Article A: Email Action Alert - S.843 The Combating Autism Act of 2005

The "Combating Autism Act of 2005" (S.843) was introduced on Tuesday, April 19th by Senators Santorum and Dodd, who were joined by representatives from NAAR, Autism Speaks, the Cure Autism Now Foundation and the Autism Society of America.  The proposed legislation builds on the provisions of the Children's Health Act of 2000 and would authorize $860 million over five years to combat autism through research, screening, intervention and education. It also reauthorizes the National Institutes of Health Centers of Excellence Program in autism originally created in 2000, doubling the number of authorized centers. You can help right now by emailing your Senators in Washington a letter which asks that they co-sponsor the "Combating Autism Act of 2005." We also ask that you call your Senators and talk to their staffers about the need to gain their support for this critical legislation.  Autism is considered the fastest growing developmental disorder in the United States, occurring in as many as 1 in every 166 births. Despite this strikingly high prevalence, autism research remains one of the lowest funded areas of medical research in both the public and private sector. Our government must rise to the challenge faced by an absolutely overwhelming number of our children. This legislation, S-843, is critical to our ability to continue advancing our search for answers for children and families today and for future generations. Autism organizations are coming together to leverage the interests of the more than ten million people that love and care for the 1.77 Americans affected by autism today. You have the power to make a difference. Click here to view this message as HTML in your browser.

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Article B: The Age of Autism: Sick Children

By Dan Olmsted

WASHINGTON , April 26 (UPI) -- Part 1 of 2. Dr. Elizabeth Mumper is an unlikely contrarian. Mumper is a pediatrician in the southern Virginia city of Lynchburg, best known as the home of the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty Baptist University.

She graduated from the University of Virginia Medical School, where she was chief resident and today is associate professor of clinical pediatrics.

About a decade ago, Mumper said, she began noticing a change for the worse in the overall health of the children she was seeing, including a startling rise in cases of autism. Ultimately, Mumper came to suspect the increasing number of childhood vaccinations in the 1990s -- and particularly the mercury-based preservative called thimerosal in many of those vaccines -- was a big reason.

The federal government recommended phasing out thimerosal in childhood vaccines in 1999 as a precautionary measure, but health officials said the epidemiological evidence favored rejection of thimerosal, or any vaccine link, as a culprit.

Last week, Mumper was appointed medical director of the Autism Research Institute in San Diego, a group that suspects mercury -- and possibly some vaccines themselves -- are implicated in an alarming increase in childhood disorders. This weekend, she and several like-minded colleagues will outline their approach at a conference in Charlottesville, Va.

This first of two articles is the transcript of a United Press International interview with Mumper.

Q. What got you going on this line of thinking? As you know, mainstream medical groups, including the American Association of Pediatrics, have firmly rejected the idea that vaccines played any role in autism or other disorders. They also say that continuing to push this idea is dangerous -- not to mention a waste of money -- because parents might stop vaccinating their children. Many also believe there is no real increase in these disorders, just more diagnoses.

A. In the mid-1990s, I had a general intuitive sense, as a clinician who's walked into rooms with thousands of patients at this point, that children were sicker.

When I asked myself what I was seeing, I realized I was seeing more development problems; I was seeing more stuttering; I was seeing more speech and language issues; I was seeing more autism; I was seeing lots more ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder); I was seeing more asthma, more eczema -- all those sort of auto-immune allergic conditions.

I started having more diabetic patients. In this very small practice -- I've only got 1,700 patients -- I've got four insulin-dependent diabetics, and they're younger, diagnosed as young as 16 months old. The incidence of diabetes used to be something like one in 2,000 kids 15 years ago.

So, for me as a clinician, we shouldn't get hung up on questions like, "Is this really autism?" or "Is it Asperger's (a milder variation)?" or have we broadened the definition and included more neurologically damaged kids? The question should be: What has happened to 1 in 6 children in America that both the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics acknowledge have a neurodevelopmental disability?

That, to me, is the question.

Q. And that's more than it used to be?

A. Oh, yes. In Virginia, it's a 66-fold increase in ADHD since 1985. So, even if you say, "OK, maybe we're overdiagnosing half the cases, because the drug reps are visiting us all and pushing more meds, and we're writing out prescriptions for kids when they don't really have a problem" -- I could throw out half my ADHD cases and I've still got a huge increase that begs for an explanation.

Autism has increased 11-fold in Virginia since 1985. If you independently look at things like peanut allergies and asthma, those numbers are going up, too.

Now, how much of that is vaccine related, how much of that is environmental toxins or other factors? It quickly gets very, very, very muddy, but when you've got bench (laboratory) science that's looking at the mechanism of thimerosal toxicity and that for many, many years has documented all the horrible things mercury does to your immune system and your nervous system; and when you've got all these things that theoretically could be caused by a culprit like thimerosal; and the levels of thimerosal (in vaccines), the levels of Ritalin, the levels of autism, the levels of ADHD all follow the same curve in time, how can you not look at that in a compelling way?

Q. The Institute of Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Aministration and others say they have looked at it, and that the epidemiology basically refutes it. The IOM said autism research funding should now go to "promising" areas.

A. But when you look at the Danish study, which they use a lot to refute the thimerosal-autism connection, it's not analagous to the United States.

Danish children only received six doses of thimerosal-containing vaccines in the first year of life vs. 12 doses in the United States. The Danish study purported to show an increase in autism after thimerosal was removed in 1992, but the diagnostic criteria changed and they added in outpatient cases of autism, whereas previously they only counted inpatients with autism.

Secondly, epidemiology uses too blunt a tool to look for the connection in the first place. Clearly, thimerosal didn't make every kid (who was vaccinated) autistic, so when epidemiology does not look at genetic predispositions, you are not going to be able to tease out those subsets and make meaningful conclusions about them.

Epidemiology missed the folate connection to neural tube defects, but clinical science established the link.

Q. This is the deficit in pregnant women that can cause spina bifida (an opening in the back around the spinal cord)?

A. Right. So, why does epidemiology trump clinical science and bench science? That's the thing that I don't understand. Also, the epidemiology studies have to be designed to answer the question they're asked to answer. If the studies are designed one way, and then you go back 10 years later and try to use those studies to answer a question about thimerosal or mercury toxicity or MMR (the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine), or whatever, you can't expect to find answers to questions it wasn't designed for in the first place.

