• Meets: 2nd Saturday of each month
• More Info: (info in item #1 for meeting topics and details) CLICK HERE TO FIND A MEETING

State Capitol, Room 4202
Wednesday, September 13, 2006 
9:00am to 3:00pm

      The Legislative Blue Ribbon Commission on Autism is scheduled to initiate its first of many hearings next Wednesday, September 13, 2006 beginning at 9:00 am till 3:00 pm in the State Capitol, Room 4202.  The Commission will launch its inquiry into the lives of children and families devastated by autism throughout California.

      Once considered a rare disorder, autism is now more prevalent than childhood cancer, diabetes and Down Syndrome and most school districts in the state report a doubling in the number of students with autism in just the past four years.

      The Commission was established by legislation authored by Senator Don Perata (D-Alameda)who stated that “We want to bring together some of the best and most effective minds in California to help confront the autism epidemic with short- and long-term actions the legislature and governor can take.  This must be a real-time effort with real results.”  Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D- Los Angeles) has also underscored these sentiments and emphasized that, “The Autism Commission will be inclusive, diverse, and seek to include the brightest and most innovative leaders in California."

      Appointed by the Senate Rules Committee and the Assembly Speaker, the Commission will submit recommendations by September of 2007 to the Governor and Legislature to close existing gaps in three state policy areas: 1) the early diagnosis and prompt treatment of autism; 2) the education of students with autism; and 3) the planning that is needed to address the “aging out” of children from California’s school system into adulthood.

      The September 13 th hearing will include invited testimony from panels of experts on recent scientific advances in autism as well as an overview of the array of state and local programs that provide services related to autism.  The Commission will also discuss its work-plan and course of action. Former Assembly Member Darrell Steinberg serves as Chair, and Dr. Barbara Firestone, President and CEO of The Help Group serves as Vice Chair of the sixteen member Commission.

       Darrell Steinberg recently indicated that, “I’m looking for concrete answers. I want specific recommendations that can be implemented by future legislation to improve the lives of all individuals afflicted by the epidemic of autism. Together we will not only bring hope to families throughout the state, but we can also find solutions to help many children with behavioral and emotional challenges develop into healthy adults!"

And from the desk of Rick Rollens:

AB 1478  Frommer  Developmental services

Existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, establishes the State Department of Developmental Services and sets forth its duties and responsibilities, including, but not limited to, the administration and oversight of the state developmental centers and programs relating to persons with developmental disabilities. Existing law requires the department to allocate funds to private nonprofit regional centers for the provision of community services and support for persons with developmental disabilities and their families.

Existing law requires the department to develop evaluation and diagnostic procedures for the diagnosis of autism disorder and other autism   spectrum disorders.
This bill would, in addition, require the department, in consultation with specified state departments, to develop guidelines for the treatment of autism spectrum disorders and to disseminate the information to parents.

AB 2513  Pavley  Pupils: autism: training and information

Existing law requires every individual with exceptional needs, as defined, who is eligible to receive educational instruction, related services, or both, under existing law to receive educational instruction, services, or both, at no cost to his or her parents or, as appropriate, to him or her.

This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to convene, with input from the University of California, the California State University, relevant fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature, the Legislative Blue Ribbon Commission on Autism, the State Department of Developmental Services, and other appropriate entities, an advisory committee. The bill would require the advisory committee to develop specified recommendations that would identify the means by which public and nonpublic schools, including charter schools, may better serve children with autism.

Note: TACA is not telling folks how to vote. We are just providing information about legislation that could affect children with autism & their families.

All of Dan’ s Age of Autism work can be found at this link http://www.theageofautism.com

The Age of Autism: About those 'old dads'
By Dan Olmsted - UPI Senior Editor

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- The study released this week that found older fathers more likely to have autistic children has created a media stir. But there may be less to the story than meets the eye.

"Autism Risk Rises With Age Of Father -- Large Study Finds Strong Correlation" was the headline on the top left of the Washington Post's front page.

It's nice to see autism on the front page and, yes, the study drew from a large pool, "an enormous sample of 17-year-olds" in Israel over a period of six years in the 1980s, as the Post put it. The researchers were able to determine the age of both parents for 132,271 draft candidates.

And yes, older men were found to have a greater risk of fathering an autistic child than men under 30.

