Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Items 1 through 14 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.

15. "Brain Powered- A wave of recent advances shows how the mind affects
health in ways we never imagined" by Dan Ferber, PhD in the March edition of
Reader's Digest at http://www.rd.com/content/openContent.do?contentId=34115.

"It's been a very good year for the brain -- that three-pound wrinkled lump
of gray matter that directs our movements, thoughts and memories, our loves,
hopes and dreams. It's the organ that makes us who we are. It can also make
us lose who we are, through degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, which
affects almost half of those who live past 85. And now we know it has far
more to do with our overall health than we ever imagined. A recent wave of
breakthrough technologies has yielded unprecedented insight into how our
brains work, and a better grasp of how they go wrong. That, in turn, has led
to new targeted treatments designed to fix malfunctions. Science is also
revealing the surprising power of the mind, when used correctly, to heal the
body. Here are some of the mind-boggling findings. Mapping the Brain.
September 2006 marked a major milestone for our noggins, with completion of
the Allen Brain Atlas, the first gene map of the brain. It all started in
2002, when billionaire philanthropist Paul Allen, cofounder of Microsoft,
gathered some of the world's top scientists and charged them with finding an
innovative new way to accelerate our understanding of the brain. From that
he committed $100 million and established the Allen Institute for Brain
Science in Seattle. Using custom-built robotics and software, 60 full-time
researchers tested 250,000 preserved slices of mouse brain, which resembles
the human one enough that most discoveries would also hold true for us. They
generated a volume of raw data that revealed where in the brain each of the
mouse's 21,000 genes was activated. (Different types of brain cells activate
different sets of genes, producing a unique roster of proteins that enables
each cell to do its job -- storing memory, directing movement or some other
task.) The map revealed that about 80 percent of the body's genes are
turned on in the brain -- more than anyone had expected. That means if
pharma companies are not careful, drugs targeted to other organs could have
unwanted side effects in the brain. The map also uncovered evidence that
could help reveal what goes wrong in complicated brain disorders such as
schizophrenia and autism. The result is a 3-D virtual mouse brain atlas
(brain-map.org <http://www.brain-map.org> ) that does for neuroscientists
what a survey map pinpointing gold deposits does for miners: It lets them
hightail it to where the action is and start digging, says David Anderson,
PhD, a professor of biology at California Institute of Technology and a
project advisor. ..."

16. "Maternal antibrain antibodies in autism" by Andrew W. Zimmerman, Susan
L. Connors, Karla J. Matteson, Li-Ching Lee, Harvey S. Singer, Julian A.
Castaneda and David A. Pearce in the March edition of Brain, Behavior, and
Immunity
</science?_ob=PublicationURL&_cdi=6725&_pubType=J&_auth=y&_acct=C000050221&_
version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=1e5224416725825ec5b26d9bb1bdcf4f> at
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WC1-4M27X07-2&_us
er=10&_coverDate=03%2F31%2F2007&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_a
cct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=b96848e17be266deca5c3
e12ac39f0dd.

"Abstract. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder of prenatal onset that
is behaviorally defined. There is increasing evidence for systemic and
neuroimmune mechanisms in children with autism. Although genetic factors are
important, atypical prenatal maternal immune responses may also be linked to
the pathogenesis of autism. We tested serum reactivity in 11 mothers and
their autistic children, maternal controls, and several groups of control
children, to prenatal, postnatal, and adult rat brain proteins, by
immunoblotting. Similar patterns of reactivity to prenatal (gestational day
18), but not postnatal (day 8) or adult rat brain proteins were identified
in autistic children, their mothers, and children with other
neurodevelopmental disorders, and differed from mothers of normal children,
normal siblings of children with autism and normal child controls. Specific
patterns of antibody reactivity were present in sera from the autism
mothers, from 2 to 18 years after the birth of their affected children and
were unrelated to birth order. Immunoblotting using specific antigens for
myelin basic protein (MBP) and glial acidic fibrillary protein (GFAP)
suggests that these proteins were not targets of the maternal antibodies.
The identification of specific serum antibodies in mothers of children with
autism that recognize prenatally expressed brain antigens suggests that
these autoantibodies could cross the placenta and alter fetal brain
development."

17. "Education Next: New Study Debunks Myth about Special Education Costs"
dated 5 March 1007 in a press release from the Hoover Institution at
http://www.hoover.org/pubaffairs/whatsnew/6332647.html.

"A new study published in the spring 2007 issue of Education Next refutes
claims that rising special education costs are draining resources from
nondisabled public education students. In particular, research carried out
by the University of Arkansas's Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters shows
that, contrary to recent media reports, placing special education students
in private schools at public expense is not causing undue harm to public
school budgets. "It is often tempting for school officials or policy
analysts to blame special education for the rising costs and stagnant
outcomes of K-12 education," Greene said. "But the evidence clearly shows
that special education in general and private placement in particular are
not placing greater financial strains on public schools." Greene and
Winters's research reveals that private placement is, in fact, extremely
rare, amounting to less than two-tenths of 1 percent of the almost 50
million public school students nationwide in 2004, according to data from
the U. S. Department of Education. Private schools served, at public
expense, just over 88,000 of the nearly 6 million students with disabilities
nationally--less than 1.5 percent. Neither has the percentage of students
who are privately placed increased in recent years. In 1989, 1.6 percent of
students receiving services under the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA) were educated in a private school setting. Using data
from a recent federal study on special education, Greene and Winters were
able to estimate the additional cost involved in placing disabled students
in private schools. According to the U.S. Department of Education's Special
Education Expenditure Project, the average cost of a private placement in
2000 was $25,580. By weighting the costs by the type of disabilities among
students placed in private schools, Greene and Winters determined that the
cost for an average privately placed student would have been $15,117 if he
had been served in a public school. The additional cost of $10,463 per
student amounts to less than one-quarter of 1 percent of the total education
budget of $382 billion for that year. Greene and Winters say that the
higher cost of private placement is probably because a child is generally
placed in a private school only when the disability is especially severe.
Under IDEA guidelines, a student is to be placed in the least restrictive
environment, so, unless the disability is severe, the child will be placed
in a public school setting. More generally, special education costs have
not risen faster than the resources available for regular education. Greene
and Winters found that from 1977 to 2003 spending on special education
services almost doubled, as did total revenue for all public schooling, but
that that money covered the special education costs of many more students.
Those classified as in need of special education services increased by 76
percent. Moreover, the near doubling in special education costs has not been
the result of a rise in rare and expensive disabilities, which have actually
experienced a decline, but by increases in the specific learning disability
(SLD) category, which is among the least costly to serve. SLD designations
grew from 796,000 in 1977 to nearly 3 million in 2003. Special education
costs, however, constituted roughly the same share of total public school
revenue (8.3 percent) in 2003 as in 1977. Greene and Winters acknowledge
that there are some school districts and states where private placement is
more burdensome. In Washington, D.C., for example, privately placed students
constitute slightly more than 3 percent of enrollment (as of 2004),
representing 15 percent of the school district's budget. But Washington,
D.C., is the exception, say Greene and Winters, not the rule. No other state
has more than 1 percent of its students privately placed, and only four
states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Jersey) have more
than 0.5 percent of their students attending private schools at public
expense. In considering factors that may contribute to this situation,
Greene and Winters point out that most D.C. schools already struggle to
provide an adequate education to their students. Under federal law, disabled
students are entitled to demand private schooling if local public schools
cannot provide an adequate education; nondisabled students in D.C. public
schools, however, do not have that option. Therefore, the high rate of
private placement of disabled students in D.C. may be more a function of the
quality of the public schools there than a function of special education per
se, Greene and Winters explain."

18. "Autism Speaks and Modell's Announce the Start of Dollar Donation Days-
Modell's to Kick Off its Month-long Campaign in Support of Autism Speaks"
dated 27 March 2007 in a press release from Autism Speaks at
http://www.autismspeaks.org/press/modells.php.

"Autism Speaks, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing awareness
of autism and raising money to fund autism research, today announced the
kick off a four-week "Dollar Donation Days" with Modell's Sporting Goods.
From April 1 through April 28, customers at all of Modell's 135 store
locations throughout the Northeast will be able to purchase one-dollar
Autism Speaks puzzle pieces at check-out, with all proceeds being directed
towards autism research. This is the third consecutive year that Modell's
has participated in the "Dollar Donation Days" campaign to benefit autism.
"Modell's is an invaluable partner and we are incredibly grateful for their
ongoing commitment to raising funds for autism research," said Alison
Singer, Autism Speaks Senior Vice President of Awareness. "As the warm
weather approaches, we encourage everyone to go out and buy those essential
summertime sporting goods and purchase a puzzle piece to support Autism
Speaks and its mission to change the future for all who struggle with autism
spectrum disorders." "We've seen how autism affects the lives of so many
families, and it simply makes sense for Modell's to do our part in raising
funds for autism research. The 'Dollar Donation Days' provides the perfect
platform for Modell's customers to get involved in supporting the search for
a cure," said Mitchell Modell, CEO of Modell's Sporting Goods. To find the
Modell's Sporting Goods store nearest you, visit modells.com
<http://www.modells.com/> or call 1-800-ASK MODELLS."

19. "Vouchers Eyed for Students With Disabilities- As more states weigh
limited choice option, critics see political ploy" dated 28 March 2007 by
Christina A. Samuels </ew/contributors/christina.samuels.html> from
Education Week at
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/03/28/29voucher.h26.html?levelId=1000
&rale2=KQE5d7nM%2FXAYPsVRXwnFWYRqIIX2bhy1%2BKNA5buLAWGoKt77XHI2terRpWBSgktL4
bXgTCDsilF0%0A1TTO5R27V5XqVRmSPzIl6BPZ7oGKyovh%2F9BFEakU7ZHII%2Fmu01CUEpLNhf
Z%2FY5RTSAFMoROfwTsH%0AAsyDLJnT9czpjKHi7khQUPRB5iYdtxsfRUqgwXUy2GeXVMYCCpb1P
6Kf3rb2phsbxQyA6K0QVuhH%0ALzNDIc8X%2BI%2Fb8nt35Uk6lq66HYeonqPtlUc8IwwGf8gsnK
o2UZHII%2Fmu01CUZqeSJgz3EN%2FMMhjj%0AEgQW5TnMphNQdtLcA606FCk1JAyEbvCETVW9jRH
s3Okrl2MNMklCjMAkfl2o9yDVBQr%2FkOo%2FP6zZ%0Afud96ruyiw0yIPu2guIdWu%2FX6LTmyV
nXWNGh%2Fm9iR4xl6zBHB3tq4PNfTyeVprLagG44AMKk6oHV%0AWnMGf8gsnKo2UZHII%2Fmu01C
UbsqjBqu0q2DgWgR%2BTs%2BPOAZ%2FyCycqjZRkcgj%2Ba7TUJRrbmOLMUIR%0AE72b8FpwdNkH
nl6t7YmGv%2BcemxqrcSKyvsR34fYrnDvY7hF%2FU92hkxXyNv62J3huuhW59TgjYtR5%0A2icoV
1fJMBowsBmwmhJarjZR4BmwxycXEy%2FXuVyX%2BmrEd%2BH2K5w72O4Rf1PdoZMV8jb%2Btid4b
roV%0AufU4I2LUedonKFdXyTAaMLAZsJoSWq42UeAZsMcnF27XAbarHH1gCxk4GP5soCjfgtPNuP
BFLg%3D%3D.

