision in mind. "Orange Fantasy
Horse," Seth says, his words sliding into each other as he announces the
subject and title of the painting he's about to begin. Donna Rogers, a
photographer and Seth's full-time art coach, will lend emotional support and
encouragement and help him stay focused. Seth always chooses the subject
matter and the palette and does all the painting, of course. Today, Rogers
wonders whether Seth should try something a little different. Most artists
favor one side, and Seth's "fantasy horses" tend to face right. Seth holds
a piece of charcoal, which he'll use to draw the shapes on the canvas before
he begins painting. With his free hand, he reaches out for Rogers, and she
returns his touch. They wiggle their fingertips together in a silent gesture
all their own. Then Rogers asks Seth if he would consider making the orange
horse face left. "Yes," he answers softly. "Grow your brain." Seth
develops a bright visual style. In less than four years, Seth Chwast
("kwahst") has filled his expansive Cleveland Heights home with canvas after
canvas. Paintings hang in spaces once reserved for other art. They stand on
easels. They line hallways. His mother, Debra Chwast, supports him in every
way, from hiring art mentors to investing in pricey art supplies to making
room to display his work as it practically tumbles into being. …"

52. "Parents defend medicines for children" dated 28 January 2007 by Peter
Reuell from The Sudbury Town Crier at
http://www.townonline.com/sudbury/homepage/8998973021133733887.

"Matthew was 3 when his mother, Helen Dawidczyk, began to realize there was
something different about him. In the middle of the night, the toddler
would build ladders from stuffed animals, climb on kitchen counters and
remove knives from a butcher block, then arrange them under his bed. During
kindergarten, he would wander around the room at inappropriate times, but
withdraw from other children during recess. "We would drive by and see what
he would be doing - all these other kids would be playing, and Matthew would
be rocking on the steps," Dawidczyk said. Years later, the family had an
answer for his behavior. At 10, Matthew was diagnosed with Asperger's
syndrome, a form of autism marked by a lack of social interaction. The
disorder, and the medication used to treat it, has gained national attention
in recent weeks, following the fatal stabbing of a Lincoln-Sudbury Regional
High School student, allegedly by a classmate with Asperger's. Though the
attorney for John Odgren, the teen accused in the stabbing, and advocacy
groups say anti-depressants and other drugs often prescribed for people with
Asperger's can lead to violence, without them, Dawidczyk and other parents
say their children would never lead normal lives. "These drugs are not a
cure, (but) I do know the difference between Matthew being on meds and not
being on meds. Matthew not on meds is out of control. "You can't reach him,
you can't reason with him. I don't know if he would be here right now, to
tell you the truth." Following his diagnosis with Asperger's, Matthew, who
has also been diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome, bipolar disorder and attention
deficit disorder, began talking about "going to meet God" so he could "ask
God why he made him this way." Dawidczyk's story is familiar territory for
Keri and Marc Wang, Milford residents whose 9-year-old son Jared was
diagnosed with Asperger's two years ago. "In the morning here, it can be
really horrible," said Keri Wang, who calls the medication Jared takes a
"wonder drug." "He's pushing and shoving. It's kind of scary the way he
behaves. On the medication, though, things are a different story. "He's
calm," she said. "He's able to sit. He's able to interact with the family.
He'll watch TV or he'll play games with us. It's a wonder drug."

53. "HPV vaccine won’t be made mandatory" dated 28 January 2007 from the
Arkansas Democrat Gazette at http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/180156/.

"The state Health Division has decided not to request that the Board of
Health include a new vaccine guarding against human papillomavirus, or HPV,
in its list of required vaccines for children. Parents currently can
request an exemption if they do not want their child immunized. Dr. Jim
Phillips, the division’s director of infectious disease, said officials
worry that requiring the HPV vaccine could cause more parents to refuse to
immunize their children. “As you’re aware, parents taking the exemption
from immunizations has been skyrocketing over the last several years,” he
told members of the state Board of Health, “and with this vaccine, it’s
associated with the three-letter word ‘ sex. ’” The vaccine, Gardasil,
protects against the four most common types of HPV, a sexually transmitted
virus that can cause cervical cancer, genital warts and genital lesions. The
U. S. Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine in June, and an
advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quickly
followed with a recommendation that it be given to girls and women ages 9
through 26. Earlier this week, however, the Arkansas Cervical Cancer Task
Force recommended that the HPV vaccination be required for all 9- to
12-year-olds. The task force was created by Act 1414 of 2005 to coordinate
statewide efforts to prevent and treat cervical cancer."

