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SCHAFER AUTISM REPORT "Healing Autism:
No Finer a Cause
on the Planet"
________________________________________________________________
NOTE: Third Update November Calendar of
Events is now out
Over 50 New Events Listed Since
November 1!
http://home.doitnow.com/~events
EDUCATION
* Schools for Disabled In Jeopardy in
*
For 'Key' To Unlock Worlds
* Barred - And They Don't Know Why in
* A Chance at
* 'I'll Go To Jail If It Means My Special
Son Gets The Special
School He Deserves'
RESEARCH
* Scientists Uncover Neurobiological Basis
For Romantic Love,
Trust, And Self
* Scientists Find Brain Areas Activated In
True Vs. False Memories
FUNDING
* Fitness Club Boss (& Autism Dad), To
Donate $750,000 in
* Oil Well Engineer Donates Her Employee
Prize Award to Autism
EDUCATION
Schools for Disabled In
Jeopardy in
Shades of things to come in
other states as budgets tighten
[Pamela Batzel.] http://www.dailylocal.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10482933&BRD=1671&PAG=461&dep
t_id=17782&rfi=6
For three decades, The Timothy School in
Now the school is in jeopardy because the
state cannot afford to reimburse the full operating costs for its services and
those provided by 28 other “approved private schools” that serve children with
severe disabilities.
Already the state owes The Timothy School
more than $500,000 for the previous two school years -- about a quarter of its
annual operating budget.
“We’ll be out of money by April,” said
Judith D’Angelo, executive director of the school that serves 53 children from
23 school districts.
She is concerned the school will be
forced to close next spring and said “there’s really no place for (the
children) to go” to receive the free and appropriate public education required
by state and federal law.
The
In
late October, the state notified the school, which serves children with a range
of disabilities, that its 2001-02 school year audit was complete and that the
state owed the school $560,000.
But the state said it does not have the
money and does not know when it will, said James Kirkpatrick, chief financial
officer for the school and its parent, the Valley Forge Specialized Educational
Services Corp.
In past years the corporation has loaned
the school enough money to get by until the reimbursements came through,
typically a 15- to 16-month wait. But next year the school, which like its
peers cannot raise taxes to generate funds, may have to borrow money externally
and incur interest costs with the lack of reimbursement.
“It’s obviously becoming more of a cash
burden than we’re able to handle,” he said. The state will owe the school
another $380,000 for the 2002-03 school year.
D’Angelo said that the 2001-02 audit
showed the state owes the school $270,000 and she said it will owe the school
another $320,000 for 2002-03.
Bill Bauer, president of the state’s
Alliance of Approved Private Schools, said that the problem is becoming too
much for approved private schools across the state and that the education they
provide for the state’s 4,000 most disabled is at risk.
For the 2001-02 year alone, the state
owes the approved private schools more than $25 million, but has only $3.5
million in its audit resolution fund, Bauer said. It is bad enough that the
schools only receive an average of 75 to 80 percent of their operating costs
while they are providing the services, he said. And now that the state is not
reimbursing the districts, schools have started to cut services.
Between the 2002-03 and current year, the
schools have cumulatively closed 33 classrooms and let 102 staff members go,
Bauer said.
+ Article continues:
http://www.dailylocal.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10482933&BRD=1671&PAG=461&dep
t_id=17782&rfi=6
* * *
[By Pam Witmer, The (
“You could tell they were different by
the way they walked and the way they behaved,” she says.
She never saw them in her classroom or
anyone else's classroom that she knew. “They were always downstairs,” she says.
“Their classroom was under the stairs.”
Rooney always wanted to meet the children
from under the stairs.
“I just gravitated to people with special
needs,” she says.
Now a veteran special-education teacher,
Rooney, 43, volunteered in 2001 to teach students with severe autism at
Children with autism vary widely in the
types and severity of their problems. Rooney's four to seven students have
problems so severe they need one-to-one help. In her classroom, progress is not
measured by letter grades for academic performance but by how many times
students exhibit appropriate behavior.
It's a special day when her students
don't throw a tantrum, bite, scream, scratch, grab, hit or hurt themselves.
Rooney sets high expectations
nonetheless, says former principal Robert Spano. “She has an attitude that you
never say die. She just doesn't give up,” he says. Some students have made
enough progress that they are able to go on field trips and take mainstream
physical education, art and music classes.
Drawing from a large repertoire of
methods, including music, sign language, peer interaction, verbal behavior and
behavior modification, Rooney works with therapists, parents and aides to craft
plans for each child. Every hour of every day is filled with trial, error and
more trial.