Epidemiology is a tool for public health, and clearly it has a place in making these decisions, but I don't think it should have trump power over all the rest. It's very frustrating to believe that clinical observations and individual case histories have something valuable to teach, and to be told "that's all anecdotal" and we don't see these kids when we look at large populations.

Well, come to my office, they're here every day. It's the most puzzling thing I've ever tried to wrap my mind around.

Next: Treatment strategies that Mumper and others have begun using

This ongoing series on the roots and rise of autism seeks to be interactive with readers and will take note of comment, criticism and suggestions. E-mail: dolmsted@upi.com

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20050426-07531300-us-ageofautism-mumper1.xml

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Article C: Specific behaviors seen in infants can predict autism, new research shows

Canadian researchers have become the first to pinpoint specific behavioral signs in infants as young as 12 months that can predict, with remarkable accuracy, whether a child will develop autism.

The preliminary findings, published this month in the International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience, were taken from an ongoing study of 200 Canadian infants, the largest study of its kind in the world. The infants, many of whom have been followed from birth to 24 months, are younger siblings of children who have been diagnosed with autism.

Studies show that families with one autistic child have a roughly five to10 percent chance of a second child being diagnosed with autism, a rate of recurrence about 50 times higher than the general population.

The Canadian study, which began as a collaboration of McMaster University's Offord Centre for Child Studies in Hamilton, The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, has gained international attention. Initially funded by The Hospital for Sick Children Foundation, and currently by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), it has mushroomed into a global initiative involving leading autism researchers in 14 cities across Canada and the U.S.

Chaired by Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, a developmental pediatrician with the Offord Centre and McMaster Children's Hospital and a lead investigator for the Canadian study, the Canada - U.S. Baby Sibs Research Consortium is supported by the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in the U.S. It is widely regarded as one the most exciting developments in autism research today.

“This is groundbreaking work that is pushing the frontier of what we know about the biological nature of autism, and why it emerges so early in life,” says Dr. Zwaigenbaum. “Our hope is that it will lead to the development of new and earlier treatments that could make a huge difference for these children.”

Second only to mental retardation as the most common developmental disability, autism forms part of a spectrum of related disorders referred to as the autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Although symptoms can range from mild to severe, those affected typically exhibit severe impairments in social interaction and communication, and engage in repetitive, solitary activities.

The complex nature of the disorder makes it difficult to diagnose. In the absence of any biological marker, clinicians have been typically forced to rely on parental reports, home videos and direct observations of behavior, using standardized tools like the Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT). But these tools were designed for children 18 months and older; there has been no instrument to measure autistic behaviors in young infants.

So the Canadian researchers designed their own. Led by Susan Bryson, Craig Chair in Autism Research at the IWK Health Centre/Dalhousie University, and co-lead investigator for the study, they developed the Autism Observation Scale for Infants (AOSI). The scale maps the development of infants as young as six months against 16 specific risk markers for autism, including such behaviors such as not smiling in response to the smiles of others or not responding when one's name is called.

“The predictive power of these markers is remarkable”, says Dr. Zwaigenbaum. “We are finding that within this high-risk group of siblings, almost all of the children who are diagnosed with autism by age two years have seven or more of these markers by the time they are a year old.”

The researchers found that even at six months of age there were certain behaviors that distinguished those siblings later diagnosed with autism from other siblings. These included a passive temperament and decreased activity level at age six months, followed by extreme irritability, a tendency to fixate on objects, reduced social interaction and lack of facial expression as they approached the age of 12 months. At one year, these same children also showed difficulties with language and communication - they used fewer gestures, understood fewer phrases and had lower scores for both expressive and receptive language.

It is not known whether these risk markers constitute an early manifestation of the disorder, or are behaviors that reduce the child's opportunities to learn from social experiences, thereby contributing to a pattern of development that may lead to autism. Still, the results shed new light on when autism starts and how early it can be detected.

“This is an important breakthrough in our understanding of the initial behavioral signs of autism,” says Peter Szatmari, Director of the Offord Centre and a member of the Canadian research team. “By identifying these signs in children as soon as they are detectable, clinicians will be able to diagnose earlier, interventions can begin earlier, and we can improve the long-term outcomes for these children.”

Jessica Brian, who with Wendy Roberts is one of two investigators at The Hospital for Sick Children working on the study, has already developed and begun to evaluate innovative interventions for infants showing early signs.

John Kelton, dean and vice-president of McMaster's Faculty of Health Sciences, said: “This is an important step forward. The team at the Offord Centre is making a real difference towards better care for children and families affected by autism.”

The Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University is an internationally recognized centre of research focused on early child development. The Centre is affiliated with the McMaster Children's Hospital, Hamilton Health Sciences. For more information, go to http://www.offordcentre.com.

Contact: Veronica McGuire
vmcguir@mcmaster.ca
90-552-591-402-2169
McMaster University
http://www.mcmaster.ca

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Article D: Academy Award Nominee “Autism IS a World” on CNN May 22

There is a big ad in People mag. for it. It says it will be on Sunday, May 22 at 8pm on CNN. This is the documentary that was nominated for an Academy Award.

The ad has a blurb that says "My name is Sue Rubin. I'm 26 years old. I have written these thoughts about my life... to bring people into my world of Autism"

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Article E: Report recommendations could put Pa. at forefront in autism services

By Maria Coole

LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Lisa Fulton of Harrisburg stood up to talk in a room full of many of the state’s most knowledgeable people on autism.

“There is no autism support in this area,” said the mother of a 7-year-old with autism.

“I have moved from district to district to try to get my son the education he needs. We’re struggling. I don’t know what else to do,” she said in a conference room of the state Capitol, where members of the Pennsylvania Autism Task Force gathered to report their findings.

This is the type of story the task force was formed to eliminate.

Made up of more than 250 people, including family members of people with autism, educators, administrators, researchers and service providers, the task force was formed in July 2003 and released its more than 700-page final report in December 2004.

Task force organizers presented the report in March at the Capitol in Harrisburg with leaders of the 12 task force committees.

Estelle B. Richman, secretary of the Department of Public Welfare, who founded the task force, and state Rep. Dennis M. O’Brien, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and honorary chairman of the task force, led the presentations by committee chairs.

Autism is a complex neurological disorder that affects communication, socialization and learning. The cause is unknown, and there is no cure.

In the past 15 years, the number of people in Pennsylvania diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder has risen more than 2,000 percent, from two in 10,000 people to more than 40 in 10,000 people, according to the Autism Task Force report.

