AUTISM FIRST STEPS
AUTISM DAILY NEWSLETTER
Tuesday January 15, 2002
INDEX:
* Autism, main story
* Autistic Kids Receiving Parent-Managed Intensive Interventions
* Enhanced Discrimination In Autism
* Can Checklist Sort Autism from Developmental Delays in Toddlers
* Parents' Perspectives on the MMR Immunisation A focus group study.
* Mind Blindness And The Brain In Autism.
* Were All Of These Children Killed By The Triple MMR Jab
* If 26 Kids Died in the
UK from MMR Vax, Did 148 Die in the US
* Open Season on MMR How
the Blairs' silence sparked a media storm
* UK Minister Promises Action On Autism
******************************
Autism, main story
Sunday,
January 06, 2002
By Kelly Bothum
Of The Patriot-News
On a mild Sunday afternoon, Dan scampers into kitchen and makes a beeline for
the screen door. He can't maneuver the lock so he stands there waiting for
someone to unlock it for him. Tom uses this as a chance to work on Dan's verbal
skills. "I want," Tom says, pausing a few seconds between each word.
Dan responds with an unintelligible mix of sounds. "I want," Tom says
again. "Euh annt," Dan answers. "Outside," Tom says.
"Side?" Dan replies. Tom obliges with a click of the screen lock. Dan's
out the door, settling on a patch of grass just beyond the concrete patio in
the spot where his inflatable pool sat until a month earlier. He plays with the
mound of sand that remains, throwing tiny handfuls of it into the air and
smiling as it falls around him. Sometimes he stops and stares at a patch of
grass or looks up at the sky, content to be alone with his thoughts. Tom and
Nancy watch from the table in their kitchen. "One of the great things that
is refreshing about children like Dan is they can't pretend. They don't
understand metaphorical language," Tom says. "It's just raw emotion
and that's really refreshing. There's no game playing." The couple has
worked hard to bring Dan out of his cocooned world. They're constantly prompting
him to talk, to say what he wants to eat, where he wants to go, which video he
wants to watch. He has a slew of therapists whose services are covered by
medical assistance which Dan qualifies for because of his medical condition.
Wrap-around services from Edgewater Psychiatric Center provide assistance for
Dan at home and in school. A staff member helps him get ready for school and
stays with him in class for part of the school day. Dan visits weekly with
speech therapist Ted Huryn to increase his verbal communication. He also works
with aquatherapist Esther Strader in an indoor pool, where the combination of
motor exercises and rush of water across his body helps soothe his senses
running on overdrive. "For certain, we have tried to get in his world, but
by the same token, he's a very curious kid. He wants to find stuff out. He
wants to seek things out. If you take him someplace, he'll remember," Tom
says. "He'd know when I took him to get a haircut in downtown
Mechanicsburg that there's a pet store at [routes] 114 and 11. He's like, 'Why
aren't you taking me there, jerk?' At first, it's hard to figure out that sort
of stuff." Three times a year, Dan's behavioral therapist, Karen Hornung,
revises his behavior treatment plan, which dictates strategies to deal with his
autism. It includes specific goals for Dan (better verbalization, improved
social skills) and ways to achieve those goals (ignoring his one-word
utterances, teaching him to take turns). At home, Dan adheres to a strict
schedule with frequent reminders about what his next task is. The same is true
at Middle Paxton Elementary School, where he's in an autism-support class with
three other pupils, all boys. Teacher Amy Nissley and the aides involve the
pupils with quick activities, none more than 15 minutes or so. The short bursts
keep the children from getting frustrated or distracted. Each time Dan
completes an activity, he removes an icon with the corresponding task from his
daily schedule. The icons -- describing reading, computer and other activities
-- are part of the Picture Exchange Communication System, which is used to
communicate with autistic children. "They like to know what's coming. It's
very important and it helps them stay stable in the sense they can anticipate
what's coming," Karen says. "Oftentimes if something comes up and
it's not what was planned, they get upset." Repetition and routine are
constants in Dan's life. The challenge is trying to expose him to new things.