“It may be the one tiny thing you did
differently that makes the difference. You have to have the patience to try new
things,” Rooney says. “You can't be afraid to ask for help. You don't know
what's the special key that unlocks the door.”
Rooney's willingness to go outside for
help made a difference for 10-year-old Brianna Watts, says Brianna's mother,
Debra. The family had exhausted just about every conceivable therapy before an
outside expert was brought in who teaches students to use sign language “mands”
to ask for things. With Rooney, aides and everyone at home reinforcing her
“mands,” Brianna is finally able to communicate in a limited way.
“Before we did that, Brianna's world was
limited to her cubbyhole. If you mentioned her name, she'd start screaming and
hitting herself,”
But what works for Brianna may not work
for others, so Rooney adjusts. “If I have to be silly, I'm silly. If I have to
be firm, I'm firm,” she says.
Kristopher Cronebach, 10, has moved
beyond severe behavioral problems and is now reading, writing and doing math.
For him, structure, direction and especially peer interaction were the keys.
Rooney trains volunteers from other classes to work in her classroom and finds
children often reach her special-needs children in ways adults can't.
“The power of a peer is tenfold over that
of an adult,” she says.
Rooney knew the “reverse mainstreaming”
was truly working when the volunteers started spending recess with her
students. “It's gratifying walking to the cafeteria, seeing kids calling out
your kids' names, saying hello,” she says.
More gratifying is seeing how much the
student volunteers benefit from the interaction.
“I want them to have respect and
compassion for people who are different from themselves,” she says. “And I
don't want them to have fear. There are even some adults who are afraid, who don't
understand.”
Contributing: Tracey Wong Briggs
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* * *
Barred - And They Don't Know
Why in
Special education students
victims of zero tolerance. Board says it has to balance teacher safety, student
needs
[By Trish Crawford.] http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Artic
le_Type1&c=Article&cid=1068379264484&call_pageid=991479973472&col=9919291311
47
Amin Selaman spends his days in coffee
shops, hanging around the park or playing computer games.
The 16-year-old would rather be in school
but he's been home since the first week of September after an incident at his
school,
The slender special education student,
who has no concept of time and reads and writes at a kindergarten level, has
been caught in the snare of legislation meant to curb thug violence and gang
activity in schools.
Parents of special needs students across
Before 2000, when the provincial school
safety law came into effect, schools dealt with these problems as best they
could, says Linda Berenofsky, of the Toronto Family Network. Now, “zero
tolerance” has meant suspensions for these students, some of whom have no
concept that what they were doing was “bad.”
Amin's mother, Igbal Habona, has been
unable to work as a court interpreter since his suspension as he needs constant
care. Amin has epileptic seizures, ranging from severe to minor, every day.
In order to fill his days with meaning,
Habona takes Amin to the movies where he's likely to wander into the manager's
office. In restaurants, he tries to go behind the counter. In the local
Timothy's, the staff say, “Hey Amin, how come you're not in school?”
Habona says, “I explain to people that he
is a special needs child and there is never any problem. Strangers treat my son
better than the school.”
The agonizing wait for permission to
return to classes has lasted so many weeks, Habona fears Amin may miss his entire
school year. “My son is being denied an education.”
Brian Ellerker, central co-ordinating
principal for the Toronto District School Board who is in charge of special
education, says he is aware of Amin's situation and is working on finding a solution
but refused to comment on why the student has been out of school so long.
Ironically, a teen involved in gang
violence could find himself back in school much quicker than the hard-to-serve
special education student, Ellerker says.
“Part of the problem of the special needs
student is that there is no understanding of consequences. So staff face the
same danger every day. With the gang member, you can deal in a cognitive way,
they understand the consequences of crime and punishment.”
Safety sleeves, which protect arms from
bites, pinches and blows, are given to staff dealing with violent special needs
children and other safety devices are being researched and distributed.
One reason for the lengthy suspensions is
the need to have a safety plan in place before the student can return and this
can be a lengthy process, says Ellerker, adding staff safety is a priority.
“Students with this level of need used to
not be in school. Whatever we do has to be done safely. Staff in schools
deserve to have a work environment that is safe.”
The
David Ross, spokesperson for the Ontario
Ministry of Education, points out the Safe Schools Act makes no reference to
“zero tolerance” of violent incidents. As well, the legislation exempts students
who don't understand the nature of their acts from suspensions, he says, but
noting provinial data on suspensions doesn't break them down by category.