"More than half a dozen states are considering legislation to offer private
school vouchers for students with disabilities. They are looking to join
the ranks of four others-Arizona, Florida, Ohio, and Utah-that already offer
that school choice option. Supporters say that such vouchers are an
important safety valve for parents when public schools don't offer programs
to meet those students' specialized needs. But opponents warn that parents
who take advantage of those vouchers may be giving up procedural protections
guaranteed to their children under the federal Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act. They also argue that vouchers for students with disabilities
lay the groundwork for universal voucher programs that would drain money
from public education-and point to Utah's experience as an example. In that
state, the 2-year-old Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarship entitles
students with disabilities to receive up to $6,042 a year for private school
tuition. Utah's governor on Feb. 12 signed into law a measure making
vouchers available to all students in the state, though the program is
expected to face legal challenges. ("Utah's Broad Voucher Program Could Face
Challenge," </ew/articles/2007/02/21/24utah.h26.html> Feb. 21, 2007.) "The
Utah program is enormously significant," said Marc Egan, the director of
federal affairs for the National School Boards Association, in Alexandria,
Va. "It unmasked the whole push for vouchers. The end goal has always been
full-scale private school vouchers for all kids." Jeanne Allen, the
president of the Center for Education Reform, a Washington group that
advocates charter schools and other forms of school choice, rejects that
claim. The supporters of vouchers are just as diverse in their goals as the
supporters of traditional education, she maintained. "I don't think that
most people see this as a camel's nose into the tent," Ms. Allen said. Most
of those proposals are in their earliest stages, as in Nevada, where bills
are pending before committees in both chambers of the legislature. "It's
another opportunity for parents to take control of their child's education,"
said Assemblywoman Valerie E. Weber, the Republican who introduced the
measure. Some states are further along in the process. In Georgia, the
Special Needs Scholarship Act passed the Senate in January and is under
consideration by the House. Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, one of
the sponsors, predicts a close vote for the program, which would offer
students a scholarship equal to the cost of the educational program the
student would have received in public school. "There's all these problems,
all these myths about vouchers," said Mr. Johnson, a Republican. But he said
that lawmakers seem to recognize that students with disabilities "may
seriously have unique needs that the regular schools can't meet." Florida
set the precedent for such vouchers with the Florida McKay Scholarship. The
7-year-old program provided an average scholarship amount in 2005-06 of
$7,000 that parents of students with disabilities could use to pay tuition
at a private school of their choice. About 17,300 students participated in
the program during that academic year. "It's definitely a growing movement.
Florida paved the way for us to look at choice in a variety of different
ways," said the Center for Education Reform's Ms. Allen. These programs
"have become more popular and increasingly accepted by more diverse
constituencies," she said. Matt Warner, the education task force director
for the American Legislative Exchange Council, a Washington-based
association for conservative state lawmakers, said his group provides model
legislation on special-needs vouchers. "As states have experience with
these voucher programs, they'll see that they're not a bogeyman at all," Mr.
Warner said. "In fact, these are the great equalizers." Mr. Egan, however,
views such programs as a way of smoothing the path for the acceptance of
universal vouchers, which his group, the NSBA, opposes. "To us, it's more
of a political strategy on the part of the voucher supporters to go for
these more targeted programs," he said. ..."

20. "First Impressions: Computer Model Behaves Like Humans on Visual
Categorization Task" dated 28 March 2007 in a press release from the
McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) </institutions/view/?id=7748> at
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/528473/.

"Computers can usually out-compute the human brain, but there are some
tasks, such as visual object recognition, that the brain performs easily yet
are very challenging for computers. The brain has a much more sophisticated
and swift visual processing system than even the most advanced artificial
vision system, giving us an uncanny ability to extract salient information
after just a glimpse that is presumably too fleeting for conscious thought.
To explore this phenomenon, neuroscientists have long used rapid
categorization tasks, in which subjects indicate whether an object from a
specific class (such as an animal) is present or not in the image. Now, in
a new MIT study, a computer model designed to mimic the way the brain itself
processes visual information performs as well as humans do on rapid
categorization tasks. The model even tends to make similar errors as humans,
possibly because it so closely follows the organization of the brain's
visual system. "We created a model that takes into account a host of
quantitative anatomical and physiological data about visual cortex and tries
to simulate what happens in the first 100 milliseconds or so after we see an
object," explained senior author Tomaso Poggio of the McGovern Institute for
Brain Research at MIT. "This is the first time a model has been able to
reproduce human behavior on that kind of task." The study, issued on line in
advance of the April 10, 2007 Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences ( PNAS), stems from a collaboration between computational
neuroscientists in Poggio's lab and Aude Oliva, a cognitive neuroscientist
in the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. This new study
supports a long-held hypothesis that rapid categorization happens without
any feedback from cognitive or other areas of the brain. The results also
indicate that the model can help neuroscientists make predictions and drive
new experiments to explore brain mechanisms involved in human visual
perception, cognition, and behavior. Deciphering the relative contribution
of feed-forward and feedback processing may eventually help explain
neuropsychological disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. The model
also bridges the gap between the world of artificial intelligence (AI) and
neuroscience because it may lead to better artificial vision systems and
augmented sensory prostheses. ..."

21. "Autism can't bend subdivision rules- Covenants anger parents who need
fences to protect kids" dated 28 March 2007 by Peggy Lim from The News &
Observer at http://www.newsobserver.com/150/story/558309.html.

"Hunter Guyader, 2, shows signs of autism, and he is a climber. He broke out
of his crib when he was 11 months old. He almost fell from an upstairs
window while scaling a couch. Michele and Rene Guyader hoped to build a
6-foot fence to keep their fast-growing boy from falling into a sewage drain
hole at the back of their steeply sloping lot. The homeowners association of
their Clayton subdivision turned them down. Although a U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention study released in February says that about 1
in 150 children born in the nation have autism or a related disorder,
getting accommodations for such children can still be a struggle in private
neighborhoods. A privacy fence that tall "just creates a wall," said Rob
Bailey of the architectural review committee. The Guyaders appealed the
decision based on their son's special needs. "It's not, 'Gee, I want a
6-foot fence because I don't like my neighbors,'" said Michele Guyader. "I
like my neighbors, but I also like my son, and I want to see him safe."
North Carolina is one of only six states the federal government has
certified for incorporating Americans With Disabilities Act accessibility
guidelines in building codes. But such rules are geared toward public or
commercial buildings or dwellings such as hotels, dormitories and nursing
homes. They specify widths for wheelchair-accessible toilet stalls, heights
for water fountains or the minimum percentage of units in apartment
complexes that should be accessible. Backyard fences, though, aren't
mentioned. "ADA regulations only apply to public facilities," Theresa
Cathey, president of TLC Management of Raleigh, told the Guyaders in an
e-mail message after they appealed. A few days later, the Guyaders received
a letter denying their initial request. Telling a family with an autistic
child they can't put up a fence is akin to telling someone in a wheelchair
he can't have a ramp up to his front door, said lawyer Greg McGrew of Apex.
McGrew fought his Dogwood Ridge homeowners association in 2001 for
permission to build a 5-foot-tall fence. "My son at the time was an escape
artist," McGrew said. "Turn your back, and he'd be gone." Jacob, then 5,
had already been diagnosed with autism. Even though autism is not a physical
disorder, McGrew said, parents must often take physical measures to keep
children with the disability safe, such as having an alarm system on their
doors. Jacob had clambered over a 4-foot-tall fence at a previous home.
McGrew and his wife were so desperate to put up a taller fence at their new
residence, they went ahead and installed one without permission because the
homeowners association was dragging its feet. The homeowners association in
turn threatened to sue. "By all means, let's go," McGrew said. With help
from Carolina Legal Assistance, a nonprofit agency that represents clients
with mental disability, McGrew eventually got the association to back down.
Four of five association board members resigned after the tiff, McGrew said.
McGrew later became homeowners association president and president of the
Carolina Legal Assistance board of directors. Bailey, the architectural
review committee member in the Guyaders' neighborhood, said he was not fully
aware of the son's condition until contacted by a reporter. He would
consider a 4-foot-tall fence, topped with a see-through lattice. The
Guyaders aren't sure yet that will work. They argue an exception to the
covenant is warranted because they didn't know of their son's condition
before moving into Cobblestone subdivision about a year ago. ..."

22. "School vaccine exemptions put kids at risk " dated 30 March 2007 by
Anne Harding from Reuters at
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070330/hl_nm/vaccine_exemptions_dc.

"Rules that allow parents to exempt their children from immunization
requirements for "philosophical" reasons are putting all kids at risk of
outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease, Arkansas researchers warn. Since
2003, when the state began allowing these exemptions from school vaccine
rules, rising numbers of children have been going without immunization, Dr.
Joseph W. Thompson of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement in Little
Rock and colleagues found. Arkansas had previously allowed exemption from
vaccine requirements for religious or medical reasons, but parents had to
belong to a "recognized religion that included tenets against immunization"
for the exemption to be allowed, Thompson and colleagues explain in the
American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Parents challenged the law, and a
federal court ruled that requiring a religion to be "recognized" was not
constitutional. Arkansas now allows religious, philosophical and medical
exemptions, which must be renewed annually. Since the change, Thompson and
his team found, the number of exemptions requested by parents has steadily
risen, while the percentage of exemptions that are non-medical has made up
an increasingly large portion of the total. For example, in 2001 (when the
philosophical exemption was not available) there were 419 religious
exemptions and 110 medical exemptions statewide. In 2004-2005, there were
721 philosophical exemptions, 362 religious exemptions, and 62 medical
exemptions. And in the 10 districts with the highest exemption rates, none
were medical. In order for vaccines to be effective, Thompson noted, they
must provide an individual with immunity, and they must also provide "herd"
immunity by covering a certain percentage of people in the community,
estimated to be at least 93 percent for measles, for example.
"Concentrations of children who are not immunized could result in a loss of
community-level immunity and ultimately erode public health protection
against vaccine-preventable illness," the researchers warn. "Nationwide
we're seeing parents increasingly undervalue the protection that vaccines
give because the diseases they have never seen," Thompson said. "When polio
affected a child in every school, the polio vaccine was rapidly adopted."
According to Thompson, policymakers and medical professionals need to do a
better job of informing parents about the risks and benefits of vaccines.
"Just throwing information at them without putting it in the context of what
their concerns are probably is not going to be very valuable."

23. "Number of minority children placed in special-ed programs increasing"
dated 30 March 2007 by DWIGHT R. WORLEY <MAILTO:DWORLEY@...> from THE
JOURNAL NEWS at
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070330/NEWS01/703
300426.