Yes, but: The study was done in another country, involving kids born 20 years ago when the autism rate was much lower. Plus, there's something called the "confidence interval" -- basically, the margin of error -- in scientific studies, and it comes into play here. In a letter to Britain's Daily Mail, researcher Clifford Miller wrote:

"There were only 13 autistic children born to fathers 40 and over considered in the study -- there were 128,000 children with fathers under 40 but only 4,000 with fathers over 40."

Given that not-so-enormous number in the key demographic, the margin of error in calculating the increased risk is ... well, enormous.

"The lowest risk figure of 2.65 times for fathers 40 and over fathering an autistic child is exactly the same as the highest risk figure for fathers between 30 and 39."

Those overlapping figures "could be used to argue that there is no significant difference between dads in their 30s and 40s," said Mark Blaxill, a vice president of the advocacy group SafeMinds, which believes that an environmental factor -- possibly the mercury in vaccinations -- is behind the huge rise in U.S. cases over the past 20 years.

Still, Blaxill calls the result "interesting" -- "All data is good, in my view, and this is data." He notes that previous studies of parental age and autism risk have had mixed findings. "If it's a factor, it's certainly not an overwhelmingly large one."

The most important issue is what the study appears to suggest: "Autism Study Hints at Genetics," as the Wall Street Journal's story put it. The idea is that spontaneous mutations in the dad's genes would, as time goes on, raise the risk of autism-inducing errors.

Yes, but: Even assuming larger, more current studies in the United States exactly replicated these findings, why would they hint at genes more than an environmental cause? The longer someone lives, the likelier they are to get all kinds of exposures that could affect their DNA. (Or, older parents could differ in some other way that would raise their child's risk of autism.)

This column recently has been highlighting a "chemical connection" that early researchers turned up, a link that was all but abandoned in favor of gene theories.

One such study was conducted by Dr. Mary Coleman, who described a key finding in the 1976 book The Autistic Syndromes.

"In the preconception history questionnaire filled out by both the father and the mother, there were two areas of marked difference between the parents of the autistic children and the parents of the controls. One of these areas was exposure to chemicals," Coleman wrote. (The other was hypothyroidism.)

Note -- she was looking at "preconception" history, which could suggest some kind of genetic damage from chemical exposure that was passed on to the children in the form of autism. The age of the fathers was not recorded, but wouldn't they get more such exposures as they got older -- making the "chemical connection" even stronger? For career chemists, as some were, that is almost a given.

"Clearly, this is an area where more prospective research is needed," Coleman wrote. It still is.

We've also pointed out a possible connection in the very first cases described in the medical literature -- 11 children born in the 1930s -- with new chemical compounds, plausibly including mercury-based fungicides. One of those 11 kids was the son of a plant pathologist, another the son of a forestry professor at a southern university, and a third grew up in an area being heavily planted with seedlings to create a national forest in Mississippi (there's that southern forestry connection again -- in fact, his home town is named Forest).

A fourth was the son of a mining engineer. And the very first case to come to medical attention, at Johns Hopkins University in 1935, was the son of a 30-year-old chemist-attorney at the U.S. Patent Office. A chemist.

Yet the tendency to see just about everything as powerful support for the "gene theory" is proving just about irresistible -- even when the evidence at hand amounts to 13 children born to older fathers in Israel in the 1980s.

http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20060619-123237-8199r


The Age of Autism: Something Wicked -- 1
By Dan Olmsted
UPI Senior Editor
WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- The Combating Autism Act passed by the U.S. Senate earlier this month includes millions of dollars for research into possible environmental causes of autism.
It's about time.

Specifically, the bill authorizes $45 million to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to spend over five years in clinical research on possible environmental factors.

While that may sound like a good chunk of change, it's minuscule compared with spending on (so far) fruitless searches for an "autism gene."

In previous installments of this column, I've sketched the natural history of the disorder beginning with child psychiatrist Leo Kanner's landmark 1943 paper, "Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact."

And I've suggested that from the very beginning, an environmental trigger -- something harmful coming from the outside in -- was alarmingly evident. As Macbeth put it, there's reason to worry that "Something wicked this way comes."