Ontario Human Rights Commissioner Keith
Norton sounded the alarm earlier this year that there were an inordinate number
of suspensions for students of colour and he questioned the propriety of
suspending learning disabled students.
“I am sure the intent of the legislation
was to deal with behaviour of students who had the capacity to know full well
what they are doing,” Norton said in an interview. “I don't quarrel with the
principle that schools have to be a safe place. But I think it's a
misinterpretation of the intent of the legislation when the behaviour is
directly related to disability.”
For instance, he is investigating two
claims by parents of children with Tourette's Syndrome, who were suspended for
swearing. Uncontrolled swearing is a facet of the illness. Norton is planning a
full report on the suspension of disabled students within the year.
Stu Auty, president of
“There is a lack of available programs.
We can't expect teachers to be assaulted but we also can't expect students not
to be served. We need to find the middle ground.”
Parents of students with disabilities
complain that their children are sent home after relatively minor incidents.
Rose Gelman, a real estate agent, was
summoned to her son's York Region high school recently to pick him up in the
middle of the day. She was told that Lorne, 16, who is developmentally delayed
and uses a walker, had gotten into an altercation with his special education
teaching assistant over his refusal to participate in recycling. She was also
told he had an upset stomach and had diarrhea.
“When I got there, he was fine. But I
didn't understand what they were sending him home for. I know he didn't want to
do recycling and he can be stubborn, lash out and try to hit. Maybe she didn't
duck in time.”
Lorne, who functions at a Grade 1 level,
was happy to go home and watch TV for the rest of the day.
“This is not a punishment for these kids.
They like being home,” says Gelman. The school has since drawn up a safety plan
around her son's behaviour, so sending him home is not the first option that
comes to mind, says Gelman, noting that it is still option number 3.
+ Article continues:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Artic
le_Type1&c=Article&cid=1068379264484&call_pageid=991479973472&col=9919291311
47 <- - address ends
here.
* * *
A Chance at
[By Sewell Chan for the
Eight-year-old Deion Hawkins can fasten a
button, but he needs help with a zipper. He is proficient with the computer,
but he cannot ride a bicycle. He knows how to warm food in the microwave, but
not how to tie his shoes. He can vacuum the floor, but he can't bathe himself.
Michelle A. Hawkins worries what will
happen when her son, found to have autism at age 3, grows up and leaves the
District's public school system, where he receives one-on-one classroom
instruction. “I intend for my son to be independent and as close to normal as
possible,” she said. “I believe he can achieve that, but he must have support.”
Those with normal intelligence who have
autism or other developmental disabilities -- including cerebral palsy,
epilepsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy and traumatic brain injuries -- are
at the center of a disagreement in the District over who should be eligible for
a rapidly growing social services program intended to help the disabled live
independently.
The national program, called the Medicaid
Home and Community-Based Services Waiver, allows for Medicaid, the
federal-state health insurance program for the poor and disabled, to pay for
job training, speech and occupational therapy, transportation to day programs,
visits by home health-care workers and other services.
On Tuesday, the D.C. Council unanimously
rejected a proposal by Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) to limit the city's
five-year-old waiver program for the mentally retarded by excluding
developmentally disabled people who are not primarily diagnosed with
retardation.
The legislative dispute has drawn
attention to the plight of hundreds of severely disabled people, many of whom
live in nursing homes, who could be eligible for the waiver but have never
applied because they do not know about the program or believe they do not
qualify.
The precise number of people who would be
eligible is difficult to determine because the city's Mental Retardation and
Developmental Disabilities Administration historically had so many problems
helping people with mental retardation. Those with other developmental
disabilities were left by the wayside, advocates said.
“They have just never served these
folks,” said Michael D. Ward, president of the Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Institute,
a nonprofit agency that helps the developmentally disabled. “People leave the
city if they have a child with autism, because they can't get services.”
Even when developmentally disabled people
have normal intelligence, they often suffer from chronic health and behavioral
problems, making them just as vulnerable as the retarded, said Theodore
Bergeron, executive director of United Cerebral Palsy of Washington, D.C., and
Northern Virginia. “How do you discriminate across these forms of disability?”
he asked.
The director of the D.C. Department of
Human Services, which oversees the mental retardation agency, said that limited
resources prevent the agency from serving those who are not mentally retarded.
“Notwithstanding the agency's name . . .
MRDDA only provides services to individuals with mental retardation coupled
with other developmental disabilities, not the broader developmental
disabilities community,” Director Yvonne D. Gilchrist wrote in a letter last
month to D.C. Council member Sandy Allen (D-Ward 8), who chairs the Committee
on Human Services.
