Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Items 1 through 5 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.

6. "Possible autism link at New Jersey school?" dated 19 June 2007 from
ABC7 News at
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=our_schools&id=5401263.

"We've heard of cancer clusters, but one community in New Jersey is raising
a flag about an autism cluster. The unusually high rate of autism involves
teachers at a school in Northvale, New Jersey. An informal poll taken by
officials at St. Anthony's revealed that 14 of 39 children born to faculty
members since 1997 had a learning disability -- three were diagnosed as
autistic and 11 experienced speech and language delays. The poll relied
partly on teachers' recollections. St. Anthony's has served children with
varying degrees of autism for 30 years, and currently has about 100
students. The property is owned by the Newark Archdiocese and leased by the
Northern Valley Regional High School District, which administers the
program. Testing options for the building were scheduled to be discussed at
a meeting Tuesday night. In the meantime, summer programs have been moved
out of the building, Superintendent Jan Furman told The Record of Bergen
County. The archdiocese has conducted twice-yearly asbestos tests as
required by law, spokesman Jim Goodness told the newspaper, and the school
district conducted an air quality test that revealed no irregularities.
Health officials said the school will also be examined for lead and volatile
organic compounds. "What I've been told is it's learning disabilities
encompassing physical handicaps, neurological, autism and a broad spectrum,"
borough health officer Angela Musella said. "The bottom line is you can't
draw any conclusion. We are still gathering information." A federal study
made public earlier this year found New Jersey had the highest rate of
autism ever recorded in the United States: one in 94 children, and one in 60
boys. The overall rate in 14 states surveyed was one in 150 children. In New
Jersey, a study released in 2000 could not find a cause for a high number of
autism cases in Brick Township. "All the lead people involved in the study
said they understand the rates are higher, but they're not sure what's
making the difference," said Dr. Walter Zahorodny, director of the New
Jersey Autism Study and assistant professor at the University of Medicine
and Dentistry of New Jersey."

7. "Teachers, families cope with autism" dated 20 June 2007 by Adam Jensen
from the Nevada Appeal at
http://www.nevadaappeal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/TD/20070620/NEWS/1062
00061&template=printart.

"With cases of the disorder on the rise nationwide, autism is a term that
carries a complicated range of symptoms that remain unexplained, baffling
neurologists for years. Autism often refers to an entire spectrum of
neurological disorders with traits, ranging from mild to severe, affecting
more than 1 million U.S. residents. "I have three students with autism in
my class and they're all completely different," said Pam Taylor, special
education teacher for South Lake Tahoe High School, in her classroom on
Tuesday. The disorders can be as individual as the people affected, but
social interaction bears the brunt of an autism diagnosis in most cases.
Common traits include a difficulty in maintaining eye contact, problems with
verbal and nonverbal communication, a limited range of interests and the
development of repetitive activities. "Routine is very important. We
definitely see a change in behavior if the routine is different," said
Taylor. "They can be stubborn because they're just not used to new
activities." Many of these autistic traits can be diminished or overcome
with specialized education, but people with autism's resistance to new
pursuits can create obstacles to teaching them new skills. Taylor often has
students on the severe end of the spectrum, who may need assistance
throughout their lives, but many of those diagnosed with milder forms of
autism can learn to live independently. For these cases, the development of
communication skills can be the key to revealing a hidden intellect,
undamaged by the disorder. "He used to not be able to express his feelings,
but he has a better understanding now," said Rebecca Thompson in reference
to her son who has been diagnosed with Asperger's disorder, a mild form of
autism. "It just takes time and a lot of prompting." While Thompson's son
still isn't interested in some of the subtler cues of human interaction,
like facial expressions, and is still reluctant to make eye contact, he
excels in math and science. Early diagnoses and intervention have been
shown to be the most effective treatment for disorders on the autism
spectrum, none of which has a known cure. "A little extra attention goes a
long way with these kids," said Dan McCauley, adaptive physical education
specialist with South Lake Tahoe High School. Thousands of families with
autistic children will be affected by the outcome of federal hearings
currently underway in Washington, D.C., while the roots of the disorder's
increased prevalence remain unclear to government scientists. Since 1999,
more than 4,800 legal claims of children developing autism as a result of
childhood vaccinations have come forward. Nine of these cases have been
selected to appear before a special 3 judge panel. The decisions of these
federal judges will guide legal precedent for the remainder of the claims.
Hearings on the cases began on June 11 are expected to last through the end
of next week, according to reports. Most of the families contend a
mercury-containing preservative called thimerosal, once contained in
measles, mumps, and rubella vaccinations, was the cause of their child's
autism. A British report in the late 1990's linked the vaccine to autism,
but larger scale studies in the years since have found no connection.
Thimerosal was removed from routine childhood vaccinations after a request
from U.S. government officials in 1999, although its removal has done little
to calm public fears over skyrocketing autism rates. Characteristics of
autistic behavior have become more readily recognized in recent years,
causing concern among some scientists that the rates of reporting may be
fueling the increase. "Our estimates are becoming better and more
consistent, though we can't yet tell if there is a true increase in ASDs or
if the changes are the result of our better studies," said CDC Director Dr.
Julie Gerberding in a press statement. "We do know, however, that these
disorders are affecting too many children." For decades the best estimate
for the prevalence of autism was 4 or 5 per 10,000 children, but a recently
released Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released in
February puts the number closer to one in 150 in some U.S. communities,
according to the CDC press release. The 2002 study examined approximately
ten percent of U.S. eight year olds born from 14 states."

8. "Disabled Children Join Peers, Strain Teachers; 'We Need More Help"
dated 25 June 2007 by John Hechinger from The Wall Street Journal at
http://www.thearcofil.org/document.asp?did=861.

"When school started last August, veteran first-grade teacher Patricia
McDermott made sure to place one student, 8-year-old Andrea Gavern, in a
seat beside her own desk. Andrea suffers from a rare genetic condition
called Williams Syndrome, which causes learning disabilities and medical
ailments such as heart problems and difficulty eating. Knowing that Andrea
had disrupted her kindergarten classes a year earlier, Ms. McDermott wanted
to keep her new pupil under close watch. The strategy backfired. One
morning, Andrea swept an arm along the teacher's desk, scattering framed
photos of Ms. McDermott's family across the classroom. A glass frame
shattered, and another hit a student in the arm. Though no one was hurt, Ms.
McDermott says she lost hours of instruction time getting the children to
settle down after the disruption. From the first weeks of school, Ms.
McDermott found Andrea's plight heartbreaking. "No! No! No!" she remembers
her student screaming at times. "Want Mommy! Want Mommy!" "She looked at
me, like she was saying, 'Help me,' and I couldn't. How could I possibly
give Andrea what she needs?" Years ago, students like Andrea would have
been taught in separate classrooms. Today, a national movement to
"mainstream" special-education students has integrated many of them into the
general student body. As a result, regular teachers are instructing more
children with severe disabilities -- often without extra training or
support. This year, Ms. McDermott counted 19 students in her class at
Whittier Elementary School. Five had disabilities, including attention
deficit disorder and delays in reading and math. The teacher worried that
she was failing all her students -- especially Andrea. "It used to be a joy
to go to work," she says. "Now all I want to do is run away." In Scranton
and elsewhere, the rush to mainstream disabled students is alienating
teachers and driving some of the best from the profession. It has become a
little-noticed but key factor behind teacher turnover, which experts say
largely accounts for a shortage of qualified teachers in the U.S. Each
year, about 16% of teachers quit their jobs, either leaving the profession
or moving to another school, according to recent U.S. Department of
Education surveys. Of those, 35% cite difficulties with mainstreaming
special-education students as a main reason for their dissatisfaction,
according to an analysis of the data by Richard Ingersoll, a professor of
education and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. "It's a red
flag," Prof. Ingersoll says. "Mainstreaming is putting pressure on
teachers... and the proponents of this reform are going to need to address
it sooner or later." Neil Hunt, a seventh-grade math teacher in the Fairfax
County, Va., public schools, recently quit his job in part because of
mainstreaming. "I don't feel I can do what's necessary for these kids," says
Mr. Hunt, a former Navy lieutenant who plans to return to the service in a
civilian job. "And some of the kids' behavior is such a distraction for the
rest of the class that they're losing a lot of time, too." In Arizona, Tom
Horne, the state's superintendent of schools, says mainstreaming
special-education students with behavior problems can be "extremely
destructive" to teachers' morale and "a big factor in teachers' leaving."
Also known as "inclusion," mainstreaming reverses a once-common practice
that Congress determined was unjust: the segregation of disabled children in
settings without proper instruction. Many educators say children learn more
through mainstreaming because they are taught by better-qualified teachers
and gain valuable social skills from their peers. By 2005, about 54% of
special-education students were taught in "fully inclusive" settings --
spending 80% or more of the school day in a regular classroom -- up from 33%
in 1990. Pennsylvania has been a major battleground in the national wars
over special education. Litigation here helped lead to the 1975 federal
legislation now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,
which requires a "free appropriate" public education for children with
disabilities. The law fostered mainstreaming by mandating that disabled
children, when possible, be taught in the "least restrictive environment."
Despite its key role, Pennsylvania was slow to embrace inclusion until 2005,
when the state and the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia received
court approval to settle a decade-old class-action case brought on behalf of
280,000 special-education students who demanded inclusion in regular
classrooms. Districts that aren't sufficiently inclusive risk losing
funding. But even some advocates of inclusion say it isn't working as they
had hoped. Judith Gran, the plaintiffs' lead attorney on the case, says that
some districts aren't mainstreaming but "main-dumping" -- packing classes
with disabled children without adequate staffing. "You hear a lot about it
from teachers," she says. "They are the ones on the front lines, and they
aren't getting support." ..."

