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SCHAFER AUTISM REPORT "Healing Autism:

No Finer a Cause on the Planet" ________________________________________________________________

Sunday, December 21, 2003 Vol. 7 No. 252

The Sound Of Silence

[With apologies to Simon and Garfunkle.]

Hello autism, my old friend.

I've come to battle you again.

Because an insult softly creeping

Left its seeds while I was sleeping

And the insult that was planted in his brain

Still remains

Within the sound of silence.

In restless dreams we walked alone,

Narrow streets of cobblestone

‘Neath the halo of a street lamp,

I held my son from the cold and damp

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash

of a neon light

That split the night

And touched the sound of silence.

And in the naked light I saw

Ten thousand children, maybe more.

Children talking without speaking,

Children hearing without listening.

Children singing songs that voices never shared,

No doctor dared

Disturb the sound of silence.

"Doc," said I, "you do not know,

Autism like a cancer grows.

Hear my words that I might teach you,

Take my arms that I might reach you."

But my words like silent raindrops fell

And echoed in the wells of silence.

And the doctors bowed and prayed

To the pharma gods who paid

And the sign flashed out its warning

In the words that it was forming.

And the sign said "The words of the parents are

written often, loud and tall;

Emailed one and all:

Raging against the sound of silence."

-By L. Schafer

* * *

ALSO IN THIS NEWSLETTER:

EVENTS

* "The Most Comprehensive Conference on Autism Ever Assembled"

PUBLIC HEALTH

* Canaries In The Mine -

Evidence of Chemical Effects On Kids Mounts

ADVOCACY

* Cal. Governor Will Reverse Cuts To Disabled

& Lanterman Act Suspension

AWARENESS

* Parents, Schools Bear High Cost Of Autism: Front Page

--- > PROMOTE YOUR MEETINGS, CHAPTER OR CONFERENCE

No Cost to List

In the Largest, Widest Read "The Autism Calendar"tm

--- > NOTE CALENDAR DEADLINE ** DEC 24 ** FOR JAN UPDATE

--- > Check out Mid-Month Update: Dozens of new listings:

EVENTS

The Most Comprehensive Conference on Autism Ever Assembled Autism One 2004 Conference, May 27 – 30, 2004, Chicago

The conference organizers are themselves parents of children with autism. Parents are, and must remain, the driving force of our community. The issues are too sacred and the stakes too high to delegate to outside interests.

Keynote Address

Congressman Dave Weldon, MD will deliver the keynote address. Dave Weldon, a physician by training, has been for the past several years, and continues to be one of the autism community's staunchest supporters on Capital Hill.

More than 100 Presentations – World's Leading Authorities

Autism One features many of the world's leading researchers, educators, practitioners, agencies, and parents. Featuring over 100 speakers including such experts as Dr. Boyd Haley, Dr. William Walsh, Dr. Jeff Bradstreet, Dr. Andy Wakefield, Dr. Sudhir Gupta, and Dr. William Shaw, among others. Learn about the latest treatments, your rights when dealing with school districts, the best ways to handle insurance companies, how to petition government agencies, along with a host of other pressing issues. In addition, leading parent-advocates and autism organizations will be on hand to present and inform.

Special Conference Prep Day

Autism One is even more comprehensive with a special Conference Prep Day, Thursday, May 27, to help you get more out of the conference and understand autism at a broader and deeper level. It will be a day of lofty ideas and practical everyday applications.

Meet Officials from the CDC, NIH and IOM

High-ranking officials from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Institute of Medicine (IOM) will present, answer questions and explain the government's present and future commitments in the fight against autism. Register your concerns and make your voice heard.

Questions and Answers Do Not Stop at the Boundary of a Discipline

Autism is a multivariate disease. As parents we know questions and answers do not stop at the boundary of a discipline. We offer four tracks to help you make the most informed choices, and decisions.

