Autism Researchers Present New Findings: Studies Include Complementary Medicine Use, Medication Use, Risk for Lead Toxicity and Nutrition

ScienceDaily (May 13, 2011) — Much about autism is unknown, but researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) are working to learn more about the neurodevelopmental disorder and its most effective treatments. A team of researchers from URMC joins researchers from across the world in San Diego this week for the 10th annual International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR).

Rochester researchers are presenting six abstracts on topics ranging from complementary medicine-use rates to nutritional insufficiencies in children with autism spectrum disorders. They even looked at how artificial food dye might affect children with autism.

"It's incredibly important that we find the most effective interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders," said Susan Hyman, M.D., chief of Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at URMC's Golisano Children's Hospital and an active autism researcher and clinician. "We also need to examine whether traditional and non-traditional treatments may be helping or causing harm, and what roles environmental factors may be playing in autism."

Hyman said that participation in the Autism Treatment Network (ATN) funded by Autism Speaks and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and partnering with the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) has allowed the growth of clinical research related to autism at URMC. The abstracts presented this week reflect Rochester data and analyses of the ATN database of more than 3,000 children and youth across 15 ATN sites in the U.S. and Canada.

Autism and nutrition

Patricia Stewart, Ph.D., R.D., director of Bionutrition for the CTSI at URMC, examined the nutritional intake of children with autism, including supplement use. It is important to understand how the significant food related behaviors and aversions that children with autism impact their current and future health. Her abstract shows that two-thirds of children with autism are taking supplements, twice the rate in the general pediatric population (32 percent). She reports that the nutrients most likely to be deficient in the children, were not included in adequate amounts in the supplements used. For example, most of those supplements contain vitamin D (97 percent), few contain choline (37 percent), vitamin K (11 percent) and potassium (8 percent). None contained any fiber, which is important for bowel health and is eaten in limited amounts by picky eaters.

To read the entire article, please click on the above title.

Students honor special-needs peers at prom

USA Today — "Mary Alten remembers being determined, yet afraid, when she enrolled her daughter in preschool.
Toni Alten-Crowe was born with Down syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes delays in physical and mental development. Alten had ignored recommendations to place Toni in a special school and moved to Loveland after hearing parents say the district tries to include students with disabilities in regular classes and activities.
Even so, she was concerned for her only child.
"I imagined that she would be snubbed and made fun of and not be given opportunities," Alten says.
Instead, something wonderful happened. Toni, now a senior at Loveland High, was crowned prom queen two weeks ago. Her friend, Drew Anderson, also a senior with Down syndrome, was crowned king by their classmates.
"What I had imagined for her turned out to be the exact opposite," Alten says.
Students in mainstream high schools are increasingly honoring their special-needs peers at school events, says Michelle Diament, co-founder of Disability Scoop, a Memphis-based website that covers news about developmental disabilities.
As examples, Diament points to the popularity of the Special Olympics and the TV show Glee's inclusion of children with disabilities."
NOTE: To read the entire article, click on the title above.

For Hearing Parts of Brain, Deafness Reorganizes Sensory Inputs, Not Behavioral Function

ScienceDaily (May 10, 2011) — "The part of the brain that uses hearing to determine sound location is reorganized in deaf animals to locate visual targets, according to a new study by a team of researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Western Ontario in Canada.These findings propose a new theory for cross-modal plasticity: loss of one sensory modality is substituted by another while maintaining the original function of the brain region.
It is known that persons who have suffered major sensory loss, such as deafness, show compensatory, or even superior performance in the remaining senses. This occurs through a process of cross-modal plasticity, where loss of one sensory modality is replaced by the remaining senses. But researchers have not known how the brain region vacated by one sensory modality selects its sensory replacement -- until now.
In a study, published online the week of May 9 in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team first examined the region of auditory cortex in hearing adult animals that responded to auditory stimuli and controlled orienting and localization behaviors in response to sounds."

NOTE: To read the entire article, click on the title above

Columbia Parkinson's Support Group - News and May 15th Meeting Notice

Monthly Meeting Reminder
Date - May 15th, 2011
Topic - "Half Full or Half ..." - Perspective and Attitude 
Speaker - Speaker: Russ Bell - Email: russ@russbellspeaking.com
Time - 3:00 p.m. until 4:00 P.M. - with time available after our meetings for socialization among guests and support group members
Meeting Cost - Free / Donations Are Much Appreciated
Where - Lexington Medical - Park 1 Auditorium - 2720 Sunset Boulevard, West Columbia, SC 29169
Note from Dottie: Russ Bell is an excellent motivation speaker. After the last time Russ appeared at our group meeting, we have had several requests to hear him again. This month is an opportunity to hear him again - and - if you haven't heard Russ before, we believe you will enjoy his presentation.
NOTE: To learn more about Columbia Parkinson's Support Group and see their calendar of events, click on the title above.