9. "Information Underload: Florida's Flawed Special-Ed Voucher Program"
dated 26 June 2007 by Sara Mead from Education Sector at
http://www.educationsector.org/research/research_show.htm?doc_id=506895.

"Students with disabilities have long had the right, under the federal
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), to attend private
schools at public expense if the public schools in their community are
unable to provide them with appropriate special educational services. But
less than 1 percent of students with disabilities have such private
placements, in part because these placements can be costly, complicated, and
time-consuming to obtain under the existing law. Florida's popular McKay
Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program seeks to tilt the
balance in these students' favor. The program provides parents with an
alternative to expensive legal proceedings and complicated bureaucracy-a
voucher that they can use at a public or private school of their choice.
Florida's legislature approved the program in 1999 and named it after a
then-state senator, John McKay, who is also the father of a special-needs
child. Today, about 17,900 of Florida's estimated 402,000 students with
disabilities, or a little more than 4 percent, receive McKay vouchers. They
attend 802 private schools at a total cost of nearly $108 million. That's up
from just under 1,000 students, 100 private schools, and $6 million in costs
during the program's 2000-01 debut as a statewide initiative. The program is
now the nation's second largest private school voucher initiative of any
sort in terms of student participation, ranking only behind Milwaukee's
17-year-old school experiment with vouchers for low-income youngsters. And
school choice advocates promote the McKay program as a model for other
states and the federal government. Arizona, Ohio, Utah, and, most recently,
Georgia have all passed similar legislation. Currently, six other states are
weighing whether to follow suit. But despite its growing popularity, the
McKay program has not yet proven that it works as either an adequate
school-choice or special-education reform measure. Unlike with Florida's
other school choice options, the state collects very little information from
schools and students participating in the McKay program. McKay students do
not have to take the annual state tests administered to public school
students, and McKay schools are not required to report any information on
student outcomes-which goes against the national trend toward standards and
accountability in public education. Thus, it is virtually impossible to say
whether special-needs children using McKay vouchers to attend private
schools are faring better, worse, or about the same as they had in their old
public schools. It is also difficult to determine whether the McKay program
is improving existing special-education services, since, unlike public
schools, McKay schools are not required to provide these services at all.
Expanding school options for all students, those with disabilities and those
without, is a worthy objective. But McKay's lack of accountability
requirements and its minimal quality and service expectations make McKay a
seriously flawed program. Under the current structure of the program,
taxpayers have almost no knowledge of how their money is being spent, and
neither taxpayers nor parents have access to solid information about the
performance of different McKay schools. For parents, the stakes are very
high, as they are required to give up their due process rights under IDEA if
they choose to participate in the McKay program. Parents, taxpayers, and the
state's special-needs children deserve better."

10. "Birth defect-antidepressant link found- Infants born to mothers using
common medications have a slightly higher risk of serious developmental
problems, new studies say" dated 28 June 2007 by Denise Gellene from the Los
Angeles Times at
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-sci-ssri28jun28,1,6637718.story?co
ll=la-headlines-health.

"Infants born to women taking commonly prescribed antidepressants during the
first trimester of their pregnancies have an increased risk of serious birth
defects, though the danger remains tiny, according to two studies published
today. The reports in the New England Journal of Medicine found a higher
risk of developmental problems affecting the intestines, brain and skull.
Although life-threatening, all of the defects are rare and normally occur in
no more than one in 2,500 births. "The take-home message is that we are
talking about very small risks," said UC San Diego epidemiologist Christina
Chambers, who has studied the effects of antidepressants but wasn't involved
in the new research. The studies are the latest to raise concerns about the
effects of antidepressants on fetuses. Babies born to women on
antidepressants have been shown to experience signs of withdrawal, including
tremors and sleep disturbances, during the first days of life. Others
studies have linked a mother's antidepressant use later in pregnancy to an
increased risk of lung problems in newborns. Two reports have tied the drug
Paxil, in particular, to a higher rate of congenital heart malformation. The
drug carries a warning about heart defects. The latest studies were the
largest yet to analyze the association between antidepressants and birth
defects. The findings could complicate decisions by pregnant women about
whether to use or continue taking antidepressants, because untreated
depression also carries risks and can lead to smoking, drinking and other
harmful behaviors. An estimated 10% of pregnant women have depression,
according to previous research. Women should not discontinue
antidepressants without first talking with their doctors, the researchers
said. The studies focused on antidepressants known as selective serotonin
reuptake inhibitors, a class that includes Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft and Celexa.
The medications work by enhancing the activity of the brain chemical
serotonin. They have become the standard treatment for depression since
their introduction in the 1980s. In addition to acting on the brain to
improve mood, serotonin constricts blood vessels and performs other
functions. The full impact of manipulating serotonin levels within the body
isn't completely understood, although animal studies have detected a role
for serotonin in prenatal development of the heart and head. Taken
together, the two studies looked at 19,471 infants with birth defects and
compared them with 9,952 normal babies. Researchers examined which
antidepressants mothers had taken during the first trimester and searched
for patterns among dozens of different birth defects reported. The studies
found that Paxil tripled the risk of a heart defect that reduces blood flow
to the lungs, though the chance of developing such a defect was less than
1%, according to an editorial published with the reports. No other
antidepressants were linked to cardiac problems. Dr. Victoria Hendrick, a
UCLA psychiatrist who was not involved in the research, said it was
reassuring that cardiac malformations weren't found with most of the drugs.
But the findings "add to our concern about Paxil in pregnancy," said
Hendrick, who has received speaking fees from Zoloft manufacturer Pfizer
Inc. The two studies differed in other respects. One of the reports,
funded in part by Paxil maker GlaxoSmithKline, associated Zoloft with a
nearly sixfold increase in cases of omphalocele, in which intestines or
other abdominal organs protrude from the navel. The birth defect is very
rare, occurring in one of every 5,000 births, according to federal
statistics. The finding was based on three cases in which infants with the
intestinal defect had been exposed to Zoloft - not enough to draw firm
conclusions, said Carol Louik, a Boston University epidemiologist and lead
author of the study. The other study linked antidepressant use to a
doubling of the risk of three congenital problems: anenecephaly, a defect in
which a large portion of the brain and skull is missing; craniosynostosis,
in which connections between skull bones close prematurely; and intestinal
defects. The researchers, from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada,
cautioned that their findings were based on only a handful of cases. The
risks appeared greater for obese women who used antidepressants, said Dr.
Sonja A. Rasmussen of the CDC, a coauthor of the study. Although obesity
itself is a risk factor for some kinds of birth defects, antidepressants
appeared to increase that risk. One possible reasons is that antidepressants
dissolve in fats and so they may work differently in women who are obese,
she said."