The tracks include:

Biomedical Treatments

Behavior / Communication / Education Therapies

Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Government / Legal / Personal Issues

Biomedical Treatments (some of the topics by track include)

Autoimmune factors / treatments, Biochemistry of autism, Casein- gluten-free diet, Chelation – many forms of , Dental care, Diagnosis, Enzymes, Essential fatty acids, Food / nutrition / diet / vitamins / minerals / organic foods, Environmental medicine / toxins, IVIG, secretin, transfer factors, IV glutathione, Neurological testing, findings, treatments, Phenol sulfur transferase deficiency, Ongoing research, Vaccinations

Behavior / Communication / Education Therapies

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Auditory Integration, Computers as learning tools, Greenspan / Floor time, Home schooling, Music therapy, Occupational Therapy, Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), Pivotal Response Training (PVT), Psychological counseling, testing, Puberty and beyond, Relationship Development Intervention (RDI), Supra-Modal Integrative Learning Experience (SMILE), Sensory Integration, Verbal Behavior, Vision Therapy

Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Ayurveda Medicine, Chiropractic, Detoxification , Homeopathy, Naturopathic Medicine, Hyperbaric oxygen treatment, Mother's milk, Neurofeedback, Neural organization technique, Orthomolecular Medicine, Raw milk, Special Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

Government / Legal / Personal Issues

Autism the law and you, Center for Disease Control (CDC) findings and future directions, Counseling - Coping and communication for parents, Dealing with insurance companies, Estate Planning , Fathers and autism, Individual Evaluation Plans (IEPs) and School systems, Institute of Medicine

(IOM) findings and future directions, Legislative action, National Institutes of Health (NIH) findings and future directions, Obtaining government services, Vaccines the law and you

A partial list of speakers

Lisa Ackerman, Dr. James B. Adams, PhD, Christina Adams, Jack H. Anthony, Esq., Dr. Tapan Audhya, PhD, Dr. Michael Austin, PhD, Dr. James Ball, EdD, Sallie Bernard, Dr. Roger Bernier, MD, Liz Birt, Esq., Dr. Constantine Bitsas, PhD, Mark Blaxill, Mary Bolles, Laura and Scott Bono, Dr. Jeff Bradstreet, MD, Mary Helen Brauninger, Dr. Barbara Brewitt, PhD, Kathy Brunner, Julie Burk , Dr. Rashid Buttar, MD, Dr. Jeff Cantor, DDS, Dr. John Cassidy, MD, Linda Carlton, Sherri Cawn, M.A.,CCC-SLP, Laura Cellini, Prof. James Croxton.

Dr. Andy Cutler, PhD, Jock Doubleday, Dr. Stephen Edelson, MD, Dr. Jane El-Dahr, MD, Dr. Sydney Finegold, MD, Dr. Elizabeth (Beth) Forrester, PhD, Kim Garvey-Hoehne, Dr. Mark Geier, MD and David Geier, Carmen Gendel, Robin Goffe, Elaine Gottschal, B.A., M.Sc, Dr. Sudhir Gupta, MD, PhD, Dr. Boyd Haley, PhD, Kathie Harrington, MA, Dr. John Hicks, MD, Dr. Karoly Horvath, PhD.

Dr. Devin Houston, PhD, Dr. Jon J. Kabara, PhD, Artie Kempner, Diane Kennedy, Dr. Gary Klein, PhD, Lori Knowles, Dr. Arthur Kriegsman, MD, Michael Lang, Dr. Amy Lansky, PhD, Dr. Allen Lewis, MD, Joy Lunt, RN, Dr. Christine Majors, PhD, Mike Maloney, Dr. Peter Marcelo, PhD, Dr. Mary Majebe, O.M.D, Joan Matthews, Dr. Woody McGinnis, MD, Lori McIlwain,

Dr. Mary Megson, MD, John Melnychuk, RSHom(NA) CCH, Deborah Michael, MSOTR/L, Mary Beth Palo, Dr. Seth Pearl, DC, Cindy Peters, Morana Petrofski, ECE and Paul Madaule, JoAnne Pike, Dr. Cathy Pratt, PhD, Lyn Redwood, RN, MSN, CRNP, Shelley Reynolds, Mary Romaniec, Adrienne Rousseau, Ted Rubenstein, MFA, MA, RDT, Brian Rubin, Esq.,

Dr. Valerie Scaramella-Nowinski, PsyD, Dr. William Shaw, PhD, Stephen Shore, Dr. Chloe Silverman, PhD, Dr. Kathleen Stratton, PhD, Dr. John Sweeney, PhD, Dr. Denise Tarasuk, ND, Dr. Anju Usman, MD, Dr. Judy A. Van de Water, PhD, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, MB BS FRCS FRCPath, Dr. Anne Wagner, PhD, Dr. William Walsh, PhD, Congressman Dave Weldon, MD, James Williams, Dr. John Wilson, MD.