Kanner identified 11 children with what he called the "markedly and uniquely" different disorder of autism. The first child in his case series was born in 1931, the last in 1938. While Kanner focused on the parents' high educational attainment, we proposed a different way of connecting the dots:

-- Case 1, Donald T., grew up in Forest, Miss., which is smack in the middle of national forest land that was being replanted by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the early 1930s.

-- Case 2, Frederick W., was the son of a plant pathologist.

-- Case 3, Richard M., was the son of a forestry professor at a southern university.

What might unite those cases? Mark Blaxill of the advocacy group SafeMinds suggested agricultural chemicals, in particular ethyl-mercury-based fungicides that came on the market about 1930. They were patented by Morris Kharasch, the "father of organic chemistry," who also invented thimerosal, the ethyl-mercury-based vaccine preservative some blame for the huge rise in autism diagnoses.

Whether you subscribe to the thimerosal theory or not, any environmental link is a worrisome prospect. And evidence for such a link has expanded over the years.

Recently I had a fascinating conversation with Thomas Felicetti of Beechwood Rehabilitation Services of Langhorne, Pa. I came across work he had done more than a quarter-century ago that strongly suggested a "chemical connection" in autism.

He summarized that work in the journal Milieu Therapy in 1981, and it is riveting to read in light of everything that has come after -- namely, hundreds of thousands more cases of autism. Felicetti set up a study at the Avalon School in Massachusetts where he was teaching at the time.

"The experimental design was rather simple and straightforward," he recounted in the paper -- comparing the occupations of 20 parents of autistic children, 20 parents of retarded children and 20 parents of "normal" children who were friends and neighbors of those attending the school.

"The results did, in fact, suggest a chemical connection," he wrote. "Eight of the 37 known parents of the autistic children had sustained occupational exposure to chemicals prior to conception. Five were chemists and three worked in related fields. The exposed parents represent 21 percent of the autistic group. This compared to 2.7 percent of the retardation controls and 10 percent of the normal controls. The data, subjected to statistical analysis, demonstrated a chemical connection.

"The results of this study point in the direction of chemical exposure as an etiological factor in the birth of autistic children."

Felicetti is quick to acknowledge that such a small study was not definitive. "This particular study was occupations, and it was all different occupations," he told me. "There were chemists, there were chemical assistants who would suck chemicals through pipettes in those days. There were roof tarrers who were exposed to chemicals through the roof tar. A variety of occupations.

"But again that's as far as I went with it. It was a pretty good study but suggestive -- because we couldn't find any particular chemical and because we only looked at occupations."

But it's worth coming to a full stop at his simple and straightforward conclusion that a "chemical connection" was evident in the etiology of autism. Plus, he was building on earlier work that already suggested such a connection (more on that in an upcoming column). And further disturbing studies have followed.

It's also significant that the study tried to roughly control for "occupational status" -- "It did try to have the control groups of equal occupation and social class," Felicetti said. Contrary to all the speculation that brainpower and education correlate with autistic offspring, job status had nothing to do with it -- roof tarrers are not perched atop the economic ladder, so to speak.

The key was the job itself and its exposure to chemicals. Felicetti told me the plant pathologist and forestry professor from Leo Kanner's 1943 case studies also would have met his test for occupations with chemical exposure.

So yes, maybe Kanner's kids had especially bright parents -- but maybe they were up to their elbows in mercury fungicides, and Lord knows what else, before anyone knew how dangerous that was. (Perhaps fittingly, Kanner said the forestry professor was "very much immersed in his work.")

One of Felicetti's observations in the 1981 article is haunting: "It is especially ironic that many of the parents of the autistic youngsters in our study could not specify the nature of the chemical agents. One can only speculate that they had blind faith in the safety precautions of the plants and in the reassurances of their employers. ...

"We seem to be coming out of an era when individuals routinely assume that occupational exposure to a wide variety of chemicals is a safe pastime. However, ... research indicates this awakening may be too late for substantial numbers of people and for many future generations."
--
Next: A "startling" connection.

