FEAT DAILY NEWSLETTER Sacramento, California
and THE AUTISM NETWORK
http://www.feat.org"Healing Autism: No Finer a Cause on the Planet" ________________________________________________________________
March 18, 2002 Autism Database Search
www.feat.org/search/news.aspRESEARCH
* Expert Says MMR Autism Link Will Be Proved This Year
* The Biology of the Autistic Syndromes
PUBLIC HEALTH
* Comment: Panic Sets In As Disease Dies Out
TREATMENT
* Striving To Reawaken Autistic Youth
AWARENESS
* Parents Confront A Disabling Disorder That's Increased 17-Fold
* Autism Moms Join Effort To Bring Awareness Of The Illness
Expert Says MMR Autism Link Will Be Proved This Year
[By Kate Foster.]
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=298322002A definitive link between MMR and autism will be confirmed this year, the scientist who first raised the alarm on the safety of the vaccine claimed yesterday.
As health officials across Scotland prepared for a possible measles epidemic following the first confirmed cases of the virus in two years, Dr Andrew Wakefield, whose original work prompted fears that the triple jab could be responsible for rising cases of autism in children, said two research papers to be published in the next two months would reveal further details of a connection between bowel disease and autism.
In a rare interview, he also issued a stark warning to members of Scotland’s expert group on immunisation, which is due to report on the safety of MMR, that they each risk legal action if they do not recommend single vaccines are made available to parents on request.
Last week, an adult and two children in Fife were diagnosed with measles, in Scotland’s first cases of the disease for two years. A further 24 suspected cases are being investigated in Scotland and five in Teesside.
Dr Wakefield said: "Despite the re-emergence of measles in England and Scotland, my original study is justified.
"Parents came to us with questions that we were obliged to answer, and the studies that we have done have borne out their concerns. Not only that the children have had bowel disease that had gone undetected, but we have now confirmed the presence of the measles virus within the bowel.
"We will go on publishing on this until the end of our careers. We are putting together the pieces of the jigsaw."
He added: "There is no definitive piece of science, so we are putting together the pieces and a picture is emerging. And it is extremely consistent."
In a recent study, Dr Wakefield and his colleagues established that children with bowel disease were much more likely to have measles virus in their gut cells. They found the virus in 83 per cent of gut samples from children with autism and bowel disorders, but in only 7 per cent of other children.
The researchers suggested that the virus may act as an immunological trigger, but stressed that no conclusions about the role of MMR could be drawn from the findings.
Dr Wakefield added: "There are several papers coming out next month and the month after which confirm a link between the mechanism of the bowel and the brain.
"I think there will be a definitive answer on autism and MMR this year. It would be nice to see this issue resolved. It is not an easy one for anyone."
Dr Wakefield was asked to leave his post at London’s Royal Free Hospital because of his controversial findings.
He is now a trustee of Visceral, the only charity in Europe dedicated to raising funds to investigate possible links between childhood vaccines and autism and bowel disease.
Dr Wakefield also believes that as the evidence against MMR grows and increasing numbers boycott the vaccine, health officials risk legal action from parents denied the single measles jab.
He said: "If there is a measles epidemic and single vaccines are not made available and that decision turns out to be wrong because an unvaccinated child dies, there is going to be legal liability on behalf of individual members of that committee."
The Department of Health said the latest scientific evidence showed no link between MMR and long-term problems such as autism and inflammatory bowel disease.
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The Biology of the Autistic Syndromes
3rd ed, by Christopher Gillberg and Mary Coleman, 330 pp, $95, ISBN 1-898683-22-0, London, England, MacKeith Press, 2000.
Reviewed by Andrew W. Zimmerman, MD
[This thanks to Lee Irwin's autism newsletter. Subscribe to his publication by sending e-mail to leeirwin@crosslink.net with the message "subscribe autism-advisor"
http://archneur.ama-assn.org/issues/v59n3/ffull/nbk0302-3.htmlThis updated classic provides clear direction through the uncharted waters of the emerging field of autism. The title defines the heterogeneity of autism and the text follows a logical course, with chapters on the clinical diagnosis of different subtypes, associated disease entities, current science, epilepsy, and the neurology of autism.