Over the past months, Nancy and Karen have made it a priority to get Dan comfortable
with going out in public. During the summer and into the fall, he and Karen
took weekly trips to places like Arby's, Media Play, even Lake Tobias Wildlife
Farm in Halifax. Dan's tolerance for going out has increased since the
excursions began, Karen says. The people and the sounds aren't as overwhelming
to his senses. And he's starting to understand how he's supposed to act in
public, which is critical. "Before, we could only try to go through
drive-throughs. When Nancy and I would try to sit down in a restaurant, he
would get down on the floor or under the table," she says. "He'd get
impatient because it was a long wait. In Dan's mind it was like, 'Why should I
just sit there?'" The improvement is subtle but noticeable. On a trip to Friendly's
with Karen one weekend, Dan sits patiently in the booth waiting for his plate
of French fries. Once the fries arrive, he eats a couple -- his usual quota --
and waits for Karen to finish her Fribble. Only once does he duck his head
under the table to sneak a peak. He likes affectionOn the weekends, everything
slows down in the Richey household. Tom works long hours during the week,
leaving at 4 a.m. and often driving to New York or Philadelphia for his job
running construction projects and overseeing maintenance for a property
management company. Sometimes he's gone for a couple of days. Nancy spends the
most time with Dan during the week. She works part time from home on her
recruiting business when she can, usually when he's in school. Saturday
morning, Dan is their alarm clock. Around 8 or 9 a.m., he bounds into their
room and onto the bed to cuddle and snuggle between his parents. Unlike some
autistic children, the 8-year-old likes affection, taking in hugs and
compliments like he was drinking them through a straw. He especially loves to
snack on Tom's homemade bread, which he makes every couple of weeks and packs
with whole wheat, fiber, protein and other nutrients. It's also one of the few
things Dan eats willingly. Picky eating habits are common among those with
autism and Dan is no exception. Arby's chicken fingers, white-cheese pizzas
made by his father and an occasional peanut butter sandwich round out the short
list of foods he'll eat without a fight. Corn chips are the closest he gets to
vegetables, his mother says ruefully. To make sure Dan gets his nutrients,
Nancy feeds him a vitamin cocktail prescribed by a nutritionist. The
grape-flavored liquid vitamin packs all his nutritional needs except for
vitamin C. It's also not cheap; the vitamin runs $50 a month and isn't covered
by the family's insurance. Visions for futureWatching Dan amuse himself outside
with the sand, Tom and Nancy say they have great hopes for what Dan can
accomplish when he gets older. His future is something Nancy's been thinking about
a lot lately since she started taking a class offered through Temple University
about advocating for people with handicaps and special needs. They imagine him
with friends, which he doesn't have many of right now. Nancy doesn't want to
limit Dan by expecting he'll have to live in a group home as an adult. They
envision him living out of their house, either independently or with a house
mate. Given his love of nature and the outdoors, he might be a park ranger.
Whatever it is, Tom and Nancy want to encourage him to find what he likes.
"Other people may say, 'Oh, he'll be a janitor at McDonald's,' and that's
what you don't want people to do," she says. "I want them to say he
can be a park ranger if he wants to. Or maybe he does want to be a janitor at
McDonald's. But right now, let's shoot far." They don't imagine he'll
always live with them. One thing Nancy says she tries to do is think how it
would be different raising Dan if he didn't have autism. Would she let him stay
home forever? Probably not. "I'd say, 'No, Dan, get your own life.' So now
I feel the same way," she says. "If he can live independently, but he
says when he graduates from high school, 'Mom, I'd like to stay home for a
couple of years,' maybe we'd do what all parents do -- give him a couple of
years and then give him the boot." She finishes the sentence with a laugh.
Dan pulls the screen door across and let's himself inside. "Oh yeah,
Danny, we're talking about you," Nancy says, smiling. "We're talking
about what you're going to do. Lots, right?" He wears a mischievous smile
like he's the only one in on a good joke. Kelly Bothum may be reached at
255-8440 or kbothum@patriot-news.com.
http://www.pennlive.com/living/patriotnews/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/living/101015237416238105.xml
******************************
Autistic Kids Receiving Parent-Managed Intensive
Interventions
Progress and outcomes for children with autism receiving parent-managed
intensive interventions.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11768669&dopt=Abstract
Bibby P, Eikeseth S, Martin NT,
Mudford OC, Reeves D.