54. "Secrets of the drug trials- Secret emails reveal that the UK's biggest
drug company distorted trial results of an anti-depressant, covering up a
link with suicide in teenagers" dated 29 January 2007 from BBC News (UK) at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/6291773.stm.

"Panorama reveals that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) attempted to show that Seroxat
worked for depressed children despite failed clinical trials. And that
GSK-employed ghostwriters influenced 'independent' academics. GSK told
Panorama: "GSK utterly rejects any suggestion that it has improperly
withheld drug trial information." GSK faces action in the US where bereaved
families have joined together to sue the company. As a result, GSK has been
forced to open its confidential internal archive. Karen Barth Menzies is a
partner in one of the firms representing many of the families. She has
examined thousands of the documents which are stored, box upon box, in an
apartment in Malibu, California. She said: "Even when they have negative
studies that show that this drug Seroxat is going to harm some kids they
still spin that study as remarkably effective and safe for children." GSK's
biggest clinical trial of Seroxat on children was held in the US in the
1990s and called Study 329. Child psychiatrist Dr Neal Ryan of the
University of Pittsburgh was paid by GSK as a co-author of Study 329. In
2002 he also gave a talk on childhood depression at a medical conference
sponsored by GSK. He said that Seroxat could be a suitable treatment for
children and later told Panorama reporter Shelley Jofre that it probably
lowered rather than raised suicide rates. In amongst the archive of emails
in Malibu, Shelley was surprised to find that her own emails to Dr Ryan from
2002 asking questions about the safety of Seroxat had been forwarded to GSK
asking for advice on how to respond to her. She also found an email from a
public relations executive working for GSK which said: "Originally we had
planned to do extensive media relations surrounding this study until we
actually viewed the results. "Essentially the study did not really show it
was effective in treating adolescent depression, which is not something we
want to publicise." But the article was published in the Journal of the
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry which says it ranks as
number one in child mental health in the world. The editor in chief of the
British Medical Journal, Fiona Godlee, said that what she calls the
"blind-eye culture of medicine" should be exposed by professionals. She has
written in response to the Panorama film: "We shouldn't have to rely on
investigative journalists to ask the difficult questions. "Reputations for
sale are reputations at risk. We need to make that risk so high it's not
worth taking." The Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority
(MHRA) began a criminal investigation into GSK three years ago but no action
has been taken yet. A spokesperson told Panorama that the investigation has
been given substantial additional resources and remains a high priority.
Seroxat was banned for under 18s in 2003 after the MHRA, revealed that GSK's
own studies showed the drug actually trebles the risk of suicidal thoughts
and behaviour in depressed children."

55. "Gene That May Indicate Predisposition To Schizophrenia Identified By
Scientists" dated 29 January 2007 in a press release from the The American
Journal of Human Genetics at
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=61545.

"In a new study from The American Journal of Human Genetics, a research team
lead by Xinzhi Zhao and Ruqi Tang (Shanghai Jiao Tong University) present
evidence that genetic variation may indicate predisposition to
schizophrenia. Specifically, their findings identify the chitinase 3-like 1
gene as a potential schizophrenia-susceptibility gene and suggest that the
genes involved in biological response to adverse conditions are likely
linked to schizophrenia. Analyzing two separate cohorts of Chinese patients
with schizophrenia, the researchers observed a positive association between
schizophrenia and genetic variations in the promoter region of the chitinase
3-like 1 (CHI3L1) gene, an association that was significant in both
population-based and family-based investigations. The CHI3L1 gene acts as a
survival factor in response to adverse environments, countering various
types of physiological stress, such as inflammation, nutrient deprivation,
and oxygen deficiency, all of which may induce high expression of CHI3L1.
The gene is located on chromosome 1q32.1, a region that has been previously
shown to have a weak correlation to schizophrenia. A number of
environmental factors, including prenatal exposure to disease, have been
reported as risk factors of schizophrenia. However, the researchers argue
that sensitivity to environmental stressors varies widely among individuals,
and "at least part of this variation may be genetic in origin and/or involve
gene-environment factors," they write. Genetic variations that change the
expression of CHI3L1 can influence key processes dependent on CHI3L1 levels,
knocking out portions of the AKT-mediated signal pathway. The AKT-mediated
signal pathway has been shown to be impaired in patients with schizophrenia,
and antipsychotic medication may induce AKT activation, to compensate for
the impairment. Additionally, activation of the inflammatory response has
been observed in those with schizophrenia and other affective disorders.
"In conclusion, our findings identify CHI3L1 as a potential
schizophrenia-susceptibility gene," write the authors. "Our results . . .
support the proposal that genes involved in biological response to adverse
environmental conditions play roles in the predisposition to schizophrenia."