"Alvin McKinney spent eight of his 12 years in Yonkers schools in
special-education programs. The resource room classes helped him learn new
study techniques and graduate on time last year, but his mother, Regina
Brown, was concerned that the program would affect her son's self-esteem and
was overused by administrators, particularly for black males. "When I
visited schools in Yonkers, it was primarily black males in these classes,"
she said. "I find it hard to believe that many African-American males need
this service." Brown and McKinney's story was just one of several shared
yesterday by people attending the African American Men of Westchester's
annual "Plight of the Black Males in Education" conference. Hundreds of
parents, students, activists and educators gathered last night at Iona
College to hear a group of experts discuss the reasons they say a
disproportionate number of black males are placed in classes for
learning-disabled or emotionally troubled students. The discussion also
touched on the small numbers of black males in Advanced Placement or honors
classes. Yvette Goorevitch, director of special education and alternative
programs in the New Rochelle school district, said the number of minority
children being placed in special-education programs is increasing. "The
racial representation of children receiving special-education services for
mid to moderate disabilities is increasing at disproportionate rates," she
said during the two-hour panel discussion. "We need to discuss it and we
need to find solutions to it." While race might play a part, poverty plays
a larger role in the increased numbers of children funneled into special
education, said Harry Phillips, a member of the state Board of Regents.
"The whole process of classifying special education is almost racially
biased, not on purpose, but it ends up that way," he said. "Two-thirds of
the problem is poverty." During a question-and-answer period, many in
attendance said schools often have low expectations for young black males.
Some expressed frustration as they discussed the failings of the educational
system to motivate young black males and the hopelessness some teens feel as
they are told they are not as intelligent and can't achieve. That's the
message that Antonio Gonzalez of Waterbury, Conn., said he and his twin
brother received when they were placed in special education in the first
grade because of a learning disability. "They thought we wouldn't make it
and would eventually drop out," said Gonzalez, now a high school senior. He
and his brother left special education in the eighth grade, he said. "Now
I'm in honors classes and ranked 18th in my class. I wanted to prove them
wrong," he said. ..."

24. "Glaxo asks Cervarix approval- The cervical-cancer vaccine would
compete with Merck's Gardasil. Cost is a major issue" dated 30 March 2007 by
Thomas Ginsberg from The Philadephia Inquirer at
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20070330_Glaxo_asks_Cervarix_approva
l.html.

'The race for prestige and profits in cervical-cancer vaccines intensified
yesterday when GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C. formally asked U.S. regulators to
approve its vaccine, Cervarix. The long-expected application to the Food
and Drug Administration - for use in adolescent girls and possibly young
women - puts Cervarix at least 16 months behind Merck & Co. Inc., maker of
Gardasil. Cervarix has been tested and prepared for market partly at
GlaxoSmithKline facilities in Upper Merion and Philadelphia, part of the
U.S. headquarters of the London-based company. Gardasil is made and marketed
in West Point, Montgomery County, home to the vaccine division of Merck,
which has headquarters in Whitehouse Station, N.J. Both vaccines have been
shown to completely block at least two strains of the human papillomavirus,
or HPV, blamed for roughly 70 percent of cervical cancers. HPV is carried
by hundreds of millions of men and women worldwide. Each year, the cervical
cancer it causes kills about 4,000 women in the United States and 270,000
worldwide, where Pap smears to detect and treat it are rarer. Both
vaccines' huge health benefits, however, have been mirrored by unusual and
sometimes controversial marketing campaigns as the companies compete for a
global market expected to be worth $2 billion to $4 billion within three
years. Merck, first to market with Gardasil last June, has triggered a
backlash over its state-by-state lobbying for mandatory-vaccination laws.
Mandatory vaccination, besides saving more lives, could significantly boost
sales, up to half paid by taxpayers. Sexual-abstinence groups and vaccine
skeptics have opposed mandatory-vaccine laws, saying parents should decide
individually. Some experts also have voiced concern that such laws could
lead to fewer Pap screens. In making the case for its vaccine, Merck has
said Gardasil prevents genital warts and other dangerous HPV strains. The
firm is also studying Gardasil's use in boys. GlaxoSmithKline counters that
Cervarix is more powerful and may prevent up to 80 percent of cancers,
thanks to the company's proprietary adjuvant, AS04, a key booster
ingredient. It also is funding an unusual head-to-head comparison to try to
prove Cervarix is more potent than Gardasil. And then there is the price.
At $360 for a three-shot course, Gardasil is the most expensive vaccine ever
marketed, part of an industry effort to push up profit margins in the
notoriously risky business. GlaxoSmithKline declined to disclose what it
would charge for Cervarix, if approved as expected sometime between October
and January. Doctors and policymakers who expect competition automatically
to bring down vaccine prices are likely to be disappointed, at least
initially. ..."

25. "Special-ed kids fit with schoolmates- Valley View mixes students; all
learn from each other" dated 31 March 2007 by CONNIE LLANOS from the Daily
News at http://www.dailynews.com/ci_5567485.

"As he slowly lifted the basketball, the boy's fingers tensed. His arms
lifted for the launch and his lips curled into a smile. Claps and whistles
followed from the crowd, sharing a piece of this accomplishment. Playing
catch is more than a game for Jeremy Chalebek. A few months ago, this
11-year-old could barely hold a ball. A brain tumor when Jeremy was just 7
weeks old left him with multiple disabilities - he can't talk, he uses a
wheelchair and he's developmentally delayed. But the hours Jeremy has spent
playing catch as part of his daily interaction with able-bodied clasmates
were on full display one sunny Thursday at Valley View Elementary School in
Newhall, where educators are breaking ground with innovative programs that
blend special education with mainstream learning. "We used to have another
school across the hall with its own teachers, principals and office staff,
and now we are one, created with an ideal of 100 percent integration
participation," Valley View Principal Gail Abril said. Before the merger,
the Los Angeles County Office of Education ran the regional education
program for severely disabled children like Jeremy, kids who were isolated
from other children by their disabilities. Local schools and parent
advocates decided they wanted to take back their special-education program.
Each elementary school district took in a specific area of disability -
Valley View in the Sulphur Springs School District educates the severely
disabled and medically fragile children. Despite state legislation
supporting the integration of children with disabilities into mainstream
classrooms, many special-education students are still separated from the
other kids. That split convinced Abril to make her school a model for
blending the two. "I remember when it was one teacher tapping me on the
shoulder to bring their class in for reading with the special-education
students," she said. "It was done in isolation. "Now all my teachers know
that they have to participate in integration and they want to. Teachers meet
together for faculty meetings and discuss the kids' progress, students are
together at assemblies and they travel to each others' classes." ..."

26. "Vaccinations Not Immune From Critics- Despite Societal Benefits,
Vaccines Are Stirring Concern About Alleged Side Effects" dated 1 April 2007
from CBS News at
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/01/sunday/main2635032.shtml.

"Eleanor and Mark Tremblay have trouble looking at their son, Oliver, who is
8 years old and severely autistic, without saying to themselves, "if
only...." As they play the videos showing how Ollie was before, they think,
if only they could just rewind their lives; if only they could skip that
shot: the measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations they believe caused their
son's autism, although there is no conclusive evidence. Dr. James Dale, a
professor of medicine at the University of Tennessee's health science center
in Memphis, has spent more than 30 years working to perfect a vaccine to
prevent streptococcus, the infection that causes strep throat and, in its
more virulent forms, so-called flesh-eating disease and rheumatic fever.
"There is risk with vaccines, but the benefits far, far outweigh the risks,"
Dr. Dale told Sunday Morning correspondent Martha Teichner. "If we can
reduce the incidence of acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease by
half in the world, that's where the real personal payoff would come." On
one side you have Dr. Dale, determined to save millions of children - and on
the other, the Tremblays, heartbroken over the fate of one boy. Between them
you have the story of vaccines: The greater good versus the risk, no matter
how small, to the individual. It's a debate that began in this country
nearly three hundred years ago over smallpox. "It was a disease that would
sweep through cities and infect, you know, tens of thousands of people at a
time, and it would kill 20, 30, 50 percent of them," said journalist Arthur
Allen, the author of "Vaccine, the Controversial Story of Medicine's
Greatest Lifesaver." "The first form of smallpox vaccine came from China
and India where it was used for centuries and it entered the U.S. in 1721.
Cotton Mather actually brought it to the United States." Mather was a
hellfire and brimstone Puritan preacher from Boston. His house was
firebombed when he urged Bostonians to try scratching live smallpox
infection into their skin. In 1796, British country doctor Edward Jenner
confirmed that milkmaids, exposed to a much milder cowpox virus, were immune
to smallpox. Millions of people finally dared to be vaccinated with Jenner's
cowpox serum. The term vaccinate comes from the Latin word for cow, vacca.
"Confidence in vaccines and mistrust in vaccines goes in waves," Allen said.
"And also, another element is really the seriousness of the disease. I mean,
when the polio vaccine came out in 1955, it came into a country that was
petrified of polio." The conquest of polio became a national crusade.
"Millions of Americans participated in the March of Dimes," Allen said.
"They literally sent their dimes to the White House." In 1955, the
announcement was made that Jonas Salk's polio vaccine worked. The fact that
200 people were paralyzed after getting the shot and ten died, was
overlooked. "Jonas Salk, you know, was a god," Allen said. "Church bells
were ringing around the country. People were embracing in the street. It was
a moment of unmitigated jubilation around the country." Now they're
protesting. Last month, there was a rally in Washington against the new
human papilloma virus vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. ..."

27. "Program's Creator Is Hired to Assess It" dated 1 April 2007 from The
Associated Press at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/31/AR2007033100
824.html.

"The government contractor that set up a billion-dollar-a-year federal
reading program for the Education Department and failed, according to the
department's inspector general, to keep it free of conflicts of interest is
one of the companies now evaluating the program. Reading First, part of
President Bush's signature No Child Left Behind education law, provides
intense reading help to low-income children in the early elementary grades.
RMC Research Corp. was hired to establish and implement the program starting
in 2002, under three contracts worth about $40 million. Recently, the
Education Department's inspector general reported that RMC failed to keep
the program free of conflicts of interest. For example, RMC did not screen
subcontractors for relationships with publishers of reading programs. Now,
Reading First is in the midst of a congressionally mandated evaluation under
a 2003 contract with a team that includes RMC, based in Portsmouth, N.H.
Lawmakers who have been investigating the Reading First program criticized
the connection. "If it's true that RMC was also hired to evaluate the
effectiveness of the very program it was hired to help implement, then the
conflict of interest could not be any clearer," Rep. George Miller
(D-Calif.), chairman of the House education committee, said Friday. "It's a
classic case of the fox guarding the chicken coop," said Sen. Edward M.
Kennedy (D-Mass.), who chairs the Senate education committee. The inspector
general found that federal officials intervened to influence state and local
decisions about reading programs, a potential violation of the law. RMC did
not return calls seeking comment. Nor did Abt Associates, a contractor based
in Cambridge, Mass., that hired RMC as a subcontractor. ..."

28. "Kennedy Krieger Institute Launches First National Online Autism
Registry- The Interactive Autism Network to Accelerate Autism Research by
Linking Researchers and Families Nationwide" dated 2 April 2007 in a press
release from Autism Speaks at
http://www.autismspeaks.org/press/ian_launch.php.