Autism & Developmental Disorders Education Research, London, England,
United Kingdom. PeterJBibby@compuserve.com
Parent-managed behavioral interventions for young
children with autism are under-researched. We analyzed data from 66 children
served by 25 different early intervention consultants. After a mean of 31.6
months of intervention IQ scores had not changed (N = 22). Vineland adaptive
behavior scores had increased significantly by 8.9 points (N = 21). No children
aged 72 months attained normal functioning, i.e., IQ 85 and unassisted
mainstream school placement (N = 42).
Progress for 60 children across 12 months was
found for mental age
(5.4 months), adaptive behavior (9.7 months), and language (5.1 months). The
interventions did not reproduce results from clinic-based professionally
directed programs. The effectiveness of the parent-managed intervention
model as it has developed and the adequacy of professional services in that
model are discussed.
PMID: 11768669 [PubMed - in process]
******************************
Enhanced Discrimination In Autism
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=11765744&dopt=Abstract <- - address ends here.
O'Riordan M, Plaisted K.
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK.
mafo100@cus.cam.ac.uk
Children with autism are superior to typically
developing children at
visual search tasks (O'Riordan, Plaisted, Driver, & Baron-Cohen, in press;
Plaisted, O'Riordan, & Baron-Cohen, 1998b). This study investigates the
reasons for this phenomenon. The performance of children with autism and of
typically developing children was compared on a series of visual search
tasks to investigate two related problems. The first issue was whether the
critical determinant of search rate in children is the discriminability of
the display items, as it is in normal adults.
The second question investigated was whether the
superior performance
of individuals with autism on visual search tasks is due to an enhanced
ability to discriminate between display items. The results demonstrated that
discriminability is the rate-determining factor for children with and
without autism, replicating earlier findings with normal adults, and that
children with autism have an enhanced ability to discriminate between
display items. Thus, it seems that an enhanced ability to discriminate
between display items underlies superior visual search in autism.
PMID: 11765744 [PubMed - in process
******************************
Can Checklist Sort Autism from Developmental
Delays in Toddlers
Can the checklist for autism in toddlers differentiate young children with
autism from those with developmental delays?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=11765292&dopt=Abstract <- - address ends here.
Scambler D, Rogers SJ, Wehner EA.
JFK Partners, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver 80262,
USA. doug.scambler@uchsc.edu
OBJECTIVE: The Checklist for Autism in Toddlers
(CHAT) has been
demonstrated to be sensitive to the presence of autism in otherwise normally
developing 18-month-old children. However, its ability to differentiate
autism from other significant developmental delays is unknown. This study
examined this question.
METHOD: The CHAT was applied to a group of 44
children aged 2 and 3
years, rigorously diagnosed with autism or with other developmental
problems.
RESULTS: By the original CHAT authors' criteria,
the sensitivity and
specificity of the CHAT were 65% and 100%, respectively. Slightly altering
the criteria resulted in a sensitivity of 85% in the current group of
children with developmental disabilities while maintaining specificity of
100%.
CONCLUSIONS: The current study is the first to
demonstrate that the
CHAT successfully discriminates 2-year-old children with autism from those
with other developmental disorders. In addition, the increased sensitivity
of the Denver Criteria in children with developmental disabilities may
improve its usefulness as a screening tool for community-based
early-diagnostic teams and general practitioners.
PMID: 11765292 [PubMed - in process]
******************************
Parents' Perspectives on the MMR Immunisation A
focus group study.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=11761204&dopt=Abstract <- - address ends here.
Evans M, Stoddart H, Condon L, Freeman E, Grizzell M, Mullen R.
Division of Primary Health Care, University of Bristol.
m.a.evans@bristol.ac.uk
BACKGROUND: The uptake of the combined measles,
mumps and rubella
immunisation (MMR) in Britain has fallen since 1998, when a link was
hypothesised with the development of bowel disorders and childhood autism.
Despite reassurances about the safety of MMR, uptake levels remain lower
than optimal. We need to understand what influences parents' decisions on
whether to accept MMR or not so that health professionals can provide a
service responsive to their needs. AIM: To investigate what influences
parents' decisions on whether to accept or refuse the primary MMR
immunisation and the impact of the recent controversy over its safety.