56. "Autoimmune Disease Breakthrough Gained By Identification Of 30 Errant
Genes" dated 29 January 2007 in a press release from the American Autoimmune
Related Diseases Association at
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=61810.

"A report in the January issue of Nature magazine announces that one more
step in understanding what may cause the body to attack itself in its war
against autoimmune disease has been discovered by researchers at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Whitehead Institute, says the
Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA), a national nonprofit
patient advocacy organization. What happens in certain cases to cause the
body's immune system to go wild with an over reaction when it encounters
invading viruses or bacteria, thus resulting in one or more autoimmune
diseases--such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, thyroid
disease (Graves', Hashimoto's), juvenile (type 1) diabetes? Researchers
Richard Young and Alexander Marson, an M.D./Ph.D. student working in Young's
laboratory, have reported discovering 30 genes that go awry in autoimmune
diseases. According to Young, the regulatory T cells (called "T regs") that
normally control the immune system may have genetic defects. In that case,
the T regs protective powers are weakened. The "brain" of the T regs is a
protein called Foxp3. It can send the message to increase or decrease the
production of other genes. Dr. Marson, study lead author, said, "We
identified a set of roughly 30 genes that are clearly regulated by Foxp3
and, surprisingly, a lot of them are suppressed by Foxp3." Mutation in more
of the genes, PTPN22, is associated with a number of autoimmune disorders.
It is speculated that altering the Foxp3 gene might be one way to reach a
cure of autoimmune diseases. Two significant implications have emerged from
this research. Marson commented, "One is that we've identified this core set
of genes that are probably likely to play key roles in preventing autoimmune
more disease." He added, "The second implication, which is maybe more
long-term, is that we hope that identifying these targets will allow us to
screen for drugs to mimic the function of Foxp3 and, thus, treat autoimmune
disease." Autoimmune disease pioneer Noel R. Rose, M.D., Director of the
Johns Hopkins Center for Autoimmune Disease Research, says that treating
autoimmune disorders will require enhancing either the number or
effectiveness of regulatory T cells. He remarked that the MIT study is
"certainly important in trying to understand how these regulatory T cells
work." He cautions, "Whether this will have important functional
implications, only time will tell." Commenting on the study results,
Virginia Ladd, AARDA president and executive director, observes, "The
discovery adds weight to the reason why autoimmune diseases should be
considered a disease category similar to the way that cancer is viewed
rather than as singular diseases." She adds, "It also lends proof to the
genetic connection among these diseases and an understanding as to why these
diseases run in families." Ms. Ladd points out that the public is unaware
of the genetic connection among various autoimmune diseases, and patients
are seldom queried by healthcare professionals regarding the family history
in autoimmune disease. AARDA is pressing for federal legislation that would
bring more awareness to autoimmune diseases and the fact that collectively
they affect millions of Americans."

57. "Yale Child Study Center Receives NIH Grant for Autism Research" dated
29 January 2007 in a press release from The Yale Child Study Center at
http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=17901.