"Kennedy Krieger Institute today announced the launch of the Interactive
Autism Network (IAN) - the first national online autism registry - at
www.IANproject.org <http://www.ianproject.org/> . Parents are filled with
questions about autism, and, unfortunately, researchers are still struggling
with many of the same questions. IAN brings these two groups together in a
way that's never been done before, through an online registry, to find
answers. Designed to drive autism research forward more quickly and
efficiently, IAN will facilitate the exploration of causes, treatments and
the search for a possible cure to this puzzling disorder. The Kennedy
Krieger project is spearheaded by the husband and wife research team of Drs.
Paul and Kiely Law, physicians by training and parents of a 13-year-old son
with autism. The IAN project will link researchers to parents, the people
who know the most about their child, in two important ways:
* Data Collection -Parents of children with autism will be engaged
online, providing valuable genealogical, environmental and treatment data
without having to leave their home or office. By the end of the year, IAN's
goal is to have the largest pool of family-provided data on autism, enabling
researchers to explore hypotheses and search for parallels among affected
children in ways that have not been previously possible.
* Research Recruitment -IAN will match parents of children with autism
with local and national IRB-approved research studies for which they are
uniquely qualified. Each year, many autism studies are not completed because
scientists cannot find enough qualified participants in a timely manner. By
facilitating the process of research recruitment, IAN aims to remove this
stumbling block.
"Parents are looking for a more direct way to get involved and speed up
autism research, hoping for effective treatments and eventually a cure,"
said Dr. Paul Law, Director, Interactive Autism Network at the Kennedy
Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. "IAN will fill that research gap
for parents and researchers, transforming the face of autism research as we
know it." Among the families who registered during the IAN pilot phase, 80%
had never participated in any autism research. The IAN project will utilize
the power and reach of the Internet, which is widely available regardless of
income, education, race and ethnicity, to significantly increase family
participation. In the long-term, this new research approach may impact not
only autism research, but how other disease states are studied as well. To
protect participant confidentiality, the data collection and management
processes throughout the site are carefully designed to ensure privacy and
maintain the highest level of medical and scientific research ethics. In
addition to collecting data and recruiting participants for research, the
IAN project hopes to engage the entire autism community - from parents to
policy makers to the media - in an online meeting place where they can
become more knowledgeable consumers of autism research. This arm of the IAN
project provides consumer-friendly, evidence-based information about autism,
explains the value of research in general, and gives updates on current and
future research studies. "By linking parents and researchers, the IAN
project aims to organize and mobilize autism research efforts in hopes of
achieving results similar to the leukemia community," said Dr. Gary
Goldstein, President and CEO of the Kennedy Krieger Institute. "Thirty years
ago, the majority of children with leukemia died. Today, the majority
survive because increased participation by a very organized research
community led to discoveries of new and better treatments." IAN is funded
by a grant from Autism Speaks, a non-profit organization dedicated to
increasing awareness about the growing autism health crisis and raising
funds for critical autism research. "We are proud to be funding this
important initiative and excited about its potential to not only collect
critical data, but also connect families and researchers nationwide in order
to speed the search for the causes, better treatments and a cure for
autism," said Mark Roithmayr, president of Autism Speaks."

29. "Young children not responding is autism sign: study" dated 2 April
2007 from Reuters at
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070402/hl_nm/children_autism_dc_4 and
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17920545.

"A child's failure to respond to his or her name at one year of age may be
an early warning sign of autism or other developmental problems, researchers
reported on Monday. The finding is significant because "earlier
identification of autism offers the possibility of early intervention, which
holds promise for improving outcomes," said the report from the University
of California Davis in Sacramento. "...This has motivated a growing body of
research that aims to ascertain the earliest reliable indicators of autism."
The study, published in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and
Adolescent Medicine, involved 101 children age one whose older siblings had
autism, and who were therefore considered at risk. They were compared to 46
infants of the same age who were not believed to be at high risk of
developing the disorder. With each child seated at a table with a small
toy, a researcher walked behind and called his or her name in a clear voice.
If the child did not respond after three seconds, the name was called again
no more than twice. All of the infants in the low-risk group responded to
their name on the first or second call, the study said, compared to 86
percent in the at-risk group. For up to two years afterward the researchers
followed 46 of the infants from the at-risk group and 25 from the low-risk
group. They found that three-quarters of those who did not respond to their
name at age 12 months had developmental problems at age 2. Of the children
later diagnosed with autism, half had failed the test at one year, and of
those who were identified as having any type of developmental delay, 39
percent had failed the name recognition test, the report said. While the
test will not find all children at risk for developmental problems, it is
easy to administer, takes few resources and doctors might want to include it
in child check-ups at age one, the study said. In a related article in the
same journal, researchers at Abt Associates Inc., Lexington, Massachusetts,
and Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, said an analysis of medical
literature and surveys found that each person with autism costs U.S. society
about $3.2 million over his or her lifetime. The figure includes such
factors as lost productivity for children and their parents, care for
victims as adults, prescription medications, special education and
behavioral therapies."

30. "Merit-based rewards for teachers pushed on Hill" dated 2 April 2007 by
Amy Fagan from THE WASHINGTON TIMES at
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070401-111515-6027r.htm.

"Rewarding effective teachers with more pay has bipartisan support on
Capitol Hill as about a dozen House members pushed a bill last week that
would help states and localities set up merit-based pay systems for
educators. "If we are intent on placing a high-quality teacher in every
U.S. classroom, then we must be willing to support innovative, locally
driven concepts such as performance pay for teachers and principals," said a
letter in support of the bill, distributed to House members last week by
Republican Reps. Tom Price of Georgia and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon of
California. The bill has 12 co-sponsors, including two Democrats, and would
establish in law the Teacher Incentive Fund, which was created by the Bush
administration in fiscal 2006. The program would provide grants to help
develop performance-based pay systems that reward teachers and principals
who boost student achievement levels and close achievement gaps. The fund
received about $99 million in 2006, and administration officials doled out
about half of that, but Congress essentially zeroed out funding in 2007 as a
cost-cutting measure. So now, the administration and Republicans are
working to give the fund more legitimacy and permanency, which is why the
administration is seeking $199 million in 2008 funding and Mr. Price and Mr.
McKeon introduced their bill. Taking steps to move to performance-based pay
systems for teachers is contentious, especially with teachers' unions. But
the idea appears to have growing bipartisan support, including key Democrats
such as House education panel Chairman George Miller of California. At a
Brookings Institution event last week, Mr. Miller answered a critic of
performance-based pay, by telling him: "When I talk to teachers, they don't
think it's such a terrible idea."
He added, "People are entitled to be rewarded. ... They have different
levels of talent." Lawmakers do debate the details though, and one key
question they face is how exactly teachers' effectiveness would be measured.
Rep. Michael N. Castle, Delaware Republican, said teachers often ask him who
will judge their performance. "That's one of the hurdles that's got to be
overcome," he said. The Teacher Incentive Fund doesn't tell states or
localities how to set the reward systems -- which could include bonuses or
raises. The idea is to recruit and retain effective teachers, especially in
subjects such as math and science. Supporters of the new bill hope to add
more Republicans and Democrats as sponsors, and ideally, they would like to
include it as part of overall legislation to renew the No Child Left Behind
Act this year. They realize that will be a challenge though. "This is one
of those programs that has broad, broad support, but because the teachers
unions are opposed, Democratic leadership will not cross them," said one
Republican aide. Mr. Miller hasn't signed onto the new bill, but he and
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts have their own broad bill that
includes a similar performance-pay program for teachers."

31. "Autism costs society an estimated $3M per patient" dated 2 April 2007
in a press release from Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine at
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-04/jaaj-acs032907.php.

"Each individual with autism accrues about $3.2 million in costs to society
over his or her lifetime, with lost productivity and adult care being the
most expensive components, according to a report in the April issue of
Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, a theme issue on autism
spectrum disorders. Autism costs society more than $35 billion in direct
and indirect expenses each year, according to background information in the
article. Relatively little is known about when these costs occur across the
lifetime of an individual with autism. Michael L. Ganz, M.S., Ph.D., Abt
Associates Inc., Lexington, Mass., and Harvard School of Public Health,
Boston, used data from the medical literature and from national surveys to
estimate the direct medical and non-medical costs of autism, including
prescription medications, adult care, special education and behavioral
therapies. Approximate indirect costs, including lost productivity of both
individuals with autism and their parents, were calculated by projecting
average earnings and benefits at each age, adjusted for the fact that some
autistic individuals can work in supported environments. Only costs directly
linked to autism, and no medical or non-medical costs that would be incurred
by individuals with or without autism, were included. These costs were
projected across the lifetime of a hypothetical group of individuals born in
2000 and diagnosed with autism in 2003. Costs estimates were broken down
into age groups at five-year intervals, with the youngest group age 3 to 7
years and the oldest age 63 to 66 years. "Direct medical costs are quite
high for the first five years of life (average of around $35,000), start to
decline substantially by age 8 years (around $6,000) and continue to decline
through the end of life to around $1,000," Dr. Ganz writes. "Direct
non-medical costs vary around $10,000 to approximately $16,000 during the
first 20 years of life, peak in the 23- to 27-year age range (around
$27,500) and then steadily decline to the end of life to around $8,000 in
the last age group. Indirect costs also display a similar pattern,
decreasing from around $43,000 in early life, peaking at ages 23 to 27 years
(around $52,000) and declining through the end of life to $0." Over an
individual's life, lost productivity and other indirect costs make up 59.3
percent of total autism-related costs. Direct medical costs comprise 9.7
percent of total costs; the largest medical cost, behavioral therapy,
accounts for 6.5 percent of total costs. Non-medical direct costs such as
child care and home modifications comprise 31 percent of total lifetime
costs. Because these costs are incurred by different segments of society
at different points in an autistic patient's life, a detailed understanding
of these expenses could help planners, policymakers and families make
decisions about autism care and treatment, Dr. Ganz notes. "Although autism
is typically thought of as a disorder of childhood, its costs can be felt
well into adulthood," he concludes. "These results may imply that physicians
and other care professionals should consider recommending that parents of
children with autism seek financial counseling to help plan for the
transition into adulthood."

32. "Older parents more likely to have an autistic child" dated 3 April
2007 by Anthony J. Brown, MD from Reuters at
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17920545.

"Advanced maternal age and paternal age are both risk factors for having a
child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a large study indicates.
However, the researchers emphasize that risk of having a child with an ASD
is very small, even for the oldest parents. "A number of studies have
looked at the impact of maternal age on autism, but the results have been
inconsistent. Paternal age has been much less studied," lead author Dr. Lisa
A. Croen told Reuters Health. "Our findings support a link between advanced
(parental) age and autism, although the effect on risk is small." According
to Croen, from Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California, the new findings do
not make a strong argument for or against having children at a younger age.
The study, which is reported in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent
Medicine, involved all singleton children who were born at Kaiser Permanente
between 1995 and 1999. Of the children studied, 593 were later diagnosed
with an ASD and 132,251 were not. With each 10-year increase in the
mothers' age the ASD risk rose by 31 percent, while for 10-year increments
in the fathers' age it went up by 28 percent. Compared with parents between
25 and 29 years of age, mothers and fathers who were 40 years of age or
older were 27 percent and 52 percent more likely, respectively, to have a
child with an ASD. The link between advanced parental age and ASD risk was
stronger for girls than for boys, but the association was not statistically
significant. Croen said that she was not surprised by the findings given
previous reports supporting a link and the fact that a number of childhood
diseases are associated with advanced parental age. She added that her group
has now explored this topic further using data from the entire state of
California and plans to submit these findings shortly for publication."

33. "Monsanto Declares War on 'rBGH-free' Dairies" dated 3 April 2007 in a
press release from the Organic Consumers Association at
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_4698.cfm.

