The Defeat Autism Now (DAN) 2008 Conference is scheduled for April 3 - 7 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.  The DAN conference is geared towards parents, caregivers, and autism professionals in a wide range of specialties.  The organization has just announced the clinician seminars scheduled for Monday, April 7, 2008.

Introductory Lecture for Everyone: Vicious Cycles in Autism - An Integration of the Science
Elizabeth Mumper, MD

Dr. Mumper will review common problems in four areas - intestinal inflammation, metabolic abnormalities, immune dysregulation, and detoxification impairment. The basic science will be explained and documented with peer-reviewed, published science in preparation for application to case histories.

Essential Clinician Seminar:

Clinical Manifestations of Nutrient Deficiencies
Dana Laake, RDH, MS, LDN

Ms. Laake will review signs and symptoms of nutritional deficiencies, the recognition of which is an integral part of patient evaluations. She will cover a broad spectrum of nutrients including their functions, deficiency manifestations, interrelationships, deficiency diagnosis, and therapies.

History, Physical, and Laboratory Essentials
Nancy O’Hara, MD

Dr. O’Hara will present representative explanations and illustrations of history, physical exam, and lab features common in children with autism spectrum disorders.

Case Studies and Lab Interpretation
Nancy O’Hara, MD

Dr. O’Hara will review common case presentations of children with autism spectrum disorders and discuss how to determine interventions and set priorities based on the presentation and laboratory findings of each child.

Interactive Case Studies
Elizabeth Mumper, MD

Dr. Mumper will demonstrate how abnormalities in one aspect of the child’s health can interact to exacerbate symptoms in other systems, necessitating a comprehensive approach cognizant of the synergy associated with biologic systems. Clinicians in the audience will be encouraged to participate in analyzing the cases.

Sequential Clinician Seminar:

Those Who Ignore Individuality Fail the Patient
Sidney Baker, MD

Dr. Baker will illustrate the value of a comprehensive, mutually respectful dialogue between clinician and parent and patient, aimed at identifying what might be present that the child must get rid of, and what the patient is missing that could be of benefit.

Innovative Therapies and Strategies for Non-Responders
Jeff Bradstreet, MD

Dr. Bradstreet will present medical evidence in support of innovative strategies designed to help each patient reach their fullest potential for health, cognitive function, and social interactions. He will present strategies to consider when attention to the basics is not getting the child well.

Simplifying Supplementation: Compounding and Combining
Dana Laake, RDH, MS, LDN

How to utilize individually compounded formulas in combination with OTC supplements. Creating hypoallergenic and GF/CF custom compounds is an important tool in treatment.

Advanced Case Studies and Lab Interpretation
Sidney Baker, MD

Dr. Baker will analyze some complicated case histories to demonstrate the nuances of the clinical presentations of children with autism spectrum disorders. He will demonstrate how to use more advanced interventions consistent with the Defeat Autism Now!® philosophy and knowledge base.

Advanced Lab Interpretation with Summary
Jeff Bradstreet, MD

Dr. Bradstreet will summarize the lessons from the advanced-practitioner training by utilizing and interpreting complex lab reports from actual patients. He will explain how to determine when a lab value is important in the context of the patient’s presentation, and how to avoid chasing abnormal labs that might not be clinically significant.

Source:  Defeat Autism Now Mailing List
 

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is looking for parents who are willing to discuss the vaccine/autism issue.  The following letter was sent out, and subsequently published by many autism websites.

Hello,

As part of our ongoing response to media stories regarding autism and vaccines, the AAP communications department is compiling a list of parents who support the AAP and are available for interviews. We are looking for two types of parents who could serve as spokespersons:

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders who support immunization and who do not believe there is any link between their child’s vaccines and his or her autism.

Parents of children who suffered a vaccine-preventable illness. This could be a parent who declined immunization, whose child became ill before a vaccine was available, or whose child was ineligible for immunization.

We are asking for your help identifying parents who would be good spokespersons. They do not need to be expert public speakers. They just need to be open with their story and interested in speaking out on the issue. We will contact candidates in advance to conduct pre-interviews, to offer guidance on talking to reporters and to obtain a signed waiver giving us permission to release their name.

If a parent were placed on our list, we would offer their name and contact information to select media. We hope to build a list of parents from a wide range of geographical areas.

As the Jenny McCarthy and “Eli Stone” stories illustrate, this issue is likely to recur in the national and local media. The AAP is committed to doing all we can to counter such erroneous reports with factual information supported by scientific evidence and AAP recommendations.

The anti-vaccine groups often have emotional family stories on their side. The ability to offer a reporter an interview with a similarly compelling parent who is sympathetic to the AAP’s goals is a powerful tool for our media relations program.

Please contact me if you have any questions or to suggest a parent to interview.

Thank you,

Susan Stevens Martin
Director, Division of Media Relations
American Academy of Pediatrics
Phone: 847-434-7131
Email: ssmartin [AT] aap [DOT] org