O’Brien believes that, when implemented, the recommendations of the task force will put Pennsylvania in the forefront in the United States in offering autism services and education for people from infancy to death.

“It is a road map for the future, and I don’t use those words with any degree of exaggeration. This is unlike any other task force I’ve ever seen in 30 years,” O’Brien said in a January phone interview.

Bill Davis, a local autism advocate and author of two books on the disorder, said the task force did an incredible amount of research and did a wonderful job.

“Estelle Richman is an incredible person,” he said. Richman has her heart in the right place and is dedicated, Davis said.

“If I put my money on anyone, it would be this group,” he said.

But Davis, who admits to his own impatience, followed that with, “As a parent, [I want to know] are you going to do something about it and when?”

Davis and his wife, Jae, were pioneers in the fight for better education and services for autistic children in Lancaster County. Their son Chris, 11, has autism, and Jae created an in-home program to teach him, using the resources of major universities and medical centers to learn the best methods.

She then shared what she learned with other parents and local teachers and therapists and created internships with local colleges.

Jae Davis died from cervical cancer at age 45 in 2003, but her work helped launch the IU-13’s Autism Support program, and the IU-13 has honored her with parent scholarships in her name and most recently with the Jae Davis Internship Program. (See related story on page A1.)

Having a top-notch autism center in Lancaster was one of Jae’s dreams, and of the five recommendations of the task force, the one O’Brien would like to make happen first is creating regional autism centers.

These centers would provide parents with the information and resources that Jae Davis had to find on her own. They would also ensure everyone would have the same high-quality assessment, treatment, services and support, according to the report.

The regional autism center is one of the recommendations that will have to be done in cooperation with the federal government, O’Brien said.

“We want to build a research system that looks for a cure and build a support system that embraces and nurtures people to their full potential while searching for a cure,” he said.

The other four recommendations in the report were to:

***Create a bureau of autism spectrum and related disorders within the Department of Public Welfare.

***Create a consumer-led information and advocacy organization.

***Develop a Medicaid waiver to allow for the specific services needed by people with autism.

***Develop a way to blend the funding for education and Medicaid to ensure that people with autism receive coordinated, collaborative care in all areas.

The full autism report can be read on the Web at the following link:

http://www.dpw.state.pa.us/general/aboutdpw/secretarypublicwelfare/autismtaskforce/

Article A: First Chapter from the best selling book “EVIDENCE OF HARM” by David Kirby

First Chapter 'Evidence of Harm' By David Kirby

      Published: April 17, 2005 in the NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/17/books/chapters/0417-1st-kirby.html

      Mothers on a Mission Lyn Redwood Knew she was pregnant at the first sip of white Zinfandel. In her previous two pregnancies, the taste of alcohol had taken on an unpalatable, almost metallic quality, and now, here it was again. Lyn gagged and set down the frosty wineglass. Her husband, Tommy, looked at her with a slight note of alarm. But Lyn just closed her eyes and waited for the nausea to subside. Then she stood up and smiled.
      "I'm fine," she said quietly to Tommy. "Everything is just fine." It was Memorial Day Weekend, 1993, and the couple had driven from their home outside Atlanta across the steamy deep South to the hamlet of Columbus, Mississippi, for a visit to Tommy's parents. On the five-hour ride home, Lyn could think of nothing but the taste of that wine. She was excited, but wanted to make sure before saying anything to Tommy.
      Lyn smiled at the prospect of a new child. She knew that Tommy adored her children, Drew and Hanna, from her previous marriage. But she also knew that it must be difficult at times to raise someone else's kids.
      When they got home, Lyn ran upstairs to the master bathroom where she kept some pregnancy tests. The Zinfandel had not deceived her. She really was pregnant.
      Lyn went downstairs to tell Tommy the news. He was overjoyed. Now he would have a child who would call him Dad instead of Tommy. The new baby would complete the happy picture.
      Lyn was an attractive woman with cocoa-colored hair and soft, almost catlike brown eyes. She met Tommy in 1986, in Birmingham, Alabama, where she was completing her MS in nursing and he was a young med student from the University of Mississippi with a handsome smile, dark hair, and an athletic physique.
      The two were married in 1987, and Tommy wholeheartedly accepted Lyn's children, Hanna and Drew, as his own. In 1991, the young family moved to Atlanta, where Lyn began work as a family nurse practitioner, and Tommy got a job in the ER at Newnan Hospital, outside Atlanta.
      The past six years had been almost dreamlike for the Redwoods. They had recently put the finishing touches on a three-story, wood and stone contemporary home on nine acres of hardwood forest in tiny Tyrone, Georgia, thirty minutes south of Atlanta. A rural small town, Tyrone looks a lot like Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show (except for the Confederate symbol on the old Georgia state flag that still flutters above the American Legion hall).
      The kids had never been happier. Hanna and Drew were excelling in the gifted program of the local school, where Drew entered kindergarten at the third-grade reading level. Life was sweet in the new house, with its free-form pool and flat stone terraces, its hiking trails through Georgia pines and open pastures, and the covered wooden bridge that Lyn and Tommy built over Trickum Creek, which meanders lazily across their land.
      Lyn's third pregnancy was perfectly normal, by all measurements. The only thing to set it apart from the first two was that Lyn, whose blood type is RH-negative, was given two injections of Gamalin brand Anti-Rho(D) globulin, at fourteen weeks and twenty-eight weeks of gestation. About 15 percent of all women have an RH-negative blood type and, if the fetus is RH-positive, as was the case with Will, the mother could produce antibodies against the child's blood type. This in turn could create potentially deadly complications in subsequent pregnancies. Anti-Rho(D) globulin staves off that disaster. (Lyn received a third injection immediately after Will was born, in case there had been any undetected mix of blood during delivery.)
In Lyn's third trimester, she was told the pregnancy was breech. When she entered labor, in February 1994, a baby boy appeared with two feet sticking out. It was Groundhog Day, and the Redwoods would later joke that their son had seen his shadow and tried to run back in. The doctors ordered a C-section and the procedure went well. A beaming baby boy, named Will Redwood, arrived into the world happy and healthy.
      Will, with his brown hair and cool, gray-blue eyes, was an exceedingly good baby. Rarely fussy and almost always smiling, he seemed alert and engaged in his new world. Will chuckled and grinned whenever Lyn tickled him, and he loved to play tag with the family cat, crawling around the living room and squealing with delight whenever he "caught" the kitty. He was an unusually inquisitive and adventurous boy. At eight months, he learned to use his baby walker, and wandered around the ground floor of the house exploring every corner he could get into.