The Age of Autism: Something Wicked -- 2
By Dan Olmsted
UPI Senior Editor
WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- The idea of a "chemical connection" in many cases of autism arose during the 1970s and 1980s, then gave way to gene-based theories. But the time has come to revive it.
The last column highlighted a study by Thomas Felicetti, now executive director of Beechwood Rehabilitation Services in Langhorne, Pa. As Felicetti described it in the journal Milieu Therapy in 1981, he compared the occupations of 20 parents of autistic children, 20 parents of retarded children and 20 parents of "normal" children who were friends and neighbors of those attending the Avalon School in Massachusetts where he taught at the time.
"The results did, in fact, suggest a chemical connection," he wrote. "Eight of the 37 known parents of the autistic children had sustained occupational exposure to chemicals prior to conception. Five were chemists and three worked in related fields. The exposed parents represent 21 percent of the autistic group. This compared to 2.7 percent of the retardation controls and 10 percent of the normal controls. The data, subjected to statistical analysis, demonstrated a chemical connection.
"The results of this study point in the direction of chemical exposure as an etiological factor in the birth of autistic children."
What makes Felicetti's study, though small, even more compelling is that it was designed to test earlier work by Dr. Mary Coleman.
In the 1976 book "The Autistic Syndromes," Coleman described her study of 78 autistic children in which she noticed "an unusual exposure of parents to chemicals in the preconception period." Out of 78 autistic kids, 20 were from families with chemical exposure; four were from families where both parents had such exposures -- seven out of eight of those parents as chemists. Still, Coleman worried that because the parents volunteered for the survey they might have been scientifically inclined, skewing the results toward careers like chemistry.
Felicetti effectively confirmed the validity of her finding by selecting the participating parents himself.
Coleman's study has an interesting origin: It was suggested by Bernard Rimland, the pioneering figure whose 1964 book, "Infantile Autism," established that parental behavior was not a cause of autism. In 1974, Coleman recounts, Rimland "and other members of the National Society for Autistic Children approached the Children's Brain Research Clinic of Washington, D.C., to discuss the possibility of the Clinic studying their autistic children at the time of that annual meeting to be held in June."
Those children were the ones on whom the research was based. And a chemical connection was a key finding: "In the preconception history questionnaire filled out by both the father and the mother, there were two areas of marked difference between the parents of the autistic children and parents of the controls," Coleman wrote. "One of these areas was exposure to chemicals."
Coleman wrote that "since the incidence of individuals exposed to chemicals in all related occupations in the United States is 1,059,000 in 91,000,000 or 1.1. percent of the population ... to find that 25 percent of any sample has had chemical exposure is quite startling.
"We feel it can not be dismissed because of the theoretical possibility that chemical toxins could affect genetic material prior to conception. Attempts to identify a particular chemical toxin to which many parents were consistently exposed in our sample failed; the parents recalled exposure to a great multitude and variety of chemical agents with no one chemical or classification of chemicals singled out in the data. Clearly, this is an area where more prospective research is needed."
(The other difference Coleman found in parents of autistic children was "the presence of hypothyroidism in the preconception history.")
And there's more. In the 2002 book "Impact of Hazardous Chemicals on Public Health, Policy, and Service," the authors review those studies and cite another -- an unpublished manuscript by Marcus and Broman: "They found a higher incidence of occupations involving exposure to chemicals among the parents of children with autism."
And this column has reported on a possible chemical link in the very earliest cases of autism described in the literature -- the 11 children in the landmark 1943 paper, "Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact," by Johns Hopkins University child psychiatrist Leo Kanner.
One of the fathers was a plant pathologist; another was a forestry professor at a southern university; and the very first case, Donald T., grew up in Mississippi surrounded by land that was being replanted as a national forest in the early 1930s. A link suggested by Mark Blaxill of the advocacy group SafeMinds: possible exposure to commercial agriculture chemicals, in particular ethyl-mercury-based fungicides that came on the market around 1930.
And two other parents among those first 11 families had relevant careers -- one was a mining engineer and one was ... a chemist.
All this suggests that, at least in many cases, autism might be fundamentally an environmental illness -- something coming from the outside-in to damage susceptible children. As Shakespeare put it, "Something wicked this way comes."
Felicetti told me he was struck by this consistently large percentage of children whose parents had an identifiable "chemical connection." The question becomes: If we can identify this large a link simply by looking at glaringly evident parents' professions, what is the real percentage of autism cases triggered by toxins including less obvious sources -- most, perhaps?
Yet the issue has been neglected in the rush to hunt down an "autism gene" that so far has yielded little to nothing.
The idea that the age of autism arose and worsened along with harmful exposures is an idea whose time has come -- about 75 years ago.

