SCHAFER AUTISM REPORT "Healing Autism:

No Finer a Cause on the Planet"

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Thursday, December 19, 2002

ADVOCACY

* Bush Admin. Withdraws Motion to Seal Thimerosal Documents

TREATMENT

* Newsletter: Health Watch: New Hope For Autistic Children

* FDA Cracks Down on Supplements, Eases Up on Food

RESEARCH

* Perinatal Complications As Predictors Of Infantile Autism

* A New Window to View How Experiences Rewire the Brain

PUBLIC HEALTH

* Mercury in California Rainwater Traced To Industrial Emissions in Asia

* Video on Vaccines Combats Misinformation

COMMENTARY

* Reward! $10,000 For Info Leading To the I.D. of The Eli Lilly Bandit

FORENSIC

* Autistic Man Ordered to Have Lengthy Competency Exam

* Suicide-Bid Boy `Could Be Autistic'

* Judge Orders Stepmother Tried for Murder of Autistic Stepson

ADVOCACY

Bush Admin. Withdraws Motion to Seal Thimerosal Documents Advocacy Groups Question Whether Future Cases Will Be Subject to the Secrecy Order

library.northernlight.com/FF20021219460000086.html?cb=0&dx=1006&sc=0#doc

PRNewswire via COMTEX - The US Department of Justice agreed today to withdraw its motion to the US Court of Federal Claims Office of Special Master to seal all documents related to present thimerosal-autism claims. The Mercury Policy Project and SAFE MINDs said that the withdrawal of the motion was a step in the right direction. However, the groups questioned whether documents in future cases would be subject to the secrecy order.

"The Bush Administration has overreached in its attempt to seal documents in thimerosal cases and the withdrawal of their motion bears that out," said Michael Bender, director of the Mercury Policy Project. "Unfortunately, this agreement only addresses half the loaf of bread. While the motion's withdrawal may help those involved in current litigation, it leaves unresolved what this means for future cases."

While the groups acknowledge that some information unearthed in court should be kept private -- like trade secrets -- they maintain that scientific studies and information should not qualify. In addition to the documents obtained through discovery from Eli Lilly, these also include unreleased confidential documents from the Centers for Disease Control stating that mercury in children's vaccines is a potential source of neurological damage in children including ADD/ADHD, speech and language delays and other neurological disorders including autism.

"We question the Bush Administration's blatant attempt to hide from the American public documents affecting the health and safety of millions of children -- especially when the material in question is as dangerous as mercury," said Lyn Redwood, Pres. SAFE MINDs. "What are they trying to hide?"

While federal law typically seals documents in individual cases, it has not been applied to omnibus proceedings like the autism cases.

"What's the policy argument for such incredible secrecy?" said Sallie Bernard, executive director of SAFE MINDs. "The timing and the scope of this unprecedented secrecy action by the Bush Administration raises serious questions, considering that lawmakers have pledged to revisit the thimerosal liability shield provision in the Homeland Security Act when they return in January."

"The Bush Administration's secrecy request was premature, highly unusual and went against federal rules that impose severe restrictions on sealing of documents," said MPP director Bender. "The public -- and especially families of autistic children -- have a right to know about what Eli Lilly knew and when they knew it, both now and into the future."

The Mercury Policy Project and SAFE MINDs are non-profit organizations dedicated to reducing and eliminating mercury exposure and improving children's health and environmental outcomes through the elimination, treatment, and scientific investigations of mercury, regardless of its source, including thimerosal in medical products.

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TREATMENT

Newsletter: Health Watch: New Hope For Autistic Children

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Two British researchers have found an unusual way to encourage autistic children to learn to improve and develop their own social skills.

For years experts have tried to define autism but no specific diagnosis has been reached.

Many believe the condition is caused by problems afflicting the development of the brain before, during or very soon after birth.

Mike Collins, Education Advisor at the National Autistic Society said: 'We are still in the dark as to the causes of autism.