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(Delivered Fresh Daily to Your Emailbox)

_______________________________________________________

* * *

PUBLIC HEALTH

Canaries In The Mine - Evidence of Chemical Effects On Kids Mounts

ml

At Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Dr. Martha Herbert is seeing younger and younger children who have been prescribed powerful drugs because their behavior is "so extreme."

One 4-year-old was treated with Risperdol, an antipsychotic drug usually prescribed to adult schizophrenics, because she tried to kill a sibling. "I've had several cases like that," said Herbert, a pediatric neurologist. "It's scary because this kind of thing hardly ever used to happen."

Across the nation, evidence of a growing number of children diagnosed with attention, learning, behavioral and emotional disorders have perplexed doctors and researchers and worried teachers and parents.

The disturbing conclusion some experts are reaching is that a significant share of these conditions may be caused by environmental toxins that interfere with brain development in children beginning in the womb and which may be lowering the intelligence of the population at large.

There is no shortage of toxic suspects including lead, PCBs, mercury, pesticides, dioxins, flame-retardants and alcohol. Most children are exposed to some level of all these chemicals, raising the possibility of combined effects -- a question that scientists are only now beginning to research.

"You can almost think of the children who have been diagnosed with these clinical syndromes as the tip of the iceberg," said Deborah Rice, a toxicologist with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

"These are the kids that stand out, the ones that can actually go into a doctor's office and the doctor can say, 'Yes, this child has autism,' " Rice said. "But for every one of those children there may be many more children that don't reach the clinical criteria, but nonetheless may have been affected by the chemicals and other environmental milieu of a child's life."

Autism researcher George Lambert describes children as society's "canaries in the coal mine" because they are so much more sensitive than adults to poisons in the environment. They eat more food, breathe more air and drink more fluid per pound of body weight than adults -- and their brains and nervous systems are still developing. The most sensitive of all is the developing fetus.

In California, state health authorities have documented a 273 percent increase between 1987 and 1998 in diagnosed cases of autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder that usually appears before age 3 and can affect a child's ability to communicate, form relationships and respond to the world around them.

Reported autism cases in California doubled again over the last four years and the rate of increase appears to be accelerating, according to a follow-up study released earlier this year. In November, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services held a two-day "autism summit" in Washington in response to demands from parents of autistic children for greater federal action to counter what they call a national "epidemic" of autism.

In North Port, Fla., kindergarten teacher Susan Owens said she has seen a dramatic increase in attention and learning disorders in children of all levels of intelligence and family income over the last 30 years.

Retarded students she taught in the late 1960s were better able to retain basic knowledge and skills such as the days of the week or simple addition and subtraction than many of today's kindergarteners of average intelligence, said Owens, 60.

"I can go over the days of the week with my children now the entire year, but if I say to them, 'Today is Friday. What will tomorrow be?' 50 percent of them will still not be able to tell me that tomorrow is Saturday," Owens said.

Epidemiologists caution that personal observations or even documented trends in diagnosis are not proof that any of these disorders is increasing in children. Only a national study that investigates and tracks tens of thousands of children -- something that has never been done in the United States -- would be able to determine the true prevalence of these problems and whether they are actually increasing.

"One can say there has been an increase in conduct disorders -- in violent and aggressive behaviors -- over the last 50 years in children, but the problem with saying the same thing about ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder) or autism is that we simply don't have good enough data to draw conclusions," said Jane Costello, a psychiatric epidemiologist at Duke University Medical Center.

What is clear is that scientific understanding of the potential effects that toxins can have on the human brain has expanded markedly. Scientists now know that the timing of the exposure is just as critical as the amount -- or dose -- of the toxin. Very small amounts of chemicals at critical windows in fetal development or early childhood can have far more devastating effects than greater exposure later in life.

Scientists also know more about the relationship between genes and environment in the creation of disease. Even as researchers are linking individual genes to specific diseases, they are also discovering that particular substances in the environment can "turn off" or "turn on" these genes. The description often used by scientists is that "genetics loads the gun, but environment pulls the trigger."

Studies of identical twins show that 68 percent of the time when one twin has autism, the other twin will too, indicating that the disease probably has a genetic link. But 32 percent of the time one twin will not have autism. Since twins have identical genetic makeup, that means some environmental influence is involved in autism as well, Lambert said.