Nixa , MO – Today, the Food and Drug Administration began a two-day hearing on elemental mercury from dental amalgams. For three years, the National Autism Association (NAA) has called on the FDA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Congress to conduct hearings into the adverse neurological effects of ethyl mercury, also known as thimerosal, used as a preservative in vaccines. Research studies suggest that thimerosal is especially harmful to the developing nervous system of fetuses, infants and young children.

It is not disputed that methyl mercury from fish is a potent neurotoxin. Yet, laboratory tests indicate ethyl mercury may be more toxic than methyl mercury. There are no studies that prove the safety of ethyl mercury in vaccines. Despite misconceptions that mercury has been removed from vaccines, ethyl mercury continues to be injected into millions of children, as evidence mounts of a link between injected mercury and neurological damage.

In 1999, the FDA called for the voluntary removal of thimerosal from vaccines citing that hundreds of thousands of children had been exposed to mercury in excess of EPA limits. Since 1999, some vaccine makers have complied, leaving trace amounts of thimerosal. Others have not complied.  Some vaccines, including many flu shots, still contain the pre-1999 amount of 25 micrograms of mercury per shot.

“I’d like the FDA or any government agency to show us the science that proves a ‘trace’ amount of mercury can safely be injected multiple times into an infant or pregnant mother,” says NAA president Wendy Fournier.  “Infants receiving multiple shots in one day get several times the ‘trace’ amount of mercury. Why is this being allowed? They can’t show us the science backing this position because it doesn’t exist. I’d also like the FDA to explain how excessive exposure to mercury won’t cause mercury poisoning. The FDA should follow up the long-overdue hearings on mercury from dental amalgams with hearings on thimerosal. Parents and children around the world are waiting,” she says.

To learn more about NAA’s request for FDA hearings on the effects of ethyl mercury thimerosal, please visit http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/pdf/FDA9-06.pdf.

TACA is in great need for additional mentors throughout California. If TACA has helped you and you are a parent in the autism journey over one year – we could use your time and effort to mentor new families.

Remember the start of your journey?  Parents struggle with where to start, resources in your area and just to have someone there to answer questions via phone or email about autism who understands what it is like to have a child affected. We could really use your assistance for these newbie families.

Typically the questions you will be asked are:

• What did you do for your child?
• What resources do you like (school resources, local autism non public agencies – like speech therapists / ABA providers and other providers)
• How to start biomedical treatments (again, you are not a doctor, just a friend providing suggestions and information about your journey.)
• How to start the Gluten free/Casein free diet (you may not be an expert here, but help them navigate the TACA web site and get them to the shopping list they can buy at their neighborhood store.)
• Support!!

Please remember: you don’t have to be an expert in all areas – what most people want is you to be a friend that underst ands how they feel. You don’t have to know the answers to all the questions. Just the place to start.

More about TACA mentors:

TACA has a parent mentor program that is available to TACA members in need. TACA parent mentors are volunteers located in your school district/neighborhood or are close by. These TACA volunteers wish to assist new families to help decrease their learning curve in many topics as it relates to Autism. The goal is getting all our children to the best they can be and in achieving the best possible outcome.

If this sounds of interest to you, I recommend to please read:

• Mentor Guidelines: http://www.tacanow.com/mentor_guidelines.htm
• Mentor Program Frequently asked questions: http://www.tacanow.com/mentor.htm
• Parent Mentor agreement: http://www.tacanow.com/mentor_agreement.pdf

Finally: How are mentors introduced?  I introduce you to your mentor via email only once I receive the signed parent mentor agreement from the family that needs a parent mentor. It is up to you if you wish to meet or share phone numbers.  Many families handle the mentor relationship by email for the most part and some via the phone.  The desired method of communication is up to you.

Over the past six years, I have mentored over 100 families. It has been the most rewarding time on my TACA journey. It can be for your family, too. If you wish to sign up to be a mentor all you need to do is RESPOND YES to this request!

If you have questions or concerns and want to be a TACA mentor, always feel free to call me at 949-640-4401 or email me any time.  Please remember if I have more TACA mentors like your family, I can do more to help families overall in California.  Thank you for your time.

Autism One Radio – Support, Informative Topics and great help for families and friends affected by Autism!