"The Yale Child Study Center has received a $3.5 million National Institute
of Child Health <\l > and Human Development grant for an ongoing,
multidisciplinary research program on autism <\l > and related
developmental disorders. The five-year research program focuses on
developmental aspects and outcomes for affected patients. The project
includes a prospective study on the earliest manifestations of autism in
infants <\l > at risk for the condition, and funds research on predictors
and determinants of subsequent functioning and communication skills. Autism
is a developmental disorder that has a profound effect on socialization,
communication, learning <\l > and other behaviors. In most cases, onset is
early in infancy. Information on the earliest development aspects of autism
in children has been limited even though three to four of every thousand
individuals are affected. The interdisciplinary program brings together
existing and new expertise, infrastructure and resources focused on
diagnosis, early detection, causes and treatment of autism. It is led by
Yale Child Study Center Director Fred R. Volkmar, M.D., The Harris Professor
of Child Psychiatry, professor of pediatrics and psychology at Yale School
of Medicine <\l > . “This invaluable support from the federal government
helps us understand how children with autism change over the course of
development and helps us clarify factors most important in determining
ultimate outcome,” said Volkmar. Autism is a developmental disorder that
has a profound effect on socialization, communication, learning and other
behaviors. In most cases, onset is early in infancy. Information on the
earliest development aspects of autism in children has been limited even
though three to four of every thousand individuals are affected."

58. "Neurological Diseases Prevalent In U.S." dated 29 January 2007 from
KERO23 News at http://www.turnto23.com/health/10873032/detail.html.

"A review study from the National Institutes of Health has revealed new
statistics on the number of people in the United States who are living with
diseases of the nervous system. Most striking is the number of people
suffering with multiple sclerosis. Now at a rate of one person per thousand,
the disease is 50 percent more common than previously thought. The rate of
Alzheimer's disease is also up substantially. It is now estimated that 67
out of 1,000 elderly people in the U.S. have this disorder. Strokes are
more common, too, though more people are surviving their injuries. Traumatic
injuries to the brain have actually decreased by 50 per cent since the last
count. One in 100 of us has Parkinson's, and four of 100,000 has ALS or Lou
Gehrig's disease. In kids, autism is estimated to occur in six of every
1,000 children and cerebral palsy in two of every 1,000. While some of
these numbers may seem alarming, the scientists point out that rising rates
do not always mean the disease is getting worse. It can also mean that
doctors are able to detect and diagnose the disease better, or that more
children and adults are living with the disease rather than dying from it."

59. "'Bullying video' posted onto web- Pupils in Dorset have been suspended
amid claims they posted videos showing an autistic pupil being bullied at
school on the internet" dated 29 January 2007 from BBC News (UK) at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/dorset/6311477.stm.

"Five pupils from Bournemouth and Poole College, Poole, were suspended by
the school after it received complaints. The National Autistic Society was
alerted by an internet user who spotted the videos with a message which said
the victim was autistic. A college spokesperson said the incident was being
investigated. The videos are said to show the victim being taunted verbally
and physically. Benet Middleton, of the National Autistic Society, told BBC
News: "Bullying is always bad but I think we can all agree that when the
bullying is based on someone's disability it is particularly disgusting
behaviour. "It's reflective of a very worrying trend we're seeing.
"Research we've done recently shows children with autism are very, very,
highly likely to be bullied - rising to as many as six out of ten with
Asperger's, a high functioning form of autism." The college said it had a
strict stance on bullying and would be interviewing the children involved."

60. "Finally, a Topic Too Hot For The View
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/finally-a-topic-too-hot-_b_39877.
html> " dated 29 January 2007 by David Kirby in The Huffington Post blog at
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/finally-a-topic-too-hot-_b_39877.h
tml.