      Will breast-fed without trouble and met, or exceeded, normal developmental landmarks. He began speaking right on schedule, and learned new words like mama, daddy, and kitty cat almost daily. By twelve months, he could play Little Tykes basketball with his brother, Drew. Lyn and Tommy watched in awe as Will toddled to the hoop and slam-dunked the ball home. Each time, he turned to his parents, clapped his little hands, and cried, "Yea!!"
      Lyn, the experienced nurse, made sure that Will received every vaccination on the U.S. Childhood Immunization Schedule. She couldn't help but notice that kids were getting a lot more shots now than Hanna and Drew had received in the 1980s. At two months, four months, six months, and one year, Will was brought in for a "well-baby" visit, each time receiving multiple injections against dangerous diseases like hepatitis-B, Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), or diphtheria-tetanus (DT).

      Shortly after Will's one-year visit, he developed strep throat, which is rare in young infants. Then he developed rotavirus, a gastrointestinal bug that can cause severe pain and discomfort in a child. One Saturday, while Lyn had a good friend visiting for the weekend, Will vomited on the living room floor. Lyn didn't think too much about it, but a few hours later Will vomited again, and it quickly got to the point where he couldn't keep food down at all. Worried, Lyn called her pediatrician, who prescribed an antinausea suppository. The pediatrician said that rotavirus was fairly common in children. He was not unduly alarmed.
      The next day, the diarrhea began. It quickly got so bad it would fill the toddler's diapers and run down his legs in burning, acidic streams. But there was no treatment for rotavirus, and the only remedy Lyn could think of was to give Will rice-and-glucose water every hour or two, to replace the electrolytes he was losing. The diarrhea drained from him like foul floodwaters and the vomiting wracked his small body. Even though the worst symptoms abated after a week or so, Will never really made a recovery to full health. He ran periodic and unexplained fevers. He seemed under the weather all the time.
      At around seventeen months, Will developed an upper respiratory infection, like a very bad cold, and began wheezing uncontrollably. The Redwoods rushed him to Peachtree Regional Hospital, where he was immediately admitted and given IV antibiotics, steroids, and other medications. Lyn stayed with her son for two days, sleeping with Will inside his misty respirator tent.
      Will also lost an alarming amount of weight. He had, for all practical purposes, stopped eating. Lyn put him on a strict regimen of vitamins and supplemental nutritional treatments. And even though she had weaned him from the bottle, she found it was now the only way to get real food (in the guise of meal-replacement shakes) inside the boy.
      Once spritely and impish, Will now sat motionless in his infant seat, gazing at videos in dogged, unnerving repetition. And there was something else, something ominous that transpired during this period-something that Lyn and Tommy noticed only gradually, and didn't pay much mind to because Will had been so darned sick.
      But there was no denying it. Will had stopped talking.

      "Oh, don't worry about that," Lyn was told by friends and family. "Boys always talk late." Tommy, for instance, hadn't started speaking until he was three, and he turned out to be a skilled physician. Lyn's first son, Drew, hadn't been a late talker. So maybe it was something in Tommy's genes.
      There were other signs of trouble, of course, signs that Lyn only realized several years later. One weekday morning, when Will was in his infant seat, staring at space, Lyn walked directly in front of him, bending down until her face met his, her deep brown eyes just inches from Will's. She smiled, she waved. But Will just sat there, looking straight through his mother.
      "My," she marveled. "You have incredibly intense concentration!"       Years later, Lyn would scoff at her own naïveté. Loss of speech and lack of eye contact are classic symptoms of autism. But the disorder, still
so rare at the time, was way off her maternal radar screen. Despite her medical background, Lyn had never met an autistic kid in her life.
     Autism continued to be the last thing on their minds as Lyn and Tommy witnessed Will's increasingly baffling behavior. He grew acutely sensitive to sound, and would cover his ears and yelp in pain if the TV were turned up. Going to Drew's basketball games was always an ordeal. When the buzzer went off, Will threw his hands to his ears and screamed loudly enough to pierce the crowd's roar. Lyn learned to watch the timer and cover Will's ears in advance.
      Then there was the incident at the Little League game. One muggy evening in Tyrone, the Redwoods were at the local ballpark taking in one of Drew's games. Will, the restless toddler, kept trying to get up and wander around the bleacher area. Finally, after several attempts at trailing her son and returning him to his seat, Lyn decided to let Will go, just to see what would happen.
      "I'm going to just sit here and see how far he goes before he realizes he's out of the ten-foot radius or so," she said to Tommy. Will just kept wandering aimlessly away, far from the stadium lights. He was a good fifty feet away from his parents, heading nowhere into the night, before she ran to fetch him. At that point the Redwoods knew: if they didn't keep an eye on him every second of the day, Will would be gone.
      Will's hearing continued to deteriorate. In September 1995 he was referred to a pediatric ear-nose-and-throat specialist at Emory University, who poked and prodded the boy like some pet science project. He said fluid had accumulated behind Will's eardrums, and the pressure was causing severe hearing loss. Will would need tympanostomy tubes surgically implanted in his eardrums in order to drain the fluid, relieve the pressure, and restore hearing.
      On the morning of the operation, Lyn arrived at 5:00 A.M. with a very nervous, hyperactive little boy. The nurses slipped Will into a pale blue gown and Lyn let them walk him up and down the hall. Even at that early hour, Will could not sit still.
      The procedure went well. But the doctor remarked on how little fluid he found behind the eardrums. It perplexed him. The surgery might not have been enough to address Will's difficulties, he said. Perhaps Will's problems were not related directly to hearing. There might be a deeper problem with his communication abilities. Will would need speech therapy immediately.

