FEAT DAILY NEWSLETTER
Sacramento, California http://www.feat.org
February 20, 2002
News Archive Search www.feat.org/search/news.asp
·
Three Out Of Four UK Parents Favour Single Jabs for MMR
·
Autism And The Duplication Of The 15q11-Q13 Region
·
Early Amygdala Lesions and Behavior
·
Institute of Medicine Immunization Safety Review
Announcement
·
ABA School for Autistic Children Opens In Hersey, PA
·
Irish Parents Sue to get ABA School for Kids
·
Bridging the Gap - Horses Offer Therapy
·
Reader’s Ads
[First it’s hysterical parents, now the panic mongering
press to blame for public mistrust of Health officials and the MMR vaccine. Who’s
next, the lawyers? The Internet? The French? – LS By Alan Travis, Guardian.]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4359481,00.html
Some 75% of parents say they now want the government to
provide free separate measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations for their
children amid rising concerns about the combined MMR injection, according to
the results of the February Guardian/ICM opinion poll.
The poll finding suggests that anxiety over the combined
injection has become so deep-seated that there is now an overwhelming demand
for free separate jabs on the NHS and many more parents would opt for them if
they were easily available through their local doctor.
The results show that ministers are losing the battle to
dispel the anxieties of parents over the safety of MMR vaccine.
The findings also suggest that the public has so little
trust in what ministers or MPs say on health matters that the Department of
Health will have to target doctors - the group the public trusts most - if it
is to have any success in its forthcoming national advertising campaign to
arrest the decline in public faith in the vaccine.
The ICM poll uncovers the scale of the problem facing
ministers. Although 73% of parents with
young children say they would choose the MMR jab, a growing minority, some 19%
of parents with children under five, are so worried about the combined vaccine’s
unproven link with autism that they are prepared to pay for separate
injections, even if the cost is several hundred pounds.
This finding confirms reports that requests from parents
for single measles, mumps and rubella vaccines have risen so sharply since
Christmas that they now face waits of up to six months, as private clinics
struggle to meet the demand.
What is likely to cause even more concern to health
ministers are the 4% of parents with young children who say they will not get
their children inoculated against any of the three diseases.
The 73% of parents who told the pollsters that, in the
absence of any freely available alternative, they would be willing to allow
their children to have the MMR injection falls far short of the 95% target for
take-up set by the Department of Health as the minimum needed to guarantee
general immunity in the population.
Voters who do not have children say they are more alarmed
by the risks posed by the vaccine than those who are parents.
For example while 73% of parents say they would opt for
the MMR shot only 56% of voters without children say they would make that
decision if they had a small child.
The public also has a very clear view about who it
actually listens to when it comes to official advice on the MMR vaccine.
Regardless of the number of times the health secretary,
Alan Milburn, or the health minister Yvette Cooper may appear on television to
reassure the public, it is clear that advice from the Department of Health,
ministers and MPs does not carry that much weight with the public.
Only 20% say they “trust a lot” advice from politicians
and officials, 47% say they would trust it “a little” and 30% say they would
disregard it altogether.
Scientists fare much better, with 43% of the public saying
they trust their advice “a lot” and only 11% saying they would not trust them
at all.
It is clear from the poll that the one group with the most
public credibility on this issue is doctors, with 63% of the public saying they
trust their views on MMR a lot. This would suggest that it is to this group the
Department of Health should turn if it is to allay parents’ fears. Indeed, the MMR “scare” has only taken off
as an issue because of the disagreement among doctors about the risks.
But the ICM survey confirms that there is one group that
perhaps should not be blamed for whipping up anxieties about MMR: only 6% say
they trust “a lot” what journalists say about the debate.
·
ICM interviewed a random sample of 1,003 adults over 18
by telephone between February 15 and 17 2002. Interviews were conducted across
the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults.
* * *
Autism And The Duplication Of The 15q11-Q13 Region “A
family with a grand-maternally derived interstitial duplication of proximal
15q.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=11846734&dopt=Abstract <- - address ends here.
Boyar F, Whitney M, Lossie A, Gray B, Keller K, Stalker H,
Zori R, Geffken G, Mutch J, Edge P, Voeller K, Williams C, Driscoll D. Raymond
C. Philips Unit, Division of Pediatric Genetics, Department of Pediatrics and
Center for Mammalian Genetics, University of Florida Collegeof Medicine,
Greenwood Genetic Center, Greenwood, SC, Department of Psychiatry, University
of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA.