Gilchrist added that making everyone with
developmental disabilities eligible would “result in severe problems with the
agency's finances,” cause costs to “soar astronomically,” and require new laws,
more staff and “restructuring of the entire program.”
Allen, whose committee rejected the
proposal, said she received almost no information on the effect of including
people who are not mentally retarded. “Show me how it will 'astronomically'
push the costs up,” she said.
The waiver program's name comes from the
requirement that federal officials must “waive” the regular rules for Medicaid
-- which traditionally was oriented toward long-term care in big institutions
like hospitals and nursing homes -- so that people can receive services in
small group homes, in apartments or with families.
+ Article continues:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A23974-2003Nov10?language=printer
* * *
'I'll Go To Jail If It Means
My Special Son Gets The Special School He Deserves'
[The People, London.] http://infobrix.yellowbrix.com/pages/infobrix/Story.nsp?story_id=43488841
A furious father [in Northern Ireland]
last night told how he's prepared to go to jail if his autistic son isn't given
a place at a special needs school.
Little Andrew Telfair, 10, is has severe
speech and language difficulties as a consequence of his complex condition.
His future education is in doubt after he
was refused a place at a local special needs school.
“I am prepared to go to jail - that's how
far I am prepared to go,” said angry dad Stephen.
“I know you could be sent to prison if
you refuse to send your kid to school. But I won't send him to any school -
I'll take the gamble.”
Andrew's parents are desperately worried
he will have to go to a mainstream school next year.
“I don't know the system or how it works,
but I am not sending him to a school that doesn't meet my son's needs,” added
Stephen.
“It is frustrating. You don't know what
you are going to do until you have a child who has needs.”
The family, who live in Greenisland, had
hoped Andrew would be able to attend Thornfield Special School in Jordanstown.
But he was refused a place by the North
Eastern Education and Library Board.
“We were just devastated when we received
the call saying Andrew hadn't received a place,” said Stephen.
“We just want Andrew to reach is full
potential. He is a young boy who deserves a chance.
“It has been a hard struggle thus far,
but we are determined to get him a proper education.”
Andrew was diagnosed with autistic
spectrum disorder when he was eight years old.
“We always knew he was different, from
about the age of three,” said Stephen.
“He gets on well with his sister Rachel
and brother Mathew, and he feels secure in his own home, but he needs a focus
and a teacher who is dedicated to teaching kids with autism.”
Stephen said the education board had not
really been clear about why Andrew cannot get a place at Thornfield.
A spokesman for the NEELB said:
“Thornfield would not be an appropriate placement for this child.”
Stephen said the family wanted clearer
answers.
“We want to meet with the board at a
later date and sort the issue out once and for all,” he said.
Andrew has undergone numerous
examinations to assess the severity of his autism.
“It's like a constant merry-go-round
talking to doctors and professionals - but we are just not getting anywhere for
Andrew,” said Stephen.
“We've had many people examine him and
they've admitted that he has problems, but it just seems that the education
board doesn't believe his condition is bad enough.
“They aren't with him 24 hours, and it
breaks my heart to see that any chance he has to develop his education is
fading.”
Andrew has a limited awareness of danger
and has a tendency to wander off on his own.
“There are times when we have found him
on the railway tracks just walking along not giving a care.”
Andrew receives around six hours of
special teaching a week alongside his regular primary school education.
“We want to give him independence but we are
scared that if he goes to a mainstream school he will be bullied,” said
Stephen.
“Because of his differences he will stick
out like a sore thumb and you know what some kids are like - he'll be an easy
target.
“The classes will be bigger and noisier
and there'll be constant room changes.
“It'll be a lot for him to take in.”
The NEELB spokesman said: “Andrew's case
will be reviewed at the end of November.
“In relation to the decision of
Thornfield Special School, both parents can appeal the decision to an
independent panel.”
Stephen said the whole situation had left
the family exhausted.
“It has been going on too long and it has
taken a lot out of us. All we want is the best for our son.
“Andrew has some idea what is going on
but it is difficult and confusing for him.”
“We do plan to appeal the decision, but
we really feel the education board has failed Andrew.”
_______________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________
* * *
RESEARCH
Scientists Uncover
Neurobiological Basis For Romantic Love, Trust, And Self Why do you think they
call it dope[amine]*?