Scientists also are exploring the relationship between ADHD and toxins known to interfere with brain development. Rice found that monkeys exposed in early life to lead and PCBs in amounts similar to what children often encounter develop learning and behavioral problems that look remarkably like attention deficit disorder.

PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) were widely used to insulate electrical equipment until it was discovered that they were accumulating in the bodies of people and animals virtually everywhere in the world. Although PCBs were banned in 1972, children born three decades later still have small amounts of the chemical in their bodies.

"This is not to suggest that ADHD is caused exclusively by neurotoxic agents in the environment," Rice wrote in an article published in Environmental Health Perspectives. "However, it seems reasonable to postulate that environmental neurotoxicants contribute to the prevalence of ADHD currently being identified in children."

An Environmental Protection Agency report earlier this year identified ADHD as one of two "emerging issues" in children's environmental health. Children with ADHD are characterized by having chronic inattention, impulsive hyperactivity or both to an extent that daily functioning is impeded.

The second emerging issue identified by the EPA is mercury, a metal long known to be extremely toxic to the human nervous system. The term "mad hatter" described the severe effects of mercury used by 19th century hat makers in Danbury, Conn., to soften felt.

Most Americans have small amounts of mercury in their bodies, primarily from eating fish. Fish consumption in the United States has risen sharply since the 1980s, when doctors began urging patients to reduce beef in their diet to help prevent heart disease.

Tests by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show 8 percent of women of child bearing age have mercury levels in their blood that exceed the government's safety standard. That means about 320,000 children are born each year at risk for neurological damage from mercury.

Over the years, scientists have repeatedly lowered their estimates of how much mercury people can tolerate. The same is true for lead, which has been known for over a century to cause brain damage.

Two recent studies have concluded that there is no safe level for lead exposure. Although lead levels in children have dropped dramatically, government data show that about 90 percent of the nation's children have between 1 and 10 micrograms of lead in their blood, which means they are at risk for lowered intelligence.

While the dangers of lead, mercury and PCBs are established, scientists are also discovering that chemicals with less well understood effects are widespread in the environment and in people's bodies.

In 1999, researchers reported finding traces of a widely used group of flame-retardants known as PBDEs in the breast milk of Swedish women. In California, state toxicologists saw the Swedish study and decided to do their own studies. Not only did they find PBDEs in every woman tested, but the levels were significantly higher than those found in European women and they were increasing rapidly over time.

Laboratory studies show some PBDEs can alter brain development in mice during the important brain growth spurt. In humans, the growth spurt occurs from the last trimester of pregnancy to age 2. The concern is that PBDEs could have the same effect in children exposed through their mother's blood during pregnancy and through breast milk after birth.

Alarmed, the California General Assembly passed a law earlier this year phasing out the two PBDEs that showed the highest accumulation in women. Last month, Great Lakes Chemical Corp. of West Lafayette, Ind., agreed to cease production of the two chemicals by the end of 2004.

Industry officials contend children are not at risk from the flame-retardants because levels found in women are too low to pose harm. They also note that PBDEs are very effective flame-retardants, saving hundreds of lives every year.

Some scientists see PBDEs as a cautionary tale.

"We came across PBDEs really by chance because we looked for it, found a strange blip on screen and then it snowballed," said Tom McDonal, a toxicologist with the California Department of Environmental Protection.

"There are thousands of chemicals used in commerce and hundreds of new chemicals introduced each year, many of which we have very little information on their human toxicity and even less information on exposures."

* * *

ADVOCACY

Cal. Governor Will Reverse Cuts To Disabled & Lanterman Act Suspension

[From the CA Disability Community Action Network.]

Sacramento - Reports late Friday indicate that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will rescind all of the cuts impacting people with developmental disabilities, including the proposal to suspend the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act (California’s ‘Civil Rights’ legislation for the disabled), capping caseload and creation of waiting lists when he submits his proposed budget for 2004-2005 to the Legislature by January 10.

Though it is not clear if the Governor also reversed his mid-year proposals that called for cuts to other services - such as In-Home Supportive Services residual services, reports indicate those cuts were also rescinded and are "off the table". It is also not known for sure if the reversal includes other programs such as Healthy Families, AIDs Drug Program or also a reversal of the proposed additional 10% rate reduction for Medi-Cal providers.

The Governor reportedly has instructed the Department of Finance and the other state agencies to look at other alternatives to produce savings and reduce spending to bridge the huge budget shortfall, though no specifics were available.