"Monsanto issued a lie filled press release today formally asking the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to
punish dairies that label their milk "rBGH-free" (See Below). Monsanto has a
long history of trying to intimidate independent-minded dairies and bottlers
who do not want use their dangerous growth hormones. We believe that
Monsanto feels threatened by increasing consumer demand for rBGH-free milk,
the increasing number of dairies that label milk "rBGH-free", and the
increasing number of farmer who have rejected rBGH, and is attempting to use
the Federal Government as tool of intimidation. ..."

34. "Ruby Van Meter motivates disabled- Beyond individualized classroom
curriculums, special-needs students tap local firms to learn work and
transportation skills" dated 3 April 2007 by KRISTIN DANLEY-GREINER from the
Des Moines Register at
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070403/NEWS/704030
304/1001/NEWS.

"At a time when schools across the country were turning away students with
special needs, the Des Moines public school district launched Ruby Van
Meter, a school designed to meet the instructional needs of students facing
a variety of challenges. To this day, students who attend Ruby Van Meter
find a school "designed to motivate and permit students to become successful
and participating citizens following graduation," said Gretchen Reilly,
school social worker. "It helps to ensure that students with mental
disabilities who would not be well served in our comprehensive middle and
high school programs have access to an education appropriate to their
needs," Reilly said. Nowhere else in Iowa, she added, "is there such a
large concentration of professionals committed to the education of
adolescents and young adults with mental disabilities. The staff of
approximately 110 individuals have the shared goal of creating a learning
environment that meets the needs of each student." Ruby Van Meter also
employs a variety of specialists - such as speech and language pathologists,
behavior interventionist, curriculum specialist, and physical and
occupational therapists - who help implement individualized programs.
Learning at Ruby Van Meter also extends beyond the classroom. Students can
access special programs at Central Campus, learn work skills at
approximately 20 local businesses and organizations, learn consumer skills
at area businesses and learn transportation skills through Des Moines Area
Regional Transit. However, the face of Ruby Van Meter has changed over
time, those affiliated with the school say. More students have behavioral or
emotional needs than in the past, and more exhibit characteristics of autism
than 20 years ago. To meet students' needs, curriculum has changed and
there is more interaction in the community to provide social and vocational
training. Staff members receive more training, too, on issues ranging from
behavior management to communication systems for students unable to speak.
Parent Rebecca Cunningham, whose son Patrick, 18, attends Ruby Van Meter,
said she worried about where to send her son for school, but feels good
about the opportunities afforded to him there. "He gets to do a lot of
the things that all high schoolers get to do - be a member of the swim team,
the basketball team and feel good about himself," Cunningham said. Patrick
will remain at Ruby Van Meter until he turns 21, at which point he will
graduate. Cunningham said her son talks about what career he wants to pursue
and that Ruby Van Meter "does a really good job" of helping him focus on
appropriate positions. "He's considering food service, possibly at one of
the hospitals, or working in a local hotel in the laundry room," she said.
"Ruby Van Meter and Des Moines public schools offer the gold standard in
special education - it doesn't get any better than this. When I look at my
child when he entered the school and what a confident young man he has
become, it's amazing." ..."

35. "Santa Ana class-size dispute widens- More teachers say they were asked
to sign rosters making it seem their classes were smaller than they actually
were" dated 3 April 2007 by Seema Mehta from the Los Angeles Times at
http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-classsize3apr03,1,1443234.story?
coll=la-news-learning&ctrack=1&cset=true.

"Allegations that the Santa Ana Unified School District falsified documents
to retain state funding for small classes mushroomed Monday, with teachers
from more than half a dozen elementary schools saying they were asked to
sign inaccurate rosters to make their classes appear smaller. Meanwhile,
documents emerged showing that district officials, including Supt. Jane
Russo, had been aware of teachers' concerns about the rosters for more than
a month and that the teachers union was offered a series of inaccurate legal
justifications for the policy that created phantom classes. The
cash-strapped district could face a large financial hit if it fails to
submit documentation to state officials by May 4 showing that kindergarten
through third-grade classrooms maintained an average 20:1 student-teacher
ratio for the school year. The state already had given the district $16
million based on that assumption. The controversy became public last week
after a Times article detailed the district's attempt to meet the
20-students-per-teacher cap by creating separate class rosters and
apparently misusing substitute teachers to make it appear that class sizes
were reduced. The problem arose in part because class sizes didn't shrink
as expected. Eight teachers at Washington Elementary School acted as
whistle-blowers, stepping forward after they were asked to sign attendance
rosters that omitted several of their students. Documents revealed that
school officials created a second-grade roster of students for a class that
didn't exist. The phantom classroom appeared to reduce the number of
second-graders in existing classrooms - allowing the average class size to
fall below 20.5 and giving the district an additional $1,024 per student per
year. A substitute teacher was assigned to the nonexistent class, but
several teachers at the school said she spent only a few hours over the last
month in their classrooms instructing students on her roster. District
officials said last week that the problems were inadvertent and caused by a
shortage of substitute teachers, who were supposed to "team teach" with
full-time teachers. Since the initial story was published, teachers from
seven other Santa Ana elementary schools have come forward to union
officials or The Times with similar complaints. ..."

36. "National autism registry launches- Baltimore-based project aims to
help families, researchers" dated 4 April 2007 by Kelly Wiese from The
Associated Press at
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-autism0403,0,3655002.story?coll=
bal-local-headlines.

"When Paul and Kiely Law's son Isaac was diagnosed with autism 11 years ago,
it changed the path of their medical careers -- and spurred the creation of
a new national online tool they hope can revolutionize autism research. The
Laws spearheaded the formation of the Interactive Autism Network
<http://www.ianproject.org> , or IAN, a national registry that launched
Monday, through the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, where the couple
both work. Its target audience is huge: About one in 150 American children
has autism, U.S. health officials say. Autism is a complex disorder,
characterized by a wide range of behaviors, including insistence on
sameness, difficulty communicating and an inability to socialize. The
purpose of IAN is twofold. It provides a way for families with children
diagnosed with autism or a related disorder to share detailed information on
health and development, family history, environmental factors and treatments
to help researchers better understand the condition and what is working or
failing. It's a voluntary system, and families' personal information would
be confidential. The Laws also hope it can accelerate the pace of research
by making it easy for researchers to link up with willing families for a
study. "We can communicate in a very targeted and specific way to families
about research opportunities," Dr. Paul Law said. "This will solve one of
the biggest problems in the country in research today." He also hopes the
interactive online project can provide insight to doctors working to figure
out other medical conditions. "The idea of online registries has not
happened much in other fields. We're getting attention from some other
fields also," he said. "We're definitely blazing new trails for everybody."
The Web site also provides a community resource on the latest autism
research, and what it means, for families, policymakers and others
interested in the topic. The page also is intended to help families direct
researchers to areas they think need more focus. "When your child is first
diagnosed, you read everything you can find about autism and you still come
away with so many questions that are unanswered," Dr. Kiely Law said. "What
we all come to realize is the answers just don't exist, they're not known."
Some families began providing information to the registry on a pilot basis,
and the Laws tweaked the system based on their experience. Among them was
Nancy Jacques, of San Jose, Calif., whose 11-year-old son Kenny was
diagnosed with autism just last year. Jacques said her family, like 80
percent of those who took part in the pilot phase of the registry, has never
been involved in research before. "I never knew how one would go about
signing up to be in a research group," she said. "Now I know because IAN
does that for us." Jacques also sees the registry as a valuable resource to
learn about new treatments and techniques that may be under way in one part
of the country but not promoted elsewhere. "I see that as a huge benefit
that's going to touch everyone's life. There may be treatments that are
really helping children but we parents may not know about it," she said.
..."

37. 'Kids With Asperger's Syndrome: 'Bullied on a Daily Basis-
High-Functioning Form of Autism Causes Social Awkwardness and Angst" dated 4
April 2007 by JOHN DONVAN, CAREN ZUCKER and ERIC JOHNSON from ABC News at
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3006889&page=1.

"Growing up, Daniel Corcoran was the odd kid at school. He wasn't slow, but
his coordination was off, and he tended to obsess on certain subjects, like
light bulbs and air conditioners. At the time, his preoccupations with
random objects seemed quirky, but harmless. But when Corcoran entered
middle school, his quirks were not accepted by many of his classmates and
his life became a social nightmare filled with name calling and other
cruelties. Corcoran is now out of middle school and a sophomore at Ramapo
College in Mahwah, N.J. His uncomfortable encounters persist, especially
after taking the dangerous step of "coming out," as he puts hit, with his
condition. Corcoran has Asperger's syndrome, and his decision to announce
the disorder yielded mixed results from his peers. Asperger's syndrome is a
form of high-functioning autism, characterized by social isolation and
eccentric behavior during childhood. "It means my brain is different,"
Corcoran said. Twelve-year-old Noah Orent also has Asperger's, and like
Corcoran, he's mild-mannered and began to get bullied at an early age. "I
was just merely called 'Game Boy freak' or stuff. There was one kid that was
the worst. He just called me names and he was not nice," Noah said. "He was
mean - mean to the bone. I was so mad that I couldn't let out my anger. I
was just like hiding it. I just didn't feel like being at that school
anymore." Noah is not alone, and some school systems are working on a
solution to the social angst that affects many with the disorder. Jed Baker,
a psychologist who works with many kids with Asperger's, found out the
situation for kids with the disorder was very severe. "In some areas, there
have been reports of 90 percent of kids with Asperger's are getting bullied
on a daily basis," he said. Baker consults for the Milburn New Jersey
Middle School, which has stepped up its focus on children with Asperger's
and other conditions. His primary mission is to build a healthy social
network of these kids. At Milburn, he partners children with Asperger's with
volunteers from the student body. ..."

38. "Civilians could be facing mandatory anthrax shots- Expert warns
government has 10 million doses for 'emergency" dated 4 April 2007 by Bob
Unruh from WorldNetDaily.com at
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54958.

"Not only has the highly controversial anthrax vaccine returned as mandatory
for members of the U.S. military, but now a medical expert who testified
before Congress on the dangers of those shots is warning that under some
circumstances civilians could be facing government-ordered anthrax
vaccinations. Dr. Meryl Nass, a diplomate of the American Board of Internal
Medicine, told WND that should there be another anthrax attack, such as the
powder-laden envelopes that arrived at a U.S. Senate office building and
other offices in 2001, such an order is legally and technically possible.
If a handful of people were to be exposed in an office building in Los
Angeles, for example, the government could issue an order for vaccination
for "everybody in the building, maybe everybody in Los Angeles. That's what
people now are facing," she said. The highly controversial shots were first
mandated for U.S. military troops heading to the Middle East for the Gulf
War in 1991, and again for the Iraq War in 2003. But according to
investigative journalist Gary Matsumoto's book, "Vacccine-A," many of the
military service members were given an experimental anthrax vaccine without
their knowledge or consent. There have even been questions raised by
medical experts about what was approved by the Food and Drug Administration
- and how it was approved - as well as the side effects that went
undocumented, and the thousands of cases of sometimes-horrific reactions
that allegedly have resulted. Matsumoto, a New York-based war correspondent
who won 10 journalism awards during his years working for NBC and Fox News
Channel, in 1998 drew a connection between the vaccine and the Gulf War
Syndrome. His book describes several cases, including an Army sergeant whose
skin became so diseased that doctors, in a desperate attempt to cure him,
removed every square inch of skin from his body. Then there was the Green
Beret colonel who suffered walking blackouts that left him unable to find
his way home, and the man whose brain literally shrank until he could no
longer write his name or walk straight. Matsumoto's book goes further than
the simple administration of medicine that somehow went wrong; he alleges
that members of government at the highest levels knew the drugs were
experimental and had not been tested adequately, but decided anyway to go
ahead and use the vaccine on 1.4 million members of the military. The
reason? Matsumoto claims the existing anthrax vaccine was too weak to confer
immunity in a timely way - on U.S. troops about to be deployed to Iraq a
week or two later, facing a possible threat of biological weapons in the
hands of Saddam Hussein. So a more potent, fast-acting vaccine was deemed
necessary, even if it meant using an untried formulation on America's
fighting forces, he says. ..."