"There are all sorts of genetic factors that could be linked but we cannot put it down to one specific, identifiable cause. It really is a disorder in human relationships.' He said there are three tasks the children struggle with: social interaction using verbal and non-verbal communication; rigidity of thought, or difficulty using their imagination; and understanding how other people think, or the ability to put themselves in someone else's shoes.

The 'disorder' affects two in 1,000 children - mainly boys - in Europe, Australia and the US, and the number is rapidly rising. Some have extremely high IQs but others have to cope with severe learning difficulties.

Asperger's syndrome, is a milder type of autism.

Sufferers of both conditions, particularly the younger generation, have trouble constructing sentences, maintaining eye contact, imitating people and socialising generally.

There are a number of strategies used to encourage communication and interaction in autistic children.

But Kerstin Dauntenhahn and Iain Werry, both researchers at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, near London believe they have found an alternative strategy.

Dautenhahn, biologist and robotist, and Werry, robotist, joined forces to conduct research hoping to improve the social skills of young autistic people.

They began their research in 1998 to produce two robots - a toy truck and an off-the-shelf doll, the latter developed by American robotist Aude Billard.

These designs were favoured above a humanoid design, which they feared would unnerve the children. Autistic sufferers can often be scared of other people.

The toy truck uses heat sensors to detect the child when they are nearby and bumper switches make it reverse immediately upon impact.

Basic commands help it to play games like 'tag' and 'follow my leader'. For example, when the child moves away it follows, and when the child moves towards the robot it reverses away, creating games without the child being explicitly aware of their participation.

This method encourages the child in the practice of turn-taking which is a fundamental basis of speech and conversation.

The doll, Robota, is powered by motors and sensors and a processor chip enables the doll to mimic the movement of the child.

It is perfect for autistic children who, it was discovered, enjoy playing with dolls because they have control over them.

Robota works in this way because it mimics the child's movement. When the child moves their arm the robot will copy the action, but on one condition - the child is facing the robot. Dautenhahn and Werry hope this will encourage eye contact.

They believed both of the mechanical toys' features would help because the robotic qualities would engage with the child.

Mike Collins agreed. He said: 'One thing we have found with autistic children is that they relate very well to artificial intelligence such as computers because they are easy to understand.

"They do not have moods and they do not tell you one thing and mean another. What you see is what you get with a computer. There is no hidden meaning.' Both of the designs act within some rules so the child feels in charge and is comfortable around the robot. By retaining some element of unpredictability the child will seek to establish patterns in the robot's behaviour.

The toy truck was put to the test when boys, aged between seven and 11, from Radlett Lodge School (for Children with Autism), Hertfordshire, were given a normal toy truck and the robotic truck to play with.

All the boys enjoyed playing with the robotic truck and even became protective of it. Most encouraging though was that the children played and interacted with each other.

But critics feel the mechanical activities would not be varied enough and will only recreate the same situation as that developed with classroom teaching. They fear the children would not be able to adapt what they have learned to different environments.

Mr Collins said he could see the advantages of introducing autistic children to the robots, but he also voiced concerns.

He said: 'I do think the children will have problems transferring what they learn simply because this is part of the disability. They may well learn a lot but a lot of the children I work with repeat huge chunks of video script, and in the same way they may simply repeat what the robots say.' But he admitted that it would certainly be of benefit to some children and would complement the classroom teaching they already receive.

He said: 'Autism is a very widespread disorder covering a whole spectrum of people. I am sure that some people will get something positive from working with the robots and even if it only helps one child out of 100, it is still doing a very brilliant thing.' Copyright © 2002 . Century Newsletters Ltd.

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* * *

FDA Cracks Down on Supplements, Eases Up on Food

Food manufacturers will for the first time be allowed to tout the health benefits of their products even if there is no scientific consensus as to the foods' benefit, under a plan announced Wednesday by Bush administration officials.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials also announced that they would step up enforcement against several categories of dietary supplements where misleading claims about health benefits are rampant.