Democratic leaders in both houses including Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) and Sen. Wes Chesbro (D-Arcata) both had indicated their strong opposition to suspension of the Lanterman Act and the elimination of services and programs proposed by the Governor. Assemblywoman Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) told hundreds of people with disabilities and other advocates in Los Angeles on Monday that she would never support suspension of the Lanterman Act - and opposed the deep cuts proposed by the Governor.

Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) had earlier said to a small group of family members and people with disabilities on December 3 that he thought there were "other ways" to make cuts and achieve savings than the proposed cuts and the Lanterman Act suspension that the Governor called for.

The Governor's reported action comes after 2 weeks of protests across the state by people with developmental and other disabilities - including a massive protest of thousands of people on December 10 at the State Capitol that nearly overwhelmed Capitol police and security.

Reportedly, the Governor's Office is saying that the reversal was part of a regular on-going review of the budget process and made no mention of the massive protests. Long time Capitol political observers however universally said that the coordinated protests, especially the thousands of people who massed outside the North Steps of the Captiol on December 10th and later attended Senate Budget Subcommittee hearings on the Governor's proposals were major factors.

_______________________________________________________

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* * *

AWARENESS

Parents, Schools Bear High Cost Of Autism: Front Page

At her Clarksburg home, Karlin Merwin and a team of tutors have spent the past four years teaching her son Jackson, now 9, how to live.

Today, they are testing to make sure he knows the emotions.

Sarah Post, a tutor, shows Jackson a photo of a boy about his age who looks worried.

"What does he feel?" Post asks.

"Bored? Annoyed?" Jackson tentatively replies.

"What does anxious look like?" Post asks.

Jackson makes a face. He doesn't look anxious. A minor setback.

"So we found out that anxious is not solid," Karlin Merwin says to Post.

A typical third-grader would understand that someone with a worried expression is anxious, even if he does not know the word.

Not Jackson Merwin, who was diagnosed as autistic when he was 4.

Jackson's tutoring sessions teach him communication and behavioral skills that are intuitive to non-autistic children -- sessions that put him and thousands of other autistic children at the center of a growing dilemma for California. Experts say these intensive treatments are the only technique proven effective in giving autistic children the skills they need to live independent lives.

Yet with the state's autistic population doubling in the past four years, the success of these life lessons and their high costs -- as much as $60,000 a year per child -- threaten to overwhelm school districts already struggling to balance their budgets.

"This is how he's learned how to do everything he knows how to do," Karlin Merwin says. "Autistics don't have the ability to learn by osmosis."

In 1975 Congress promised to pay 40 percent of special education costs, but over the years typically has funded less than half that. That sticks the bulk of the costs to the state and the schools, which are required by law to offer an "appropriate" education to all students.

Because the special education population can grow rapidly, budgets can unexpectedly balloon. And districts seeking to hold down costs frequently duel with parents about how much individualized care is appropriate. Federal law gives parents significant rights in approving individual education programs.

"Under federal law, money's not the issue," said Shelton Yip, special education administrator for the Sacramento City Unified School District. "To meet the needs of students, that's our charge."

If the federal government isn't concerned with how to pay for the growing autistic population, the districts need to be.

In 1987, less than 4 percent -- 2,778 -- of people in the state's developmental disabilities system were autistic. In 2002, nearly 13 percent -- 20,377 -- were, according to the Department of Developmental Services.

Behavioral programs like the one Jackson receives can require up to 40 hours of in-home tutoring a week, in addition to a classroom aide.

Fueled in part by the increase in autism, special education has been expanding for districts large and small. Elk Grove Unified School District, the Sacramento region's largest, has 212 children with autism -- a 273 percent rise from only six years ago, district Superintendent David Gordon said.

Less than 9 percent of Elk Grove's 55,000 students are in special ed, but their programs cost $51.6 million -- 13.5 percent of the district's budget.

Much of the treatment for autistic children is funded by the state. The annual budget for the Department of Developmental Services' 21 regional centers has swelled to $2.1 billion, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed more than $200 million in cuts over the next 18 months. Those cuts would affect some services for autistic individuals, but not the behavioral programs.

"We have children that have gone through our program, if they didn't get treatment they would never be able to get a job," said Mila Amerine-Dickens, executive director of the Central Valley Autism Project in Modesto, which is consulting on Jackson's treatment. "Will they give to society, will they not give to society may have something to do with whether they get treatment."