The areas of neuropsychology, genetics, and biochemistry are especially well covered and the references are exhaustive. In addition to updating new findings in imaging, neuropathology, and neurochemistry, this edition carefully delineates clinical subtypes of autism and the association of autism with known genetic and medical disorders ("double-syndromes").
The authors show, in each of the 19 concise and well-written chapters, the shortcomings of current knowledge, and lay out strong guidelines for further research. Although at times "Eurocentric" in their viewpoint, the authors even-handedly cover the entire scope of literature on the subject. Their willingness to clearly discuss popular therapies (such as secretin and applied behavioral analysis) make this text useful for practitioners not familiar with the field as well as for knowledgeable parents.
One shortcoming is a lack of useful figures and illustrations, such as imaging studies and neuropathologic and electroencephalographic findings. While the chapter on genetics nicely outlines findings for each chromosome from both chromosomal and molecular studies, it could have been enhanced by figures or tables.
The discussion of placebo effects, lack of randomization, small sample sizes, and definition of subtypes in autism drug studies are concepts just now beginning to be appreciated. In the final chapter on neurology, a "classical" approach to localization leads to a provocative discussion of the possible origins and timings of lesions in utero that lead to maturational defects in autism.
Few authors have so ably covered the entire field of autism, with openness to new ideas, emphasis on the importance of evidence-based treatments, and sensitivity to the rights and needs of persons with autism.
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Comment: Panic Sets In As Disease Dies Out
The success of eliminating preventable diseases in the UK has shifted the public's focus to fears about the vaccination itself, writes Geof Rayner
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4375255,00.html"The truth is, people like inoculation. Doctors love it, naturally enough, because it has solved the great economic problem of how to extract fees from people who have nothing the matter with them. And people believe the doctors." GB. Shaw, Doctors' Delusions
George Bernard Shaw explained the spread of vaccination, supported by the law of the day, through reference to the medical profession's chummy links with government and their interest in moneymaking.
Society was engaged in a huge deceit, said Shaw. Not only was vaccination useless but it caused harmful side effects. Furthermore, the clamour for vaccination obscured the causes of disease, to be found in dirt and human distress.
History and evidence have proved Shaw wrong about vaccination, although he was right to question our blind faith in medicine and the increasing use of technical fixes for disease and distress caused by poverty.
But what Shaw never understood, and what forms the background to current MMR panic, is this: the more successful public health campaigns are in marginalising disease, the more their success goes unnoticed and their credibility diminished.
In the case of measles, mumps and rubella, the very rarity of vaccine-preventable disease in the UK has shifted the public's focus away from disease prevention to fears about the vaccination itself.
Most parents, and most NHS staff, have never experienced a child choking from whooping cough, because pertussis has been virtually eliminated, along with diphtheria, tetanus, measles, mumps, and rubella - all diseases down at least 95 % compared with 50 years ago. Smallpox and polio have been eliminated among the developed countries.
Contrast the underdeveloped world. The World Health Organisation estimates that around 900,000 children currently die each year from measles alone, while another million or so deaths occur which are entirely preventable through immunisation.
The poorest countries of the world, in which many people are denied even basic medical care, would find our questioning of vaccination quite bizarre.
Shaw contracted smallpox following his vaccination and always considered he'd been "medically tricked". Many parents with autistic children share his conviction that the condition was a direct result of medical treatment. There is no question in their minds that MMR caused their child's problems.
Today's vaccination methods are highly targeted and massive studies are used to assess side effects. Nevertheless, virtually no intervention is without risks, although in the case of the MMR vaccine the associated risks, compared with the naturally acquired disease, are tiny.