The change in food labels allows manufacturers to make health claims as long as the "weight of scientific evidence" supports the claim. Until now, such claims were barred unless manufacturers could show that they were supported by complete agreement among scientists. For example, oatmeal makers could advertise the cholesterol-lowering properties of their product because there was scientific consensus on the subject.

Administration officials said that the plan would promote public health by attracting consumers to healthier foods when most of the science supports their benefits.

"Our goal is to help consumers make sound decisions," said Dr. Mark B. McClellan, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

McClellan said that the program would also spur competition among manufacturers to produce more nutritious products.

Food manufacturers praised the move, saying that it would give shoppers better information about which foods are best for their health. But the plan drew harsh criticism from one consumer group, which argued that it would only serve to encourage food companies to produce junk science in support of the claims.

Under the plan, food manufacturers will submit a proposed health claim and scientific data supporting it to FDA for a food ingredient such as omega-3 fatty acids. The compound, found in oily deep-sea fish like salmon, has been shown in some studies to reduce the risk of heart disease.

FDA regulators will review the science supporting the claim and will approve its use on product labeling if the "weight of the scientific evidence" supports it, according to FDA documents.

McClellan said that the lower scientific burden would allow consumers to benefit from healthier foods even when "it's not a completely settled scientific issue."

FDA has yet to finalize the process it will use to review the claims, or exactly how it will define the amount of scientific evidence needed to make a claim legal, officials said. The agency has set up a task force to establish a review process and recommend final regulation that will govern the process, they said.

McClellan said that most health claims would be "qualified," meaning that statement connecting the product's use to health benefits would be qualified with a disclaimer alerting consumers that evidence is strong but not conclusive.

"It's scientific evidence that determines whether or not we're going to allow these claims," McClellan said.

Rhona S. Applebaum, vice president of the National Food Processors Association, an industry group, said that the new program frees up manufacturers to alert consumers to the health benefits of many foods for which at least some scientific debate is ongoing.

She cited studies supporting the role of high-fiber foods in reducing the risk of colon cancer, and a growing body of scientific research showing that a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables lowers cancer risk.

"To wait until there is essentially a firm conclusion...science rarely comes to a firm conclusion on anything. It can take decades," she said.

But Larry Sasich, a research analyst with the Public Citizen health research group, attacked the program, saying it would allow companies to plant low-quality studies in research journals and then submit them as scientific proof of a food's health benefits.

"What is going to be fostered is spurious and unreliable studies," Sasich said. "No matter how bad the science is, if the guys that wrote it are persistent enough, they're going to get it published somewhere in the medical literature."

Officials also announced a move to crack down on unsubstantiated health claims made by dietary supplements makers. Regulators at both FDA and the Federal Trade Commission have become increasingly concerned about supplements makers who claim health benefits on product labels without scientific backup.

McClellan said that FDA planned to step up scrutiny of supplements in nine major categories, including supplements that claim to treat life-threatening diseases--such as cancer, HIV/AIDS and lupus--as well as weight loss products and autism treatments.

Supplements claiming to treat mental retardation, to prevent Alzheimer's disease and to prevent hangovers could also be targeted, he said.

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RESEARCH

Perinatal Complications As Predictors Of Infantile Autism

ds=12487097&dopt=Abstract

Wilkerson DS, Volpe AG, Dean RS, Titus JB.

Neuropsychology Laboratory, Ball State University, 1407 Marsh Street, Muncie, IN 47306, USA.

This study investigated the relationship between reported perinatal complications and autism. The biological mothers of 183 autistic children and 209 normals completed the Maternal Perinatal Scale (MPS), a maternal self-report that surveys complications of pregnancies and medical conditions of the mother.

Previous research in this area has been limited, with no definitive conclusions.

A discriminant analysis was performed to consider perinatal complications as predictors between the autistic and normal subjects.

Using the MPS, 65% of the autistic cases were correctly grouped.

The results further indicated significant differences on 3 of the 10 factors of the MPS, in particular, Gestational Age, Maternal Morphology, and Intrauterine Stress.

When considered in an item by item fashion, 5 items were found to significantly predict group membership (prescriptions taken during pregnancy, length of labor, viral infection, abnormal presentation at delivery, and low birth weight).