11. "Trial set for mother charged in autistic daughter's death" dated 28
June 2007 from WJBC News at
http://www.wjbc.com/wire2/news/04329_MotherChargedWEB_162445.htm.

"A judge today set an October First trial date for a Morton pathologist
accused of suffocating her autistic daughter more than a year ago. Karen
McCarron has pleaded not-guilty in the May 2006 death of her three-year-old
daughter Katherine. Authorities say the 38-year-old McCarron has confessed
to killing her daughter by placing a garbage bag over her head. McCarron's
attorney argued for a motion today to suppress her confession, alleging
police used her then-husband to coerce her. Prosecutors maintain that
McCarron confessed to her husband, other relatives and a friend before her
interview with police. Tazewell County Judge Steven Kouri says he will rule
soon on the motion. McCarron remains free on bond awaiting trial."

12. "Teacher Charged with Assault" dated 28 June 2007 from WNEP16 News at
http://www.wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=6725499&nav=5ka4.

"A teacher in Lackawanna County has been charged with assaulting a child who
has autism. Jane Forgione, 61, of Dunmore is accused of punching an
autistic boy in the back at the Northeast Intermediate Unit. Investigators
said witnesses saw Forgione punch the child in the back and stand on his
feet to restrain him. Forgione is free on bail. Forgione received the 2006
Teacher of the Year away from the autism support group Parents Loving
Children Through Autism."

13. "Autistic Nampa Teen Shows Patriotism" dated 28 June 2007 from FOX12
News at http://www.fox12news.com/Global/story.asp?S=6726714.

"A Nampa teenager is grabbing people's attention as he shows his patriotism.
Seventeen-year-old Johnathan Morrison is autistic. But that's doesn't stop
him from spending his evenings pacing the sidewalk waving the American flag
to those who drive by. His sister says Johnathan has been doing this for
about a year now, but not in the winter months. She says it's he way of
reaching out and saying hello to people. "He enjoys it when they wave back,
he'll come in and say somebody waved at me today, and I'm going great", said
Johnathan's sister Robin Morrison. Johnathan's sister believes he may tie
the flag waving to one of his favorites Thomas the Tank Engine, which
includes a conductor waving a flag. Apparently he spends a couple of hours
waving to people each night."

14. "Researchers Study Ways To Detect Autism In Babies- Pitt Researchers
Looking For Families With Autistic Child, Infant Sibling" dated 28 June 2007
from WPXI.com at http://www.wpxi.com/health/13590024/detail.html.

"Mary Ellen Greacen is mom to 10-year-old Alec and 8-year-old Ian. Her boys
love spending summer days at Camp Deer Creek. Ian is always on the go,
taking part in every activity. Alec enjoys riding horses and playing board
games. While the boys' interests are different, they have one thing in
common; both are autistic. As an infant, Alec was developing normally, but
suddenly everything changed. Greacen said, "Right about 24 months, he
wouldn't touch his sandbox, he wouldn't make eye contact, he wouldn't eat
the things he used to eat, we knew there was something wrong." The Greacens
took Alec to their pediatrician, but he didn't seem worried. She said, "The
pediatrician we had then basically said no, its fine. There was no speech
development, but he said just wait." So they waited, but Alec still didn't
talk and they saw other troubling signs. Greacen said, "People would walk
into the room and say 'hi Alec' and there was absolutely no response."
Finally, when Alec was three he was diagnosed with autism. At that time,
Ian was nine months old and the Greacen's were worried about his future, but
doctors <\l > told them not to worry he'd be fine. But Ian wouldn't be
fine. His mother explains what happened, "Right around 12 to 18 months we
realized there was no speech developing and he had some sensory issues."
When Ian was two he was also diagnosed with autism. According to nationally
known autism expert, Dr. Nancy Minshew, having more than one autistic child
in a family isn't that unusual. Minshew is Director of the Center for
Excellence in Autism Research at the University of Pittsburgh. Minshew is
studying autistic children and their infant siblings. She said early
results from her studies indicate the chance of a family having more than
one autistic child is much higher than originally thought. Many autism
experts put that chance at about five percent, but early results from
Minshew's studies show it could be as high as 15 to 18 percent. She
believes autism starts in the first year of life, but the symptoms are
missed by most doctors. Minshew said, "We know looking at birthday video
tapes at 12 months of age that it's already off track, so the idea that
there is nothing going on in the first year that's abnormal is not true."
Right now in the Pittsburgh area most children with autism are not diagnosed
until they are three or four years old. She believes if the signs of autism
are detected early and autism is diagnosed much earlier, it could mean a
more normal life for autistic kids. Minshew said, "We need to do early
intervention to improve outcomes that means starting at two, three at the
latest. We can help pediatricians know what to look for and we can begin to
see what we can do in the first year of life to head this off, to make it
milder." The Greacens believe early intervention made a big difference for
Ian. He was diagnosed a year earlier than his brother and began therapy a
year earlier. Ian is now more independent, verbal and social than his older
brother. If parents feel something is just not right with their child,
Greacen has this advice, "Trust your gut. It's better to air on the safe
side then putting if off and wasting that valuable time." Dr. Minchew is
expanding her study. Her researchers will follow 150 families who have one
autistic child with an infant sibling. She will also follow another 150
families with an infant who do not have autistic children. The University
Of Pittsburgh Center for Excellence in Autism Research is also conducting
studies on older children and adults with autism. If you are interested in
taking part in those studies you can get more information by calling
412-246-5485 or emailing autismrecruiter@...."

15. "Teacher found not guilty of endangering welfare of child" dated 29
June 2007 by JOANNE BRATTON from The Baxter Bulletin at
http://www.baxterbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070629/NEWS01/706
290306/1002.

"A judge ruled a former Norfork special education teacher was not guilty of
endangering the welfare of a minor. Loretta DiAnne Cruse, 59, of Gassville
was arrested on the misdemeanor charge in March with allegations she
physically abused an 8-year-old nonverbal child numerous times while working
as a special education teacher at Norfork Elementary School. During her
bench trial Thursday, Baxter County District Judge Van Gearhart ruled she
was not guilty, saying the prosecution failed to prove the child suffered a
substantial risk of harm through Cruse's alleged actions. The ruling was
made after Cruse's attorney, Brian Mooney, asked the court for a directed
verdict. A person endangers the welfare of a minor in the second degree if
a person "knowingly engages in conduct creating a substantial risk of
serious harm to the physical or mental welfare" of a child, according to
Arkansas law. During the trial, state witness Janet Anderson of Calico Rock
testified she was a personal health-care aide to the child and Cruse was her
supervisor. Cruse was with the child about 30 minutes each day while
Anderson was at lunch, she said. Cruse resigned from her position in March,
according to school documents. In response to questions by deputy
prosecuting attorney Emily Reed, Anderson said Cruse disciplined the child
on Dec. 6 by putting a trash can with a liner over his head and rattling it
for a few seconds, causing him to later cry. The incident occurred after the
child had smeared feces on a bathroom wall, Anderson said. The child, who
has a developmental disorder, does not speak except for an occasional word
and is violent toward caregivers, sometimes biting them to the point of
drawing blood, according to statements made in court. Anderson testified it
bothered her when she saw Cruse put the trash can on the child's head, but
she waited two days before reporting it because she did not know what to do.
After she reported it, the school contacted the child's mother and started
an internal investigation, according to school officials and the child's
mother. The child's mother called an Arkansas Department of Health and Human
Services hotline and an investigator with the Baxter County Sheriff's
Office, according to testimony. Anderson said the child was very good for
Cruse, and that he came back to school after the incident and did not seem
to be harmed. She also added he could be happy one day and angry the next,
and his behavior did not follow a pattern. When the child needed
discipline, Anderson said the aides used time-outs. If he would bite and
scratch, they were allowed to bring his knees to his chest and wrap his arms
around his legs and hold him for eight minutes, she said. Sgt. Niki Stone
with the Baxter County Sheriff's Office said during an interview, Cruse said
she banged a trash can but did not recall putting the trash can over the
child's head. Stone said the incident took place about 1 1/2 hours after the
child's actions. The child's mother, Lori Hadley, was not called by the
prosecution to testify. She said while her son was in Cruse's care, he
regressed in his learning and did not want to go to school. In an April
letter written to The Baxter Bulletin, she said her son came home one day
saying the word "bad" and she was so happy he spoke, only to find out he was
trying to tell her something bad had happened to him, she said. She stated
she made many trips to school to check on him, but did not find anything
that made her feel she should pull him out of school. Hadley also said a
police and state human services report showed other incidents where Cruse
put a ski mask over the child's head when he spit and slapped his hands.
Those alleged incidents were not presented as evidence Thursday. In giving
his ruling, Gearhart reviewed the evidence of the case. "This is a very
difficult case because of the young person that is involved," Gearhart said.
"I'm called upon to find serious harm," he said, adding the child was not
harmed physically. "The only issue is if it harmed mentally or emotionally,"
he said. Gearhart said the child's aide testified the boy did not act in an
abnormal way, and that the investigator knew of no long-term affect on the
child. "Hopefully, as the witness testified, it was abnormal behavior of
Cruse," Gearhart said. "I do not have jurisdiction whether Cruse ought to be
a teacher or if there is civil liability, but based on the law and statute,
I find Ms. Cruse not guilty." "God answers prayer," Cruse said after the
trial, surrounded by family members and friends hugging her. "A lot of
friends prayed. God answers prayer."