It is not the known side effects that have given a new lease of life to Shaw's critique, but rather uncorroborated speculation on a possible link between MMR and autism.
But speculation alone can't account for the panic, and other catalysts might include: · BSE/vCJD The revelation of a link between BSE and vCJD after so many assurances caused the stock of government scientists to plummet. · Post-deference culture We no longer defer to the inherent superiority of our "betters", be they people with Oxford accents or those wearing white coats. · The decline in collectivism The shift towards individualism means that more people are happy to have a "free ride" from other people's immunity, thus avoiding the albeit limited risk of side effects. · Complementary or alternative medicine There are now more complementary therapists (significant numbers of whom eschew an evidence base to their
work) than conventional practitioners. In general, this group is philosophically hostile to mass immunisation. · The press "No link shown between MMR and autism" doesn't make a good headline, even if this fact is stated in the small print. While some press accounts have hinted at a state/pharmaceutical company conspiracy, little attention has been devoted to the moneymaking of private GPs selling single vaccinations. · Over-politicisation One TV pundit compared the popular "revolt" over MMR to the Greenham Common anti-nuclear campaigners. The fact that Leo Blair's parents did not immediately confirm that the little fellow would be vaccinated gave weight to the sneaking thought that while vaccination might be good enough for herds, it did not apply to "top people". · Risk and chance Autism is dreadful and little is known about its causes. On the other hand the national lottery slogan of "it could be you" has acquainted us to the idea that the unlikely is possible. MMR and autism just could be linked.
The Department of Health has developed two lines of response to the press barrage, one being the issuing of "scientific facts" combined with doctorly assurance, and the second being the appeal to their own human interests (ie, doctors are parents themselves).
The underlying aim of both strategies is to recreate a relationship of trust that was evidently disappearing. Over time, that may work, but while the focus is on the treatment (MMR vaccine) and not the danger to children, they will remain on weak ground.
It is not that parents should be scared into compliance, but all of us need to move outside the parochialism of most press accounts.
Where has been the reportage of the devastation to human lives caused by rubella? Where is coverage of the heartache of third world families whose children are dying of entirely preventable diseases such as measles? Where is the press coverage of the outcry in the US of the shortages of MMR vaccine?
One of the many lessons from the MMR debacle is that all of us need to look to the bigger picture of illness and disease.
This may be a contrarian message in an individualistic age, but a new tide of diseases - during the past 20 years, at least 30 new diseases have emerged, for many of which there is no treatment, cure or vaccine - mean that public health can no longer remain invisible.
Trust within the public health system needs to be rebuilt, but not on the old basis of medical paternalism, and even less the private doctor free for all; it must be based on the view that the health of every one of us needs to be linked to the improved health of all us.
Aside from vaccination, even Shaw would have agreed.
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Striving To Reawaken Autistic Youth
[By Frank X. Mullen Jr. in the Reno Gazette-Journal.]
http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2002/03/16/9974.phpHis family and his teachers spend much of each day trying to pry the boy away from his internal reality and into the world the rest of them live in. It’s not an easy task, but thanks to a program at the University of Nevada, Reno, Spencer is beginning to come home.
“The things that most parents take for granted, like watching a child cry or laugh, is a thrilling experience for us,” said Stephanie Peri, Spencer’s mom. “He’s getting better. The training he’s getting isn’t only giving him his life back, it’s giving life back to the whole family.”
His is the makings of a success story that is rare among children afflicted with autism, a disease that has confounded doctors and usually manifests itself within the first three years of a child’s life. The diagnoses of autism are increasing. Ten years ago, autism affected one child in every 10,000 births, but today the ratio is more like one in 500.
Just over two years ago, Stephanie and her husband, Joe, were worried when Spencer began changing. He is one of a set of quadruplets and was the first of the four to start talking. But just before his third birthday he began ignoring his parents; his brother, Christian; and his sisters, Morgan and Jordan.