About 1% of individuals with autism or types of pervasive developmental
disorder have a duplication of the 15q11-q13 region. These abnormalities can be
detected by routine G-banded chromosome study, showing an extra marker
chromosome, or demonstrated by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)
analysis, revealing an interstitial duplication.
We report here the molecular, cytogenetic, clinical and neuropsychiatric
evaluations of a family in whom 3 of 4 siblings inherited an interstitial
duplication of 15q11-q13. This duplication was inherited from their mother who
also had a maternally derived duplication.
Affected family members had apraxia of speech,
phonological awareness deficits, developmental language disorder, dyslexia, as
well as limb apraxia but did not have any dysmorphic clinical features. The
observations in this family suggest that the phenotypic manifestations of
proximal 15q duplications may also involve language-based learning
disabilities.
PMID: 11846734 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
* * *
“Amygdala or ventral hippocampal lesions at two early
stages of life differentially affect open field behaviour later in life; an
animal model of neurodevelopmental psychopathological disorders.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=11844573&dopt=Abstract <- - adress ends here.
Daenen EW, Wolterink G, Gerrits MA, Van Ree JM. Department
of Pharmacology,
Division of Pharmacology and Anatomy Rudolf Magnus Institute
for
Neurosciences, University Medical Center Utrecht, PO Box
85060, 3508, AB,
Utrecht, The Netherlands
Psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia or autism are
thought to result from disruption of the normal pattern of brain development. Abnormalities in the amygdaloid complex and
hippocampus have been reported in these disorders.
In the present study rats were lesioned in the amygdala or
ventral hippocampus on day 7 of life (immature brain) or day 21 of life (almost
mature brain) and open field behaviour was determined later in life before and
after puberty. Lesioning on day 7 resulted in behavioural changes, interpreted
as locomotor stereotypy and decreased anxiety in case of amygdala or
hippocampus, respectively.
These effects were more profoundly present after puberty.
Lesioning on day 21 did not result in these behavioural changes, which
subscribes to the importance of the stage of brain maturation on functional
development.
The results suggest that the behavioural changes in rats
lesioned on day 7 may due to a malfunctioning of structures connected to the
amygdala or ventral hippocampus. Brain lesions made on day 7 of life may serve
as a potential model of psychopathological neurodevelopmental disorders.
PMID: 11844573 [PubMed - in process]
* * *
This posting is to announce that the Institute of Medicine’s
Immunization Safety Review Committee will publicly release its report, “Multiple
Immunizations and Immune System Dysfunction “ on Wednesday, February 20, 2002
at 4:00 PM EDT. Upon release, the report and the news release will be available
on the Web at http://National-Academies.org and at www.iom.edu/imsafety.
* * *
[By Myra Partridge.]
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=3275455&BRD=2249&PAG=461&dept_id=4
50612&rfi=6
When parents want more than public schools offer, they
often send their child to private school.
But, if a private school does not exist to meet their
needs, parents like Mike Jarman create their own school. Jarman, a father of two autistic
children and a lawyer, formulated the concept to create the Vista School,
located at 73 Cedar Avenue in Hershey.
“When I started looking at options kids had in the public
sector, I started considering if there were private solutions that may work,”
Jarman said. “Largely, schools are not set up to be integrated with the home component
in mind.”
He looked to find a way to educate his twin sons, Sean and
Patrick, 7, and created a model for an integrated home and school plan from
working with other parents. Classes began at the new school on Feb. 4.
The Vista School will use a therapy called applied
behavior analysis (ABA). In this method, lessons are broken into small
activities and children are praised for proper responses while inappropriate
behaviors are not reinforced.
“There’s been nothing in this area that adopted this
model,” Jarman said.
“With a command and control structure, the kids will have
a better experience.”
According to Jarman, there are no programs in the area,
private or public, that provide ABA in the classroom. Because of this, the
Jarmans had been homeschooling their children.
“We had a system that was kind of broken up, that never
until now would bridge the gap and give the child a consistent presentation
through day,” Jarman said. “We’ll end up with higher quality and a better
outcome.”
The group of parents who helped to create the school
secured a private school license from the Pennsylvania Department of Education
and hired a consultant to craft a curriculum using the ABA method.
Funding for the school is mainly coming out of the parents’
pockets as well as from gifts, grants and other sources, but the parents hope
to be compensated through due-process hearings with the school districts.