Finally, 3 maternal medical conditions were found to be highly significant and contribute to the separation between groups, including urinary infection, high temperatures, and depression.

PMID: 12487097 [PubMed - in process]

* * *

A New Window to View How Experiences Rewire the Brain

"This finding was quite unexpected, because the traditional view of neural development has been that when animals mature, the formation of synapses ceases," said HHMI investigator Karel Svoboda.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have developed sophisticated microscopy techniques that permit them to watch how the brains of live mice are rewired as the mice learn to adapt to new experiences.

Their studies show that rewiring of the brain involves the formation and elimination of synapses, the connections between neurons. The technique offers a new way to examine how learning can spur changes in the organization of neuronal connections in the brain.

The researchers, postdoctoral fellow Josh Trachtenberg, graduate student Brian Chen and Karel Svoboda, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, published their findings in the December 19/26, 2002,issue of the journal Nature.

According to Svoboda, researchers had previously shown that the adult brain has a capacity to reorganize in response to new experience. However, it is not clear how this reorganization might occur. Svoboda and his colleagues wanted to see whether learning could induce restructuring of the neural circuitry in the brain that could not be picked up with conventional techniques.

To study those kinds of changes in a living animal, Svoboda and his colleagues started with transgenic mice that were engineered to produce green fluorescent protein within neurons in a portion of the brain that processes tactile sensory inputs from the whiskers. To observe changes in these neurons at high resolution, the scientists constructed a 2-photon laser scanning microscope. This microscope uses an infrared laser to excite green fluorescent protein in neurons, deep in the brain, through a tiny glass window installed in a portion of the mouse’s skull.

“Since we had this great tool to look at the brain at unprecedented resolution we did not know what to expect and we began with no preconceived notions of what we might see in these animals,” said Svoboda. “Our first observations of the large-scale structure of neurons, their axons and dendrites, revealed that they were remarkably stable over a month.” Dendrites and axons are highly branched structures, where dendrites are the input side of neurons and axons the output side.

“However, when we zoomed in closer, we found that some spines on dendrites appeared and disappeared from day to day,” said Svoboda. These spines stipple the surface of dendrites, like twigs from a branch, and form the receiving ends of synapses, which are the junctions between neurons where neurotransmitters are released.

“This finding was quite unexpected, because the traditional view of neural development has been that when animals mature, the formation of synapses ceases, which is indicated by stable synaptic densities,” said Svoboda. “However, the flaw in this view has been that a stable density only indicates a balanced rate of birth and death of synapses. It doesn’t imply the absence of the formation of new synapses, but it was often interpreted that way.”

In their experiments, Svoboda and his colleagues observed that about twenty percent of spines disappeared from one day to the next, offset by the formation of new spines.

“While we were surprised at the rate of turnover of some spines, we were also surprised at the incredible stability of other spines,” said Svoboda. The spines appeared to fall into different classes. And while there were those that turned over rapidly, other spines, typically the larger ones, persisted for months.

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PUBLIC HEALTH

Mercury in California Rainwater Traced To Industrial Emissions in Asia

Santa Cruz, CA - Industrial emissions in Asia are a major source of mercury in rainwater that falls along the California coast, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The researchers reported their findings in a paper published online today by the Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres. (The paper will appear in print in a later issue of the journal.) The mercury in rainwater is not in itself a health threat, but mercury pollution is a significant problem in San Francisco Bay and other California waters because the toxic element builds up in the food chain. State regulatory agencies are looking for ways to reduce the amount of mercury entering the state's waters from various sources. The new study provides valuable information to guide those efforts, said Russell Flegal, professor and chair of environmental toxicology at UCSC and coauthor of the new paper.

"People are talking about things like removing dental fillings before cremating bodies, but our analyses indicate that this may be a trivial source of mercury compared to the inputs from industrial emissions in Asia," Flegal said.

