Students Work on Life Skills

"There is no textbook to teach someone how to function in everyday life, but Beth Tuten has found a curriculum."

"Every day in her special education class, students simulate life on their own in an apartment, step-by-step."

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Can Caffeine Protect Against Alzheimer's?

"Connie Lesko's not looking for the jolt that a cup of hot java offers."
"Instead, she's hoping new research that shows caffeine may protect against Alzheimer's pans out: The 56-year-old from Wimauma, Fla., has two parents with this incurable disease."

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Walking Under Water for Cerebral Palsy

Ivanhoe Broadcast News(Murfreesboro, TN)

Swimming, splashing, sliding... must kids love the water, and 11 year old Sarah Grace is no different. But all the water works is actually physical therapy. Sarah Grace was born more than four months premature and weighed just over one pound. She was the smallest baby to ever survive at her hospital.

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Study: Autism Affects Entire Brain

"Report Challenges Theory That Condition Is Limited To Specific Regions

(WebMD) New research is challenging the long-held belief that autism affects only those regions of the brain that control social interaction, communication, and reasoning — suggesting, instead, that the disorder affects the entire brain. The government-funded study found that even highly functioning autistic children had difficulty when asked to perform a wide range of complex tasks involving other areas of the brain. This suggests different parts of the autistic brain have difficulty working together to process complex information. This may be the driving component of autism, the researchers say. "

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Mutated Gene Raises Autism Risk, Study Finds

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. researchers said Monday that they had identified a genetic mutation that raises the risk of autism and could also explain some of the other symptoms seen in children with autism...Dr. Pat Levitt and colleagues at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, studied 743 families in which 1,200 family members were affected by autism spectrum disorders, which range from fully disabling autism to Asperger's syndrome.

They found a single mutation in a gene called MET, which is known to be involved in brain development, regulation of the immune system and repair of the gastrointestinal system. All of these systems can be affected in children with autism. 'This is a vulnerability gene,' Levitt said in a telephone interview. 'There are not genes that actually cause autism. It raises the risk.' "

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CDC Finances Study into Causes of Autism

ATLANTA - "The largest federal study to date into the causes of autism was announced Friday — a multi-state investigation that will involve 2,700 young children."

"The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and five other research centers will study the youngsters over five years. The research is designed to ferret out any genetic and environmental factors that may contribute to autism."

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High Rate of Sleep Apnea in Down Syndrome Kids

FRIDAY, April 21 (HealthDay News) -- "Abnormal sleep patterns and obstructive sleep apnea affect more than half of children with Down syndrome, but parents may not know whether their children have these problems, U.S. researchers report."

"Based on the findings, they also advise that all parents of youngsters with Down syndrome get their child's sleep patterns tested by polysomnography by age 3 or 4."

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High-Tech Glasses Help Those With Tunnel Vision

THURSDAY, Sept. 7 (HealthDay News) -- "A visual aid invented by U.S. scientists may help improve vision and mobility for people with tunnel vision."

"The study found that the device -- which combines a tiny camera, a pocket-sized computer and transparent computer display mounted on a pair of glasses -- significantly increased the effectiveness and speed with which visually impaired people were able to find objects."

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2007 HENRY B. BETTS AWARD

2007 Henry B. Betts Award - Nominations Due October 7, 2006

American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
is now accepting nominations for the 2007 HENRY B. BETTS
AWARD.

The Henry B. Betts Award program, administered by AAPD, was
created by the Prince Charitable Trusts and the Rehabilitation
Institute of Chicago in 1989 to annually honor individuals who
have, in the course of their work, helped to lead the societal
transformation that is producing dramatically better outcomes
and higher expectations for the diverse groups that make up the
disability community in the United States and around the world.
Typically, one outstanding living individual is selected each
year to receive The Henry B. Betts Award with an unrestricted
$50,000 cash award at AAPDs annual Leadership Gala in
Washington, D.C.

To nominate an individual: http://www.aapd.com/.
Nominations due: Friday, October 7, 2006.

Questions and submissions for the Henry B. Betts Award:
Call: 1-800-840-8844 (v/tty)
Email: aapdbetts@aol.com

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American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
Phone: 800-840-8844 (v/tty) or 202-457-0046 (v/tty)
Fax: 202-457-0473
Website: http://www.aapd.com/

Pathways to Independence Conference

The SC Independent Living Council is holding its 8th annual Pathways to Independence Conference on October 20 - 21, 2006 at Springmaid Beach Resort in Myrtle Beach, SC. The Pathways to Independence Conference is the only statewide cross disability conference in South Carolina. It is also the only one that is designed and implemented by people with disabilities. This year we are expecting to have more than 250 attendants with and without disabilities from across the state.

At Pathways, people with disabilities are the majority, not the minority. People are valued for who they are, and their abilities, not their disabilities. The Pathways conference offers six workshops, a networking social and a luncheon to give participants a chance to learn, ask questions, practice their skills and most importantly, to meet other people with disabilities.

The purpose of the Pathways to Independence Conference is to teach people with and without disabilities about their rights and responsibilities regarding disability and civil rights issues. It has been proven that knowledge is power and there is power in numbers. The Pathways conference is the only statewide conference that addresses the issues that all people with disabilities have in common.

The conference fees are $35.00 for participants and $15.00 for personal attendants. The conference offers scholarships to people with disabilities for overnight stay and registration.

Older Fathers And Autism: Study Found Men Over 40 Were More Likely To Have Autistic Babies

(WebMD) "Children born to older dads may be much more likely to have autism than those with younger fathers." "A new study shows that children of 40-year-old to 49-year-old dads are nearly six times more likely to have autism than children of men under 30, regardless of the mother's age."

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Many Kids with ADHD not Getting Required Meds

"While many people believe that too many children are being treated for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) these days, a new study shows that many children with the condition are not being treated."

"Rather than the popular belief that children are being overmedicated... in fact they're being undermedicated," study co-author Dr. Wendy Reich, of Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis, Missouri, told Reuters Health.

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Searching for a Cause: Med School Scientists Part of Large Autism Research Project (USC Times)

The childhood diagnosis of autism often foretells a lifetime of dependence and dim prospects for normal development. More troubling is that its causes remain little understood even as diagnoses are on the rise.

Two researchers in the School of Medicine's neuropsychiatry and behavioral science department are collaborating with the Center for Human Genetics at Duke University on a project aimed at learning more about the causes of the disorder that adversely affects communication and behavior.

"Diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder have increased significantly, which is partly explained by better diagnostic techniques and the fact that most of these kids would have been institutionalized in the old days- not mainstreamed in public schools," said Harry Wright, a veteran USC clinician in neuropsychiatry and behavioral science.

Since the late 1980s, Wright and department colleague Ruth Abramson have conducted several autism studies funded by the National Institutes of Health.

"We know there's a significant genetic component to autism- as many as three to ten genes are involved," Abramson said. "But only 10 to 15 percent of autism diagnoses can be attributed to known causes such as maternal rubella. There's so much about the cause of autism that we still don't know."

"The long-term goal of our research is the same as for many genetic disorders," Wright said. "We want to identify the gene defects responsible for autism, then develop appropriate therapy, neonatal diagnosis, and early intervention. In the short term, we want to work with parents to develop better behavior therapy outcomes and explore which medications work best with certain groups of children."