Regenerating Nerve Cells: Research Offers Hope in New Treatment for Spinal Cord Injuries

ScienceDaily (May 3, 2011) — "Rutgers researchers have developed an innovative new treatment that could help minimize nerve damage in spinal cord injuries, promote tissue healing and minimize pain.
After a spinal cord injury there is an increased production of a protein (RhoA) that blocks regeneration of nerve cells that carry signals along the spinal cord and prevents the injured tissue from healing.
Scientists at the W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience and Quark Pharmaceuticals Inc. have developed a chemically synthesized siRNA molecule that decreases the production of the RhoA protein when administered to the spine and allows regeneration of the nerve cells.
"It is exciting because this minimally-invasive treatment can selectively target the injured tissue and thereby promote healing and reduce pain," says Martin Grumet, associate director of the Keck Center and senior author of a recent study published in the Journal of Neurotrauma.
NOTE: To read the entire article, click on the title above.

A Patron Survey

We would like for the patrons of the CDR to take a quick, one question survey. This survey will help us to know how we are doing, so that we can better provide for the disabled community.

Please click on the above title to take the survey.

Study in Korea Puts Autism’s Prevalence at 2.6%, Surprising Experts

New York Times (May 9, 2011)- An ambitious six-year effort to gauge the rate of childhood autism in a middle-class South Korean city has yielded a figure that stunned experts and is likely to influence the way the disorder’s prevalence is measured around the world, scientists reported on Monday.

The figure, 2.6 percent of all children aged 7 to 12 in the Ilsan district of the city of Goyang, is more than twice the rate usually reported in the developed world. Even that rate, about 1 percent, has been climbing rapidly in recent years — from 0.6 percent in the United States in 2007, for example.

But experts said the findings did not mean that the actual numbers of children with autism were rising, simply that the study was more comprehensive than previous ones.

“This is a very impressive study,” said Lisa Croen, director of the autism research program at Kaiser-Permanente Northern California, who was not connected with the new report. “They did a careful job and in a part of the world where autism has not been well documented in the past.”

For the study, which is being published in The American Journal of Psychiatry, researchers from the Yale Child Study Center, George Washington University and other leading institutions sought to screen every child aged 7 to 12 in Ilsan, a community of 488,590, about the size of Staten Island.

By contrast, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States and most other research groups measure autism prevalence by examining and verifying records of existing cases kept by health care and special education agencies. That approach may leave out many children whose parents and schools have never sought a diagnosis.

To read entire article please click on the above title.

Autism Therapy Gets Results

The State (May 5, 2011)- Chase Batten took turns rolling the dice with his therapist. The 10-year-old read instructions and connected the intricate pieces of the board game Mouse Trap. He beeped like heavy equipment backing up when he had to turn the entire board around.

Anyone meeting Chase for the first time could notice the autistic traits – the tendency to look away from other people, the focus on doing something one way several times even if it’s not working, the jerky motor skills. What wasn’t evident was how far he has come.

“Just a few years ago, Chase was self-injurious,” said Sandi Batten, his mother. “We couldn’t take him anywhere. Now there’s nothing we can’t do with Chase.”

Much of the credit for improvement in Chase, and hundreds of other children in the state, goes to a state-funded program providing intense therapy for children with autism. The Pervasive Developmental Disorder Program, administered by the S.C. Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, is making a real difference.

Nearly 50 percent of families in the program see “remarkable” improvement, and an additional 37 percent see “moderate” improvement. More importantly, they see a brighter future for their children.

Those numbers come from the S.C. Autism Society’s nonscientific survey of parents of children in the program.

“It’s night and day,” said Margie Moore-Williamson of the difference in her 9-year-old son, Wesley, since he entered the program three years ago. “His grandparents live nine months a year in Florida. When they come home and see the difference, his grandfather tears up every year.”

The work has laid a foundation for Wesley, turning a typically asocial autistic into a young man who walks up to people and introduces himself, Moore-Williamson said.

To read more about Autism Therapy, click on the above title.