[From the Society for Neuroscience. Also,
see article that follows on false memories.]
http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/studies/report-23211.html
In new studies, scientists are
discovering the neurobiological underpinnings of romantic love, trust, and even
of self. New research also shows that a specific brain area - the amygdala - is
involved in the process of understanding the intentions of others, in
particular when lying is involved.
Using brain imaging, researchers Helen
Fisher, Arthur Aron, Lucy Brown and colleagues find that feelings of intense
romantic love are associated with specific activity in dopamine-rich brain
regions associated with reward and motivation. Those study participants who
expressed more romantic passion on a questionnaire showed more brain activity
in these regions. Those in longer relationships showed more activation in
emotion-related areas as well. And men and women tended to show some different
brain responses. The researchers conclude that romantic love may be best
classified as a motivation system or drive associated with a range of emotions.
Further studies of intense, early stage romantic love may help to define how
the brain encodes reward and memory.
In this experiment, 17 young men and
women who had "just fallen madly in love" were tested with functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify the brain circuitry of romantic
love.
“We believe romantic love is a developed
form of one of three primary brain networks that evolved to direct mammalian
reproduction,” says researcher Helen Fisher, PhD, of Rutgers University in New
Brunswick, NJ. “The sex drive evolved to motivate individuals to seek sex with
any appropriate partner. Attraction, the mammalian precursor of romantic love,
evolved to enable individuals to pursue preferred mating partners, thereby
conserving courtship time and energy. The brain circuitry for male-female
attachment evolved to enable individuals to remain with a mate long enough to
complete species-specific parenting duties.”
In the study, participants alternately
viewed a photo of a beloved and a photo of a familiar, emotionally neutral
individual, interspersed with a distraction task. The researchers hypothesized
that intense early stage romantic love is: (1) primarily associated with
dopamine pathways in the reward system in the brain; and (2) primarily a
motivation system (as opposed to an emotion) oriented around planning and
pursuit of a pleasurable reward - an intimate relationship with a preferred
mating partner.
“Our evidence suggests that both
hypotheses are correct,” says Lucy Brown, PhD, of the Albert Einstein College
of Medicine in New York. “We found specific activity in regions of the right
caudate nucleus and right ventral tegmental area. These brain areas are rich in
dopamine and are part of the brain’s motivation and reward system. Elevated
levels of central dopamine produce energy, focused attention on novel stimuli,
motivation to win a reward and feelings of elation - some of the core feelings
of romantic love. Activity in other regions changed also, including one that
another imaging study has shown to became active when people eat chocolate.”
The researchers also found that those who
scored higher on the "Passionate Love Scale," a questionnaire
administered prior to scanning, also showed more activity in the caudate.
Arthur Aron, PhD, of SUNY Stony Brook, NY, says, “This result is among the
first to show a direct link between responses to a survey questionnaire and a
specific pattern of brain activation.”
Fisher, Aron, and Brown also found a
tendency toward gender differences. Among them, most of the women in this study
showed more activity in the body of the caudate, the septum, and posterior
parietal cortex, regions associated with reward, emotion and attention; most of
the men in this study showed more activity in visual processing areas,
including one associated with sexual arousal.
Aron, Fisher and Brown have embarked on a
follow-up fMRI study of men and women who have recently been rejected in love.
They wish to understand the full range of brain systems associated with this
primordial, powerful and universal human phenomenon.
In another study, Paul Zak, PhD, and his
colleagues at Claremont Graduate University investigated trust - something that
pervades nearly every aspect of our daily lives. Even so, the neurobiological
mechanisms that permit human beings to trust each are not understood.
In the new research, Zak and his
colleagues find that when someone observes that another person trusts them,
oxytocin - a hormone that circulates in the brain and the body - rises. The
stronger the signal of trust, the more oxytocin increases. In addition, the
more oxytocin increases, the more trustworthy (reciprocating trust) people are.
“Interestingly, participants in this
experiment were unable to articulate why they behaved they way they did, but
nonetheless their brains guided them to behave in ‘socially desirable ways,’
that is, to be trustworthy,” says Zak. “This tells us that human beings are
exquisitely attuned to interpreting and responding to social signals.
The findings are even more surprising
because monetary transfers were used to gauge trust and trustworthiness, and
the entire interaction took place by computer without any face to face
communication. Signals of trust are sent by sending money that participants
earned to another person in a laboratory, without knowing who that person is or
what they will do. That, is, there is a real cost to signaling that you trust
someone.
+ Article continues:
http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/studies/report-23211.html
dope[amine] is a play on
words. “Dope” and the “dopa” from
dopamine are unrelated words.