“A lot of these kids have not had positive educational
experiences up until now,” Jarman said.
* * *
Irish Parents Sue to get ABA School for Kids
Education Minister accused of hypocrisy over autism
education stand
[By Carl O’Brien in The Irish Examiner.]
http://www.online.ie/news/irish_examiner/viewer.adp?article=1666332
Education Minister Dr Michael Woods has been accused of
hypocrisy for arguing in a court case that the department’s own plans for
autism education should be ignored. This emerged at a court case where parents
of autistic boy Colum McNabb, four, are fighting to get the minister to fund a
special school for six other children in Galway city.
The State has refused to fund the school, based on the
system of applied behaviour analysis, and wants to provide a different form of education.
However, a task force report on autism education, commissioned by Dr Woods,
says autistic children should get teaching that best meets their needs and is
scathing over the department’s track record in the area.
But lawyers acting on behalf of the minister are arguing
in court that this report should not be used as evidence in the case.
It is not clear whether Dr Woods sanctioned this position
by the lawyers, and a spokesperson for the department declined to comment.
Kathy Sinnott, who fought the State to get education for
her autistic son Jamie, said the actions of the State smacked of hypocrisy.
“They said they were drawing up that report before the
seven Supreme Court judges in Jamie’s case to get brownie points, to show that
they were dealing with the issue of autism and education,” she said A decision
on whether the task force report should be used in evidence in the McNabb case is
expected tomorrow.
The State’s legal team is arguing that the report merely
contains advice to the minister, which he may accept or reject. The Government
is funding three schools for autistic children in Dublin and Cork, based on the
system of applied behaviour analysis, which the McNabbs are seeking.
Meanwhile, the Government will be urged to scrap
legislation it hailed as a radical step forward for disabled people at a mass
protest tomorrow. Hundreds of people
from a coalition of campaign groups are expected to gather at the Mansion House
in Dublin at 7.30pm to call for the Disability Bill to be brought back to the
drawing board.
They say disabled people will be worse off if the bill is
enacted as it contains no real rights and waters down entitlements. Equality
Minister Mary Wallace says it will go a long way towards putting disabled people
at the heart of the community.
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* * *
[You won’t find much science behind equine therapy,
but proponents
aren’t horsing around about how it’s helped some children
through their
“connecting” with the animals. Presumably this would be some form of
non-verbal communication, unless of course, these are
talking horses. They
don’t say. –LS By Michael Dodson.]
http://www.news-star.com/stories/021702/com_65.shtml
Talk to John Allen about horses or put him on or around
one and the transformation is startling.
He is invigorated. A bounce returns to his step. Mostly,
though, the change is visible in a megawatt smile that warms everyone around
him.
The 21-year-old Shawnee resident was born with Down
syndrome and mental retardation. For more than 15 years, Allen has been
stretching his mind, building his confidence and improving his physical skills
through the horsemanship program Charham Therapeutic Association and Arena at
St. Gregory’s University.
Each year, the program helps some 300 people who have
physical and mental challenges, Maurice Walsh, program director, said. They
learn horse discipline, horse nutrition and care of the animals.
CTA letterhead bears the statement, “Nothing is better for
the inside of a man than the outside of a horse.” Diane Allen, John’s mother,
would tell you that, in her son’s instance, that is true.
“It (has been) wonderful. He has gotten so much out of
it,” she said.
“Even now, horses are his big thing.”
Allen describes her son as “a lot more independent, a lot
more assured” as a result of his relationship with the horses.
“It helps him,” Allen said. She said interaction with the
horses has developed John’s confidence. “He knows how to work around horses,
something I would never be able to give him.”
Diane assists with the program participants. “They get up
on that horse and, at first, they’re so afraid,” she said. “(But) within a few
hours or a few days, they are so happy to get on their horse. It gives them confidence
(about) being up high and knowing what they’re doing, feeling that they can do
something without anyone else around.”
The benefits stretch beyond the mental and emotional.
Allen says her son has improved his motor skills and hand-eye coordination
through the program.
“They have to learn how to get up on a horse. They have to
learn how to maneuver their horse,” she said. “Just that, using their hands,
their eyes, all of their faculties (improves physical skills).
“I don’t know anything else that would have helped him as
much. First, because he enjoys it so much. And, second, because it gave him the
confidence to move, to use his hands, put his foot over the horse. If it had not
been for Maurice trying to help these kids and trying to work with them, I’m
not kidding you, I don’t know how we would have done it.”