DESIGN: Qualitative study using focus group
discussions.
SETTING: Forty-eight parents, whose youngest
child was between 14
months and three years old, attended groups at community halls in six
localities in Avon and Gloucestershire. METHODS: Purposive sampling strategy
was used to include parents from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.
Three groups comprised parents who had accepted MMR and three groups
comprised parents who had refused MMR. Data analysis used modified grounded
theory techniques incorporating the constant comparative method.
RESULTS: All parents felt that the decision about
MMR was difficult
and stressful, and experienced unwelcome pressure from health professionals
to comply. Parents were not convinced by Department of Health reassurances
that MMR was the safest and best option for their children and many had
accepted MMR unwillingly. Four key factors influenced parents' decisions:
(a) beliefs about the risks and benefits of MMR
compared with
contracting the diseases,
(b) information from the media and other sources
about the safety of
MMR,
(c) confidence and trust in the advice of health
professionals and
attitudes towards compliance with this advice, and
(d) views on the importance of individual choice
within Government
policy on immunisation.
CONCLUSIONS: Parents wanted up-to-date
information about the risks and
benefits of MMR to be available in advance of their immunisation
appointment. Many parents did not have confidence in the recommendations of
health professionals because they were aware that GPs needed to reach
immunisation targets. Most parents would, however, welcome more open
discussion about immunisation with health professionals.
PMID: 11761204 [PubMed - in process]
******************************
Mind Blindness And The Brain In Autism.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=11754830&dopt=Abstract <- - address ends here.
Frith U.
UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17 Queen Square, WC1N 3AR, London,
United Kingdom
Experimental evidence shows that the inability to
attribute mental
states, such as desires and beliefs, to self and others (mentalizing)
explains the social and communication impairments of individuals with
autism.
Brain imaging studies in normal volunteers
highlight a circumscribed
network that is active during mentalizing and links medial prefrontal
regions with posterior superior temporal sulcus and temporal poles. The
brain abnormality that results in mentalizing failure in autism may involve
weak connections between components of this system.
PMID: 11754830 [PubMed - in process]
******************************
Were All Of These Children Killed By The Triple
MMR Jab?
[Focus By Lucy Johnston, Sunday Express, UK.]
www.express.co.uk
At least 26 families claim their children died as
a result of the
controversial measles, mumps and rubella jab, the Sunday Express can reveal.
In some cases the Government has awarded parents
up to £100,000 under
its 1979 Vaccine Damage Payment Act. In others, post mortem reports
concluded the jab was the most likely cause of death. Despite this, the
Department of Health insists no child has ever died from MMR.
This assertion is a key aspect of its £3 million
publicity drive to
persuade parents the vaccine is entirely safe.
It contradicts the view of the US Government,
which accepts children
die from MMR and awards compensation as a result. Most children do not react
to the jab, but medical literature supports the view that MMR can
occasionally kill.
The parents are now demanding an official inquiry
into the deaths.
Julie Roberts, 40, whose daughter Stacey died, said: "The Government
should
take responsibility. It has never given proper warnings of the risk and
still doesn't despite the evidence. Tony Blair can see his children at home.
I have to visit my daughter at her grave."
Experts writing in the Journal of Pediatrics
concluded that of 48
children who reacted to the measles component of the jab, eight died and the
rest had seizures or brain damage. And a recent study on 1.8 million
children by the Finnish Health Board linked neurological reactions, allergic
attacks, epilepsy and meningitis to the vaccine. Our research follows
speculation over whether Tony Blair's 19-month-old son Leo has had the MMR
jab. The Prime Minister has said he fully supports the vaccine but will not
say if Leo has had it.
Many of the families of children who have died
have taken legal
action. Richard Barr, of solicitors Alexander Harris, has details of 24
cases. He said: "It is widely acknowledged in medical literature and by
the
American government that the triple vaccine can, on rare occasions, kill,
yet this Government won't accept it."
Jackie Fletcher, of the pressure group Jabs,
which is trying to
highlight the potential dangers, said: "The Government should be giving
people full and accurate information about health risks."
But a Department of Health spokesman insisted:
"Parents who received
payments after their children died following MMR would not get the money now
as science has moved on. MMR protects against death and we stand by the fact
that no child has died as a result of MMR."
Wendy Francis's son, Robert, began behaving
abnormally two years after
he had MMR in January 1990. He lost control of his movements and slept for
18 hours at a time. Within months he fell into a coma and died in December.
Robert, then seven, had developed a degenerative brain condition called SSPE
(sub-acute sclerosis pan encephalitis), linked to the measles component.
The disease can have a long incubation period
and Mrs Francis, 40, an
auxiliary nurse and Robert's consultant think the vaccine was the only way
Robert could have developed it. The family, from Easington, north Yorkshire,
are taking legal action against the vaccine's manufacturer.
Ashley Shipman was born in 1985 and was a healthy
three-year-old when
he received the MMR vaccine. When he was nine his parents Elaine and Andrew
of Eastwood, Nottingham, noticed he was having problems with his balance and
co-ordination. He too was diagnosed with SSPE and died in June 1999, aged
14. They received £30,000 compensation.
His father, a lorry driver, said: "We took
Ashley into hospital in
October 1994 and by Christmas he was in a wheelchair. We were told by the
consultant who treated him that his condition was caused by his
vaccination."
In 1995 the Government's vaccine damage tribunal
paid £30,000
compensation to James Smith, of Gateshead, for brain damage after he was
given MMR at the age of four. James died nine years later aged 13. Biopsy
material taken from his brain and intestines will form a central plank of
the scientific evidence in support of a legal case due to be heard in
October next year. Up to 300 cases relate to this brand of vaccine -
Pluserix - which was banned by the Department of Health in 1992 after being
linked with meningitis. This was two years after an identical vaccine was
banned in Canada.
John and Faye Smith say the jab transformed their
healthy, intelligent
son into a child needing round-the-clock care. It took them six years and
four hearings, however, to persuade the vaccine damage tribunal of this.
Faye, 59, said: "It's not about money, but
truth. It's diabolical that
the Government refuses to acknowledge the risks of MMR."
Judith Dwyer, 45, of Tongwynlaif, near Cardiff,
received a payment
after her four-year-old daughter Chloe died following a "booster" jab
in
1989. She too was given a version later banned because of its dangerous side
effects. Chloe developed pins and needles in her legs, then paralysis and
problems breathing. She was rushed to hospital but it was too late.
After an eight-year fight Judith, an intensive
care technician,
persuaded a tribunal the jab was the likely cause of Chloe's death. In
September 1996 it accepted this and paid out.
Mother of two Judith said: "Health visitors
called me a scare mongerer
and laughed. But we fought to raise the profile of vaccine damage."
Stacey Berry, of Atherton, Manchester was 13 when
she had a booster
jab in November 1994. Days later she started having fits, "stopped
smiling,
and stared into space."
She was diagnosed with the brain disease SSPE and
given two years to
live. She died in November 2000, aged 19. A post mortem examination
concluded the disease was a "rare complication" of the vaccine".
Christopher Coulter was 15 when he suffered a fit
and died in his
sleep 10 days after being vaccinated. He had an unblemished health record
and no history of epilepsy but no explanation has been offered other than
the statement on his death certificate - "asphyxiation due to severe
epileptic seizure". His mother Anne of Hillsborough, northern Ireland
said:
"Nothing would replace Christopher, but I want answers. I want peace of
mind
for my daughters should they ever have children."
Hannah Buxton was 18 months old when she reacted
to her first MMR jab.
She started having fits and died 18 months later in February 1992.
Parents Carol and Tony of Towcester, Northants,
did not know Hannah
had
been given the strain of vaccine later withdrawn after it was deemed unsafe.
In March that year a tribunal blamed the vaccine for her death.
Nicola Gentle, 29, of Plymouth, Devon, is
convinced her 15-month-old
baby Emma Jane died because of the triple vaccine she was given in September
1998.
Within six hours she was on a life-support machine. Three days later she was
brain dead but a coroner said he could not say for certain whether or not
MMR had killed her.
Shirley Fitzgerald's son Kieren was given the MMR
jab in June 1991
when he was 14 months. He reacted within days. "He stopped smiling,
laughing
and crying and became frightened of his toys," said Shirley.
Kieren also developed bowel problems - linked to MMR by some
scientists. In July 1992, he died, aged two.
Toddler Harriet Moore died following an MMR
vaccination in 1998. Six
weeks later she suffered fits and died in her parents arms. Sarah and Pat
Moore, of Peasedown St John, near Bath, took the case to tribunal.
Jade Scrimger was vaccinated with MMR at 17
months and died from
meningitis three days later in October 1998. Her mother Sheena has since
discovered the drug used on her daughter was later banned by the Department
of Health because it caused meningitis.
She has abandoned the idea of taking legal action
against the vaccine
manufacturers, however, because lawyers say it is not worth it. In Britain
the
maximum award for a child's death is £7,500.
Five days after Elaine Adam's 16-month-old son
Stevie was given the
MMR vaccine 1991 he too developed meningitis and died.
Elaine and her husband Robert, of East Kilbride,
were convinced MMR
was to blame but their fears were dismissed by doctors. Mrs Adam has refused
to allow her second child, Terry, six, to have the jab.
******************************
If 26 Kids Died in the UK from MMR Vax, Did 148
Die in the US?
This was the question posed to Barbara Lo Fisher
of the National
Vaccine Information Center. If 26 died from MMR in the UK, then given the
relative population size of the US, and all else being equal, about 148
fatalities would have occurred here. Is this true? Here is Fisher's
response.
"I am sure we have many deaths due to MMR
vaccine. The problem here is
that perhaps less than 1 percent of all doctors report vaccine adverse
events - even though it has been the law since 1986 to report serious health
problems, including deaths, within 30 days of vaccination. MMR deaths within
30 days would be due to seizures and encephalopathy, which occurs at peak
incidence between 8 and 15 days following MMR. If doctors do not report,
there will be no statistics.
"What we would like to see is an amendment
to the 1986 National
Childhood Vaccine Injury Act which would attach a punishment for doctors not
reporting (the law made it clear the doctor is NOT supposed to decide at the
provider level whether there was causation involved - the duty was merely to
report) such as removal of the privilege of administering vaccines. That
would really hit them in the pocketbook."
******************************
Open Season on MMR How the Blairs' silence
sparked a media storm
In recent weeks opponents of the triple measles,
mumps, and rubella
(MMR) vaccine have had rich pickings. In late November the General Medical
Council cleared former general practitioner Peter Mansfield of professional
misconduct for offering separate vaccines.
The Daily Mail heralded this as a victory.
Shortly afterwards, the
Express picked up an editorial in the British Journal of General Practice,
which argued that the Department of Health needed to respond to parental
concerns and rethink its policy on single vaccines.
In early December Andrew Wakefield, whose
research in the Lancet in
February 1998 stoked widespread alarm over possible links between MMR and
bowel disease and autism, left the Royal Free Hospital in London. He claimed
that he had been forced out for his rebel views.
His departure was extensively covered in the Guardian and
provoked
several angry letters in both the Daily and Sunday Telegraph. But it was the
Blairs' refusal to answer Conservative MPs' questions about whether their
youngest son, Leo, had had the triple vaccine that kept MMR firmly on the
media agenda.
+ Article continues at:
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/324/7329/120
******************************
UK Minister Promises Action On Autism
[By Helen Rumbelow in the Times, UK.]
The Public Health Minister promised a more
concerted approach to
autism yesterday after a Commons debate in which MPs paid tribute to the
Times campaign to raise awareness of the condition. Yvette Cooper said that
the NHS, schools and social services would have to work together under the
National Service Framework for Children to stop families slipping through
the net.
The National Autistic Society, the subject of The
Times Christmas
Appeal, helps to improve the lives of those affected by autism, but lack of
resources means that many families are still not getting the help they need.
Linda Perham, Labour MP for Ilford North, organised the Commons debate to
inaugurate the first Autism Awareness Year, founded by Ivan Corea, a
constituent with an autistic boy, Charin, 5. Tony Blair pledged his support
at Question Time.
+ Article continues at:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,11-2002015880,00.html
******************************
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