* * *
Scientists Find Brain Areas
Activated In True Versus False Memories Make advances in understanding why
false memories are formed
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-11/sfn-sfb111003.php
New studies of false memories show that
what happens in the brain when memories are established can be as important to
the development of false memories as what happens during memory retrieval.
Other research shows that specific parts of the brain are more active when a
true memory is being retrieved than when a false memory is being retrieved,
potentially providing a neural label by which to understand the differences
between true and false memories.
Memories can be fragile and subject to
distortion because we literally cannot record and store all of what we learn
and experience. People often mistakenly claim to remember having seen a word or
object that is similar to something they saw earlier, according to several
studies. Such false memories can have an even greater impact when they manifest
in such a way that entirely novel events are implanted into an individual's
memory. Such an individual can willingly retrieve these completely false
memories, such as being lost in a mall, with surprisingly vivid and specific
details.
Neuroimaging techniques can help
determine if the neural processes driving this retrieval of inaccurate memories
are different from those that drive the retrieval of accurate memories. Several
research groups are using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to
address this question. The hope is that neuroimaging can help determine the
various potential sources of false memories.
Daniel Schacter, PhD, and his colleagues
at Harvard University have looked at neural activity associated with the
creation of false memories. Previous studies had focused on neural activity
associated with the retrieval of false memories.
+ Article continues:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-11/sfn-sfb111003.php
* * *
FUNDING
Fitness Club Boss, Autism
Dad, To Donate $750,000 in Ontario
[Sharon Lindenburger for The Free Press.]
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2003/11/08/250320.html
When Dave Patchell-Evans says, “This may
be the greatest thing I will ever do,” he isn't referring to the fact he has
built one of the largest fitness clubs. Rather, he's referring to his personal
donation of nearly $750,000 to a University of Western Ontario neuroscience
research team set up to search for the causes of autism.
Patchell-Evans's seven-year-old daughter,
Kilee, was diagnosed with autism at age three.
“It seemed to come out of the blue. One
week, my daughter was a normally functioning child; the next week she
manifested autistic behaviours,” says Patchell-Evans, founder and chief
executive of GoodLife Fitness Clubs.
“Language turned to tantrums. Kisses to
bites. Hugs became non-existent as my beautiful daughter disappeared into a
no-language, reclusive world of her own. I felt the anguish, despair and
frustration every parent feels when special challenges are combined with the
greatest love of their life.”
Patchell-Evans is donating $390,000 in
the first year of the research project and $340,000 in the second.
The research team, named the Kilee
Patchell-Evans Research Group, is a multi-disciplinary team pulled together by
director Derrick MacFabe, a neuroscientist who originally approached
Patchell-Evans with the concept.
Included in the group are behavioural
neuroscientists Klaus-Peter Ossenkopp, chairperson of psychology at Western,
and doctors Peter Cain, Elizabeth Hampson and Martin Kavaliers.
“As an entrepreneur, I have always been a
solutions-oriented person,” Patchell-Evans said. “While my family has availed
itself of a comprehensive treatment approach for Kilee and I have vigorously
pursued all the available information on autism, I have come to feel very
strongly that the key to autism lies somewhere in the future.
“I figured that one thing I could do is
to help that future to happen. If we can find the cause, or causes, we will be
closer to preventing this devastating disease and finding new treatments.”
McFabe called the Patchell-Evans donation
“truly stunning.”
“He is doing this not only because of his
own daughter, but also for the many thousands of autistic children in Canada,
indeed the world, and their families.”
* * *
Oil Well Engineer Donates
Her Employee Prize Award to Autism
http://www.oilonline.com/news/headlines/firms_faces/20031107.Peak_emp.12787.
asp
Jeanette Gordon, a well engineer with
Peak Well Management, has won the UK Offshore Operators' Association (UKOOA)
Pearl Award for the oil and gas industry¹s most promising young employee.
The specially commissioned trophy - a
piece of core drilled from the Dunlin field 30 years ago - and £500 were
presented to Jeanette on the 6th November. The one off award, which was in
recognition of UKOOA celebrating its 30th year, aimed to find the most
promising employee in the
On receiving her award, Jeanette
announced that she would give her cash prize to the Grampian Autistic Society,
and Peak has decided to make a matching donation to the worthy cause.
_______________________________________________________
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DECEMBER UPDATE
_______________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Lenny Schafer, Editor mailto:edit@doitnow.com
Edward Decelie Debbie
Hosseini Richard Miles Ron Sleith Kay Stammers
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