"Daytime television has not been the same since Rosie O'Donnell took a
pugnacious seat at the talkative table known as The View. Rosie has pumped
more heat and energy into that show than a year's worth of colorful
coffee-filled mugs. Love her or loathe her, Rosie O'Donnell has shown the
nerve to think out loud - a rare and valuable commodity in the overly
scripted world of television. She has injected the show with some
Nielsen-loving controversy and ratcheted up revenues in the bargain. So
when I heard that Rosie and The View were doing a one-hour special on autism
(airing Monday 1/29), I assumed the subject would be handled with the same
feisty, fearless, take-no-prisoners aplomb as usual. After all, autism and
controversy are practically siblings. If ABC would let Rosie trash Trump,
bash Bush and oppose Oprah, surely they would let her wade into the burning
contretemps of why 1-in-166 American kids are struggling with autism today.
I was even more encouraged when a producer invited me to the show. They were
asking several experts to sit in the audience, who might be called upon to
answer questions. She couldn't guarantee that I would be called, but asked
if I could be there "in case the question of causation comes up," (My book
was about mercury, vaccines and autism). "Causation," of course, is the
autism question of the century. Why do we have so many sick kids? Is this
all simply genetics? Then why is there so much more autism now? What
changed, and what are we doing to find out? You won't find out on Monday's
program. Instead, The View presented a respectful and sometimes teary
portrait of families living with autistic children-- their daily struggles
and special needs. Several kids were onstage, some verbal, some not, and
they handled themselves very well. It was a fine show about autism
awareness, and the producers are to be lauded for it, especially for asking
what will happen when so many disabled, dependent kids turn 21. During the
breaks, however, I could hear women in the audience murmuring to each other:
"But what causes it? Why so many children? What about mercury? How can I get
more information?" During the final break, I asked Rosie when the question
of causation would come up. "We're not doing that," she said, bluntly.
"We're focusing on families and their kids." "Rosie," I replied, "I think a
lot of people are wondering about what's causing this." "We don't know what
causes it," she said. "You just want me to ask so you can talk about
mercury." Stung, I explained that her audience members were asking, and
that production staff had also asked me about causation privately backstage.
"We're not doing causation," Rosie repeated. "In fact, I told them not to
book you." So, a deliberate decision had been reached before the show to
avoid the elephant-in-the-room question. Then why did they book me, I
wondered? As Rosie turned away, I blurted out: "Would you at least take a
look at my book?" She spun around and met my eyes. "I read your book. I
thought it was very good." This was encouraging, if a bit bewildering. "I
think mercury may have something to do with it," she said. "I just can't say
that right here." My head spun as the show wrapped up. Had The View finally
squelched Rosie O'Donnell? Did mercury trump Trump? Was this the heavy metal
that dare not speak its name, at least on a network flush with Pharma ads?
It's hard to say for sure. Last year, former host Star Jones posed the
vaccine-autism question on the air, (but then again, look what happened to
her). After the show, Rosie approached me again, this time with the polite
tact of a Sunday school teacher. She apologized. She said there had not
been enough time to cover the causation issue, and that the producers
decided to focus only on families. Families, I said, want to know the
cause, too. The View could easily have done just one segment on it,
presenting all sides. "I don't run this show," Rosie said with a soft
smile. She promised to try for a special on causation, perhaps later this
spring. Again, I don't know why the decision was made. But I do know it was
a bit surreal to sit through an entire show dedicated to autism without
anyone asking why kids develop it. I am not complaining because I wasn't
chosen to speak (I've been on TV before, including The View.) But I do know
this: You can't discuss causation without discussing the environment. You
can't talk about the environment without talking about mercury. And you
can't mention mercury without mentioning vaccines. So for now at least, the
cause of autism is a topic too hot for The View to have a view. …"

61. "Media Coverage of Autism Differs Dramatically from Scientific Focus,
Stanford Study Finds" dated 30 January 2007 in a press release from the
Stanford University Medical Center at
http://digital50.com/news/items/BW/2001/07/14/20070129006452/media-coverage-
of-autism-differs-dramatically-from-scientific-focus-stanford-study.html.

"Sifting through the pages of newspapers, most people reading stories about
autism would think scientists are primarily grappling with understanding how
environmental factors, such as childhood vaccines, might contribute to the
condition. But the truth is quite different. The efforts of the scientific
community to explore autism lie predominantly in brain and behavior
research. This disconnect between the scientific community and the popular
media is starkly laid out in a study published in the February issue of
Nature Reviews Neuroscience by researchers at the Stanford University School
of Medicine. The researchers found that while 41 percent of research
funding and published scientific papers on autism dealt with brain and
behavior research, only 11 percent of newspaper stories in the United
States, United Kingdom and Canada dealt with those issues. Instead, 48
percent of the media coverage dealt with environmental causes of autism,
particularly the childhood MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella that
was once linked with autism in a widely refuted study. Only 13 percent of
published research was about environmental triggers of autism. "What was
very interesting is that media frequently reported being very skeptical of
the MMR evidence, as was scientific literature," said Judy Illes, PhD,
associate professor of pediatrics and senior author of the paper. The media
stories accurately reflected scientific thinking, but didn't reflect the
breadth of scientific research including the genetics, treatment and
epidemiology of autism. Illes and her co-authors — Joachim Hallmayer, PhD,
associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and research
associate Jennifer Singh — conducted the study because they were interested
in exploring how people react to new scientific discoveries. In some cases,
these discoveries can lead to large-scale changes in the way people think or
behave. Likewise, shifts in public values can cause broad changes in the
direction of scientific thinking. The group dubbed this behavior "flocking."
"It characterizes the way people, scientists and organizations flock to and
from certain ideas, tools and, like birds, goals and destinations," said
Illes, who directs Stanford's Program in Neuroethics. In some cases, this
flocking may be caused by the way the media portrays an issue, the
researchers say. One example of flocking came from a 1993 hypothesis that
listening to classical music could improve cognitive skills in infants. This
finding resulted in a flocking effect by toy manufacturers and parents, and
even sparked 1998 legislation in Georgia to distribute classical music CDs
to all expecting parents. All this despite the scientific community's
rejection of the concept. Other examples of flocking include the rush to
lobotomies during the late 19th century despite adverse effects on
personality and lack of widespread scientific support. …"