39. "April Is Autism Awareness Month" dated 4 April 2007 by Michelle
Gabrielle Centamore from the Suffolk Life Newpapers at
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18167959&BRD=1776&PAG=461&dept_id=
6365&rfi=6.

"As part of National Autism Awareness Month, local politicians,
organizations that serve children with special needs and their families, and
others are stepping up to raise awareness for autism spectrum disorder, a
developmental disability that may cause significant impairments in social
interaction and communication, and can include the presence of unusual
behaviors and interests. According to the Centers for Disease Control, ASDs
include autistic disorder, pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise
specified, and Asperger syndrome, and affect one in 150 children. Although
there have been several advances in treatments and therapies for individuals
with autism, to date, there is no known cause or cure. "With the numbers
now at one in 150, we are in the midst of an epidemic," said Suffolk County
Legislator Steve Stern (D-Huntington), who recently declared April "Autism
Awareness Month" in Suffolk County. "We focus so heavily on so many other
disorders and diseases and, of course, all of them deserve our input and
participation and funding, but this is an epidemic, and it is time for all
levels of government to recognize that." According to Stern, Suffolk County
government will show its commitment to "the cause" by continuing to raise
awareness with presentations and partnerships with various agencies that
serve individuals with autism. But in order for "a widespread impact" to
occur, Stern said there needs to be ongoing cooperation on all levels of
government. "It is important for us at the county level to have a
meaningful dialogue with our federal officials as to how the funding
provided under the Combating Autism Act is going to be utilized and
distributed," Stern said. "We need to be proactive in securing our portion
of funding, for example, so that we can make sure we can meet the needs of
those with autism and their families in Suffolk County and make sure we are
doing all we can in terms of education, intervention, treatment, healthcare
and special needs programs." Based on feedback from local families, Stern
said that Suffolk County is doing an "outstanding job" of providing
services, especially in early intervention programs, which are geared for
children who are diagnosed before the age of three. "However," he said,
"that doesn't mean we can't improve." "The biggest challenge is helping a
diverse population with so many needs," said Christine Heeren, president of
the National Autism Association, Long Island, and director of the Long
Island Autism Conference, which, this year, will take place at the Hyatt
Regency Windwatch in Hauppauge on October 20-21. Heeren lives in Middle
Island with her seven-year-old son, Michael, who was diagnosed with autism
at two and a half years old. ..."

40. "Asperger's Syndrome: Separating Myth From Reality- Asperger's
Syndrome: Separating Myth From Reality" dated 4 April 2007 by DAN CHILDS
from ABC News at http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=3007734&page=1.

"In recent years, Asperger's syndrome has gained notoriety as a rare, yet
sometimes socially debilitating, syndrome. But despite recent attention,
many remain unaware of the true nature of this unusual disorder. To find
out more, we talked to two experts who study Asperger's and deal with
children who have the disorder. Wendy Stone is professor of pediatrics at
the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Treatment and Research Institute for Autism
Spectrum Disorders, while Henry Roane is a specialist in the treatment of
behaviors associated with autism and Asperger's at the Center for Autism
Spectrum Disorders at the Munroe-Meyer Institute in Omaha, Neb. What Is
Asperger's Syndrome? Though its symptoms were first identified in 1944,
Asperger's syndrome was not widely known until recently. In short, the
syndrome is a developmental disorder most often characterized by certain
social deficiencies or "quirks." This often includes an unusual
preoccupation with a particular subject, repetitive routines or rituals,
peculiar speech patterns, and other behaviors that may make interacting with
peers difficult. "Basically, you get an individual who might have a real
restricted repertoire of things they are interested in," Roane said, adding
that those with Asperger's may attempt to engage in conversations with
others that focus only on their particular area of interest to the exclusion
of all other topics. However, what separates this disorder from many others
is the fact that in most cases, those with Asperger's have normal, or even
above normal, intelligence. For this and other reasons, the underpinnings
of Asperger's remain a puzzle to researchers. "Right now, the cause is
largely unknown," Roane said. But though the exact causes of Asperger's
remain a mystery, studies suggest a genetic component to the disorder.
Researchers are trying to determine the gene or genes responsible, and
current evidence suggests that structural abnormalities in areas of the
brain that control interaction and behavior may be to blame. ..."

41. "Asperger's Syndrome Resources- More Information About Asperger's
Syndrome and the 'World News' and 'Nightline' Reports" dated 4 April 2007
from ABC News at http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3007970.

"The following Web site links provide more information about Asperger's
syndrome and autism. ..."

42. "Infants With Autistic Siblings May Display Early Social, Communication
Problems" dated 5 April 2007 in a press release from JAMA and Archives
Journals <http://www.jamamedia.org> at
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070402162051.htm.

"Younger siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders do not perform
as well on tests of social and communication development compared with
siblings of children without developmental problems at ages as young as 12
months, according to a report in the April issue of Archives of Pediatrics &
Adolescent Medicine, a theme issue on autism spectrum disorders. Studies of
twins and families indicate that autism and related disorders have a genetic
basis, according to background information in the article. This includes
milder conditions known as the "broader autism phenotype," consisting of
traits that are similar to those associated with autism but are not severe
enough to cause disability. Approximately 6 to 9 percent of younger siblings
of children with autism spectrum disorders (including autism and related
conditions) develop autism spectrum disorders, and others may demonstrate
features of the broader autism phenotype. Wendy L. Stone, Ph.D., and
colleagues at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., studied 64 younger
siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders and 42 younger siblings
of children with typical development. The siblings were between the ages of
12 and 23 months (average age 16 months) when they were assessed between
2003 and 2006. Participating children were measured using tests of thinking,
learning and memory; an interactive screening tool assessing play, imitation
and communication; and a scale rating autism symptoms. Parents were also
interviewed and filled out questionnaires regarding their children's social,
communication and language skills. "Younger siblings of children with
autism spectrum disorders demonstrated weaker performance in non-verbal
problem-solving, directing attention, understanding words, understanding
phrases, gesture use and social-communicative interactions with parents, and
had increased autism symptoms, relative to control siblings," the authors
write. The pattern of scores on tests suggested that a substantial minority
of the siblings of autistic children had low scores, as opposed to a few
extremely low performers who may have deceptively brought down the average
scores. In addition, "the consistency of results obtained across different
methods highlights the robustness of these findings." The weaker
performance of siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder may
represent early signs of the broader autism phenotype, and highlights the
importance of closely monitoring these at-risk children for developmental
problems, the authors note. "This research has the potential to increase our
knowledge about the early development of autism and to develop tailored
intervention and prevention strategies for promoting optimal outcomes in
this group of at-risk children," they conclude. This study was supported in
part by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development; a Mentor-Based Postdoctoral Fellowship from the National
Alliance for Autism Research; and in part by the Vanderbilt University
Kennedy Center Marino Autism Research Institute."

43. "Don't be too quick to embrace HPV vaccine" dated 5 April 2007 by Dr.
David Ayoub in an oped article in Pantagraph.com at
http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/04/06/opinion/letters/124999.txt.

"The misconceptions of the HPV vaccine are widespread, not just by families
but doctors who seem to have a never-ending faith in a drug safety system
that brought us Vioxx and 70,000-plus related deaths. It is disturbing that
the maker of the current HPV vaccine, Merck, which is accused of lying to
the FDA and to the medical community about Vioxx safety, is being given a
blank check of trust by professionals. The Gardasil studies are similar to
Merck's Vioxx work - Merck funded all of them, the authors include patent
holders, Merck employees - 41 percent - and those that receive money from
Merck - 80 percent. Studies involved only low-risk women who were followed
for a very short time - two years - maximizing apparent efficacy. The
placebo limb of the studies mostly got aluminum, a toxic component likely
responsible for many of the side effects, also minimizing concerns of
complications. Even though Merck failed to disclose serious side effects,
like in Vioxx, they are starting to surface - seizures, syncope, muscle
weakness, paralysis, some life-threatening. Injecting part of a
cancer-causing virus into your blood where it usually does not belong
without insisting on long-term cancer causing side effects is foolish as is
looking at the effects on fertility, which Merck did not do. There are
reports of menstrual problems in young girls and numerous vaccine failures
including cervical cancer and HPV infections of exactly the same strain
found in the vaccine. My suggestion, if the legislators want us to force
this on our 10- and 11-year-old daughters, I suggest, ``you go first''!

44. "In Seclusion" dated 6 April 2007 by Scott Rochat </staff/scott_roc/>
from The Emporia Gazette at
http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/2007/apr/06/seclusion/.

"It's not unusual for a special-needs child to spend 5 minutes in time-out,
or even 15. But Kecia Frevert thought that an hour and a half was excessive.
She still has the list that she started to keep last fall and into this
year. In one month, she said, her 7-year-old son Ben was sent to time-out 33
times. Sometimes it might be just a few minutes. Sometimes it might be 90
minutes at a stretch. At one point, Frevert said, Ben was spending between
one and five hours a day in "seclusion" from his regular classroom at the
Connections program in Logan Avenue Elementary School. "Ben is a very
difficult child," acknowledged Frevert, whose son has Asperger's syndrome,
an autism-related condition that can result in children who are bright and
talkative, but emotionally immature and ignorant of social cues. "He's
challenging. It's hard to work with him. ... But that doesn't mean you lock
him into a room until he complies. And if you've established that it doesn't
work, what do you do?" "It has improved in the last month," she said. "They
have started to be more receptive to his needs, I feel - his number of
time-outs has gone down. But why did it take until this point in the school
year for them to decide?" The issue is one that's been discussed statewide
- just when can or should a school district use "seclusion and restraint" in
dealing with special-education students? The phrase refers to policies that
allow a teacher to separate a student from the rest of the class for
disciplinary reasons, or in some cases, to physically restrain them. After
several parents from across Kansas complained that the policies were
overused, the Kansas State Board of Education laid down some guidelines this
year. Among the most important are that restraint should only be used to
avoid immediate physical harm and that seclusion should only be used if a
parent has already given teachers permission, or if it's necessary to
maintain a safe classroom. Elizabeth McCoy, the director of the Flint Hills
Special Education Co-op, called the new guidelines common sense. "What is
important is to get the student into the learning environment again ... and
remove them as little as possible," she said. Time to calm down. Even with
the state guidelines, the co-op doesn't really have one big policy on
seclusion. Instead, it has a lot of little ones. Disabled students typically
follow an individualized education plan, or IEP, that defines what the
student will try to learn, how the school will go about doing it - and also,
where necessary, what sort of disciplinary measures can be used. ..."