16. "UK's "most dangerous teen" guilty of murder" dated 29 June 2007 from
NineMSN.com (UK) at http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=275968.

"A 19-year-old man described by doctors as Britain's most dangerous teenager
was found guilty of stabbing a nurse to death in a frenzied attack as she
took a cigarette break last year. Stuart Harling, who had told London's Old
Bailey he had rape fantasies and had wanted to carry out a gun rampage at a
school where he had been bullied, said he murdered Cheryl Moss, 33, because
he was bored. The trainee accountant, wearing a fancy dress witch's wig and
dark glasses, stabbed Moss 72 times with a hunting knife in a savage attack
outside St George's Hospital in Hornchurch, Essex, in April last year. The
attack was so sudden she did not have time to scream and he only stopped
stabbing his victim because his wig fell off. "I cannot think of a more
dangerous teenager in the country. If released he will probably kill again,"
said Dr Philip Joseph, one of the country's top consultant forensic
psychiatrists. Harling had admitted killing Moss, who had worked at the
hospital for more than 10 years, but denied murder on the grounds of
diminished responsibility. Under cross-examination at the Old Bailey,
Harling said he was obsessed with violent video games and regularly surfed
pornographic Web sites on killing, torture and death. He also said he had
wanted to carry out a shooting similar to the massacre at Columbine High
School, Colorado, in April 1999 when two students shot dead 13 people and
then killed themselves. "Harling was obsessed with being notorious and
serial killers," said Detective Sergeant Elaine Pugh. "If we had not caught
him so quickly I fear he would have gone on to kill more innocent people."
The court heard that Harling suffers from Asperger syndrome and also has a
schizoid personality disorder. Prosecutor Brian Altman said Harling was a
loner who had developed a plan to kill someone at random to live out his
fantasy which would give him some sort of sexual gratification. "This
murder was not a spontaneous act, far from it. Inflamed and fuelled by the
fantasy world he lived in, he developed a plan over time, a plan to kill
someone which he executed in a chillingly, cold blooded way," Altman said."

17. "Autism Speaks Approves More Than $15 Million in New Research Grants-
52 Projects to Be Funded in Three Separate Categories" dated 29 June 2007 in
a press release from Autism Speaks at
http://www.autismspeaks.org/press/2007_june_grants.php.

"Autism Speaks today announced that it has approved $15.2 million in funding
for 52 new research grants, spanning a wide range of topics to improve our
understanding of the risk factors for autism, its underlying mechanisms, and
how a disorder that now affects one in every 150 children might be more
effectively treated and prevented. Many of the research projects expand on
existing knowledge of autism, while others explore innovative ideas that
have had less research support, and several serve as resource-building
initiatives that will facilitate further investigations in the future.
Autism Speaks received more than 265 grant proposals during this grant
cycle, with those that have been funded representing the studies of the
highest quality. The cycle's biomedical research grants fall into three
general funding categories (Pilot Studies, Basic and Clinical Grants, and
Treatment Grants) and are among the most innovative proposals funded to
date. The following highlights some of the projects approved in this round:
Pilot Studies: Grants of this type are intended to draw new investigators
into the field of autism research, or to allow investigators to collect
preliminary data to show plausibility of an innovative area of exploration.
These field-building grants support data collection that then might lead to
a larger grant for more expansive and in-depth analysis. Autism Speaks Pilot
Studies provide funding of up to $60,000 per year for a maximum of two
years. Fifteen pilot awards, totaling $1.8 million, have been approved.
Three aim to collect epidemiological data that will allow the identification
of targets for future research. The first (PI: Kim) will build on an
existing Autism Speaks-funded study in South Korea to address the question
of changes in international autism prevalence over time. A second (PI:
Ascherio) will make use of a large NIH-sponsored database (the Nurse's
Health Study II) to determine the impact of maternal factors, such as
obstetric complications and diet, on autism risk. The third (PI: Sourander)
will make use of a national Finnish database to collect data on both
environmental and genetic risk factors for autism and to search for
biomarkers. Another pilot study of interest (PI: Chauhan) will attempt to
identify biochemical differences in autistic individuals that may account
for the previous observations that oxidative stress, inflammation and
aberrant immune response may be present in some individuals with autism.
Basic and Clinical Grants: In an effort to further develop research in areas
of considerable interest, Autism Speaks has launched a new funding mechanism
called Basic and Clinical Grants. Research proposals of this type cover a
broad range of topics, with the goal of more accurately revealing and
defining, quantitatively and qualitatively, all aspects of autism. Providing
an opportunity to pursue leads that have shown promise in pilot studies,
these grants offer researchers larger commitments over a longer time period.
As such, Autism Speaks Basic and Clinical Grants provide funding of up to
$150,000 per year for a maximum of three years. Twenty-seven basic and
clinical research grants, with a commitment exceeding $11.5 million, were
awarded in this category. Complementing the pilot study on oxidative stress
and immune response, two projects will examine the role of the immune system
in autism (PI: McAllister, Rall). Several genetic studies will be pursued,
including the feasibility of blood test screens for autism using gene
expression (PI: Kunkel, Sharp). Additional genetic studies include an
in-depth study of the potential involvement of a gene (neurexin) required
for the formation of synapses and cell communication in the brain (PI:
Gusella) and a screen to identify susceptibility genes for the regressive
form of autism (PI: Molloy). A project to develop widely-used autism
diagnostic tests in Mandarin Chinese (PI: Lee) will help to further
standardize diagnostic measures internationally and thereby promote autism
research in Chinese-speaking countries and allow assessment of disease
prevalence in other countries. Finally, several research studies will
utilize animal models, including one (PI: Zador) that will employ a rodent
model of the deficits in neural circuitry that result from mutations in
various candidate autism genes, which may have very different immediate
effects but end with the same physiological dysfunction (i.e., autism).
..."

18. "At The CDC: Spending That Could Make You Ill" dated 2 July 2007 by
Sharyl Attkisson <javascript:loadAuthor('couricandco', 500803,
'Sharyl_Attkisson')> from CBS News at
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/07/02/couricandco/entry3007156.shtml.