Interestingly, it is not just the mercury itself but a whole cocktail of atmospheric pollutants that contribute to the deposition of mercury in rainfall. Elemental mercury behaves as a gas in the atmosphere and is not washed out in rain until it has been oxidized into a charged ionic form that can be captured by water droplets, said Douglas Steding, the paper's lead author.

Ozone, a major component of urban and industrial smog, plays a key role in this oxidation process, said Steding, who did the study as a graduate student at UCSC and is now studying environmental law at the University of Washington.

"There is a relatively large reservoir of mercury in the atmosphere, and it's the rate of oxidation that determines how much of it gets deposited in rainfall," he said.

Mercury is a trace contaminant of most coal, and emissions from coal-burning power plants are a major source of mercury pollution in many parts of the world. In the Pacific Basin, the main source of atmospheric mercury is coal combustion in China. China relies heavily on coal as a fuel and accounts for about 10 percent of the total global industrial emissions of mercury.

Air pollution in China also generates ozone, which peaks during the winter due to increased fuel consumption for heating. Air loaded with mercury and ozone moves off the continent into the Western Pacific, where it is incorporated into developing storms.

"The mercury we measured in rainwater results from a combination of mercury emissions and ozone production, as well as meteorological factors--the storm tracks that transport the pollutants across the Pacific," Steding said.

Steding collected rainwater samples at two sites in central

California: on the coast at UCSC's Long Marine Laboratory and at Moffett Field near San Jose, on the inland side of the Santa Cruz Mountains. For each rainfall event, the researchers used air mass trajectories calculated by a national climate lab to trace the movement of the storms across the Pacific from Asia.

Rainwater collected at the coastal site showed the background concentrations of mercury in storms as they arrived directly off the Pacific Ocean. Those measurements were about three times higher than estimates of the natural, preindustrial level, Steding said.

Rainwater from the inland site showed mercury concentrations 44 percent higher than at the coastal site. Steding tentatively attributed the difference between the two sites mostly to ozone in Bay Area smog, rather than local emissions of mercury.

"There is a local influence of urban smog on the mercury oxidation rate. We see a background signal of mercury blowing off the Pacific, then a local enrichment that's probably due to urban smog," he said. "If we want to reduce mercury deposition, it's not enough to shut down local emissions of mercury, because other pollutants influence how much of the mercury in the atmosphere ends up in rainwater."

Steding emphasized that people should not worry about health effects from the mercury in rainwater, because the concentrations are very low. But the deposition in rain does add mercury to surface waters, where the toxin enters the food chain and builds up to high levels in certain kinds of fish. State health officials have issued advisories warning people not to eat fish from more than a dozen bodies of water in California, including San Francisco Bay.

Much of the mercury contamination in California is the result of historic mining operations. Large amounts of liquid mercury were used in gold mining operations during the Gold Rush, leaving contaminated sediments throughout the vast watershed that ultimately drains into San Francisco Bay. In addition, Flegal's lab has shown that historic mercury mine sites in the Coast Ranges are still leaching mercury into rivers and streams that drain into San Francisco Bay.

Prior to this new study, however, no one had looked at atmospheric transport of mercury from Asia as a source of mercury pollution on the U.S. West Coast, Flegal said.

* * *

Video on Vaccines Combats Misinformation

Available free to pediatricians

Pediatricians can use a new video and booklet produced by the Vaccine Education Center to teach new and expectant parents about the importance of childhood immunizations—and the risks that their babies will face if the parents choose not to vaccinate their children.

The 28-minute video entitled “Vaccines and Your Baby” “is designed to demystify vaccines and to make people less susceptible to the misinformation that's out there these days, on TV, in magazines and newspapers, and on the Internet,” Dr. Paul Offit said in an interview at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“For parents to make the best decisions about their child's health, they need to know how vaccines are made and how they work, the diseases they prevent, and why it's still important to immunize against them, even though some of the illnesses may be uncommon in America,” said Dr. Offit, who is the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Through eye-catching animation and personal interviews with parents, physicians, and researchers, the video describes the 11 diseases prevented by childhood immunizations.