New flexibility for states to improve Medicaid and Implement Innovative Practices

US Dept. of Health and Human Services (April 14, 2011)-The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced four initiatives to give states more flexibility to adopt innovative new practices and provide better, more coordinated care for people with Medicaid and Medicare while helping reduce costs for states and families. The initiatives support the Obama administration’s work to make Medicaid more flexible and efficient and to address long-term cost growth. Several of the announcements also help implement provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Today HHS announced:

Fifteen states will receive federal funding to develop better ways to coordinate care for people with Medicare and Medicaid coverage, also known as dual eligibles, who often have complex and costly health care needs.

• All states will receive increased flexibility to provide home and community-based services for more people living with disabilities.
• All states are eligible to receive more money to develop simpler and more efficient information technology (IT) systems to modernize Medicaid enrollment.
• A proposal by the state of New Jersey for flexibility to expand health coverage for nearly 70,000 low-income residents has been approved.

“Medicaid programs provide health coverage for millions of low-income Americans who otherwise would lack access to health care,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “With these new resources and flexibilities, states will have new options to make their Medicaid programs work better for the people they serve, while helping lower their costs.”

Coordinated Care for People with Medicare and Medicaid

Under a new initiative funded by the Affordable Care Act, 15 states will receive up to $1 million each to develop new ways to meet the often complex and costly medical needs of the approximately nine million Americans who are eligible for both the Medicare and Medicaid programs, known as “dual eligibles.” The goal of the program is to eliminate duplication of services for these patients, expand access to needed care and improve the lives of dual eligibles, while lowering costs. The new Federal Coordinated Health Care Office, or the Duals Office, at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), was created by the Affordable Care Act to improve care for dual eligibles and will work with the states to implement the top strategies to coordinate primary, acute, behavioral and long-term supports and services for dual eligibles, improving quality and lowering costs.

The 15 states that will receive these funds are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

“Beneficiaries who are in both Medicare and Medicaid can face different benefit plans, different rules for how to get those benefits and potential conflicts in care plans among providers who do not coordinate with each other,” said Donald M. Berwick, M.D., administrator of CMS. “This can be disastrous for those beneficiaries who are most vulnerable and in need of help.”

To read more about Medicare and Medicaid improvement, click the above title.

IAN Research Report: Elopement and Wandering

IAN Community (April 20, 2011)- People with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) often “elope,” “wander,” or “bolt” from safe spaces. This behavior can be dangerous, and there have been many reports of fatalities, yet virtually no research has been focused on this subject.

Recognizing the urgent need for information and intervention, the Autism Research Institute, the Autism Science Foundation, Autism Speaks, and the Global Autism Collaboration partnered with the Interactive Autism Network (IAN) to create a national survey on elopement in ASD. So far, more than 800 families of children with ASDs from across the U.S. have completed the Elopement and Wandering Questionnaire launched on March 29, 2011. In this report, we share some initial findings, including the fact that nearly half of children with ASD between the ages of 4 and 10 engage in this behavior.

Preliminary results of this first ever investigation of elopement behavior in autism are shared to provide critical information for families, advocates, policy makers, and scientists. This is just a first look at such information, however, and we are continuing to collect elopement data from families of both children and dependent adults with ASD. You will notice that we are not yet reporting findings about dependent adults with ASD; this is because we have not yet collected enough data from families of adults, although we hope to do so in the future. Please encourage families of both children and adults on the autism spectrum to consider completing the Elopement and Wandering Questionnaire by participating in IAN Research.

Please Note: These Findings Are Preliminary

The analyses presented here by the Interactive Autism Network are preliminary. They are based on information submitted via the Internet by parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) living in the United States who choose to participate. They may not generalize to the larger population of families affected by ASD. The data have not been peer-reviewed -- that is, undergone evaluation by researchers expert in a particular field -- or been submitted for publication. IAN views participating families as research partners, and shares such preliminary information to thank them and demonstrate the importance of their ongoing involvement.

To read more information about Elopement and Wandering please click on the above title.

2010 Assistive Technology Expo

November 17 - 19, 2010

North Raleigh Hilton

If you would like to receive mailings about the 2010 NC AT Expo, please use the contact form on the right side of the page.

What: The Assistive Technology Expo is an exciting three-day event designed to increase awareness and provide current information on assistive technology. Conference offerings include an exhibit hall (on 11/18/10 only) featuring over 60 vendors exhibiting the latest in assistive technology products and services, 40 concurrent sessions, a poster session and a Keynote address.