      In October 1995 an assessment confirmed that Will's language skills were exceedingly low. At the time, all he could do was make baby sounds. He could verbalize, but none of it made any sense. It came out all garbled. His speech and language skills at twenty months were those of a six-month-old. On expressive language, he scored at the level of a five-month-old. Will was examined by a neurologist, who ordered an MRI, EEG, and chromosome studies, all of which returned normal. But the boy was not making any real progress. No one had any idea what was wrong.
      Mostly, the Redwoods felt relieved. Their biggest fear had been that a brain tumor or some other type of malignancy had caused Will's regression. But nothing was wrong. There were no brain abnormalities, no damaged chromosomes that might cause mental retardation. Will's speech delay was just a fluke, an easily denied sign of things to come.
      When Will was two, Lyn enrolled him in a new nursery school program run out of the local New Hope Baptist church. She assumed that leaving him in a classroom with other toddlers would naturally help his speech develop. But when she took Will in on the first day, she discovered that most of the other kids in the program weren't talking, either.
      "My God," Lyn muttered sadly under her breath. "What on earth is going on around here? So many kids who aren't talking. Is there something in the water?" Lyn never found out what was wrong with the kids, but seeing children who were not unlike Will, for the first time ever, left her with an odd, slightly guilty sense of comfort.
      When Will was three, in 1997, he entered a special program run by the local county school system for kids with advanced developmental disorders. It was held in a public elementary school, a modern, clean, brick-and-steel affair that had been built just two years before, where the "typical" kids went. There were six kids in Will's classroom, all of them with developmental disorders. One afternoon, about a week into school, Lyn came by to pick up Will. She'd arrived early and decided to peek through the window. What she saw horrified her.
      A teacher had strapped Will into a wooden chair with plywood panels going up the sides. It looked like something from One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Lyn thought. She had no idea that such contraptions existed. She rushed into the school to hear Will's spine-chilling screech echoing from the walls. She tore down the hallway and burst into the classroom, fuming.

      "What are you doing!? I don't want him in that chair! Get him out, right now."
      "But Mrs. Redwood," the teacher sputtered. "He won't sit still for circle time."
      "Fine," she snapped. "I will come and hold him, every day if need be. He can sit on my lap." Lyn was working weekend shifts in order to free up time to look after Will. For the next several months, she came to school every day for circle time.
      One day while collecting Will at class, Lyn struck up a conversation with the mother of another boy enrolled in the program. The woman regarded Will intently, one eyebrow arched. "You know something?" she said, wary but kindly. "Will looks and behaves very much like my son. He has the same demeanor."
      Lyn was intrigued, even a bit heartened. Perhaps this mother knew the secret to unlocking Will's locked-in world.

      "Really. And do you know what's wrong with your son?"
      "Sure," the woman said, matter-of-factly. "He has autism."
      There was no way that Will had autism, Lyn still believed. He didn't flap his arms, didn't run in circles or bang his head on the walls like the autistic kids she had seen in some of the more graphic news programs. But the mother at Will's school gently persisted.
      Continues...     

Editors note: History will demonstrate that approximately about the time “Evidence of Harm” by David Kirby was released that the tide will turn for families affected by autism and vaccine damaged children. I highly recommend this book.

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Article B: STUDY SHOWS ETHYLMERCURY USED IN VACCINES ENDS UP IN THE BRAIN OF PRIMATES. ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNAL PUTS HAPPY SPIN ON RESULTS.

STUDY SAYS ETHYLMERCURY IS MOST TOXIC TO BRAIN—NATIONAL AUTISM ASSOCIATION (NAA) SAYS JOURNAL PAINTS ROSY PICTURE OF OMINOUS OUTCOME

Washington, DC – A newly-released primate study published in Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP), a NIEHS publication, is getting fluffy reviews today. The NIH-funded study, conducted by Dr. Thomas Burbacher, a University of Washington researcher, found that Thimerosal, best known for its use as an ethylmercury-based preservative in infant vaccines and pregnancy shots, is actually more toxic to the brain than methylmercury (MeHg).

MeHg has always been widely hailed as the greater of two evils, pushing ethylmercury out of the limelight as “most toxic.” Burbacher’s study, however, proves ethylmercury is more damaging because it crosses the blood-brain barrier at a quicker rate than MeHg. Once in the brain, ethylmercury converts to what’s called “inorganic” mercury—the more toxic form—and is unable to be excreted.

Regardless of the study’s grim findings, EHP is presenting their interpretations of the findings in a positive tone, “..injected Thimerosal reacted differently from methylmercury in that it cleared from the infant [blood] much more quickly.”

In the actual study, Burbacher states: “There was a much higher proportion of inorganic Hg [mercury] in the brain of Thimerosal infants than MeHg infants (up to 71% vs. 10%). Absolute inorganic Hg concentrations in the brains of the Thimerosal-exposed infants were approximately twice that of the MeHg infants.”

Several organizations that advocate on behalf of children with neurodevelopmental disorders are surprised that the powerful findings are trivialized by those appointed to protect America’s health. NAA asks the media to investigate this discrepancy. “To minimize Thimerosal’s damage to the brain is concerning to say the least,” says Scott Bono, Durham, NC, parent and Board Member of NAA. “These primates are shown to have the most toxic form trapped in their brains—how is that not the center of focus? To say that ethylmercury clears the blood faster and is therefore less toxic than MeHg is deceptive by omission, attempting to deflect attention from the alarming fact that ethylmercury makes its way to the brain much faster than MeHg and can be trapped there for years.”

Burbacher is a long-time researcher of the effects of mercury. Earlier work by Burbacher and colleagues on low-dose MeHg demonstrated that inorganic mercury was the principle cause of tissue changes and toxic effects in primate brains. “This latest study in primates shows what happened to our children,” says Jo Pike, Executive Director of NAA. “When people who can help turn a blind-eye to children injured by Thimerosal, it only adds to the heartache our children endure each and every day.”

To learn more about Dr. Burbacher’s findings, visit www.nationalautism.org or www.safeminds.org.

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Article C: Thimerosal, Methylmercury React Differently in the Brains of Infants

Source: Environmental Health Perspectives (NIEHS)

Released: Tue 19-Apr-2005, 14:20 ET  Embargo expired: Thu 21-Apr-2005, 00:05 ET

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Libraries Science News			Keywords AUTISM, METHYLMERCURY, THIMEROSAL, ETHYLMERCURY, ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES
Description Researchers have uncovered greater detail about differences in how thimerosala preservative used in vaccines since the 1930sand methylmercury are distributed in and eliminated from the brain and body, as reported in a study.

Newswise Researchers have uncovered greater detail about differences in how thimerosala preservative used in vaccines since the 1930sand methylmercury are distributed in and eliminated from the brain and body, as reported in a study published online today by the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Among other effects, researchers found that brain concentrations of total mercury following thimerosal exposure were nearly threefold lower than those following methylmercury exposure.

These findings are important because they demonstrate that methylmercury is not a suitable reference for determining risk from exposure to thimerosal. The current debate over a potential link between thimerosal in vaccines and autism has led many families to question whether the risk of developing the disorder is greater than the benefit of vaccination.