It also briefly addresses how each vaccine is made and outlines the possible consequences of refusing each of the vaccines.

Several of the vaccine discussions feature parents describing what it was like to watch their child suffer through a preventable disease and the serious complications it caused.

Unlike a previous video, “Vaccines: Separating Fact From Fear,” which interviewed parents whose unvaccinated children had died from preventable disease, “Vaccines and Your Baby” tackles the subject with a softer tone designed to educate without intimidation.

Focus groups that reviewed the movie had different takes on this gentler mood, Dr. Offit commented.

All the doctors liked it, but they wanted it to be stronger.

"They wanted to include lots of pictures of disease, to really scare people into compliance.

“But parents universally loved it just the way it is, and since that's who we're aiming for, we went with their opinions,” he said.

The video cost was supported by loans and with grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Toys “R” Us Inc., and the Oxford Industries Foundation Inc. Plans are underway to dub the video in Spanish.

The accompanying booklet expands on the information in the video, and answers specific questions about vaccine safety, including whether vaccines cause asthma, autism, and multiple sclerosis.

The booklet also contains a childhood immunization schedule.

The video is available free of charge to physicians and other health care workers who request it from the Vaccine Education Center.

But Dr. Offit has bigger plans than just distributing a few thousand copies of the video through doctors' offices.

He is already in touch with several large health maintenance organizations and insurance companies, asking them to distribute the video and booklet in any way they can devise: in the “goodie bags” sent to expectant mothers as part of a prenatal care program, to parents leaving the hospital with a new baby, and in prenatal education programs.

“So far, the response has been positive,” Dr. Offit said. “We hope to distribute several hundred thousand of these a year.”

Copyright © 2002 by International Medical News Group.

* * *

COMMENTARY

Reward! $10,000, For Info Leading To Identification of The Eli Lilly Bandit

In November, as Congress finalized the legislation authorizing a new Department of Homeland Security, two paragraphs suddenly appeared in the bill giving drug maker Eli Lilly & Company something it desired: a shield from lawsuits by parents who claim the company's vaccines caused their children's autism.

The provision diverts those suits from state courts to a federal 'vaccine court' where damages are capped at $250,000 - small compensation for a child's lifetime of medical care. And because any damages awarded by the vaccine court are paid by U.S. taxpayers, manufacturers are relieved of liability.

It's a sweet deal for Eli Lilly, a very special interest that, like most mega-donors, gets what it wants in Washington. Since 2000, the company has given $1.6 million to national parties and federal campaigns, 79 percent of it to Republicans.

Who inserted the provision? Reporters tried and failed to find out. Lilly's lobbyists (laughably) claim ignorance. No one on Capitol Hill is proud enough of his handiwork to claim it.

Public officials who work secret deals like this are cowards. They subvert and dishonor a fundamental American principle - open government accountable to the people.

Help us finger the Eli Lilly Bandit.

* * *

FORENSIC

Autistic Man Ordered to Have Lengthy Competency Exam

A man charged with sexually assaulting a woman and trying to assault another women in downtown Green Bay will undergo a mental competency exam. A judge made that ruling Thursday for Nigel Peoples, 27, to ensure he understands the charges against him and can cooperate in his defense.

Both sides agreed Peoples should have the competency exam.

"He starts out and it's a stream of words and things that may be words. I don't know," his attorney, Mark Converse, told the judge.

When the judge asked Peoples to describe in his own words what his lawyers were telling him, Peoples responded with six seconds of gibberish.

The judge said Peoples should spend 15 days at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute instead of the standard one-day examination in jail if the prosecution didn't oppose it.

The attacks happened last month in the women's restroom at Younkers Department Store and in the women's locker room of the downtown YMCA.

Before his arrest, a lot of people were concerned. The attacks spurred more police patrols downtown and alerted area businesses.

Police put those fears to rest when they arrested Peoples last week at the Washington Commons mall after getting a call about a man resembling the suspect acting suspiciously.

Peoples's family says he suffers from autism and isn't dangerous.