His vocabulary vanished. He turned inward and threw tantrums for no apparent reason. His siblings grew afraid of him. The diagnosis was autism.
“I didn’t want to hear it, but I kind of knew it,” Stephanie Peri said. “It was devastating. We were depressed. We didn’t know what to do. Everything we read said autism was a mystery.”
Autism impacts the normal development of the brain, according to the Autism Society of America. Children and adults with autism have difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interactions, and leisure or play activities.
The disorder makes it hard for them to communicate with others and relate to the outside world. In some cases, they may be aggressive or repeatedly hurt themselves. Persons with autism may exhibit repeated body movements such as hand-flapping or rocking.
The patients can have unusual responses to people or attachments to objects, and anger to changes in routines. The disorder may magnify the five senses or make the person seem as though in a trance.
“As common as it is, most people don’t know what it is,” Peri said. “When we tell people Spencer is autistic, they say ‘artistic? that’s nice.’”
Autism’s cause a mystery
Traditionally, children with autism were unreachable and most were destined to spend their lives in institutions. But treatment has made a difference. Some methods, such as the Early Childhood Autism program, a behavioral intervention program at UNR, have shown amazing results. Most graduates are integrated into the school system with many achieving normal intellectual, language and social development.
It’s not a cure, but it offers hope to the Peri family.
“Thank God for the UNR program,” Peri said. “He’s improved so much. It ’s dreadful to think what would happen without it. He would have slipped further and further away from us. We would never have seen the things he can do now, that he will be able to do in the future.”
Spencer has piercing blue eyes and a tight smile. He loves playtime. He is drawn to things mechanical such as cell phones, watches, cameras, or tape recorders. He likes things that fit together such as toy train tracks, letter puzzles, or Lincoln logs.
If Spencer is in a bad mood, he tucks himself into a small area behind the family room couch and the windows, or in the corner with his back to his family. He is very opinionated and orderly about his playing which makes it difficult for him to play well with others. If people try to interact with his play or move any of his toys, he is likely to say, “no, no, no, no.”
He entertains himself with a baby-like babble and a stream of sounds, as if he is mimicking language, much like babies do when they are learning to speak.
But his vocabulary is growing. He consistently surprises his family and even his tutors by using new words.
In January, he began preschool and is learning how to react with other children. He still has trouble playing appropriately, but he is progressing, his parents said.
During a recent lunch break at preschool, Spencer sat in the kitchen at the end of a table with a group of boys. While eating his carrots, he noticed a nearby mirror and began to stare at himself.
When another student asked him his name, Spencer turned his head, brought his sandwich up to his eye and stared at the one bite he made in it. He acts as though he can’t hear the other students’ questions.
Yet, such inappropriate responses are less common now than they were a year or even six months ago, his parents said.
Lessons change behavior
Spencer spends about 30 hours a week with tutors from the UNR program in a small bedroom in his home called the session room. He practices saying and identifying words such as cereal, scissors, coat, mouth, toes, and juice. Snacks such as cheese and crackers are always on hand at the plastic table in order to reward Spencer.
“What is it?” asked Kelli Paloolian, one of Spencer’s tutors, who held up a whistle.
“A whistle!” Spencer said, and Paloolian handed the toy to Spencer, who blew it. “Nice job buddy,” she said.
The repetition and introduction of new words goes on for hours with 15-minute play breaks. Early critics of the behavioral intervention system feared it would produce “robotic” children, but that hasn’t been the case.
“One thing we wondered is how Spencer would get his emotions back,” Peri said. “How can you teach that?”
But at a recent tutoring session, Spencer took a play break and shot bubbles at a visitor. The visitor tried to bite the bubbles, sending Spencer into gales of laughter. When the visitor succeeded in biting one of the bubbles and stuck out his tongue, Spencer laughed harder.
“It’s soap!” Spencer said.