Thimerosal breaks down in the body to ethylmercury and thiosalicylate. Because few health effects data exist for ethylmercury, methylmercury guidelines have been used to predict the toxicokinetics and neurodevelopmental effects of ethylmercury exposure. An earlier study calculated that children receive 187.5 micrograms of ethylmercury from thimerosal-containing vaccines given over the first 14 weeks of life, which can exceed EPA guidelines for methylmercury exposure during pregnancy.

In the present study, researchers exposed 41 infant Macaca fascicularis, or crab-eating monkeys, to thimerosal and methylmercury. These monkeys are among the best proxies for infant humans. Infants assigned to the thimerosal group received the typical schedule of injected vaccines for human infants, while infants assigned to the methylmercury group were exposed through a feeding tube.

Absorption and initial distribution of total mercury proved to be similar for both thimerosal and methylmercury. However, injected thimerosal reacted differently from methylmercury in that it cleared from the infant much more quickly. Also the peak blood mercury concentration in the methylmercury group rose to a level three times higher than the thimerosal infants after the fourth dose. Brain concentrations of total mercury were significantly lower for the thimerosal group compared to the methylmercury group.

These results suggest that ethylmercury is dealkylated much more extensively than methylmercury. Dealkylation is a detoxification mechanism that helps protect the central nervous system.

According to the researchers, more research is needed to accurately predict how immunization with thimerosal-containing vaccines may affect children. Knowledge of the biotransformation of thimerosal . . . is urgently needed to afford a meaningful interpretation of the potential developmental effects of immunization with thimerosal-containing vaccines in newborns and infants, the study authors write. This information is critical if we are to respond to public concerns regarding the safety of childhood immunizations.

Dr. Jim Burkhart, science editor for EHP, says, This study emphasizes that thimerosal and methylmercury behave differently in the body. Given that we routinely inject thimerosal into millions of infants, the study authors call for more in-depth research on the subject is the right way to go.

The lead author of the study was Thomas M. Burbacher of the University of Washington. Other authors included Danny D. Shen, Noelle Liberato, Kimberly S. Grant, Elsa Cernichiari, and Thomas Clarkson. The study was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Center for Research Resources, and the University of Rochester. The article is available free of charge at http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2005/7712/abstract.html, and will be published in an upcoming print edition of the journal.

EHP is published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. EHP is an Open Access journal. More information is available online at http://www.ehponline.org/.

6. TACA Survey Update

Only 135 surveys have been collected since August 2004 at the TACA meetings. We would like to hear from you regarding WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR, what is important to you and your family.

Below is a summary grouped by topic and highest priority of the surveys collected to date. Please be sure to let us know what you want to hear about in 2005. To request your free survey form, please contact us

7. Vendors Supporting TACA

New Job & NEW QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PARENTS OF ASD CHILDREN 10-19 OF AGE:

Position Available: Director of Administration, Orange County.

Autism Behavior Consultants (ABC) located in the South Bay and Inland Empire has expanded to Orange County . This position would consist of working with families, hiring employees and managing the entire Orange County area.

Working with Families: A unique feature of ABC is that families interested in starting a home program speak to and work with another parent of a child with autism. It is our experience that the process of starting a home program and learning about autism has been difficult for families. Our community has always found that other parents are the best resource. Th is position would entail orienting parents on our program and how to commence services. After families have started our program, most administrative issues are handled by the clinical director of the program. However, the administrator will continue to work with families on their concerns and other issue s that may arise.

Hiring and Managing Employees: The Director of A dministration will be responsible for the hiring and m anagement of employees in the Orange County area. This includes: interviewing, hiring, orientation, t racking of all training , and coordinating employee 90 day and annual reviews. The Director of A administration must be able to give constructive criticism as well as positive feedback .

In addition, the candidate must be comp etent to handle conflicts and related issues with parents , employees and service providers.

For more information, please contact:

Laura Roberts at (310) 320-1333 or you may e-mail resume or questions to Laura@autismprograms.com

(EDITORS NOTE: This appears in the TACA enews for the main reason that this firm is looking to hire a parent or someone extremely familiar with autism. TACA is not going to offer a “for hire” section in this enews at any time soon.)

NEW QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PARENTS OF ASD CHILDREN 10-19 OF AGE:

Hello, my name is Chantal Sicile-Kira and I am writing a book on  Adolescents on  Autism Spectrum for Penguin. One of my chapters is on therapies and treatments  for tweens and teens.

I am collecting anectodal information about therapies and biomedical interventions on tweens and teens, 10-19 years of age.
It would be nice for parents reading my book to know about biomedical interventions and how it is helping this age group. 
I would appreciate it if you would answer the following questions and reply by June 1st to the following questions by replying to csicilek@pacbell.net. Thank you for helping others!

1. How old is your child now?  Girl or Boy?
2. Have you started any biomendical interventions or therapies after the age of 10?
3. What biomedical interventions are you doing with your tween or teen? (ie diet, Mythl B12 shots, chelation, intensive vitamins, etc etc)
4. For how long have you been doing each specific intervention?
5. Which do you feel are helpful for your tween or teen, which are not?
6. What other therapies have you tried after the age of 10?
7. Anything else you would like to share that might be helpful to patrents of an older child?

Thank you:)

Chantal Sicile-Kira [csicilek@pacbell.net]

A NEW STUDY - RESEARCH PARTICIPATION OPPORTUNITY

You are invited to participate in a research project being conducted by rmit University, Melbourne, Australia and the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD), California USA. The research is being conducted by PhD student Rachel Leonard M.Psych, and is being supervised by Dr. Amanda Richdale, Senior Lecturer, School of Health Sciences, RMIT University, and Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh, B.C.B.A. Clinical Director, CARD, USA.

The research project is being conducted in Torrance, California, USA, and involves high functioning children with a diagnosis of autism or asperger’s syndrome aged between 3-6 years. Children living in the South Bay area of L.A who fit this criteria are therefore invited to participate.

The research aims to examine the relationship between different aspects of attention and social behavior in children with autism. That is, what ‘types’ of attentional skills are needed by children to be able to relate socially to their peers and understand social situations.  

All participants will receive a number of assessments, including an IQ assessment, language assessment (receptive and expressive), a number of social assessments (including assessments of social behavior with peers, ability to process social cues and social perspective taking skills) and assessments examining different areas of their attention (joint attention and ability to shift their attention).