"Our report tonight on wasteful spending at the Centers for Disease Control
should come with a public health alert: "Warning: viewing this story on how
the CDC is spending your tax dollars might make you sick." With CDC asking
taxpayers for a billion dollars more to be added to its $10 billion budget,
some in Congress are asking tough questions about the agency's spending
choices. Senator Tom Coburn, who oversees CDC funding, has produced a
detailed investigative report with maddening examples of apparently
extravagant spending. They include hundreds of millions of dollars spent on
state-of-the-art facilities that are so top-of-the-line, they've won
architectural awards... there's the new headquarters, the communications and
visitors center, and the employee fitness center. The press person for CDC
told me repeatedly that nothing there was "out of the ordinary" in these
facilities. But some Americans might see it differently. For example, the
massive fitness center rivals the nicest private clubs I've seen. And you
really have to wonder who decided it was good idea to equip it with "quiet
rooms" complete with "anti-gravity chairs" where stressed out employees can
relax and watch a "mood-enhancing light show."
Another sore point for some is all the tax money being spent on things that
seem to be pretty far off the beaten path to disease prevention and
emergency response. For example there's the $1.7 million dollars already
spent by CDC on a Hollywood liaison to help TV shows and soap operas develop
accurate medical plot lines. I'm not kidding. CDC sees this as a great way
to reach out to lots of members of the public. But some in Congress say
Hollywood can afford to do its own research or, better yet, the script
writers could just verify their medical facts when needed by calling the CDC
press office. There are also perceived conflicts of interest examples
contained within the Congressional report. The CDC employee who thought up
the idea to pay a Hollywood liaison created an office to get it done, then
promptly left the CDC to go work for the Hollywood company that gets all the
CDC money. One member of Congress told me if things like that were happening
in the Defense Department "there would probably be a criminal
investigation." There are also really disheartening examples of how CDC's
AIDS and HIV prevention money is sometimes being squandered -- grants being
awarded to projects that investigators have found in some cases to have "no
objectives," are "not performing," or have been rated as "abysmal." In other
cases, grants have gone to community-based groups with very little
oversight. The result is tax dollars spent on erotic writing classes, a drag
contest, zoo trips for HIV-positive people, a workshop in San Francisco on
"how to flirt with greater finesse," a bar night, and a manual on how to
throw an alcohol party. ..."

19. "Mom Says Employee Got Off Easy After Beating Her Autistic Child" dated
3 July 2007 from WFTV13 News at
http://www.wftv.com/news/13616769/detail.html.

"A woman said her child, who is autistic, was badly beaten by a worker at an
Orange County group home. The boy's mother said the worker only got a slap
on the wrist for the attack. Not only is the mother of the victim in the
case preparing a lawsuit against the care facility, but she's also
disappointed with prosecutors that the man who abused her son served only
one day in jail. Donnell Redden may seem like the happiest 15-year-old in
the world. He mostly laughs his way through each day. But he is autistic and
has the mind of a child younger than two years old. "I mean, I still think
about it today. I mean, it really upsets me, just to see him like that,"
said Sheryl Ward, Donnell's mother. Ward remembers the day last summer when
the head of the group home Donnell stayed at called to say he'd been beaten.
She said group home employee Henoc Arbouet battered the autistic boy for
wandering outside the house, which is no longer a group home but still a bad
memory. "Once he got out, that's when Henoc lost it. So that gives him the
right to strike my son, to blacken his eye, to bust his lip, to swollen his
face?" Ward questioned. In a letter from the group home's attorneys,
Florida Mentor Healthcare suggests they have no liability because "Arbouet
was not acting within the scope of his employment" when the battery
occurred. "He's 6-foot-1, 6-foot-2. My son, he's only 5-1, 70 pounds. His
mind is an infant or a toddler," Ward said. What matters to Donnell's mom
is that someone is held accountable and no other children are abused. "I
just want everyone to know what happened to him. I mean, he can't defend
himself," she said. The accused in the case agreed to a plea bargain in the
case, receiving just one day in jail and probation."

20. "Signs of autism show earlier in some children" dated 2 July 2007 by
Anita Manning from USA Today at
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-07-02-autism-behaviors_N.htm?loc=in
terstitialskip.

"Children with autism can be identified as early as 14 months old, the
youngest age at which the disorder has been diagnosed, a study by
researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore suggests. But
about half the time, symptoms may not show up until months later. That
suggests at least two distinct paths leading to autism: one that starts
early in life and one in which a child seems to develop normally and then
regresses, losing language and social skills. Results of the study, the
first to follow toddlers from 14 months until they turn 3, could allow
earlier treatment to reduce the effects of autism, says Rebecca Landa, lead
author of the report published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. The
range of developmental impairments known as autism spectrum disorders, or
ASD, is marked by an inability to communicate and interact with others. Its
cause is not known, but most researchers believe genetic factors play a
role. Most studies have relied on interviews with parents and examinations
of family videos to look for early signals, such as a child's lack of
response to his name or failure to engage with others. Scientists know that
"we can reliably diagnose autism at age 2, but only by real experts," Landa
says. "What's different about this is we can show that we can stretch that
down close to the first birthday, but the caveat is we can't do it for all
children." The study involved 107 children who were considered at high risk
for autism because they had a sibling with the disorder and 18 low-risk
children who had no family history of autism. Behavior differences in those
with and without ASD at 14 months can be seen in videos that show toddlers
interacting with a researcher. In one, a normally developing boy reacts
happily when given a toy penguin, gives it to the researcher and laughs when
she hands it back. "He integrates looking, giving and smiling," Landa says.
"That is what I call the package, and the package is very seldom seen at 14
months of age in kids who have ASD." By contrast, a boy later diagnosed
with autism shows only mild interest when a researcher uses a blanket to
play peek-a-boo. He focuses briefly on the blanket, but he doesn't interact
with the researcher and soon loses interest. Children in the
"late-diagnosis group" behave at 14 months old very much like the children
who didn't end up with autism, Landa says. But from 14 to 24 months of age,
there was a progressive decline in social development. "Whatever is
happening, it's affecting brain development in a way we can observe
behaviorally," she says. "We can't watch the neurons making connections, but
we can watch a child's smile disappear." Landa cautions parents not to be
overly alarmed if a child occasionally exhibits a worrisome trait. Autism
involves many developmental disruptions that continue over time. "I don't
know any children who don't do weird things" now and then, she says. "If
it's going to be ASD, it's going to stick."

21. "New Study Shows Half of Children With Autism Can Be Accurately
Diagnosed at Close To 1 Year of Age" dated 3 July 2007 in a press release
from Kennedy Krieger Institute at
http://www.docguide.com/news/content.nsf/news/852571020057CCF68525730D0070EB
70.

"In a study published today in the Archives of General Psychiatry,
researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland found
that autism can be diagnosed at close to one year of age, which is the
earliest the disorder has ever been diagnosed. The study, which evaluated
social and communication development in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) from
14 to 36 months of age, revealed that approximately half of all children
with autism can be diagnosed around the first birthday. The remaining half
will be diagnosed later, and their development may unfold very differently
than children whose ASD is diagnosable around the first birthday. Early
diagnosis of the disorder allows for early intervention, which can make a
major difference in helping children with autism reach their full potential.
Researchers examined social and communication development in infants at high
and low risk for ASD starting at 14 months of age and ending at 30 or 36
months (a small minority of the children exited the study at 30 months).
Half of the children with a final diagnosis of ASD made at 30 or 36 months
of age had been diagnosed with the disorder at 14 months, and the other half
were diagnosed after 14 months. Through repeated observation and the use of
standardized tests of development, researchers identified, for the first
time, disruptions in social, communication and play development that were
indicative of ASD in 14-month olds. Multiple signs indicating these
developmental disruptions appear simultaneously in children with the
disorder. Dr. Rebecca Landa, lead study author and director of Kennedy
Krieger's Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and her colleagues
identified the following signs of developmental disruptions for which
parents and pediatricians should be watching: ..."

22. "Autism, other illnesses may be linked by genes" dated 3 July 2007 by
John Lauerman from Bloomberg News at
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,680195950,00.html.

"Autism, schizophrenia and manic-depressive disorder may be linked to
several of the same genes, scientists said in a study that may spark a
search to identity such genes as a prelude to seeking new treatments. About
20 percent to 60 percent of gene variants that raise people's risk of
autism, a mysterious brain disorder, also increase vulnerability to
manic-depressive illness, according to the study, released today. Autism
risk may be linked just as closely to schizophrenia, said the authors, led
by Andrey Rzhestky, a University of Chicago computational biologist. The
findings, to be published this week in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, come from a statistical analysis of the symptoms and
characteristics of 1.5 million patients with 161 diseases. The study may
also guide researchers who are trying to find the underpinnings of
conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer's disease. "We're
currently throwing out a lot of information in our genetic studies because
it's not related to the specific disease we're interested in," Rzhetsky said
today in a telephone interview. "By studying the interrelatedness of
disease, we can use more of that information and get more precise
information about the genetic variations associated with diseases."
Rzhetsky said other researchers have expressed interest in "using the
approach to help them" look for genes linked to diseases. The study also
showed that the nerve diseases are often related to illnesses in which the
immune system attacks the patients' organs, such as diabetes and psoriasis.
Certain infectious diseases, such as viral encephalitis, tuberculosis, and
infection from staph bacteria, also appeared to be linked to the
nervous-system disorders, Rzhestky said. "The presence of these autoimmune
disorders and infectious diseases may be relevant," he said. "By looking at
them jointly, we may be able to get more information from the same set of
observations or patient records."

23. "The Sooner the Better- A new study finds that autism can be identified
at around 14 months, much earlier than previously thought. How early
diagnosis can improve outcomes" dated 3 July 2007 by Karen Springen from
Newsweek at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19588967/site/newsweek.

"Autism spectrum disorders affect about one in 150 children. Often doctors
don't diagnose the disability--which is characterized by impairments of
social interaction and communication--until age 3. And yet, experts say
earlier diagnosis is critical, since it can lead to earlier intervention and
better outcomes. The good news: in a study appearing this week in the
Archives of General Psychiatry, researchers say they have successfully
identified autism in children as young as 14 months--the earliest the
disorder has ever been diagnosed. The authors say the findings indicate that
about half of autism cases can be diagnosed within months of the first
birthday. Researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Md.,
evaluated social and communication development among 107 high-risk kids
(children whose siblings have autism) and a control group of 18 low-risk
kids (no family history of autism). Speech pathologist Rebecca Landa,
director of Kennedy Krieger's Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and
lead author of the study, spoke with NEWSWEEK 's Karen Springen about the
implications for the 1.5 million Americans with autism. Excerpts: NEWSWEEK:
What does this mean for the theory that vaccines and other environmental
factors may play a role in autism? Rebecca Landa: This study doesn't really
touch on that. There may come a time when we can look at these children's
records and see what kind of vaccines they were exposed to. There are
different onset patterns. Basically, in the one pattern, there are clear,
clear problems in social development and communication development at 14
months of age. The children are quite distinguishable. [But] for about half
of the children we studied, their autism symptoms didn't really show up
until later, sometime after 14 months, but certainly before 24 months. The
point is that some parents are concerned that when their child gets a
vaccine at around 15 months, like the MMR [measles, mumps, rubella], that
their child is suddenly changing. What these data are indicating is that
there is going to be a progressive phase to the disorder of autism in at
least half of the children, where you're going to see that around 14 months,
they look pretty healthy. It begins to gradually dwindle. They gradually
begin to look pretty different. This is probably not an incident that comes
upon a child instantaneously. This is an ongoing process. ..."

24. "State vaccination rule sought- Bills seek to give public health
officials, not lawmakers or parents, power to call the shots" dated 3 July
2007 by Dorsey Griffith from the Sacramento Bee at
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/253812.html.

"A proposal to allow state public health officials to mandate new vaccines
for children without legislative tinkering is picking up steam among
California lawmakers. Assembly Bill 16, the bill that originally would have
required the cervical cancer vaccine for girls, now addresses how vaccines
are included on the state's list of required childhood immunizations,
authorizing the state public health officer to make the final call. The bill
is being touted by supporters as an effort to strip politics from a process
that has long been subject to legislative debate. "The way we determine
what immunizations we will require of children is a mess," said Teresa
Stark, a lobbyist for the California Medical Association. "We want the
decisions to be made based on science and what's best for the public
health." Opponents counter that the bill's new version would rubber-stamp
potentially controversial immunizations such as the vaccine against the
cancer-causing human papillomavirus. "We opposed the original bill because
of the mandate," said Karen England, executive director of the Capitol
Resource Institute, a conservative parental rights advocacy organization.
"This is even worse, because it turns the power over to public health
officials with no recourse for the people to be heard." AB 16, by Ed
Hernandez, D-West Covina, is one of three immunization bills currently under
consideration. SB 676 by Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles, would mandate
whooping cough booster shots, and SB 533 by Leland Yee, D-San Francisco,
would require pneumococcus vaccine for children entering preschool.
Although their details differ, all three bills also would authorize the
state public health officer to make vaccine requirement decisions.
Collaboration efforts to create a single, unified measure are under way. AB
16 passed out of the Senate Education Committee last week and will be heard
July 11 by the Senate Health Committee. The Legislature last year voted to
create a new Department of Public Health, which debuted Sunday. Dr. Mark
Horton, the state's public health officer who will run the new department,
said Friday that while he has not taken an official position, he agrees the
proposal makes sense. "Whatever can make the process easier would be a good
idea," he said. Horton noted that similar legislation passed last year gave
health officials authority to require doctors to report certain diseases to
the state, also bypassing the legislative process. AB 16, which has the
support of the California Medical Association, has dropped any reference to
mandating Gardasil, the HPV vaccine, for middle-school girls. The bill met
with strong resistance from legislators before it was withdrawn in March.
Critics cited the vaccine's relative newness to the market, its $360 cost
and what some conservatives argued was its potential to encourage premarital
sex. "The pressure caused us to take a step back and look at how we do
these as a whole," explained Tim Valderamma, Hernandez's legislative
director. The new version of the bill relies on recommendations from the
federal Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) and
implementation by the state public health officer. The bill makes any
vaccinations recommended by the ACIP mandatory in California after a
five-year waiting period, as long as their costs are covered and the state
public health officer deems them safe and effective. The bill also
maintains parents' rights to opt out of having their child vaccinated.
Still, opponents remain dissatisfied. Rick Rollens of Granite Bay believes
his 16-year-old son, Russell, is autistic because of routine childhood
vaccinations, and has since championed efforts to investigate possible
causes of neurodevelopmental disorders, including childhood immunizations.
..."

25. "With rise in autism, programs strained- Parents struggle to get
services" dated 5 July 2007 by Carey Goldberg from the Boston Globe at
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/07/05/with_rise_in_autism_pro
grams_strained.

"A decade ago, it took a few months to get a child into Melmark New England,
a special school largely for children with autism. Now, the wait can be five
years. Boston-area parents, worried their child may be autistic, routinely
face delays as long as nine months to confirm the diagnosis -- even though
current wisdom holds that treatment should begin as early as possible. And
LADDERS, a Wellesley autism clinic, has all but closed its doors to new
patients: "We're backed up well over a year here, and other clinics are
struggling the same way," said Dr. Margaret Bauman, its director.
Statewide, the number of schoolchildren diagnosed with autism has nearly
doubled over the last five years, from 4,080 to 7,521, according to
soon-to-be-published data from the Department of Education. Massachusetts
provides some of the best care in the nation for children with autism, but
the increase is straining the system and forcing parents to fight harder
than ever to get help. "Many people who haven't had the experience assume
the hardest part is hearing your child has autism," said Ann Guay of
Bedford, whose 12-year-old son, Brian, has the disorder. "But I think the
greater challenge is trying to obtain the services you know your child
desperately needs." Nationwide, federal health authorities say that about
one in every 150 children now has some form of autism, a sharp increase over
past estimates. The rates vary from state to state for unclear reasons;
Massachusetts has now reached a total of 1 in every 130 schoolchildren.
Advocates for children with autism point out that because autism tends to
affect four times as many boys as girls, it appears that already more than 1
percent of Massachusetts school boys are "on the spectrum," which ranges
from severe disability to lesser problems with communication and social
interaction. Some debate lingers about whether the sharp rise in autism
rates is real or simply reflects better detection, but for those in the
autism world the question is moot: Whatever the reason, the reality is that
more children need their services. "Autism programs are faced with enormous
needs and no one feels like we have enough programs to meet the
up-and-coming numbers of children," said Rita Gardner, executive director of
Melmark, in Andover, which serves children in its school, in their homes,
and in public schools. "I would argue that this is one of our biggest public
health crises in this country." To keep pace, school systems and state
agencies are rushing to open more programs, train more teachers, and hire
more therapists to help autistic children. The Legislature is recognizing
the need: Starting in fiscal year 2006, it gave the state Division on Autism
its own line item in the budget, and in the pending budget, allocates $3.2
million to the division, up from $3 million in the last fiscal year. ..."

26. "A mother's view of a word that wounds: 'Retard" dated 5 July 2007 by
Theresa Howard in an oped article in USA Today at
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/07/a-mothers-view-.html.

"You are such a retard. You've heard the expression. Sometimes it's
preceded by an expletive, as in "you're such a f--ing retard." Either way,
with or without the curse word, it's a harsh statement. But one, it seems,
that's become increasingly acceptable. So much so that in one recent week I
kept track of how many times I heard it and who said it. I heard it daily -
whether it was a colleague, a neighbor talking to his dog, an actor from a
hit TV show during an interview with me, a top level advertising executive,
young men playfully swapping insults or Tony Soprano to his son after a
botched suicide attempt. Last year, the r-word was in the title of a Two
and a Half Men <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369179/episodes> episode It's
a word that, unlike "pimp" or the n-word, is always derogatory. For reasons
that I can't understand, pimp has become synonymous with style. The n-word,
for a handful of African-Americans, is a term of endearment - until someone
outside the circle uses it. Then it becomes derogatory. But no matter how
or by whom the r-word is used, it's always in a negative context. You don't
hear, "What a great idea, that's so retarded." You don't hear, "Awesome
catch - what a retard move." While some are advocating that the n-word be
banished from America's lexicon, who is the voice for the 7.5 million
Americans with intellectual disabilities who truly are mentally retarded?
Who is defending their dignity while everyday folks - educated adults at
that - take a term that clinically applies to the disabled and use it as an
insult? What's my fascination with the r-word? I take it very personally.
And I'm not a person who is easily offended. I am, however, the mother of a
6-month-old daughter who was born with Down syndrome. Lydia Catherine is
sweet. She's got a warm smile and very knowing blue eyes. She's got a subtle
little dimple and a tiny tuft of strawberry blonde hair that swirls into one
single swoop into the air. When she looks at me, I feel like she can see
all the fears, concerns, doubts and questions that swim around in my heart
and my mind every day. Will she be smart enough to know when she hears
people say the word "retard" that they are talking about her? This is not
new territory for me. I grew up the sibling of a Down syndrome sister.
Catherine Anne was 41 when she passed away four years ago. She was born at a
time when "mongolian idiot
<http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/reprint/1/4/496.pdf > " was the
operative term, and doctors suggested to my parents to leave her behind and
she'd be taken care of. It really meant she would have been
institutionalized. They didn't listen. Catherine lived with my parents until
the day she died. For as long as I can remember, I corrected people when
they said the r-word. I flashed dirty looks to people who stared. I told
parents to tell their child that it's not polite. Ever gregarious, Catherine
would smile at strangers, many of whom would be so uncomfortable that they
didn't know what to do. Even after Catherine passed away, I continued to
correct people for a few years. Then I got tired. I no longer felt it was my
battle. Until Dec. 10, when Lydia was born. My journey has begun all over
again, this time with me as the mother and my older daughter, Sofia, as the
sibling. If I was protective of my sister, I am almost scared of how
protective I will be for Lydia and her own sister. But as she grows up in a
time when "retard" is a socially acceptable slur, professional organizations
are trying to change the clinical term. Last November, the American
Association on Mental Retardation changed its name to the American
Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
<http://www.msaaidd.org/PR1-20061129.htm> . The Special Olympics is
advocating that "retarded
<http://www.specialolympics.org/special+olympics+public+website/english/pres
s_room/global_news/arc+of+illinois+reprint.htm> " be dropped from the
vernacular. Fixing the terminology is only a start. The bigger issue is
acceptance of people with disabilities. Do your part. Don't stare. Say
hello. Be inclusive. And when you want to insult someone's intelligence,
remember to use a different word."

27. "Autistic Baseball League" from WRCB3 News at
http://www.wrcbtv.com/news/index.cfm?sid=9347.

"Kids and Little League baseball...it's a summer right of passage for many,
but a challenge for kids with special needs like autism. Sunday is Little
League day for so many families and the Sillers are no different, but the
Little League Danny Siller plays in is different. There are no innings and
no one keeps score. This is a game of Challenger Little League and Danny
Siller, like everyone else on the team, has autism. "It's great watching
your kid play and being part of the things that are out there to enjoy
because for so long it was like living in a cave with a child growing up,"
said David Siller, Danny's father. "The first day these kids came out here
it was all over the place, it was reckless abandon and the parents were
chasing after them," said Coach Marty Litt. "When they first came out here
we had kids running off into the outfield and now by and large they are
focused on coming to the plate hitting the ball, knowing which way to run
the bases," said Coach Eric Kobrick. The coaching clearly takes patience
and understanding, and some very young volunteers are coming up with
astonishing supplies of maturity. "We are all in high school and none of us
have ever been exposed to anything about autism. And what we really learned
is that every child, their symptoms manifest themselves in different ways.
Some kids don't have any language and can't speak with us but at the same
time they give us high fives, they want hugs and want us to pick them up and
its really great for all of us," said 11th grader volunteer Rachel Abele.
Focus is fleeting but no one here cares who drops the ball. Parents say
seeing their child in uniform on a community ball field coached by local
teens makes this something of a field of dreams."

28. "Baby Dies From Toxic Breast Milk" from Mercola.com at
http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Baby-Dies-From-Toxic-Breast-Milk-2038
8.aspx.

"Codeine prescribed for postnatal pain can produce deadly concentrations of
morphine in breast milk. A lawsuit over the death of Toronto newborn Tariq
Jamieson, who died as a result of opiate toxicity in his mother's breast
milk, has renewed the debate over prescribing such drugs as Tylenol 3 to
breastfeeding mothers. Tariq's mother Rani was prescribed Tylenol 3 for
lingering episiotomy pain. Although Tariq was initially healthy, he
developed increasing lethargy after the seven-day mark, and after 11 days he
was brought to a pediatrician due to concerns about his skin color and poor
feeding. Two days later, Tariq died. Tariq was found to have high blood
levels of acetaminophen, and a blood concentration of morphine six times
higher than would normally be considered safe in a neonate. Tylenol 3
contains both acetaminophen and codeine, which is metabolized to morphine in
the body. However, not everyone metabolizes codeine at the same rate. Rani
Jamieson was an ultra-rapid metabolizer of codeine to morphine, which means
that the opiate built up in her breastmilk very fast. While ultra-rapid
metabolization of codeine occurs in about 1 percent of Caucasians, it occurs
in as much as 30 percent of some African and Asian populations. From
National Review of Medicine June 15, 2007
<http://www.nationalreviewofmedicine.com/issue/2007/06_15/4_patients_practic
e04_11.html> .

29. "Seeking Hope in Chinese Stem Cells- Treatments May Not Work or Even Be
Safe, But Dozens Make the Trek Each Month" by Nicholas Zamiska from The Wall
Street Journal at
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB118334242884354943-lMyQjAxMDE3ODAzMzMw
.