But $60,000 of treatment a year does not guarantee a cure. Little is certain in the murky world of autism -- least of all why the state's caseload has surged since the mid-1980s, when the system had fewer than 3,000 individuals with autism.

"It's hard to comprehend what the impact of 800 children coming into the system every three months is," said Ron Huff, a senior psychologist at the Department of Developmental Services.

Without treatment, autism materializes in a range of dysfunctions. Children lose or never acquire speech. If they can speak, they sometimes can't carry on meaningful conversations or form friendships. They perform repetitive or self-injuring actions. They don't play appropriately with toys or their friends. At puberty, their behavior can become sexually inappropriate.

One of the few certainties is that an autism diagnosis will be followed by years of parents worried and, frequently, struggling to get treatment they believe their child needs. About 120 hearings on special ed disputes were held last year, a 50 percent rise in the past few years, said Glenn Fait, director of the state Special Education Hearing Office. About 2,000 requests for hearings were filed last year; most were settled in mediation.

Elk Grove's Gordon said his district tries to settle disputes. The one hearing held this year cost his district $80,000 in legal fees, he said.

Fait attributes much of the rise in disputes to the state's autism caseload and parents' increasing awareness of treatment options.

"There's nothing more protective than the parent of a severely disabled child," he said.

Jackson Merwin has been at the center of one of those disputes.

Since 1999, parents Karlin and David Merwin have been exchanging legal barbs with the River Delta Unified School District in Rio Vista over how their child should be educated. The disagreement centers on the tutors and how they should be paid.

In August, the district held a meeting to examine Jackson's educational plan for the year, without the parents present. A decision was made to have a school employee not trained in behavioral treatment serve as Jackson's in-school aide.

Karlin Merwin said that when school started, the lack of a trained aide provoked 10 days of tantrums from Jackson unlike anything he'd had since 2001. She played a videotape recently of one of those tantrums. For long minutes, Jackson hit the table and himself and shouted garbled phrases.

"Without the right programming, this is what he would be like all the time," Merwin said.

When the Merwins would not agree to River Delta's educational plan for Jackson, the district asked the state Special Education Hearing Office to impose it. Instead, a hearing officer ruled the district erred in not including the parents at the August meeting and ordered a new plan drawn up with the parents' participation.

The meeting was held last month. The Merwins and the district agree the tone had changed. A lot of that may have to do with the district's new superintendent, Sam Garamendi, who began in November.

Garamendi said privacy rules preclude him from discussing the Merwin case, but he said his philosophy is that the district needs to do everything reasonable to ensure families are happy with their children's educational plans.

"The bottom line is, there are needs that certain students have that are protected by law and those laws are in place for a good reason," Garamendi said.

Garamendi's adult daughter had special needs in high school. He said his personal experience may give him a more ecumenical view of special ed.

"We as educators, there are times where we want to just say this is not really an issue," Garamendi said. "Those are real issues as a parent. You face that very intimately."

The Merwins say they are now happy with Jackson's educational plan, and by the end of this school year he may no longer need school aides. He now receives 10 hours of in-home tutoring a week, funded by the state.

But the costs for special education in the school district continue to mount.

"The issues that come up with special ed needs such as autism are the kinds of things you can't budget for," Garamendi said. "Clearly, they become issues of dollars and cents that impact the school district's ability to provide programs across the board.

"There is a drain. That doesn't mean you don't do what you have to do."

The budget for the 2,500-student district is about $17 million, more than $2 million of which funds special ed. Jackson's program costs the district about $30,000 a year at its most expensive, but because he requires less tutoring now, costs have declined, Karlin Merwin said.

She is relieved by Garamendi's position. It means that for at least the rest of this school year, Jackson will receive the treatment she believes will give him the best opportunity to live a normal life.

"His generation is going to be a very interesting one to follow," Karlin Merwin said in her kitchen. "It's possible that some of these kids will be quote-unquote cured."

Then, Merwin thinks about what a cure for Jackson would mean. And what his life could be if he's not cured.

"I can't believe I'm talking about this so calmly," she said.

_______________________________________________________

PROMOTE YOUR MEETINGS, CHAPTER OR CONFERENCE

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In the Largest, Widest Read "The Autism Calendar"tm

NOTE CALENDAR DEADLINE DEC 24 FOR JANUARY UPDATE

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