“The magic connection is that horse,” Walsh said. “It’s a thousand-pound
partner. That thousand-pound partner is pro-kid-and-adult all the way. (He has)
no negative feeling.”
New participants in the program begin slowly. “You have
those activities where they can touch the horse, get used to the horse before they’re
on (it),” Walsh explained.
Interaction with a horse has broken the communication
barrier that has an autistic person cocooned in his own world. “The horse
reaches to them, and they reach out to the horse,” Walsh said. “Then, that
tremendous communication barrier can start breaking down.”
Bridging that gulf does not happen in all instances and
frequently requires a lot of time and effort, Walsh said. “If there can be listening
and demonstration to that child (that) the horse is on his side and it’s safe
and comfortable, then that barrier can be broken,” he said.
The Charham program has participants involve themselves in
as much interaction with a horse as possible. For example, John Allen has
learned to remove the saddle, store it, place it back on the horse and feed and
groom the animals.
“All their humanity comes together with the horse” is
Walsh’s way of describing the partnership formed through this level of
interaction.
When the Aztecs of the 14th century first
encountered Spanish conquistadors on horses, they thought the two to be one
being. “Go back to the Aztecs—one being. When you have that kind of unity, it’s
beautiful,” Walsh said.
Walsh said the improvements persevere after participants
leave the Charham program.
“The whole idea of ... community-based programs is to
allow the individual to go further in the community,” he said, “whether that
means going back to a class and sitting up straighter or that they get the confidence
to go to the library and pick out a book about a horse or be able to move
around in the cafeteria.”
The program also broadens participants’ experiences in
another way. “For many, this therapy
also opens, for the first time, a broad spectrum of life in our culture that
would not otherwise be available to them,” reads the program’s description. “For
the first time, many experience the wonders of a rural, agricultural setting.”
An article in Strides, the magazine of the North American
Riding for the Handicapped Association, offers more evidence of the miracles
the human-horse partnership can create. That article told of what working with horses
meant to Leslie Cootware, a young lady born with cystic fibrosis in 1964.
Given seven to 10 years to live, Cootware died at age 25.
She once told her aunt, Melissa Everett: “I would have died a long time ago if
it hadn’t been for the horses. When you have something to do that you love, something
you can go after with everything inside you, especially if that thing loves you
back, you can live forever.”
* * *
Looking for parents to network with related to identical
twins with autism.
My boys are 5 years old and doing well in an in-home
program, combined with
early childhood and peer
integration. laberge@tds.net
Have 8 year old son with ASD. He has a list of “trigger” words that cause
agitation and aggression.
Has anyone been able to desensitize a child to
words? Or know any books that cover this problem? Kathy TRip659433@aol.com
After almost 7 years my page(s) just got a big overhaul, not
only am I
organized but I have many new pages and even more info than
before. Take a
peek.... http://www.isn.net/~jypsy
-jypsy
Anyone from the Madison, Wisconsin area found a public
school in Madison
that handles children with Autism well and
appropriately? The school that
our little one is in does not have a successful program.
Would change
schools if there is one that is better than another. Our school simply does
not have the proper training. Seems that no one has a clue what to do.
Recently moved to the L.A. area and are looking for services
for our 10 y.o.
son. He needs a doctor familiar with ASD, a dentist who can
deal with
autism, and private Speech and Occupational Therapists.
Everyone that we
have been referred to so far does not treat “older”
children. Recommend
practitioners in the San Fernando Valley or Thousand Oaks
areas
I look at the reader’s posts and try to respond where I
can. One
suggestion: If people could indicate their geographical area
they might get
responses that are more helpful—especially when looking for
a school or
program. Sherri
Looking for speech therapist and private ABA/ verbal
behavior therapists to
work with 3 year old HFA boy in Northern Virginia area.
Sweet child, no
behaviors, potty trained. jooemarr@aol.com
Can anyone offer experience/precedents/ advice ref financial
settlement,
(specifically decisions regarding house) in a UK divorce
where both children
are Autistic and only 5 and 3 yrs. Ex fled because he couldn’t
handle our
life now trying for best financial result he can get
including our home!
Anyone had experience with the Lindamood-Bell program “Visualizing
and
Verbalizing” to address comprehension difficulties with a
child in the
autism spectrum?
Numerous parents in Michigan need to know if it’s
effective. Please write to: lecia73@yahoo.com
>>
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APRIL 21, 2002 - 12 Noon to 5pm
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