The length of the testing varies across children, however typically takes approximately 3.5 hours to complete (in total). In most cases, the testing takes place over two 1.5 – 2 hour sessions. Once the assessments have been completed, you will receive a report containing all of your child’s scores in the aforementioned areas.

Please be assured you that your child's anonymity and confidentiality will be maintained at all times. Your child’s name will not be associated with the research findings in any way. The information will be identified only through a code number. 

Please contact Rachel Leonard privately @ R.Leonard@centerforautism.com if you are interested in your child participating in this research and would like further information.  

Thank-you for your consideration.

Rachel Leonard

Rachel Leonard M.Psych.
Clinical Supervisor
Center for Autism & Related Disorders
21253 B Hawthorne Blvd.
Torrance , CA 90503
Tel: 310.944.9809
Fax: 310.944.9810
r.leonard@centerforautism.com

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9. Upcoming Fee-based Conferences & Seminars
in Southern California

One day workshops for caregivers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders are offered by *S*P*I*R*I*T* (Supporting Parents in Reinforcement, Intervention and Techniques) in four locations - Manhattan Beach, Pasadena, Santa Monica and Northridge.  Topics include characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorders; chronological and developmental ages; Piaget's cognitive development and Kohlberg's moral development; diagnosis, assessment and recovery; developing a family vision and plan; changes to parents behavior and approach; behavior management, functional analysis of behavior and task analysis; and other interventions.  A hosted lunch features a video of four young adults discussing growing up with autism.  The presenters, Jeanne LaPorte, R.N. and Peggy Main, L.C.S.W., have more than 30 years professional and personal experience working with individuals and families at UCLA and in private practice.  Both are parents of special needs children, one a 28-year-old with autism.  The workshop is $75 and is Regional Center vendored (vendor number PL05787.)

Dates and locations are: May 21, Santa Monica; June 11, Pasadena and July 9, Manhattan Beach.  

Please contact Jeanne or Peggy at 818-749-1401 or 888-421-6121 (toll free) for more information or to reserve a space.  Flyers and brochures are available.

*S*P*I*R*I*T also does a no-charge 45-minute presentation for support groups entitled "In Praise of Parents."

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Autism Society of America, Los Angeles Presents “Working Together for Autism” A conference on the latest in education, speech, social, biomedical and life issues

• Dates: May 20-21, 2005
• Location: Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel, 5855 West Century Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90045
• Who should attend: For Parents, Teachers, Other Professionals, and Individuals on the Spectrum
• Speakers include: Eustacia Cutler (Mother of Temple Grandin), BJ Freeman, Jed Baker, Bill Frea, Joan Green, James Adams, Jacquelyn McCandless, Barbara Doyle, Sarah Spence, M.D, Ph.D., and Claire Lajonchere

REGISTRATION: Go to _______(preferred) or send in form below

Name_________________________________ Email: ____________________________

Address_______________________________________________

City________________________ State____ Zip___________ Phone_________________________

Parent Friday $90____ Saturday $90 ____ Both Days $165____

Spouse Friday $70____ Saturday $70 ____ Both Days $130____

People on autism spectrum: Friday $20 ___ Saturday $20 ____ Both Days $35_____

Financial aid is available for families . Contact your Regional Center, www.dds.cahwnet.gov/rc/rclist.cfm. If they cannot help, low-income families may mail in a copy of their income tax return to the address below with this form.

DEADLINE: May 8, 2005Late Registration Fee: $15 if postmarked after May 8, 2005.
Purchase Orders: add $15 processing fee.

Checks: Make payable to Autism Conferences. Visa/Master card Number:_____________________

Exp. Date________ Amount:___________ Signature________________________

Mail to: Autism Conferences, 1340 E. Vinedo Ln., Tempe, AZ 85284 (Note: This is the conference organizer for ASA-LA).

Web site: www.asalosangeles.org

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Cure Autism Now Lecture Series

Cure Autism Now is meeting in the Orange County area to share our progress in the fight to find
effective treatments, causes, and a cure for autism. On behalf of Cure Autism Now and the Orange County families that have already joined forces, we invite you to:

•   Hear about current autism research from Clara Lajonchere, Ph.D., Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) Program Director
•   Learn more about Cure Autism Now programs, initiatives, and Orange County Chapter-related activities
•   Find out how you can be involved with WALK NOW Orange County 2005

Please join us to hear more about Cure Autism Now and the exciting ways you can be involved. Help make a difference in the lives of all people affected by autism.

Date:   Tuesday, May 24th, 2005
Time:  7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Where: Huntington Beach Public Library  7111 Talbert Avenue (between Gothard and Goldenwest Streets)
Huntington Beach, CA 92648 (714) 842-4481
RSVP:  Lisa Hill at lhill@cureautismnow.org or 888-8AUTISM x38. Please reference “OC Lecture Series”.

About Clara Lajonchere, Ph.D.
Clara joined Cure Autism Now (CAN) in June, 2003 as the Program Director for the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE).  She got her start in genetics research at McLean Hospital, a psychiatric teaching facility of Harvard Medical School, where she spent several years working on the Biological Program Project for Schizophrenia.  After obtaining a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis, Clara decided that she wanted to work more directly with children and accepted a position as the Assistant Director of Research at a non-profit children’s service agency in southern California to help build the infrastructure for a clinical research institute.  Now as the Director of AGRE, Clara is excited to be a part of an organization whose mission it is to accelerate the pace of research in order to improve the quality of life for individuals with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

About Cure Autism Now
Cure Autism Now is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and funding autism research and accelerating the pace of scientific progress toward effective treatments and a cure.  Cure Autism Now is one of the largest private funders of biomedical research in autism, providing more than $23 million for research grants, outreach and scientific resources since its founding in 1995.

About WALK NOW
The 2nd annual WALK NOW Orange County will take place in the fall of 2005.  Since their inception in 2003, WALK NOW events have helped the Cure Autism Now Foundation raise over $5 million to help fund autism research.

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The Amazing Autism One Conference is Back!

www.autismone.org – At the O’Hare Chicago Marriott

May 26-29, 2005 . Over 100 speakers – the “who’s who” in Autism with the following four tracks to choose from:

The most comprehensive conference on autism ever assembled now offers greater focus to help you address specific needs, shorten your learning curve, and bring you quickly up to speed.

Most Comprehensive
Questions and answers do not stop at the boundary of a discipline.

Multivariate in presentation and cure autism bows to the collective weight of doctors working with therapists working with educators working with parents working to recover their children.