For more information on this free resource see www.autismone.org!

Got play dates?

Are you feeling stressed out trying to line up play dates?  Then take Wednesdays off and bring your child to our backyard, facilitated playgroup.  We will meet eight Wednesdays, after school, beginning September 20th.  We will use typical play activities so that the children can practice, practice, practice play and social skills. 

This group is for children aged 6-8 with Asperger’s/HFA.  South Huntington Beach location.  Cost $240.00.  The group will be facilitated by:

Jodi Horist, MFT, a licensed marriage and family therapist with two children of her own on the autistic spectrum.

Nicole Bogdan, MA who holds a master’s degree in clinical psychology and has worked as a therapeutic aide for over five years.

Ramona Tamulinas has worked as an ABA therapist for over five years.

For more information contact Jodi at 714-330-9022 or email at j.horist@verizon.net

Social Outing & Fun for kids of all ages
Monthly Pump It Up Schedule

SCHEDULE FOR HUNTINGTON BEACH    

•           September 20, 2006  6-8pm
•           October 25, 2006       6-8pm
•           November 22, 2006   6-8pm
•           December 20, 2006   6-8pm

SCHEDULE FOR SORRENTO VALLEY

Will occur on the 3rd Wednesday of each month. The dates are: September 20, October 18, November 15, December 20

SCHEDULE FOR RANCHO CUCAMONGA

September 28, 2006 5:45-7:30pm (Bounce begins 6 p.m.; Snacks and Raffle to follow)
This is a fundraiser night, special event to raise funds for TACA & Cure Autism Now.

How Much? The cost is $6.00 (typically unless otherwise indicated) per child.  No charge for adults.  

Where? HUNTINGTON BEACH Pump it Up of Huntington Beach www.pumpitupparty.com/huntingtonbeach
16531 Gothard Suite C, Huntington Beach 92647   - The NW corner of Gothard and Heil
Look for small signs in front of the “HB Business Center” office park.  Drive around back to #C.

Where?  RANCHO CUCAMONGA - We are located in “ Stadium Plaza North” on the corner of Rochester Ave. and Jack Benny Dr. Directly across from the Quakes Stadium.
Phone: 909-466-0806

Where?  SORRENTO VALLEY Pump it up Sorrento Valley is on 9370 Waples Street, Suite 102 in
San Diego . Telephone is 858-685-9968 Sorrento Valley 1.5 miles off of I-805 and Mira Mesa Blvd just minutes away from UTC Shopping Mall.

RSVP & MORE INFO

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU RSVP FOR THESE EVENTS. WE CANNOT GUARANTEE YOUR SPOT IF YOU DO NOT RSVP AS REQUIRED BELOW. FAMILIES WITH A RESERVATION WILL BE ABLE TO ATTEND. THERE ARE NO GUARANTEES FOR ATTENDANCE WITHOUT RSVP’ING. PLEASE HELP US PLAN AND MAKE THIS A FUN TIME FOR ALL WHO WISH TO ATTEND!

FOR HUNTINGTON BEACH: Please RSVP by the Monday before each party to Barbara Cornish at barbara.cornish@Intel.com or (714) 897-3460 or Susan Tombrello at suso903tomb@verizon.net or (714) 841-3076.

FOR RANCHO CUCAMONGA: You must RSVP with the number of children that will be attending at least 48 hours prior to the event. Please RSVP promptly to assure your child’s spot! MINIMUM is 10 children. MAXIMUM is 40 children. Please email aaron2kristie@yahoo.com or phone Kristie at 909 758 0300 .

FOR SORRENTO VALLEY: Please RSVP by the Monday before each party to Kristy Nardini at krnardini@cox.net

IF YOU WOULD LIKE AN EVENT LIKE THIS IN YOUR AREA – PLEASE VOLUNTEER!! Contact us for details!

THANK YOU TO THE AMAZING BARBARA, SUSAN, KRISTIE & KRISTY FOR MAKING FUN SOCIAL EVENTS HAPPEN FOR TACA FAMILIES!

	The TACA Table at the Show	Lisa & Billy Idol!

It’s not often you get to go to a rock concert, hear some “blasts from the past” in the world of music, raise money and awareness for autism AND MEET BILLY IDOL!!  16,000 people attended a great day of fun, music and fundraising for TACA on August 19, 2006.   It was an amazing opportunity for TACA and a really fun day for me personally (I think the picture above with my smile tells you a lot!)