62. "The facts and myths of Asperger's disorder" dated 30 January 2007 by
Eileen Costello from The Boston Globe at
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/01/30/
the_facts_and_myths_of_aspergers_disorder/?p1=MEWell_Pos5.

"The recent fatal stabbing of James Alenson, allegedly by a teenager living
with Asperger's disorder, raises the issue of whether this tragedy is
related to Asperger's. Those of us who work with children with Asperger's
worry that fingers will be pointed at individuals with the diagnosis.
According to Dr. Daniel Rosenn, a Wellesley psychiatrist and founding member
of the Asperger's Association of New England, no two children with this
diagnosis are alike, and generally speaking this is not a dangerously
violent group. Asperger's disorder, a mild form of autism, entered the
American psychiatric nomenclature in 1994. Current prevalence estimates
suggest that 1 in 166 children will have a diagnosis of an autistic spectrum
disorder, with four times more boys than girls being diagnosed. These
children have different learning styles and ways of social interaction. More
than half have difficulty responding to sensory input, which may manifest as
extreme sensitivity to sounds, touch, smells, and textures of food. They
frequently over react to common inconveniences, such as being bumped in the
hallway at school, and may not understand the appropriate distance from
others in social situations. Most take much longer to develop "theory of
mind," the ability to understand another person's perspective. They can
misinterpret nonverbal cues or body language in conversation. All need to
learn aspects of communication that come intuitively to their typically
developing peers. Some do beautifully with early intervention and continued
help with their social skills as they grow up. Most are of average or above
average intelligence, and some are brilliant. All are quirky, sometimes in
delightful ways, but often in ways that isolate them from their peers.
Individuals with Asperger's typically have intense "special interests" about
which they collect voluminous information and talk repetitively without
self-consciousness. For some children with the disorder, these are harmless
obsessions about obscure topics such as the Civil War, the Titanic or magic
cards. Like many teens, they can spend hours playing violent video games,
but a boy with Asperger's may become more fixated upon and have less
perspective about the games. Today's teens with Asperger's are the first to
reach the high school years with this diagnosis. They are the first to have
reaped the benefits of the many therapies and interventions, including
medications designed to foster their development or alleviate disturbing
symptoms. In her groups of young adults with Asperger's, most of whom were
diagnosed in late adolescence or in their early 20s, Dania Jekel of the
Asperger's Association of New England hears many stories of "overwhelming
rage" at the memories of isolation and victimization by bullies during the
middle and high school years. Research shows that 3 out of 5 teens with
Asperger's report being bullied at school, while 90 percent of their parents
report that their children have been teased. Twenty percent of those studied
changed schools because of bullying and a majority of parents report that no
action was taken by school staff against the bully. Adolescents with
Asperger's may have additional, co-morbid psychiatric diagnoses such as
Tourette's syndrome, bipolar disorder, attention deficit disorder, anxiety,
depression or eating disorders. While aggression and physical violence have
not been considered hallmarks of Asperger's, we often hear from parents
about stubbornness, rigidity, and high levels of anxiety. A typical American
high school can be a stressful environment for someone with Asperger's. Many
teens are hostile or indifferent to odd, eccentric peers. …"

63. "Rise and rise of autism is a riddle the experts can't crack" dated 30
January 2007 by KEVIN SCHOFIELD from The Scotsman (UK) at
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=154472007.