Peri said when Spencer was withdrawn, she and Joe hoped he would someday be able to again say “I love you” to his parents. Now, when Joe comes home Spencer charges up the stairs and hugs his father’s leg and yells “daddy! daddy!”
Even anger or jealousy are welcome emotions, Peri said.
“When he gets mad or wants a toy from his brother or sisters it’s at least normal sibling rivalry,” she said. “It actually feels good to hear him cry for attention or because he’s jealous.
“Even six months ago he couldn’t interact with his brother and sisters. They would run from him. But today he plays with them and they aren ’t afraid any more.”
One child at a time
The UNR program lasts two years and has served about 20 children so far, according to Pat Ghezzi, the program director. The labor-intensive program costs about $1,500 to $2,000 per month and because insurance policies don’t cover autism, the program isn’t an option for most parents.
Yet the results are excellent. All 20 children who have gone through the UNR program improved in some ways, Ghezzi said, and 10 have achieved “normal” function.
Some graduates of the Early Childhood Autism Program have made such progress that their teachers and classmates have no clue that the children were once labeled as autistic. No one can predict how much Spencer will improve, Ghezzi said, but he said Spencer’s parents are doing everything they can to reinforce the child’s lessons.
“The program doesn’t work by itself,” Peri said. “We need to follow through and that’s what we’re doing. It’s a long, hard road but we know we’ re going to make it.”
She said she has no doubt that Spencer will come back to the world whole.
“I have complete recovery in mind for him,” Peri said. “He is going to be highly social and a high achiever just like his dad. He is going to accomplish things, I have no doubt about it.”
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Parents Confront A Disabling Disorder That's Increased 17-Fold By Kathie Durbin, Columbian
http://www.columbian.com/Catastrophe isn't too strong a word.
In Clark County, in Washington and across the nation, a mysterious, disabling, lifelong neurological disorder with no known cause and no known cure is approaching epidemic proportions among young children.
It's autism.
And schools, social service institutions and society as a whole are unprepared to deal with it.
Children with autism can't communicate normally or relate to other people. Most will need help to accomplish the most basic tasks in life. The cost in lost human potential will be immeasurable. All of us will pay the cost in dollars.
At Vancouver's McLoughlin Middle School, Jake Rehm knows five students besides himself with Asperger's syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, in the sixth grade alone.
The official tally of children with autism in the Vancouver School District quadrupled from 16 to 63 between 1997 and 2001. Evergreen's numbers doubled from 32 to 63 between 1998 and this past January. The Camas School District had 11 children with autism 14 months ago; now it has 30.
Clark County's numbers increased from four to 135 between 1994 and 2000 and continue to climb. During that same period, the number of children diagnosed as autistic in Washington increased 17-fold, from 99 to 1,685.
In Oregon public schools, the 2,650 children with autism served last year outnumbered the 1,229 children who were blind, deaf, or visually or hearing impaired by more than two to one.
Nationwide, as many as 550,000 Americans are believed to have some form of autism. Only a few years ago, the disorder was believed to afflict one in 5,000. Now health officials estimate one in 500 people have symptoms that fall within the "autism spectrum."
No one knows why this is happening. Most experts say better diagnosis is part of the answer. It's clear that a predisposition to autism is inherited, but that doesn't explain the recent spike.
Some parents of children who began showing symptoms of autism after they received immunizations for childhood diseases believe the mercury preservative in the vaccines helped cause their children's autism. In nine states, including Washington and Oregon, parents have filed class action lawsuits against drug companies that manufactured the mercury-laced vaccines in the 1990s.
Other parents believe the vaccines may have led to biochemical changes that contributed to their children's autism. No conclusive research supports these theories.
What is clear is that schools, social service agencies and communities are unequipped to deal with the surge of children who are autistic and with their complicated and expensive needs. Most parents find that in trying to get appropriate programs for their children, they are on their own.
That has resulted in striking inequities ---- among states, among school districts, even within communities and individual schools.