Our children benefit from an inter-disciplinary approach. Autism One 2005 is proud to feature over 100 of the leading experts presenting in four tracks to help you make the best decisions:

1. Biomedical Treatments
2. Behavior / Communication / Education Therapies
3. Complementary and Alternative Medicine
4. Government / Legal / Personal Issues

Greater Focus
This year we are introducing a number of important changes to provide what we are calling a "lived experience." Conferences have a tendency to talk at you. That's not good enough. Real learning occurs at a deeper level; a level that combines the abstract with the practical.

Initiatives include:
1. The Mentor Program: You may request a mentor. Mentors are fellow- parents with recovered children or children well on their way to recovery.
2. Three Mini-Tracks: 1. Parents New to the diagnosis; 2. Puberty, Adolescence and Adulthood; and 3. Environmental Medicine/Issues are available.
3. Pre-Conference Day, GFCF and SCD - Culinary Delight: The Pre- Conference day is devoted to hands-on cooking to take the mystery out of gluten- casein-free, and specific carbohydrate diets.
4. Gluten/Casein free items on breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus:

Menu options will include gluten- and casein-free for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Have a taste, it's good.

A partial list of topics, by track, include:

1. Track - Biomedical Treatments
Autoimmune factors / treatments
Biochemistry of autism
Casein- gluten-free diet
Chelation - many forms of
Dental care
Diagnosis
Enzymes
Essential fatty acids
Food / nutrition / diet / vitamins / minerals / organic foods Environmental medicine / toxins IVIG, transfer factors, IV glutathione, Neurological testing, findings, treatments, Phenol sulfur transferase deficiency, Ongoing research, Vaccinations

2. Track - Behavior / Communication / Education Therapies
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Auditory Integration, Computers as learning tools, Greenspan / Floor time, Home schooling, Music therapy, Occupational Therapy, Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), Pivotal Response Training (PVT), Psychological counseling, testing, Puberty and beyond, Relationship Development Intervention (RDI), Supra-Modal Integrative Learning Experience (SMILE), Sensory Integration, Verbal Behavior, Vision Therapy

3. Track - Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Ayurveda Medicine, Chiropractic, Detoxification, Environmental medicine, Homeopathy, Naturopathic Medicine, Hyperbaric oxygen treatment, Mother's milk, Neurofeedback, Neural organization technique, Orthomolecular Medicine, Raw milk, Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

4. Track - Government / Legal / Personal Issues
Adolescence, Adult services, Autism - the law and you, Counseling - coping and communication for parents, Dealing with insurance companies, Estate Planning, How to be your own best advocate, Individual Evaluation Plans (IEPs), Legislative action, Obtaining government services, Puberty, School systems, Vaccines - the law and you

Autism One is a 501(3)(c), non-profit, charity organization, started by a small group of parents of children with autism. Parents are and must remain the driving force of our community, the stakes are too high and the issues too scarce to delegate to outside interests.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thank you and we'll see you in May.

My Best,
Edmund Arranga
714.680.0792 http://AutismOne.org earranga@autismone.org

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Great Plains Labs – Latest in Autism Treatments

Anaheim , CA on June 18-19, 2005. For more info: www.greatplainslaboratory.com

Saturday, June 18, 2005

• 8:00-9:00 Registration and Exhibits
• 9:00-10:30 Dr. William Shaw “The Importance of Biological Interventions in Autism”
• 10:30-10:45 Break and Exhibits
• 10:45-12:00 Lori Knowles “A Mother’s Success Story: How I was Able to Make a Difference in My Son’s Life”
• 12:00-1:15 Lunch and Exhibits
• 1:15-2:45 Dr. William Shaw “The Role of Supplements in Healing Your Child”
• 2:45-3:00 Break and Exhibits
• 3:00-4:30 Dr. Kurt Woeller “Autistic Spectrum Disorders-The Need for a Comprehensive Approach to Health and Recovery”
• 4:30-6:00 Dr. and Mr. David Geier “The Link Between Vaccines and Neurodevelopmental Disorders”

Sunday, June 19, 2005

• 8:30-9:00 Registration and Exhibits
• 9:00-10:30 Lisa Ackerman “Support and Medical Intervention - A Parent’s Perspective”
• 10:30-10:45 Break and Exhibits
• 10:45-12:00 Doreen Granpeesheh “ ABA: One Piece of the Autism Puzzle”
• 12:00-1:15 Lunch and Exhibits
• 1:15-2:30 Dr. Rashid Buttar “Chelating Heavy Metals With DMPS”
• 2:30-2:45 Break and Exhibits
• 2:45-4:15 Kelly Dorfman “Sensory Nutrigation-How Nutrition Affects Sensory Development and Sensory Issues Affect Eating”
• 4:15- 6:00 Q & A Panel

To register online https://secure.hostdepot.com/11/498/conference/anaheim/register.asp

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The SURFERS HEALING SURFCAMP dates are posted on our website www.surfershealing.org . Please fill out application and e-mail it to jennifer@surfershealing.org or fax it to 949-728-1200. Thanks and we can't wait for summer.

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DEFEAT AUTISM NOW! : October 2005 Long Beach –OR- Los Angeles conferences. The web conference also includes the Recovered Autistic Children event.  To learn more about the DAN! web conference and to subscribe, visit: www.ARIWebConference.com or www.danconference.com

Well school is almost ready to wrap up the 2004-2005 year. How did your kids do? Just a few reminders on some articles and relevant reading for summer and planning for next year:

- What to do in the Summer Months?
- Inclusion – an editorial

It was great to receive such nice feedback about my daughter Lauren with her “tribute by a mom” that appeared in the last TACA e-newsletter. I know all our kids on the spectrum require a lot of our love, attention and patience and it is a known fact many of our typical kids get less of our time having to grow up and help sooner than we would all like. Here is a salute to all our kids – ASD and typical for their love, patience and being an amazing member of our families.

On that note, my daughter Lauren’s recent essay that got her an “A” in a senior English class at UCI. It was so special that I had to share it with you all. For a continuation on that topic please stay tuned on Autism One radio for May 20 th at 10:00am PST for Autism from a sibling’s perspective with me and my daughter Lauren.

- Autism from A sibling’s perspective
- Information about connecting to the online radio www.autismone.org

I hope you all survive IEP season! I am truly hopeful that all our kids receive the services they need to make meaningful progress and beyond.

Hugs, thanks, and be SAFE,
Lisa A Jeff's mom

And Editor: Kim Palmer (thanks Kim!)