"By any measure, the rise in autism rates in the past 20 years has been
astronomical. Pre-1990 estimates put the number at about four or five cases
per 10,000 people. But a study published last year in the medical journal
the Lancet suggested that the condition now affects one person in every
hundred. Such a huge surge has inevitably led to much speculation about the
cause, but there has not been a definitive answer. Those in the
traditionalists' camp insist that autism is a genetic condition and that the
increase in cases is down to the fact that the medical profession has got
better at diagnosing it. But others say that, while that may explain part
of the rise, there must be other reasons, given the enormous scale of the
increase. Their argument appeared to be given some weight in 1998, when the
Lancet published research linking autism with the triple measles, mumps and
rubella (MMR) vaccine. Although the paper, by Dr Andrew Wakefield, has
since been discredited, the effects of his claims are still felt today.
Many parents are still reluctant to have their children vaccinated with MMR,
with the result that cases of measles in Scotland are on the increase. The
most recent figures show there were 26 in 2006 compared to just one the year
before. The ongoing uncertainty even led to 28 UK paediatricians and
vaccination experts, including Neil McIntosh, a professor of child life and
health at Edinburgh University, to sign an open letter warning of "more
unnecessary deaths" unless the MMR fears were addressed. Dr Iain McClure, a
consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist based at the Vale of Leven
hospital in Alexandria, is a specialist in autism assessment and
intervention and subscribes to the view that there is no evidence linking
MMR and autism. He believes that improvements in diagnosis techniques are
behind the apparent rise in autism cases. But that is not to say that he
has dismissed the suggestions that environmental factors may also have a
part to play, or that he does not believe that continued research is
essential to establish whether or not other factors may be at work. He
said: "Autism is on the increase, but there are pretty good reasons why that
might be. "For example, it is probably the case that we are getting better
at identifying autism spectrum problems and we are starting to identify the
more subtle cases. "It's also the case that more and more people are
becoming autism aware and are referring cases in, so there is actually an
increasing waiting list in Scotland for autism assessments." Dr McClure
went on: "It's important that we don't have a closed mind on this. It's
important for people to keep asking the questions and to keep doing the
research. "Parents are worried about this, and if parents are worried,
scientists and clinicians need to pay attention to that worry and not be
seen as dismissing it, because then people start to suspect that there is
some kind of cover-up. "The problem up until now is that there hasn't been
adequate evidence about other possible causes of autism and so it's about
waiting until that happens, if it ever happens." One of those who have
questioned the extent to which environmental factors have contributed to the
rise in autism rates is Bill Welsh. Mr Welsh set up Action Against Autism a
decade ago after his grandson was diagnosed with the condition. He is
convinced that there is a link between MMR and autism, although he thinks
toxins and pollution in the atmosphere may also be to blame. The only way
to end the uncertainty, he says, is for the government to launch a
nationwide investigation which would involve every autistic youngster being
tested. Mr Welsh said: "The explosion of autism diagnosis throughout the
developed world continues to throw an uncomfortable spotlight on the
traditionalists within the autism community who maintain, against the
growing evidence, that the condition is solely genetic in origin. …"

64. "Barnes and Noble CEO's child discusses her life with Down
syndromeChildren with the genetic, chromosomal disorder need to be included"
dated 30 January 2007 from the Midland Reporter-Telegram at
http://www.mywesttexas.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17781840&BRD=2288&PAG=461&d.