In addition, a pre-conference session will be offered on November 17 from 9:00-4:00 on Accessible Instructional Media: Using Bookshare to Meet Your Students’ Needs. The morning session will focus on assistive technologies. We’ll look at what’s out there and how to align the technologies with students’ needs. The afternoon session will focus on the Bookshare website as a source of free accessible instructional media (AIM). Particpants will learn what Bookshare offers, how to sign up, how to download books, how to read the books, and where to get support.

Who: Each year between 550-700 registered participants from across the country attend the NC AT Expo and approximately 1300 attend the free Exhibit Hall. Participants include: persons with disabilities, family members, teachers, therapists, Vocational Rehabilitation and Independent Living staff, rehabilitation counselors, employers, engineers, college professors, medical staff, college and university students, and authorized state purchasers.

Where: For hotel registration call the North Raleigh Hilton at 919-872-2323 or click here. Use the code ATX to get the conference rate. Deadline for hotel registrations is October 17, 2010.

Click on the above title for more information on the AT Expo.

Life with Brain Injury Conference

SC Statewide Brain Injury Conference “Life with Brain Injury”

Brain Injury Association of South Carolina

and

South Carolina Brain Injury Leadership Council

Thursday, June 16 and Friday, June 17, 2011

Columbia Conference Center, 169 Laurelhurst Avenue, Columbia, SC 29210

Featured Topics
Drive: Addressing Motivation After Brain Injury
Aquatic Therapy & Physical Fitness After TBI
Gizmos and Gadgets for Daily Living
Online Resources for TBI
Getting Back to Work After TBI
Traumatic Brain Injury: A Primer for Families
Devices and Apps for People with TBI
Navigating Through Brain Injury: A Look at the Roger C. Peace Rehabilitation Brain Injury
Education Initiative
Rewriting My Story: TBI Survivors Share Their Successes in Creating a Meaningful Life
Traumatic Brain Injury: A Primer for Providers
Life Journey Bracelets, Art Therapy
Healthcare Reform - What’s In It for Me?
Learning Rx: Recovering Lost Brain Functions
Estate Planning for Children and Adults with TBI
Recreation After TBI- Adaptive Hunting, Fishing, and Sports
Traumatic Brain Injury and the Combat Veteran
Made Over, Art Therapy
Beating Bad Behavior: Behavioral Dysfunction After Brain Injury
Sports Concussion, Field Management and Return to Play
Cognitive Rehabilitation for Traumatic Brain Injury
Proving Disability in TBI Cases Under the Workers Compensation Act and Social Security Act
Understanding Social Security Disability
Rewriting My Story: TBI Survivors Share Their Successes in Creating a Meaningful Life
Clinical Management of Sports-Based Concussions
The Caregiver Commandments
Driver Rehabilitation: Evaluating the Potential to Drive Safely After a Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic Brain Injury in Children and Adolescents: An Overview

Keynotes
Susan Connors, Washington, DC
Dr. Robert Brabham, Columbia, SC

For More Information Contact:
Brain Injury Association of SC at (803)731-9823 or (877)TBI-FACT(in-state) or scbraininjury@bellsouth.net or jlawrence.biasc@bellsouth.net
For complete brochure, go to www.biausa.org/SC

Simple checklist may spot signs of autism by age 1

MSNBC.com (April 29, 2011) - A simple checklist that parents fill out in the waiting room may help doctors someday screen for warning signs of autism as early as a baby's first birthday.

San Diego pediatricians tested the tool with more than 10,000 babies at their 1-year checkups, looking for such things as how the tots babble, gesture and interact with others.

The research, being published Thursday, is a first step in the quest for earlier autism screening. It's not ready for routine use, as more work is needed to verify its accuracy. But it also may prove valuable in finding more at-risk babies to study what causes the developmental disorder.

"There are subtle signs of autism at one year if you just look for them," said neuroscientist Karen Pierce of the University of California, San Diego, who led the study. "Let's just get these kids detected early and treated early."

Recent data suggest about 1 in 100 U.S. children has some form of autism, which ranges from mild to severe problems with behavior, communication and socialization. The American Academy of Pediatrics already urges autism screening during regular doctor visits at ages 18 months and 24 months. Yet a 2009 study found that on average, children aren't diagnosed until they're 5.

Experts say early therapy can lessen autism's severity, even if they don't know exactly what types will prove best. "The earlier you start, the better," said Dr. Lisa Gilotty of the National Institute of Mental Health, which helped fund the study.

To read the entire article, click on the above title.