Most teachers get no special training in how to deal with the educational needs or behavior problems of autistic children. Until three years ago, Washington had no statewide program to assist local school districts in working with these children.
Underfunded social service agencies struggle to provide services to children with autism and other developmental disabilities. Washington pays about 1,800 families an annual allowance of $1,300 for respite care and other services, but 6,000 more families are on a waiting list for funding. Oregon also has a waiting list, though developmentally disabled children in Oregon receive far more.
In 1999, the Arc of Washington, an advocacy group for the disabled, sued the state of Washington in federal court, demanding that children with developmental disabilities not be required to wait years for Medicaid-funded services. A settlement has been reached, but the legislature has yet to figure out how to pay the state's share of the cost ---- an estimated $14 million in 2003 and $24 million annually after that.
Once people with autism reach the age of 21, the need for services becomes acute.
Aging parents often cannot care for their adult children. Residential institutions are emptying, and community-based group homes are scarce. The Autism Society of America has called the absence of residential options and services for autistic adults a national crisis.
"The most critical issue is woefully inadequate funding," the association said in issuing a call to action last July. "We cannot allow another generation of our adult children to go without the vital services that any humane society knows is necessary for a life of dignity and worth."
Thirteen families in Clark and Skamania counties who faced that prospect for their own autistic children went to the legislature and won a pilot program that helps them make the transition from school to adult life. But it is unlikely to be extended to all who could benefit.
In Clark County and across the nation, parents of children with autism are taking matters into their own hands. They are networking, doing research on the Internet, lobbying lawmakers, filing lawsuits and educating themselves about effective therapies in an effort to give their children the best chance possible.
Some families are involved in tense negotiations with their school districts over what constitutes the "free, appropriate public education" their children are guaranteed under federal law. Some worked with Educational Service District 112 to form a cadre of parents and educators that is teaching teachers what they need to know.
With the increased prevalence of autism has come an increase in funding for research into its causes and a flowering of new therapies that may help people with autism live more meaningful lives. But most of the answers are still years away.
In the meantime, these children, and the families who love them, struggle to find their place in the world.
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Autism Moms Join Effort To Bring Awareness Of The Illness
The state Senate has declared April as Autism Awareness Month for the second year in a row
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/Autism-16Mar02.htmTwo Orange County mothers are active in the Unlocking Autism effort. Lesa Walsh of Warwick and Jennifer Stewart of Greenville each have an autistic son. Unlocking Autism is a national organization run by family members dedicated to raising awareness and educating the public about autism.
Ms. Walsh said at this time, there is no cure for autism. "There are a lot of interventions that are being trail blazed or have been developed in the last few years that many of the children are making significant progress in their recovery," she said. The problem with autism is that all children are different, Ms. Walsh said.
"All of the children may have the same diagnosis but it manifests differently in every individual." She describes each child as a snowflake. "They're all beautiful and they're all different."
For Ms. Walsh, she takes derives hope that if something helped one child, it might help her son.
April 27 will be Autism Awareness Day and on April 21st in Washington, DC, there will be the Second Annual Power of One Rally.
APRIL 21, 2002 - 12 Noon to 5pm
THIRD NATIONAL AUTISM AWARENESS RALLY:
"The Power of ONE! I.D.E.A."
FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
www.unlockingautism.org_______________________________________________________
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Reader's Posts
Looking for a special school in the UK who can deal with an atypically autistic child with autism enterocolitis (bowel problems) who also needs occupational therapy, SaLT, SpLD tuition, and Social Skills training. He is 12, statemented and currently attends a mainstream school and desperately needs to change. We live in Hampshire, UK. Contact nessyk@eurobell.co.uk
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My daughter will be turning three in May, and we are in the process of writing her first IEP. The problem is that the school district has sent me to observe several preschool programs, none of which are even going to be close to meeting her needs. Any ideas of where I can get information that will show she needs more intensive intervention would be appreciated. I would like to have the information on hand at her IEP meeting. Please email me at gheatherr@hotmail.com.