The day started off with the Jack-FM folks telling me I was going to introduce the Violent Femmes via camera transmitted to the stage.  Due to the Violent Femmes going on stage unannounced (that was funny!) I was changed to introducing Cheap Trick. A few minutes after taping the announcement, the crew came back to tell me the camera sound did not work and that I was upgraded to introducing Billy Idol. (COOL! I can handle that!) And that I would need to use backstage passes to get on stage to do it (I can REALLY handle that!) Then they asked, "Can you get a child with autism here in less than 1 hour?" Well… did not have one handy so I called hubby and told him to book it down to the concert with 16,000 other folks – no worries right?

Glen made it with Jeff with a few minutes to spare. We got backstage only to have Robin Zander (Cheap Trick's lead singer) say "Hey, little rocker" to Jeff and then Jeff proceeded to the do the "rock on" sign. That was classic. (I chatted briefly with him and the lead guitarist which was so amazing for me – Cheap Trick was my first concert experience in 1979!)

We practiced the "And now introducing Billy Idol" with Jeff for an entire 15 minutes. He got it perfect each time. Time came where Lauren, Glen, me and Jeff got on stage.

I thanked the audience for supporting TACA, professing my love to all, and announcing about the $45,000+ raised for local families. It was so cool! Handed the mike to Jeff with a nice intro and he said "Now introducing Billy & Mandy!" Oh geeez. I had to say, "What he meant to say was here comes Billy Idol!" I have no idea if Billy got to hear his new name or not.

Special thanks to Jack 93.1 FM for their desire to help the TACA families we serve. A big thanks to the TACA team at the show: Steph, Elizabeth, Sean, Amir, Lauren, Jamie, Kim & the Giordano family. To get a full RECAP of the event, activities and more pictures – please check out the front page of www.tacanow.org. If you are were there at the concert, excited about the coverage for TACA or just happy they raised awareness for autism, please drop them a note of thanks at promotions@931jackfm.com .  For more information about the radio station, please see www.931jackfm.com .

But wait—there’s more!  NEXT EVENT!

Money made at the August 25 th event                          Adam Carolla, Lisa & Jeff

To follow up the amazing concert – another radio station adopted TACA for a car wash and autism awareness. That would be 97.1 FREE FM and Adam Carolla. On Friday, August 25, close to $1,500 was made by girls washing cars at a little car wash on Melrose in Los Angeles.  For information and to thank Adam and his team, please see www.971freefm.com.

After a couple fun and amazing events like that we are now gearing up for the TACA’s 3 rd annual picnic next weekend. It is going to be a great event.  Last year, several families told me it was their only day for the entire year they got out as a family and had fun. We plan to have a lot of fun, enjoy some Team Vico music, partake on GFCF goodies and In-N-Out and just plain have a great time at Hidden Valley/Camp James in Irvine. I hope you can come!  For more information, please check out www.tacanow.org ‘s front page for details. This event is about 300 tickets away from a sell out.

To finish up – a lot of nice folks have been inquiring about the trip to Austin, Texas to see Dr. Arthur Krigsman and staff at the Thoughtful House. I will update all on Jeff’s colonoscopy and endoscopy results as soon as I receive them.  Thanks for the good thoughts and prayers – Jeff did a great job throughout the entire process – he continues to amaze me everyday.

Before I sign off – two articles made the headline news on CNN, all the local news and every paper across the nation with two theories of the autism epidemic. One attributed the rise in autism to older fathers and another attributed the rise to television. These articles are not worth publishing or mentioning again. The fact that these are referred to as “studies” and received as much air play as they have makes me beyond upset. On dads – if we looked at TACA’s 2100 families, that theory would account for less than 20% of our group. I encourage you to read the “studies” to understand the data, timeline and other important information behind the headlines. It is staggering that they were even reported. These new studies fall in the same as “refrigerator moms” and “geeks get lucky” who have long since been disproven. I choose to focus on the rebuttals by Dan Olmsted.  Ahh…that’s more like it! There is some sanity is this world!

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

And Editor: Kim Palmer (thanks Kim!)

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(This number STILL represents 90% families affected by autism and 10% professionals.)