45. "Autism Speaks Public Service Announcements Debut Today in Regal
Cinemas- PSAs Produced in Conjunction with the Ad Council Implore Parents to
Learn the Signs of Autism" dated 6 April 2007 in a press release from Autism
Speaks at http://www.autismspeaks.org/press/regal_awareness_debut.php.

"Autism Speaks, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing awareness
of autism and raising money to fund autism research, and Regal Entertainment
Group today announced that they are joining forces to spread awareness about
autism, a disorder that now affects one in every 150 children. Beginning
today and running through April 12, Regal Entertainment Group will run a
thirty-second public service ad produced by the Ad Council -- part of the Ad
Council's multi-year campaign with Autism Speaks -- before every film shown
on its 6,386 screens in honor of Autism Awareness Month. "This partnership
with Regal Entertainment Group is an exciting opportunity to bring our
message of autism awareness to a new and very large audience," said Suzanne
Wright, co-founder of Autism Speaks. "Thanks to Regal Entertainment Group,
thousands of movie-goers will learn about the scope of the autism health
crisis and the importance of early detection and intervention." "Regal
Entertainment Group is pleased to work with Autism Speaks to increase
awareness of autism by programming a public service message at our theatres
across the country. This message will focus attention on the growing rate of
autism, so that parents will be aware and initiate early intervention if
needed," stated Mike Campbell, Regal Entertainment Group's C.E.O. Regal
Entertainment Group operates the largest and most geographically diverse
theater circuit in the United States, consisting of 6,386 screens in 539
theatres in 40 states."

46. "Honing autism treatments" dated 6 April 2007 by LIDIA WASOWICZ from
United Press International at
http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20070406-023603-2311
r.

"Scientists are proposing ways to take some of the hypothesizing -- and
hyping -- out of autism treatments. One team has devised a classification
tool for sorting out autistic traits and improving forecasts of how young
patients will fare over time. If the model holds up under further scrutiny,
it may crack open a window into the future for doctors trying to gauge a
child's response to a particular treatment for the range of
neurodevelopmental disorders that fall on the autism spectrum. These can
vary in severity from barely noticeable to disabling. Simply put, rather
than compartmentalizing the varying autistic disorders, as current methods
are wont to do, the proposed technique provides a broader view of the total
span as the oftentimes overlapping symptoms arise, append and alter over
time. The study of 91 autistic children, most of them boys of preschool or
elementary-school age, underscored the wide range of features and their
combinations that can characterize autism, researchers said in the journal
Pediatrics. Some children have severe disability but high intelligence,
others are mildly impaired but profoundly mentally retarded, with most
falling somewhere in between, they said. Among their key findings, the
investigators from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia noted youngsters
in the normal range of intelligence -- an IQ of 70 or higher -- naturally
improve with age, a pattern also observed in attention deficit/hyperactivity
disorder. Once confirmed, the model can serve as a benchmark for evaluating
the effectiveness of various treatments for autism -- and for exposing any
exaggerated claims taking credit for time's healing touch. Another group
attempting to undermine the bedeviling unpredictability of autism treatments
has gone a step further. The researchers have developed and tested a method
for foretelling a child's response to a specific therapy, they reported in
the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. With even the most
rigorously scrutinized behavioral interventions producing widely varying
results, many families find themselves in the quandary of having to try out
numerous offerings before arriving at the one that's best suited for their
child. Such laborious miss-and-hit efforts cost precious time, said Laura
Schreibman, professor of psychology and director of the Autism Research
Program at the University of California, San Diego. Her technique, she said,
may help doctors to nail it the first time. Schreibman and her colleagues
drew up a profile that enabled them to correctly pair up the right child
with the right treatment, in this case a technique they developed called
Pivotal Response Training. Characteristics of children expected to do well
with the therapy include: -- a moderate to high interest in toys, --
tolerance of another person in close proximity, and -- fewer repetitive
behaviors, such as flapping or rocking, and more verbal expression, such as
squeaking or other nonsensical sounds, than shown by those for whom PRT is
not a good match. The authors urged further research to construct similar
crystal balls for all other behavioral therapies."

47. "School districts search to solve autism fund shortfall" dated 7 April
2007 from The Associated press at
http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070407/APN/704074
097.

"Several school districts throughout South Carolina are struggling to
replace almost $1.4 million in federal funds that had gone to provide
services to autistic children. After Medicaid cut money for the services,
the state Department of Heath and Human Services came up with six months of
funding. However, that money runs out in June and 40 districts are deciding
how best to replace it. Some school districts want to tap into local
property tax dollars, grants or any other resources they can think of. Such
funds are essential, parents of autistic children say, because of the
one-on-one attention and specialized skills teachers and therapists provide
to about 3,000 South Carolina children. "To take those services away, it
would the hurt the children and their futures," said Delilah Bonhert, whose
8-year-old son, Tristen, attends school in Lexington-Richland 5. The state
Education Department says districts have so far handled the shortfall. The
number of children with autism has increased as officials identify symptoms
earlier, said Debra Davis, Kershaw County Schools special services director.
Autistic children are taught using a method called "applied behavioral
therapy," which breaks learning into tasks and rewards students when they
complete them. But federal officials say that violated Medicaid rules for
many reasons, including that it's offered only to children with autism.
Schools in Kershaw County offer the therapy to students with social and
behavioral problems. Kershaw officials have decided how to handle the loss
of funds, Davis said. Delilah Bonhert's son, Tristen, was diagnosed with
autism at 3 years old. His classroom at Oak Point Elementary is divided into
learning stations that better fit his needs. When parents were told the
district was losing funding to continue his therapy, Delilah Bonhert was
terrified about what it meant for her son. "We all know this is what our
children need," she said. "This is what they need to succeed." Officials
told parents the services would continue as they had before, Delilah Bonhert
said. Advocates said parents of autistic children should stay on top of
school officials so services aren't lost. "The school can't use, 'We can't
afford that' as an excuse," said Craig Stoxen, president of the South
Carolina Autism Society. Clarendon County received the state's largest
payout at nearly $189,000 in 2005-06. Officials there say they'll handle the
costs in the district's general operating budget. The extra six months they
had to plan were essential, said Mike Jackson, director of finance. Jackson
has included $723,621 in the district's budget proposal, which would cover
salaries for applied behavioral therapists for nearly 30 students."

48. "A Brush with Art, Success for Boy with Autism" dated 7 April 2007 by
Rob Kuznia from the Santa Barbara Newsroom at
http://www.santabarbaranewsroom.com/content/view/96/1/.

"Perhaps like many artists, Kevin Hosseini can get frustrated to the point
of hurling his paintbrush across the room when a piece isn't coming
together. But unlike others, the 12-year-old Carpinteria resident benefits
from a one-word reminder neatly handwritten on a note next to his easel:
"Calm." Kevin was diagnosed at an early age with autism, a developmental
disability related to the central nervous system that can cause people to
become easily over-stimulated. But that hasn't stopped Kevin from finding
success. A gifted oil painter, the sixth-grader at Carpinteria Family
School has sold about 15 pieces to patrons who live as far away as New York
City, as well as closer to home, including Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum
and state Assemblyman Pedro Nava. Kevin's body of work grew so large that
the family started selling the paintings. Photo by Edgar Oliveira / SBNUntil
May 11, he will have a painting displayed at the Carpinteria Valley Arts
Council (http://www.artscarp.org/), at 855 Linden Ave. And on May 12, he
will be one of 28 artists featured in Carpinteria's first-ever home studio
tour. Kevin discovered his passion by accident about two years ago, when
his behavioral therapist, Colin Zimbleman, who's also an artist, came to the
house with a canvas and paintbrush in the hopes of finding a fun activity
that would bring a therapeutic effect. It worked. In addition to the
artistic success, Kevin still benefits from the lessons of life learned
through painting. For instance, sometimes life is messy - sometimes you drop
your brush on the floor and leave a splotch that needs cleaning. The key,
Zimbleman tells him, is to solve the problem one step at a time: get a paper
towel, get it wet, rub the floor clean, throw the towel away. "Then it's
not some big heavy thing," he said. Painting became an obsession. Kevin's
body of work grew so large that the family started selling the paintings at
modest prices for lack of space on the walls, said his mother, Debbie
Hosseini. So far, he's made a total of about $2,500 -- not a bad stipend for
a 12-year-old. "He doesn't have a lot of friends, so he gets satisfaction
from his art," she said, while sitting in the kitchen, as Kevin dabbed away
on a brightly colored abstract painting of Bob Marley in the adjacent room.
"Also, the recognition he gets is satisfying - people see him as a capable
person." Every year, one in 150 children is diagnosed with autism. The
disorder is especially prevalent among boys - one in 94. Twenty years ago,
for reasons researchers have yet to decipher, the rate was one in 10,000.
..."

49. "Speaking of Autism" dated 7 April 2007 by Heather Karolian from The
Deerfield NH Forum at
http://www.forumhome.org/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=107&twindow=&mad=&sdeta
il=3025&wpage=&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&r
etype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1276&hn=forumhome&h
e=.org.

"Justine Gayhardt, a resident of Deerfield and student at Concord High and
Regional Technical Center student, earned a second place award in the
speaking skills category at the annual convention of the statewide chapter
of the Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA). She competed and
celebrated with hundreds of her peers last week at the Nashua Sheraton Hotel
and Conference Center. HOSA is a national student organization endorsed by
the U.S. Department of Education and the Health Science Technology Education
Division. HOSA's two-fold mission is to promote career opportunities in the
health care industry and to enhance the delivery of quality health care to
all people. The theme this year for HOSA is "Healing with your hands,
helping with your hearts." Gayhardt's five-minute oral presentation
highlighted the occurrence of autism, the theories behind the cause of the
disability, and some of the challenges faced by people with autism spectrum
disorders. The sixteen-year-old knows first-hand about those challenges, as
she has been diagnosed with the disability. "I'm just a simple girl living
with autism and I know what it's like being different and thinking
differently than other kids." Gayhardt appealed to the panel of competition
judges, "I need you to heal with your hands and help with your hearts by
putting in your support to pass government laws for autism...or else we may
not have a future." The first-year Health Science and Technology student
is now eligible to compete at HOSA's 30th National Leadership Conference
this June in Orlando, Florida. To learn more about autism spectrum
disorders, please visit Autism Society of New Hampshire
<http://www.autism-society-nh.org/> ."

50. "A Costly Education" dated 9 April 2007 by Mary Ellen Egan from Forbes
at
https://www.keepmedia.com/Auth.do?extId=10022&uri=/archive/forbes/2007/0409/
088.html.

"The recent spike in autism diagnoses has school districts spending ever
more time and money fending off special ed disputes. Steven Wyner spends
the bulk of his days sitting behind his 14-foot-long custom-made desk
fielding calls from anxious parents. Twelve years earlier he left his
lucrative career as a tax attorney to practice special education law. He had
grown attracted to the specialty after fighting for his learning-disabled
child. He worked out of his home for a couple of years, but as he won case
after case against southern California school districts, he could afford
..."

51. "Living with Autism" from The Oprah Winfrey Show at
http://www2.oprah.com/tows/slide/200704/20070405/slide_20070405_284_101.jhtm
l.