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I have a 4 1/2 yr. old son with mild autism. I do not believe that his autism is caused by the MMR shot. However, I am still open minded since no one can seem to prove what does and doesn't cause autism. Son entering kindergarten in the fall and I see he will need another MMR before he turns 6. I'm curious as to whether all the MMR hoopla applies to getting the shot a second time around. aimeeco_2000@yahoo.com
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Does anyone know of a little league that would be good for my HFA son? We live in the Sacramento, Ca. area. Maureen Carter maureencarter@peoplepc.com
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Looking for a good NPA who comes to Bakersfield, CA to consult for my nearly 6-yr-old's public program. I'm told Autism Partnership doesn't come here, among others I've asked for. Can anyone from Kern County share with us who is doing their educational/behavioral consulting? Has anyone heard of a person by the name of Zastro? iamdistracted@hotmail.com
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Planning an unexpected move to the San Diego area and we are trying to find out which school districts would work best with our three autistic sons and fund their ABA programs. We need to be within commuting distance from La Jolla. Anyone has any knowledge about Carmel Valley or Carlsbad that would be particularly helpful, however any information would be most appreciated. breeno1112@yahoo.com
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Any with children with PDD/austism who believe their child(ren) may have been misdiagnosed during their critical early childhood years by Richard Umansky, M.D. (ret.), a developmental pediatrician affiliated with the Children's Hospital of Oakland, California. John Bowers jbowers45@msn.com
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Thinking about doing Auditory Integration Therapy for my five year old son. Has anyone had a bad experience with it? Has anyone heard of it making the problem worse? Any info greatly appreciated. Marion marvhet@attbi.com
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Thank you so much to all the parents that have responded to my posting on Paxil. I got so many responses that I could not thank everyone individually. It means a great deal to me to be able to post questions and to have parent information to help with tough decisions. I appreciate the honesty, and how much you all care.......Kathy Hudson
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We're parents of a child with Asperger Syndrome and are looking for a way to purchase MMR vaccine separately for younger sibling. Pediatrician has agreed to supply prescription for separate doses. We've contacted the manufacturer without success. We're located in NYS Hudson Valley area and will travel reasonable distance. Any helpful suggestions are appreciated! Please email: wilflipson@yahoo.com
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We have two children with autism ages five and seven. We are looking for a fantastic school program for our children. We would also like to have an in-home program in the evening. My husband would like to continue working for a railroad. Please email me at t.zdanky@att.net if you know of a great location for our family.
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We are making plans to take our five-year-old son to the Pfeiffer Treatment
Center in Naperville, IL . If you have taken an autistic child to Pfeiffer
for consultation or treatment, please share your experience and opinion with us. E-mail to sittser@earthlink.net.
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We have two children with autism ages five and seven. We are looking for a fantastic school program for our children. We would also like to have an in-home program in the evening. My husband would like to continue working for a railroad. Please email me at t.zdanky@att.net if you know of a great location for our family.
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Evy's Progress Toward Recovery -- a movie about a 4 year old currently recovering from autism. It shows what Evy was like before diagnosis, as well as his current strengths and weaknesses. It shows him in natural teaching settings throughout his day at home. It is available for free viewing at
www.autismteachingtools.com******
The Editor of the FEAT Daily Newsletter's old car is on it's last legs. Looking for a good deal on a used car. It's for a worthy cause: I need to get around. Seller should be within two hours of Sacramento. schafer@sprynet.com
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FEAT'S "Night of Caring" April 27
Sacramento FEAT is holding its' 9th Annual "Night of Caring" Dinner and Auction fundraiser on April 27, 2002. If you have been helped by the FEAT and the Daily Newsletter and would like to show your appreciation you can by supporting our fundraiser. Make an auction contribution or sponsorship donation. Please call 916-843-1536 for more information. Thank you.
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