"Some might call 18-year-old Melissa Riggio, daughter of Barnes and Noble
CEO Steve Riggio, just a typical senior. She often pens poetry. She rides
horses to unwind. And when she graduates, she hopes to be a famous singer.
Of course, to her dad, she's not one bit typical. "There isn't a day that
goes by since my daughter was born 18 years ago that she doesn't surprise
and amaze me and exceed my expectations," he said. Those who meet her might
agree she's not typical, but for a different reason. "When I first started
to work on this story, I thought maybe I shouldn't do it," she explained
last year in a National Geographic Kids article. "I thought you might see
that I have Down syndrome, and that you wouldn't like me." Down syndrome is
a genetic condition that causes delays in physical and intellectual
development, explains the National Association for Down Syndrome Web site.
It's caused by an extra chromosome, and is characterized by mild to severe
impairment. Living with it, Melissa Riggio said, can be a challenge. "I
just want to be like everyone else, so sometimes I wish I could give back
the extra chromosome," she said in the article. "But having Down syndrome is
what makes me 'me.'" On Feb. 4, visitors to Barnes & Noble can hear about
her experiences with the condition during a special "story time" scheduled
for 4 p.m. While Riggio won't be present, her words will; employees will
share the article and Charles Silverman, the school psychologist for Ector
County Independent School District, will share some insights. The reading
will be one of 500 similar events planned at Barnes & Noble stores
throughout the month of February, according to Carolyn Brown, a spokeswoman
for Barnes & Noble. These events are important, her dad said, because
children like Melissa, (and several in the Permian Basin), "have the same
hopes, dreams and aspirations," Steve Riggio said. "The challenge comes in
breaking down the barriers that prevent them from reaching their dreams and
aspirations." Silverman agreed with Riggio, saying incorporating Basin
children with Down syndrome into regular classrooms helps non-disabled
children as well. "I very much support that; there is loads of research
that shows how positive it can be," he said. "It helps reduce the stigma of
disabilities, and the other kids are learning to help others because they
get into peer teaching, supporting." The goal of telling Melissa's story
across the country, Steve Riggio said, is to advance inclusion of children
with Down syndrome into "normal" society. "(Inclusion) begins principally
in education, in working with tools (in) preschool, elementary, middle
school and high school to make sure that our kids are offered the
opportunity for as inclusive an education as possible," he said. "The
inclusion movement has made a great deal of progress since my daughter was
born 18 years ago," he said. However, he said, "... there is more work to be
done."

65. "Microsoft previews new development tools- 'Grava' aims to simplify the
creation of educational software" dated 30 January 2007 by Justin Appel from
eSchool News at http://eschoolnews.org/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6816.

"Microsoft is developing a new suite of tools that will allow developers and
publishers of educational software, as well as educators themselves, to
create their own instructional programs easily and intuitively, the company
says. Users would control these programs on their computer screens, using a
media player that Microsoft expects will ship with all Windows-based
computers in the near future. The entire software environment is code-named
"Grava." The Grava development tools, which Microsoft previewed at the
British Education and Training Technology Conference in mid-January, are
meant to stand alone as separate applications. A Grava SDK (Software
Developer Kit) tool is designed for publishers and developers of educational
software, while a different authoring tool will give those with less
programming experience--such as many educators--the ability to create their
own media-rich content to be viewed with the Grava player, Microsoft says.
By introducing these new tools, Microsoft hopes to reduce the time and money
spent creating educational software for schools. Because developers won't
need high-level programming expertise to create Grava-based programs, the
tools could eliminate the common software development cycle in which a
subject-matter expert creates content, then hands it off to a programming
team to write code, which then returns it for more changes, and so on.
Using Grava, "developers can create very rich [educational materials] ... to
make learning much more fun and engaging," says Ravi Soin, product unit
manager for Microsoft's Education Products Group. With the Grava player,
users reportedly will be able to customize the experiments, surveys, or
tests they are running. If a developer were to create a program
demonstrating a specific law of physics, for example, he or she could set
the features to be customized by educators. Teachers then would have the
ability to tailor the program to their own experiments. As an incentive for
software developers and publishers to begin using Grava to create programs,
Microsoft has included the software needed to play Grava, the .Net 3.0
Framework, in its newly released Windows Vista operating system. Windows XP
users are able to download .Net 3.0 through Microsoft's web site, said Kapil
Thombare, product manager for the company's ducation Products Group. In
addition to the developers' and publishers' tools, Grava provides educators
with an authoring tool that lets them create projects to be used on their
own computers, or published online as web applications. "It's going to be
easy for educators to work with the tool," says Thombare. "Our plan is to
have a certain amount of information up front. Educators can use templates
that would make it much easier to come up with the end result they are
expecting to achieve." This ease of use is something many believe could be
Grava's greatest attribute. …"

66. "CDC memo cites anger, frustration- Staff fears 'things spinning out of
control,' official says" dated 30 January 2007 by Alison Young from The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution at
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2007/01/30/0130MeshMorale.htm
l?cxntnid=bn013007e.

"Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention responsible
for protecting Americans from animal- and food-borne diseases have told
agency officials there are "very serious issues" making it difficult to do

(Message over 64k, truncated.)