"It's been called a national health threat by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC). It's not childhood obesity or leukemia. In
fact, this mysterious disease affects more children than pediatric cancer,
diabetes and AIDS combined. Autism is a neurological disorder that strikes
as many as 1 in every 150 children and affects millions of families
worldwide. Every day, 67 children in America are diagnosed with this
disease. That's one new case every 20 minutes. According to the CDC, autism
is one of a group of disorders known as "autism spectrum disorders."
Children with autism may have trouble interacting socially and communicating
and may exhibit unusual behaviors. The severity of the disease varies from
child to child. Some attend public school and are considered
"high-functioning," while others go their entire lives without ever saying a
word. Currently, there is no known cause and no known cure. But, if you're
living with autism, there is no mystery about how difficult and devastating
it can be. In the documentary Autism Every Day, eight families living with
autism speak out about their struggles. "This is the national health crisis
of our time," says Katie, the mother of an autistic son. "This is bigger
than AIDS. This is bigger than breast cancer, and almost no attention seems
to be paid to it." ..."

52. "Succimer Chelation Improves Learning, Attention, and Arousal
Regulation in Lead-Exposed Rats but Produces Lasting Cognitive Impairment in
the Absence of Lead Exposure" from Environmental Health Perspectives at
http://www.sarnet.org/lib/Stangle-Strupp-chelation.pdf.

"BACKGROUND: There is growing pressure for clinicians to prescribe chelation
therapy at only slightly elevated blood lead levels. However, very few
studies have evaluated whether chelation improves cognitive outcomes in
Pb-exposed children, or whether these agents have adverse effects that may
affect brain development in the absence of Pb exposure.
OBJECTIVES: The present study was designed to answer these questions, using
a rodent model of early childhood Pb exposure and treatment with succimer, a
widely used chelating agent for the treatment of Pb poisoning.
RESULTS: Pb exposure produced lasting impairments in learning, attention,
inhibitory control, and arousal regulation, paralleling the areas of
dysfunction seen in Pb-exposed children. Succimer treatment of the
Pb-exposed rats significantly improved learning, attention, and arousal
regulation, although the efficacy of the treatment varied as a function of
the Pb exposure level and the specific functional deficit. In contrast,
succimer treatment of rats not previously exposed to Pb produced lasting and
pervasive cognitive and affective dysfunction comparable in magnitude to
that produced by the higher Pb exposure regimen.
CONCLUSIONS: These are the first data, to our knowledge, to show that
treatment with any chelating agent can alleviate cognitive deficits due to
Pb exposure. These findings suggest that it may be possible to identify a
succimer treatment protocol that improves cognitive outcomes in Pb-exposed
children. However, they also suggest that succimer treatment should be
strongly discouraged for children who do not have elevated tissue levels of
Pb or other heavy metals. ..."

53. "Shape Mapping of the Hippocampus in Young Children with Autism
Spectrum Disorder" by S.R. Dager, L. Wang, S.D. Friedman, D.W. Shaw, J.N.
Constantino, A.A. Artru, G. Dawson and J.G. Csernansky from the University
of Washington, Seattle or Washington University, St. Louis in the April
edition of American Journal of Neuroradiology at
http://www.ajnr.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/4/672.

"BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: We hypothesized the occurrence of characteristic
hippocampal-shape alterations in young children with autistic spectrum
disorder (ASD) who also exhibit deficits on neuropsychologic tests of medial
temporal lobe (MTL) function.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Coronal 3D MR images were acquired from 3- to
4-year-old children with ASD (n = 45) and age-matched children with typical
development (n = 13). Children with ASD were further subclassified into
those with autism disorder (AD, n = 29) or pervasive developmental
disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) (n = 16). Variations in
hippocampal shape were evaluated by using large-deformation high-dimensional
brain mapping.
RESULTS: Hippocampal shape measures distinguished children with ASD from
those with typical development; within the ASD sample, children with AD were
distinguished from those with PDD-NOS. Hippocampal-shape alterations in
children with ASD were correlated with degree of mental retardation and
performance deficits on tests of MTL function.
CONCLUSIONS: Children with ASD exhibited an alteration of hippocampal shape
consistent with inward deformation of the subiculum. This pattern of
hippocampal-shape deformations in the children with ASD was accentuated in
the more severely affected subgroup of children with AD and was associated
with deficits on neuropsychologic tests of MTL but not prefrontal function.
Hippocampal-shape deformation in the children with ASD was observed to be
similar to a pattern of hippocampal shape deformation previously reported in
adults with MTL epilepsy. Although the children with ASD, and those with AD
in particular, PDD-NOS are at high risk for epilepsy as they enter
adolescence, the specificity and causal relationship of this pattern of
hippocampal-shape deformation to the development of seizures is not yet
known."

54. "A Quantitative Trait Locus Analysis of Social Responsiveness in
Multiplex Autism Families" by Jacqueline A. Duvall, B.S., Ake Lu, Ph.D.,
Rita M. Cantor, Ph.D., Richard D. Todd, M.D., Ph.D., John N. Constantino,
M.D. and Daniel H. Geschwind, M.D., Ph.D. from The American Journal of
Psychiatry at
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/164/4/656.

"OBJECTIVE: Autism is a complex genetic disorder with a highly heterogeneous
phenotype defined by repetitive behaviors, language deficits, and problems
with reciprocal social interactions. The authors present the first
genome-wide scan for a social endophenotype in autism using the Social
Responsiveness Scale, which provides a quantitative measure of autistic-like
behavior, primarily focused on social relatedness.
METHOD: A nonparametric quantitative genome scan was performed using the
Social Responsiveness Scale in a cohort of about 100 families with two or
more autistic probands from the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange to identify
autism loci. To determine which additional loci were detected, linkage
analysis with the same autism cohort using the qualitative diagnosis of
autism was performed. To assess whether there were likely to be sex-specific
genetic risk factors, the cohort was stratified by the sex of affected
individuals.
RESULTS: The quantitative Social Responsiveness Scale genome scan identified
two loci on chromosomes 11 and 17, with the highest score on chromosome 11
(z=3.22). In contrast, no linkage signals reached significance in the Autism
Diagnostic Interview-Revised qualitative scan. The Social Responsiveness
Scale scan with only male affecteds identified the same signals on
chromosomes 11 and 17, as well as three other regions on chromosomes 4, 8,
and 10.
CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the utility of the Social
Responsiveness Scale quantitative endophenotype to detect autism-related
genetic loci using quantitative behavioral information that may more closely
relate to underlying genetic factors."

55. "Improvement needed in Primary medical care for children with autism"
in a press release from University of Minnesota at
http://www.huliq.com/17317/improvement-needed-in-primary-medical-care-for-ch
ildren-with-autism.

"Children with autism do not receive the same quality of primary care as
children with other special health care needs, according to research from
the University of Minnesota Medical School. study published in the
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that parents of
children with autism were less likely to report that their children received
the type of primary care advocated by the American Academy of Pediatrics
(AAP) when compared to parents of children with other special health care
needs. The "medical home model," which is defined by the AAP as accessible,
continuous, comprehensive, family-centered, compassionate, culturally
effective, and coordinated with specialized services was used as a measure
for ideal primary care of children. "This study shows that children with
autism are less likely to receive the type of primary medical care that we
hope for all children," says principal investigator Allison Brachlow, M.D.,
research fellow at the Department of Pediatrics. "With increasing numbers of
children diagnosed with autism, it is imperative to understand how to
provide optimal care for these children." Specifically, Brachlow found that
parents of children with autism were less likely to report their child's
care was family-centered, comprehensive, or coordinated. For example,
parents of children with autism were less likely to report that their
child's primary care provider spent adequate time with them, offered
understandable explanations, or discussed outside services, such as speech
and occupational therapies. Furthermore, parents of children with autism
were more likely to report difficulties obtaining subspecialty care, such as
referrals to a gastroenterologist or other subspecialty doctor. Researchers
analyzed data from the National Survey for Children's Health (NSCH) which
surveyed 102,353 parents or legal guardians of children under 18 across the
nation. Of this number, 495 children were identified as having autism and
18,119 were defined as children with other special health care needs such as
asthma, attention deficit disorder, behavioral conduct problems, and
depression. As a disease, autism presents challenges which may contribute
to difficulties in providing primary care. "While there is a recognized
genetic component to autism, the cause is still unknown. Additionally, the
diagnosis of autism is clinical, meaning there are no blood tests to
determine if a patient has autism. Currently, there are many therapies and
treatments for autism, each with varying degrees of supporting scientific
evidence." Brachlow notes, "Epidemiological research is challenging because
children with autism appear to be a heterogeneous group. Further research is
needed to determine and implement the best models of primary care delivery
for children with complex medical conditions, such as autism." According to
the Autism Society of America, autism is estimated to affect approximately
one in every 150 births. This accounts for approximately 1.5 million
Americans who have been diagnosed with some form of autism, which varies in
its severity. It is expected that the number could reach 4 million within
ten years."

56. "An Asperger's Perception of Friendship- A Teen Writes About Living on
the Spectrum" by Scott Goldfarb in a press release from Autism Speaks at
http://www.autismspeaks.org/community/intheirownwords_scott.php.

"In my life, there has always been a certain amount of trepidation with
friends. Oh, I know full well that having friends is a good thing. I'm also
certain that my life would be lacking without the friends I do have. Having
moments when a friend is down and out in the blues, crying over a
relationship, friends, family, or maybe even life itself, it is an
extraordinary moment to realize that I share a relationship where I am a
comfort; I am someone who, while maybe not able to take away the pain,
certainly can ease it just by my presence. In addition, having a time in
life to get into small grammatical arguments or discuss the different
countries of the world, as I've done numerous times with my friend Eliav, is
invigorating. In my heart, due to moments such as these, I've always known
about the importance of friendship. Yet, thanks to the nefarious chains of
Asperger's syndrome, I've suffered through a constant struggle to actually
make and keep any friendships. The characteristics of people with
Asperger's are the perfect ones to make obtaining friends difficult.
Asperger's Syndrome is part of a spectrum of autistic disorders, all linked
by a level of non-communication. At the lowest level, we have cases like my
brother Eric, a person trapped in a void where communication is only at the
most rudimentary level, about the level of a non-expressive two or three
year old. Then among several forms at the highest level, we have Asperger's
syndrome. Those with Asperger's often suffer from a plethora of symptoms.
The most prominent ones are difficulty with reading people's body language,
a singular interest in a subject or several subjects (from my own life, I
have one major interest in rock music, compulsively looking for new reviews
and obsessing over the best quality of sound to listen to them), a slight
monotone voice, struggling with proper body distance, and a tendency to use
a vocabulary that is of a slightly higher sophistication than most people
would use such as when I employ words like vitriolic, inundate, smorgasbord,
plethora, paraphernalia, and others of that variety. While obviously every
person with the syndrome may not experience each and every single trait, I
have experienced all of these symptoms to some degree. Couple that with a
fairly shy personality, a shyness that may or may not have anything to do
with Asperger's Syndrome, and I am often left feeling like everyone sees me
as being quiet and not worth talking to. Truthfully, this is too bleak a
prognosis. Despite all the biological factors behind Asperger's, I have made
progress. I am no longer classified as needing special education by the
Springfield Public School District; I have acquired friends I like
stupendously; I can talk to people other than my family and myself. These
are all great things, worthy of accolades. In spite of this progress, I
still find it extraordinarily hard to make genuine contact with new people.
There's still a barrier looking me straight at me in the face that often
prevents me from initiating the first word. ..."
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE