Lots of good information

[Guest guest]

6. "New warnings due for ADHD drugs- FDA concerned about side effects from ingredient" dated 30 June 2005 by Liz Szabo from USAToday.com at http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20050630/1a_bottomstrip30_dom.art.htm.

 

 

"The Food and Drug Administration plans to add new warnings about psychiatric side effects to the label of Concerta and other drugs for attention deficits and hyperactivity, according to documents posted on the FDA website and confirmed by the agency. At a meeting today of the FDA's Pediatric Advisory Committee, officials will discuss safety concerns about Concerta, a form of methylphenidate, the active ingredient in Ritalin and similar medications. A briefing document about the meeting says the review was prompted by reports of hallucinations, suicidal thoughts, psychotic behavior and aggression among methylphenidate users. Officials note that Concerta's label already lists possible psychiatric side effects but suggests the problems aren't serious or that the drug might only aggravate existing problems. ..."

 

7. "The Age of Autism: Homeschooled" dated 28 June 2005 by Dan Olmsted in Science Daily.com at http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science & article=UPI-1-20050628-13132300-bc-ageofautism.xml.

 

"Where are the unvaccinated homeschooled children with autism? Nowhere to be found, says a doctor who treats autistic children and is knowledgeable about the homeschooled world. "It's largely nonexistent," Dr. Jeff Bradstreet told UPI's Age of Autism. "It's an extremely rare event." Bradstreet treats autistic children at his medical practice in Palm Bay, Fla. He has a son whose autism he attributes to a vaccine reaction at 15 months. His daughter has been homeschooled, he describes himself as a "Christian family physician," and he knows many of the leaders in the homeschool movement. "There was this whole subculture of folks who went into homeschooling so they would never have to vaccinate their kids," he said. "There's this whole cadre who were never vaccinated for religious reasons." In that subset, he said, "unless they were massively exposed to mercury through lots of amalgams (mercury dental fillings in the mother) and/or big-time fish eating, I've not had a single case." Bradstreet said his views do not constitute a persuasive argument that low vaccination rates are associated with low rates of autism, but it is worth studying. "That's not yet science," he said. "It doesn't rise to the level of a powerful observation. It's a place to say, OK, well that's interesting, what does that tell us?" ..."

 

8. "Autism in women largely undiagnosed" dated 29 June 2005 from the United Press International in the Washington Times at http://washingtontimes.com/upi/20050629-122149-6895r.htm.

 

" A Scottish scientist says autism may be going undiagnosed in women because its effects are less obvious than in men, the Times of London reported Wednesday. Chris Gillberg with the National Center for Autism Studies at Glasgow's University of Strathclyde, says autism in women may even play a part in anorexia, the report said. He said autism is regarded as being more common in boys than in girls, but this may reflect differences in the way the disorder affects the female brain. But he said the gap between the sexes is closing with more research, which suggests that the extent of the condition in females may have been underestimated. Girls, he said, may be less likely to have autism diagnosed because they tend to be less outgoing than boys, making social difficulties and other autistic traits harder to detect, the Times reported. "Autism may be behind many cases of anorexia. A girl may be withdrawn and uncommunicative without attracting attention, but when she develops a calorie fixation, it becomes a serious problem.Counting calories may be a manifestation of autism," he said."

 

9. "Missing autistic child found dead" dated 29 June 2005 by Katie Allison Granju from the Associated Press on WBIR.News.com at http://www.wbir.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=26860.

 

"Authorities in Montgomery County, near Nashville, say a missing child has been found dead. A sheriff's spokesman says a department investigator spotted something this morning in a moss-covered pond near the family's home. A diver went in and found the body of four-year-old Nekolas Lee Letendre. He had earlier been identified by his mother's last name of Young. More than a hundred volunteers had gathered this morning to continue the search that began after Nekolas -- who was autistic -- took off his clothing and slipped out of the family's home in the Woodlawn area Tuesday evening. His body was found shortly after 8:00 am today. Volunteers on horseback and on foot searched last night and helicopters from the Highway Patrol and the Nashville police department were called in."

 

 

 

10. "Parents Not Eligible for Tuition Reimbursement for Unilateral Private-School Placement" dated 28 June 2005 from Principals.org at http://www.principals.org/s_nassp/sec.asp?CID=390 & DID=51981.

 

"A federal district court in Oregon has ruled that parents who unilaterally placed their child in private school were not entitled to tuition reimbursement under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) because they did so without requesting special education services or giving the school district notice that they intended to seek public reimbursement for private tuition. A student encountered academic difficulties during ninth grade and was referred for a special education evaluation. However, school district staff members concluded that he did not have a learning disability and was not eligible for special education services. He was never again referred for a special education evaluation, nor did his parents request one. ..."

 

11. "Bush Administration Supports Montgomery Schools in Lawsuit- Supreme Court to Review Case Involving Special-Ed Options" dated 28 June 2005 by Nick Anderson from the Washington Post at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062701617.html?sub=AR.

 

"The Bush administration has sided with school systems in a special education dispute between a disabled student's parents and the Montgomery County public schools that is before the U.S. Supreme Court. The lawsuit centers on who has the burden of proof when a student's special education plan is under challenge: the person who objects to the plan, or the school officials who devised it. At stake in the case are questions about individual student rights and public school funding priorities. In a brief filed Friday, U.S. Solicitor General Paul D. Clement urged the high court to uphold an appellate ruling when it deliberates the case in its next term. ..."

 

12. "A 'Cure' for Autism?" dated 28 June 2005 in a book review by Lisa Barrett Mann from the Washington Post at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062701103.html.

 

"Recovery isn't a word you used to hear in connection with autism. But it's showing up more frequently in anecdotal accounts these days. One such account is writer Christina Adams's new book, "A Real Boy: A True Story of Autism, Early Intervention, and Recovery" (Penguin Books, $15). Ask nearly any specialist what's the most important thing you can do for a child with autism, and they'll tell you it's early, intense intervention. The problem is that many don't agree on just what that intervention should be. ..."

 

13. "Girls' autism 'under-diagnosed" dated 28 June 2005 from the BBC News at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4630705.stm.

 

"Children with autistic spectrum disorders have poor social and communication skills. Hyperactivity, and interests in technical hobbies have been seen as characteristics of the disorder. But Christopher Gillberg, of the National Centre of Autism Studies, said girls were often passive and collected information on people, not things. Around 535,000 people in the UK are estimated to have autistic spectrum disorders. The number of boys diagnosed is much greater than the number of girls, but Professor Gillberg said the difference in incidence may not be as great as currently thought. ..."

 

14. "Family's strength and love fuel personal battle against autism" dated 26 June 2005 by Jeannie Kever from the Houston Chronicle at http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/features/3238676.

 

"Brandon Guppy is a blur. He's on the trampoline for 15 seconds, blond hair flying. Then he's down, slipping into the house and returning almost immediately with a piece of white paper, which he will carry around until someone takes it from his hand. He casts a sidelong glance at his mother, Michelle Guppy, attempting to taunt her into chasing him, but she shakes her head. At 11, Brandon is getting faster, and she prefers to leave the chasing to his father, and his brother, Matthew. Loving Brandon came naturally, but creating a family that could revolve around him without imploding did not. Brandon has autism, and he can't talk, read or tie his shoes, although he can jump on the trampoline and use sign language to demand more Teddy Grahams. "It sounds pretty bad, but you can still play with him," says Matthew, who will be 13 next month. "You can't play Xbox with him, but you can chase him around the house. He loves it when you play with his toys with him." And so goes the good and bad of life with Brandon, an experience shared by an increasing number of families as cases of autism have increased sharply over the past 15 years. ..."

 

15. "Is there an autism epidemic? Doesn't look like it" dated 30 June 2005 from Jill Yablonski with Blackwell Publishing Ltd. from a report appearing in the latest issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the American Psychological Society at http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=26844.

 

"First, it is important to appreciate the history of autism and how autism has been diagnosed suggest authors Morton Ann Gernsbacher, Michelle Dawson, and H. Hill Goldsmith. The diagnosis was first coined in the 1940s, but it was not added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) until 1980, and the DSM diagnostic criteria have changed over the years. For example, the 1980 criteria required that an individual have "a pervasive lack of responsiveness to other people;" in contrast, the current 1994 criteria require that an individual demonstrate only "a lack of spontaneous seeking to share achievements with other people" and peer relationships less sophisticated than would be predicted by the individual's developmental level. As another example, the 1980 criterion of "gross deficits in language development" was replaced by the 1994 criterion of difficulty "sustain[ing] a conversation." One purpose of the report is to make the public aware of these less restrictive diagnostic criteria. Second, although a California study claimed to show that these diagnostic expansions didn't contribute to the increased number of diagnosed California cases from the 1980s to the 1990s, the authors of the Current Directions in Psychological Science article identified a serious flaw in the unpublished California study's reasoning. Finally, according to the authors, a third reason not to believe in an autism epidemic involves the U.S., Department of Education's annual "child count" data, which are used as supportive evidence of an autism epidemic. What some people fail to realize is that the Department of Education didn't even have a reporting category for autism until the 1991-1992 school year. Therefore, dramatic increases in the number of children served in the public schools under this reporting category would have been expected throughout the 1990s. The authors propose that the "child count" numbers will most likely continue because they still don't match the numbers reported in recent surveys that use more rigorous epidemiological methods. ..."

 

16. Petition for "Tax Break for Parents and Guardians of Special Needs Children". If you can agree with this statement, please sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/txbrk456/petition.html. As special families, I believe we need all the help we can get! Your signature number for this petition is 3935. For more info on this petition, contact Lynn Thomas at taxbreak456.The STOMP project is funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Division of Personnel Preparation. Information contained in these postings does not necessarily reflect the view of the Department of Education or of this organization.

It is the policy of the STOMP Project that no person will be subjected to discrimination

in this organization because of race, color, national origin, marital status, sex, age,

religion, sexual orientation, HIV/AIDS status or the presence of any physical, mental or sensory

disability.