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Suicide-Bid Boy `Could Be Autistic'

&method=full&siteid=50082 <- - address ends here.

A 15-year-old boy, said to be obsessed with death and the occult, who tried to persuade his girlfriend to kill herself, could be suffering from a form of autism, a court heard yesterday.

The Aberystwyth teenager, too young to be named, became the first child in Britain earlier this year to be convicted of attempting to procure a suicide.

His 15-year-old girlfriend leapt 30 feet from a jetty at the seaside resort onto rocks below, suffering serious face and leg injuries.

A jury at Swansea Crown Court this summer decided it was the boy's idea she should jump.

He did not call an ambulance for more than a hour after the incident on January 29 this year after both youngsters had been drinking tequila.

Police investigating what happened later discovered his bedroom wall covered in graffiti such as "Dead women don't say `No' and "To watch you bleed turns me on".

The wall also sported a dedication of the youth's life to Satan and a promise to do as much evil as possible.

At school, he chose to do a project on Charles Manson, the cult leader serving life in the US for his part in the gruesome 1969 murders of Hollywood actress Sharon Tate, the wife of film director Roman Polanski, and four others.

At the court hearing in Swansea the 15-year-old girl said the boy had dictated his suicide note. He allegedly told her that her life was "crap" and that she should be free.

A fisherman who rescued the girl from waves minutes after her fall accused the boy of laughing at him as he gave evidence. The fisherman was speaking about the injuries the girl had suffered when he suddenly stopped and accused the boy of laughing at him.

At Carmarthen Crown Court yesterday, where the boy was due to be sentenced, Judge Michael Burr heard that the girl victim now suffers from epilepsy as a result of the fall.

She lost all her teeth in the plunge and had serious leg injuries from which she has now recovered.

Sentencing was adjourned until tomorrow afternoon because of a lack of court time.

During yesterday's hearing, a special needs teacher and therapist at a centre specialising in autism said the 15-year-old defendant could be suffering from the condition.

The two specialists, called by barrister Michael Fitton, acting on behalf of the boy, said many disruptive or isolated school children were probably undiagnosed autism sufferers as were many adults.

They diagnosed the 15-year-old as being at the "less disabled end" of Autistic Spectrum Disorder, a range of autistic difficulties.

They discovered the youngster had difficulty in making relationships and social interaction and that he had difficulty in "reading real life situations".

The boy, who was placed on bail after being convicted of attempting to procure a suicide, has been under intense supervision ever since.

A number of psychiatric reports and assessments have been carried out on the teenager who has been closely supported by his mother during his court appearances.

* * *

Judge Orders Stepmother Tried for Murder of Autistic Stepson

Philadelphia AP - An impoverished mother of 10 was ordered to stand trial for murder in the death of her autistic stepson, who authorities said starved while his father was in jail for unpaid traffic tickets.

Judge Seamus P. McCaffery on Tuesday said Audrey McDaniels was "a bitter woman" who neglected Brahim Dukes, 18, while his dad was behind bars.

The 5-foot-9 teen slept in an unheated room and was denied food for at least two weeks, prosecutors said. Paramedics said Dukes was covered in sores and weighed 94 pounds when they found him dead last December.

"This is not a situation where she couldn't see with her own eyes that this young man was deteriorating," McCaffery said. "This was something that was intentionally done."

That characterization was disputed by the teen's family, who said McDaniels was a caring mother. Dukes' father, Dewey Gillespie, said he believed an undiagnosed illness contributed to the death. An autopsy said he starved.

"She loved that boy. She had raised him since he was a baby. She would never do anything to hurt him," he said.

McDaniels was forced to care for 11 children in all when Gillespie was sentenced to 38 days in jail over a $1,558 fine. Dukes was mute and needed help using the bathroom and dressing.

The judge called McDaniels "cold-hearted" and likened her actions to the treatment of Jews in Nazi concentration camps -- prompting an objection from her lawyer. Before the judge issued his ruling, he sarcastically ordered McDaniels to "Stand up, then, mother of the year," which prompted another objection.

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