"Christina Bogert has spent years seeking ways to help her 10-year-old son,
Douglas, who is severely autistic. After little success with other
treatments, she brought him here to try something he can't get in the U.S.:
stem-cell injections. Ms. Bogert, a 45-year-old aerospace engineer for
Lockheed Martin Corp., says she has to try different approaches even when
they involve unproven medical procedures. If she doesn't take chances, she
says, "that means my son will never get better." So in June 2006, she and
Doug flew from their home in California to a Shenzhen hospital for about
four weeks of injections at a cost of $10,000. Dozens of foreigners a
month, many of them children, have been flying to a handful of hospitals in
China, seeking stem-cell injections for a variety of conditions. There is no
widely accepted scientific evidence that the procedures work or are even
safe. Nonetheless, desperate patients are spending thousands of dollars,
hoping to find cures for brain injuries, cerebral palsy and even autism -- a
developmental disorder with uncertain origins and a range of symptoms, from
the failure to develop language skills to the inability to sense the
feelings of others. Some stem cells have the potential to turn into
different cells, including muscle, blood and brain cells, leading scientists
to believe that they may be useful in treating medical disorders. In the
U.S., embryonic stem cells have been hugely controversial because
researchers must destroy a days-old human embryo to harvest them. Chinese
doctors use different, more mature stem cells from umbilical-cord blood,
brain tissue of aborted fetuses and other sources. These types of
treatments aren't allowed in the U.S. The National Institutes of Health
supports research on adult and embryonic stem cells as therapy for a variety
of disorders, but Naomi Kleitman, program director for the National
Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, notes that the cells "are
still being investigated at a basic level in animal models." Last March,
Bruce Dobkin, the medical director at the neurologic rehabilitation and
research program at the University of California, Los Angeles, published a
report in a peer-reviewed medical journal on the work of a Chinese
spinal-cord researcher who has offered stem-cell therapies to foreigners for
years. Dr. Dobkin's study said none of the seven spinal-injury patients who
were observed experienced significant improvements, and five suffered
potentially dangerous complications. Thomas K. Koch, chairman of the
neurology section of the American Academy of Pediatrics, is also skeptical
about stem-cell use in China, partly because cells intended to repair
function in the brain are injected into the patient's back. "That's like
saying they're going to Fifth and Mission in San Francisco, and taking them
to California and dropping them off," Dr. Koch says. "To just all of a
sudden say, 'We can cure all neurological disease with stem cells' is a bit
grandiose." But in China Sean Hu, 40, a doctor who is chairman of Beike
Biotechnology Co., shrugs off skeptics. "They underestimate the ability of
the cell," says Dr. Hu, whose company prepares the cells to be injected into
patients and then hires doctors to perform the procedure at several Chinese
hospitals. And Mao Qunan, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Health in
Beijing, which regulates the procedures, says, "The stem-cell treatment is
safe, and it has been used in many countries." ..."

30. "Wright Addresses UN Group" in a press release from Autism Speaks at
http://www.autismspeaks.org/inthenews/wright_un.php.

"On Thursday, June 28, Autism Speaks co-founder Suzanne Wright spoke at the
United Nations' briefing titled Autism: Raising Awareness, Changing
Attitudes presented by the Department of Public Information,
Non-Governmental Organizations. The DPI/NGO presents weekly briefings and
this one, the last of the season, focused on autism. It began with a
screening of the 12-minute version of Autism Every Day which was followed by
presentations by Suzanne Wright, Dr. W. Ian Lipkin (Greene Infectious
Disease Laboratory), and Eric Olson (Focal Point on Family, Social
Integration Section, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United
Nations) The briefing, moderated by Juan Carlos Brandt (Chief of the NGO
section), discussed current research and the social challenges posed by
autism. A lively Q&A session followed the panelists' remarks. Click here
<http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/specialevents/dpi070628.rm> for a video
webcast of the briefing (requires RealPlayer). Click here
</press/wright_united_nations.php> to read a press release about the event.
"

31. "Athletes Turn Out to Raise Funds, Awareness" in a press release from
Autism Speaks at
http://www.autismspeaks.org/sponsoredevents/aaa_golf_2007.php.

"Athletes Against Autism's Second Annual Golf Tournament, presented by
Cadillac, was held on June 24th & 25th at Bacara Resort & Spa and Sandpiper
Golf Club in Santa Barbara, CA. More than 35 athletes and celebrities from
across North America joined golfers, donors and supporters to raise over
$350,000 in support of the research, awareness, education and outreach
programs of Cure Autism Now/Autism Speaks. Sunday evening, Bacara Resort &
Spa played host to a cocktail hour, silent/live auction and dinner program.
On Monday, Sandpiper Golf Club hosted the golf tournament, which included a
hole in one contest for a 2007 Cadillac Escalade, contests for Closest to
the Pin, Accurate Drive, Longest Drive & Longest Drive, and an after event
BBQ Dinner & Awards Reception. Athletes and celebrities on hand to help
support the event were Olie Kolzig, Washington Capitals, Byron Dafoe, former
NHL goaltender, Scott Mellanby, former NHL forward, Ryan Nece, Tampa Bay
Buccaneers, Travis LaBoy, Tennessee Titans, Chris Hetherington, San
Francisco 49ers, Scott Jackson, Houston Texans, Travis Hall, former NFL
defensive lineman, Jesse Sapolu, former NFL defensive lineman, Mike
Sherrard, former NFL wide receiver, Fred Williamson, former NFL player &
actor, Eric Karros, former Los Angeles Dodger, Jim Gott, former Los Angeles
Dodger, Matt Pettinger, Washington Capitals, Brian Willsie, Los Angeles
Kings, Sinjin Smith, AVP Volleyball star, Dain Blanton, AVP Volleyball star,
Albert Hannemann, AVP Volleyball star, Sam Boghosian, former NFL Coach, Fred
Brown, former Seattle Supersonic, Darwin Cook, former New Jersey Net, John
Egan, former NBA Player & Coach, Don Ford, former NBA Player, Mark Knudson,
former Colorado Rockie, Jason Olive, former AVP Volleyball Player, Herb
Oliver, former NBA Player, Ed Ratleff, former NBA Player, Dan Roundfield,
former NBA Player, M. Campy Russell, former Cleveland Cavalier, Robert
Smith, former NBA Player, John Patrick Sullivan, former NFL Player, Foots
Walker, former Cleveland Cavalier, Jim Weatherley, former Washington
Redskin, Derek West, former NFL Player, Lance Zeno, former NFL Player, Don
Felder, former Eagles guitarist, and Dougray Scott, actor. For more
information about the event or to learn more about Athletes Against Autism,
please visit www.athletesagainstautism.org
<http://www.athletesagainstautism.org/> ."

32. "Ben's Graduation- Father of Autistic High School Graduate Leaves
Lasting Mark On Students" by Steve LeClaire in a press release from Autism
Speaks at
http://www.autismspeaks.org/community/ownwords/intheirownwords_ben_grad.php.

"The following is taken from a speech given by the father of an autistic
19-year-old and now high school graduate, Ben LeClaire. "Our son Ben has
been amongst you for your 12 years at Sutton. But to many of you, he has
only been in the shadows of the class as a whole. Ben suffers from autism
and has gone through school in the special education program here at Sutton.
Many of you have acknowledged and helped Ben, and for that we thank you. We
have fond memories of all of you giving him hi-fives and hugs, and trying to
include him in your activities. On June 1st, Ben graduates with you, his
peers. He's worked as hard in his own way as you have in yours. Autism is
an epidemic. It now strikes one in 150 kids in the United States. More than
childhood cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. Try to imagine not being able
to say what you want, because you cannot arrange the words in your own head.
Currently, there is no known cause, and no known cure. We pray that one day,
one of you will maybe attend college and go on to discover the miracle cure
for autism, so that kids like Ben can thank you themselves. We are very
happy for each of the graduates, and it will not be the same for Ben without
each of you here. He will continue school here at Sutton High until he is
22-years-old. Most of you have been with him since kindergarten. In his own
way, he will remember every one of you. It has been through the small acts
of kindness, such as when one of you took Ben under your wing in gym class
so he could follow along and learn how to play. Or another time when one of
you stepped up to the plate when Ben couldn't hit a ball being pitched to
him. She could see Ben was getting frustrated so she took the ball and said
"let me try it!" She got closer, pitched a nice slow underhand ball which
Ben swung at and got a hit. Ben's science partner - who knows him well and
allowed him to do the things that he is capable of to help with him with
assignments. Every recognition, no matter how small it may seem, has meant
so much to us and to Ben over the years. We know Ben remembers these things,
even though he can not tell us. We wanted to do something for each of you
so that maybe once in a while you might think of Ben; or maybe stop by and
see him when you're home. For each of you, we have an "Autism Speaks" lapel
pin. The pin is a puzzle piece, which represents the "missing" piece of the
autism puzzle. Hopefully someday, autism will only be a footnote in the
history books. As you move on to your next adventure, remember that a small
act of kindness goes a long way. You've all touched our hearts in a big way
by acknowledging Ben and helping him when you could. We wish you all well."
Members of the 2007 Sutton High School Graduating Class proudly wore the
Autism Speaks puzzle piece pin in support of Ben on his graduation day."
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE