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AUTISM FIRST STEPS
AUTISM DAILY NEWSLETTER
Saturday January 19, 2002
INDEX:
* Children's charity
criticises global immunisation initiative
* Lost Girl Please help find
* Medicine recall
* The Law of Vaccination - Toward Radical Reform
* A great society
* Readers raise twice the target
* Vanguard
School must turn many away
******************************
Children's charity criticises global
immunisation initiative
Fiona Fleck, Geneva A global initiative that seeks to save
millions of children's lives by immunisation is in danger of saddling the
world's poorest countries with expensive vaccine regimes they cannot afford and
perhaps do not need, a new study has found. The study, conducted by the UK
charity Save the Children and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine, criticised the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations (GAVI)
for including managers from pharmaceutical companies on its governing board,
saying that this created assistance to
an immunisation system without the risk of commercial, product-oriented
pressure," the UK charity said in a statement. The alliance, based on
partnership between the public and private secontribution of $750mctors, was
launched in 1999 to combat falling immunisation levels by providing vaccines to
74 of the world's poorest countries. Dubbed the "billion dollar fund"
after a a potential conflict of interest.
"GAVI needs to ensure that it can focus on the most appropriate
(£517m; 
839m)
from Microsoft's founder and chief executive, Bill Gates, it seeks to achieve this by
incorporating new vaccines into national health systems while promoting
existing immunisation programmes. The study, reported on Tuesday in Geneva, was
based on research conducted in Mozambique, Ghana, Lesotho, and Tanzania. It
concluded that although the initiative had succeeded in raising the profile of
immunisation programmes in developing countries, it had failed to ensure that
additional resources were provided to countries with weak health systems before
they take on expensive new vaccines. It warned that raising poor countries'
awareness of immunisation programmes without detailed advice and financial support
in implementing such schemes could end up creating markets for costly new
vaccines while doing little to tackle the biggest killer diseases. The report said, for example, that refrigerators for storing
vaccines were poorly maintained and often broke down. It also said that Ghana
was given only 10 days to decide whether to accept a new high tech vaccine for
hepatitis B without any evidence that this was actually needed a decision that
more than doubled the cost of the country's immunisation programme. It
concluded that although the funding gap would initially be covered by the
alliance, the long term sustainability of the programme was in question.
"Due to lack of funding and the added burden of the HIV crisis, many
countries' health systems are on the verge of complete and utter
collapse," said Regina Keith, a senior health adviser at Save the Children
in the United Kingdom. "Money must be spent on the upkeep of If the
billion dollar fund goes bust, developing countries will be left footing the
bill for costly new vaccines that are of no use to the children whose lives
they are meant to save," she said. equipment,
as well as on training and paying the salaries of health workers.
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/324/7330/129
******************************
Lost Girl Please help find
Please pass this to everyone in your address book.
To All:
We have a store manager from Longs, S C who has a 9
year old daughter that has been
missing for 2 weeks. Keep the picture moving on. With luck on her
side she will be found.
- Peggy
I am asking you all, begging you to please, forward this email
onto anyone and everyone you know, PLEASE. My 9 year old girl,
Penny Brown, is missing. She has been missing for now two weeks.
It is still not too late. Please help us. If anyone anywhere
knows anything, sees anything, please contact me at
mailto: zicozicozico@hotmail.com
I am including a picture of her.
All prayers are appreciated!! It only takes 2 seconds to forward
this on, if it was your child, you would want all the help you
could get.
Please.
Thank you for your kindness, hopefully you can help us.
******************************
Medicine recall
This is found as an ingredientfound in the below listed drugs and
medications.
All drugs containing Phenylpropanolamine are being recalled. You may want
to try calling the 800 number listed on most drug boxes and
inquire about
a possible refund. Please pass this on to everyone you know. STOP TAKING anything
containing
this ingredient. It has been
linked to increased hemorrhagic stroke
(bleeding in brain) among
women ages 18-79 in the three days after starting
use of medication. Problems
were not found in men, but the FDA recommended
that everyone (even children)
seek alternative medicine. The following
medications contain
Phenylpropanolamine: Acutrim Diet Gum Appetite Suppressant Plus Dietary
Supplements
Acutrim Maximum Strength
Appetite Control
Alka-Seltzer Plus Children's
Cold Medicine Effervescent
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold
medicine (cherry or orange)
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold
Medicine Original
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold &
Cough Medicine Effervescent
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold &
Flu Medicine Effervescent
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold &
Sinus Effervescent
Alka Seltzer Plus Night-Time
Cold Medicine Effervescent
BC Allergy Sinus Cold Powder
BC Sinus Cold Powder
Comtrex Deep Chest Cold &
Congestion Relief
Comtrex Flu Therapy &
Fever Relief
Day & Night Contac
12-Hour Cold Capsules
Contac 12 Hour Caplets
Coricidin D Cold, Flu &
Sinus
Dexatrim Caffeine Free
Dexatrim Extended Duration
Dexatrim Gelcaps
Dexatrim Vitamin C/Caffeine
Free
Dimetapp Cold & Allergy
Chewable Tablets
Dimetapp Cold & Cough
Liqui-Gels
Dimetapp DM Cold & Cough
Elixir
Dimetapp Elixir
Dimetapp 4 Hour Liquid Gels
Dimetapp 4 Hour Tablets
Dimetapp 12 Hour Extentabs
Tablets
Naldecon DX Pediatric Drops
Permathene Mega-16
Robitussin CF
Tavist-D 12 Hour Relief of
Sinus & Nasal Congestion
Triaminic DM Cough Relief
Triaminic Expectorant Chest
& Head Congestion
Triaminic Syrup Cold &
Allergy
Triaminic Triaminicol Cold
& Cough If you call the 800# on the container for Triaminic, they will tell
you
that they are voluntarily
recalling the following medicines because of a
certain ingredient that is
causing strokes and seizures in children:
Orange 3D Cold & Allergy
Cherry (Pink)
3D Cold & Cough Berry
3D Cough Relief
Yellow 3D Expectorant They
are asking you to call them at 800-548-3708 with the lot number on
the box so they can send you
postage for you to send it back to them, and
they will also issue you a
refund. If you know of anyone else with small
children, PLEASE PASS THIS
ON. DO PASS ALONG TO ALL ON YOUR MAILING LIST so people
are informed.
To confirm these findings
please take time to check the following URL:
http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/ppa/default.htm Patrice
A. Richardson
Standards & Compliance
Unit
email:
patrice.richardson@csosa.gov
******************************
The Law of Vaccination - Toward Radical Reform
University of Washington School of
Law
Supervised Analytic Writing - June, 1998
"It seems to me that what is happening is that there is a systematic bias
in the media which is controlled in part by vested interests in maintaining the
status quo. In this light, the New Republic article seems to be a hit piece
designed to keep the petty intelligentsia hooked into believing in the system.
It has been estimated that autism alone costs our economy $12 billion a year in
labor and lost productivity. [FN42] If it turns out after sufficient study to
be so that most childhood autism, asthma, arthritis, diabetes, Crohn's disease,
myopia, MS, and other neurologically related disorders would not have occurred
had we not had a vaccination program, the potential annual cost of the vaccine
program could be on the order of $100 billion a year, rather than the nominal
$100 million that is figured as the programs cost. If we found this to be the
case, then it would be a much better world in which that portion of the economy
was used to treat many of the newly created cases of chronic illness could be
focused on the already damaged. "
To read more... go to:
http://206.55.157.114/vaclaw.htm
For information on Vaccines.....
http://www.rubella.net/
******************************
A great society
Times readers have
responded generously to our appeal
You cannot catch autism and you are in no danger of dying unexpectedly from it.
You do not meet articulate young sufferers from autism because their condition
prevents most autistics from communicating easily with the outside world. There
is no hope of a simple cure and mere understanding of the condition eludes most
people. All these things mean that autism is not a fashionable cause or one for
which it is easy for campaigners to raise money. The response of readers of The
Times to our Christmas Appeal has therefore been particularly
gratifying. The National Autistic Society is to receive £150,000, twice what it
was expecting. This generosity will help it to buy essential equipment for its
schools, it will improve the life of desperately ill children and bring relief
to parents who feel very much alone. Yet while these are the immediate results
of the appeal, they are not the only positive outcomes. Those who work with
autistic people believe that increasing awareness of the condition is almost as
important as raising money. An autistic child stands a better chance in life
the earlier the condition is diagnosed. The more parents learn to recognise the
signs of autism, the greater the probability that they will seek help at the
right time. Beyond the possibilities of treatment, the lives of autisitic
people can be greatly improved by the understanding of others. Many who suffer
from the condition are afflicted by a relatively mild form of it, known as Asperger’s
syndrome. Some of these people struggle on in life, ridiculed by others and
sometimes bullied, finding it difficult to keep a job or a friend. Many sees
them as misfits, perhaps being deliberately contrary. They are cast out by the
society of which they try to be a part, and while their autism may be milder
than others, their suffering is nearly as great. With greater awareness may
come greater sensitivity and compassion. A Christmas Appeal by its very nature
comes to an end. The work of the National Autistic Society, naturally, carries
on. It is important that this work is not forgotten or ignored. It was not just
its cause that recommended the society to this newpaper or encouraged such a
response from our readers, it was the society itself. A highly professional
body created by the most committed volunteers, it yesterday celebrated its 40th
birthday. Since its birth it has been a tower of strength for many thousands
who need it desperately. Long may it continue to be so
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,56-2002029264,00.html
******************************
Readers raise twice the target
BY HELEN RUMBELOW
FORTY years
ago, one mother re-mortgaged her home to set up the National Autistic Society
so that her son and others with his condition would be saved from the asylum.
Yesterday the charity celebrated the beginning of its anniversary year with the
news that readers of this paper had raised £150,000 through the Times
Appeal — double the original target. The Princess Royal, the charity’s patron,
paid tribute to the generosity of The Times readership, which will
enable thousands more isolated and despairing families to be helped. The money
is needed more than ever, said the Princess. Although the charity has
transformed from its beginnings in the kitchen of Helen Allison’s home in West
London to the foremost source of support, information and advocacy in Britain,
the number of people diagnosed with the condition has boomed. More than half a
million people in Britain are autistic and one in every 166 babies born will
develop the disability, but provision remains woefully inadequate. Few autistic
people now remain in mental hospitals, but thousands of families are imprisoned
in their houses because they do not have the diagnosis, education or support to
which they are entitled. The Princess launched the theme of the charity’s 40th
anniversary campaign, “The problem is understanding”, communicating the
seriousness and extent of autism to government, as well as doctors, teachers
and members of the public. She praised the Times Appeal and
congratulated the National Autistic Society (NAS) on its achievement. She said:
“Autism is an invisible disability with often devastating consequences for
parents, families and friends. I hope that all who hear of the 40th anniversary
campaign will recognise what a real difference can be made to people with
autism and their families by providing the support that the charity needs.”
Ilse Burnell, 77, is one of the founding group of parents who helped Helen
Allison develop the world’s first school dedicated to autism in 1962, housed in
an empty British Rail store room in West London. Her daughter, Helen, now 42,
is the first generation to be cared for in NAS specialist schools and homes.
Mrs Burnell said: “Thanks to the charity things have improved tremendously, but
I look around and see families in just the same position as us, because there
are so many more people with autism and nowhere near enough places in schools.”
It is on a personal level that the money from Times’ readers will make a
difference, said Jane Asher, the charity’s president. She added: “We feel like
more has been achieved in a few weeks of intelligent, sensitive reports than in
years of media coverage. This money will transform lives.” The human stories
behind the condition highlighted by the Times campaign show how much
still needs to be done, said Ms Asher. Fiona Farrell, the former London
Today and Sky news presenter, told the launch meeting of a typical
experience of having an autistic child. Three years ago she was pushed out of a
doctor’s office after her diagnosis of her son's condition and offered no
further support. Brett was then two years old and Ms Farrell said that she
spent six months feeling guilty, angry and very alone. “Then I did a very
important thing. Someone at ITN told me about the NAS and I gave them a call,”
she said. “All the improvements Brett made came from what happened in that
call. It was the first time someone had been supportive and understood what I
was going through.” Brett had been unable to talk, was full of manic energy,
would not make eye contact, and sat in the corner of the room spinning a wheel
on a toy train when his mother tried to catch his attention. “I can’t tell you
how many times I ran out of a supermarket in tears because Brett was having a
tantrum and was so distressed he would not calm down,” she said. A NAS leaflet
educated her on how to teach Brett to point and to make eye contact, two
instinctive skills that are the building blocks of speech. This enabled Brett
to learn to talk. “The information from the charity was invaluable, they also
put me in touch with their support group, which taught me how to fight for the
support Brett needed,” she said. “Parents still have to fight for everything
they get, which I think is wrong. But I am fortunate. With all the help I got,
Brett is now a joy.” The money from the Times Appeal will be spent on
the helpline called by Ms Farrell, with just £100 paying for 12 callers to get
through and receive advice. Another scheme that will benefit from the appeal is
the NAS’s unique befriending service, in which volunteers befriend families for
a year. Prospects, the first job agency specifically designed to help adults
with autism find work, will receive funds to help more autistic adults into
employment. And among the charity’s six specialist schools that will receive
vital funds is the Helen Allison school in Kent, named after the charity’s
founder.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-2002029261,00.html
******************************
Vanguard School must turn many away
PAOLI -- This school year, 700 students with special needs were referred to
The Vanguard School.
The
195-student school turned down the bulk of those requests.
Of the 100 referred from within Chester County, only 14 were accepted.
"I've always gone by a lifeboat theory," Jan Rutt, executive director
of the school, explained to a local state senator. "We can't put another
child on this campus."
The Vanguard School wants to serve more of the growing number of children with
autism, emotional disturbance and neurological impairments, not less, Rutt
said.
But, as at many of the other 33 approved private schools in Pennsylvania,
Vanguard is accepting fewer children because of the increasing expense of
educating the youngsters, even as the number of children with special needs
grows, he said.
The average annual cost to educate a Vanguard student is $27,600. By
comparison, it costs $8,235 per year to educate a regular education student at
the Great Valley School District, one of the wealthiest in the county.
Vanguard receives its money from the state, which recovers 40 percent of the
costs from the 50-plus school districts in the region from which Vanguard
accepts its children.
Of its 195 students, ages 3 to 21, 54 are from Chester County and the remainder
are from Bucks, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.
The Vanguard School invited Sen. Robert J. Thompson, R-19, of West Goshen, to
the campus on Wednesday for a tour and discussion about the constraints faced
by approved public schools.
"Special education is probably the biggest single issue with local school
boards," Thompson said. "There's no question it's a critical
problem."
Though informed about the problems of public schools in the area of special
education, Thompson said he did not realize that approved private schools are
short on facilities and unable to meet the call for services, nor that a state
accounting procedure for approved private schools is costing the state money.
"Certainly this is real eye-opening to see what the needs are and to hear
the success stories," Thompson told Rutt, other officials at the school,
and Diane Gallagher, president of the Alliance of Approved Private Schools.
After the tour, with the group seated around a table in the library, Peg
Osborne, principal of the upper school, told Thompson that 75 percent of
Vanguard graduates are either employed or pursuing advanced education, a
percentage far above the national average, Rutt said.
One of the success stories the administrators relayed to Thompson was that of
an illiterate boy who joined the school in the eighth grade, graduated literate
two years ago, and subsequently found employment, joined a volunteer fire
company, and recently carried the Olympic Torch.
The Vanguard officials argued that money spent now will save the state money
later, and Thompson agreed the school's graduates find employment in an
important sector.
However, the senator said the fact remains that the state is short by $600
million this year and will have to revise future spending to reflect the
decrease in state revenue collected from citizens and corporations impacted by
the slowed economy.
"You fit a fantastic niche," Thompson said. "You play an
extremely critical role in the education system."
"Having said that and looking at the current budget, next year's going to
be a real challenge," he said.
Thompson advised the school officials to "hang in there," but did say
he would look into a state accounting procedure for approved private schools
that appears to cost the state money.
Approved private schools do not get fully funded on their expenses for as many
as two and three years and often the schools borrow money to cover the
shortfall, said James Kirkpatrick, chief financial officer for Vanguard.
Many schools "have to go to the bank and get a line of credit to keep you
afloat," Kirkpatrick said. "It just compounds the issue."
"The state ultimately pays the interest the school incurred to fund the
cash-flow shortfall, so it kind of adds an extra burden to the state paying the
debt service."
Vanguard is more fortunate than most, Kirkpatrick said, because the Valley
Forge Specialized Educational Services Corp., which oversees the school, can
cover the shortfall. "A lot of schools can't do that," he said.
For the current school year, Kirkpatrick estimated, the state will short
Vanguard $500,000 for its $5 million budget.
The shortfall results because the state approves a three percent increase on
the prior year's payments, which was also short of necessary funding.
It takes the state two to three years, and sometimes more, to pay the
difference, and the full funding level still does not allow the school to grow,
he said.
The reason for the delay is the time it takes the state to conduct and complete
its audit of the schools.
Thompson said the Department of Education audit system lacks a rationale.
"I think that's definitely something we're going to look at, because it
doesn't make any sense," Thompson said.
He said it would make more sense if the state permitted the approved private
schools to use their independent audits, required of the schools because they
are private, not-for-profit organizations.
As the meeting dispersed, Gallagher, who is also the director of the HMS School
in Philadelphia, a school for students with cerebral palsy, said that the
strides in special education have been significant and said it is critical that
the gains not be lost.
"We really can push (the students) along and help them to be successful --
certainly more than they would be otherwise," said Gallagher, who added it
is important that people with special needs be included in the community at
whatever level possible.
"We've come so far with including our kids, kids with disabilities,"
she said. "We can't lose what we've already got."
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=3022573&BRD=1671&PAG=461&dept_id=17782&rfi=6
******************************
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KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED
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ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.