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

Parents and professionals working with children and adults on the autism spectrum are looking for a mandate requiring insurance companies to provide coverage for autism spectrum disorders.  With recent news of success in Arizona, Arizona Autism Insurance Bill Passes First Hurdle, the grassroots effort in Florida may find much-needed media recognition for their efforts.

Laura O’Sullivan has recently opened an autism treatment center, Children’s Autism Treatment Specialists, where she provides clients with ABA therapy.  Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is an industry-standard therapy to help treat symptoms associated with the autism spectrum.  However, the services are pricey and currently ony individuals with adequate private income or those on Medicaid are able to receive these highly-studied interventions.  According to an article in the News-Press’ online edition:

Most insurance companies, according to O’Sullivan and autism advocacy groups, won’t cover therapies related to autism, a developmental delay that, by one estimate, strikes one in 150 children.

Source:  The News-Press

Boston Interactive, a website development and interactive marketing firm announces the launch of the new website for the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism (http://www.flutiefoundation.org). The Flutie Foundation is an organization dedicated to promoting awareness and supporting families affected by autism spectrum disorders.

Boston, MA ( PRWEB ) February 17, 2008 - Boston Interactive, a website development and interactive marketing firm announces the launch of the new website for the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism. The Flutie Foundation is an organization dedicated to promoting awareness and supporting families affected by autism spectrum disorders.

The Flutie Foundation partnered with Boston Interactive to redesign their site in order to facilitate online donations and membership activities while promoting the Foundation’s purpose and improving the user experience. The Foundation required a fresh, redesigned image while maintaining a credible grassroots feel. By highlighting the foundation’s mission and resources, the site engages the visitors and drives them to action by signing up, donating, attending an event, or spreading awareness of autism and its impact on families.

The new site brings together customized information for families, fans, and sponsors into a single-facing website. Each content area works to provide resources and stories that create a unified vision of the Flutie Foundation and their mission to lend a helping hand to families in need.

“We thoroughly enjoyed working with the Flutie family and their foundation to create their new online presence,” said Chuck Murphy, President of Boston Interactive. “The Flutie Foundation’s new website incorporates a personal, welcoming, and positive tone throughout, and we are very pleased with the final product.”

Doug Flutie added “Our new website is a great addition to our growing foundation! We are happy to present the necessary online resources for families dealing with autism.”

About Boston Interactive - Boston Interactive (www.bostoninteractive.com) is a web design, development and interactive marketing firm focused on creating effective web-based solutions that deliver a positive impact for the brand. Founded in 1999, Boston Interactive has successfully implemented custom interactive solutions for hundreds of clients ranging from mid-sized organizations to Fortune 500 corporations. The internet is one of the most vital marketing and communications tools in today’s marketplace and Boston Interactive strives to promote brand identity and a compelling user experience in every application created using state-of-the-art technologies, proven software solutions, and a personal client focus ensuring online marketing success. More information about Boston Interactive can be found at www.bostoninteractive.com.

About Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism - The Foundation’s mission is to aid financially disadvantaged families who need assistance in caring for their children with autism; to fund education and research into the causes and consequences of childhood autism; and to serve as a clearinghouse and communications center for new programs and services developed for individuals with autism. The primary goal is to promote awareness and support families affected by autism spectrum disorders. The Flutie Foundation is committed to funding organizations that provide direct services, family support grants, education, advocacy and recreational opportunities with the purpose of improving the quality of life for individuals with autism and their families.

Press Contact:

Boston Interactive
Victoria Marzilli
617.241.7977

Computer Weekly has published an article detailing a Danish company, Specialisterne, that predominantly employs individuals on the autism spectrum.  Consultants from the company have been hired by information technology heavy hitters Microsoft and Computer Science Corporation to work in software testing.  From the Computer Weekly article: 

“The companies found that people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders have a greater attention to detail than average, making them suitable for software testing.”

The Specialisterne website has an English page available detailing the company.  From the site’s main page:

SPECIALISTERNE is a Danish company with 50 consultants (75% with Autism Spectrum Disorder - ASD) plus an additional 15 trainees.

We provide a working environment where it is ‘normal’ to have ASD and where the role of the management and staff is to create the best possible working environment for consultants with ASD.

ASD characteristics are leveraged as a competitive advantage rather than a disadvantage – niches are identified in the business sector where requirements are high on structure, persistency and attention to details. The company competes on fully competitive terms within its market.

Today the consultants of SPECIALISTERNE use their special skills solving tasks as software testing, data entries and several kinds of quality control for large companies like CSC, Oracle, Microsoft, LEGO, KMD and TDC.

Source:  Computer Weekly

Parents, caregivers, and autism support organizations in Arizona are working with the state legislature to get a bill passed that would require insurance companies to provide coverage for therapies and other treatments related to an individual’s autism spectrum disorder diagnosis.  Currently insurance companies in Arizona are not required to provide this coverage and many do not.  Instead, insurance companies consider this an educational need and push it on to the school districts.  In other cases, children only receive coverage after going on the state’s welfare health insurance program.

SB1263 passed with unanimous approval out of the Arizona Senate’s Health Committee, the next step is to get the proposal through the Appropriation’s Committee and on to the Senate floor for a vote.  For more information on the history of the bill and to provide support, visit the Arizona Autism Insurance Bill website.

Autism super mom Jayne Lytel traces the arc of her journey — the four worst years of her life — to recover her now 8-year-old son, Leo, from autism in a new book, Act Early Against Autism, which debuts March 4, 2008. Her story, and the rescue of Leo is compelling and resonant. The book has been praised by child development guru, Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, and Autism Speaks co-founder Bob Wright.  If I suspected an autism spectrum disorder in my child, this would be a book I’d reach for  

Washington, DC ( PRWEB ) February 14, 2008 — Autism super mom Jayne Lytel, 52, traces the arc of her journey — the four worst years of her life — to recover her now 8-year-old son, Leo, from autism in a new book, Act Early Against Autism, which debuts March 4 (Perigee). Her story, and the rescue of Leo is compelling and resonant.

“If I suspected an autism spectrum disorder in my child, this would be a book I’d reach for,” says child development guru Dr. T. Berry Brazelton. Autism Speaks co-founder Bob Wright and best-selling author Temple Grandin, PhD, also praised the book.

Lytel is a former beauty queen, financial reporter and syndicated columnist whose life was upended when Leo was diagnosed with autism at the age of two –a week before 9/11. She didn’t know a lot about the disorder, at the time, but understood one thing; that intensive, early intervention is the best weapon we have against autism and its related disorders. The brain has breathtaking plasticity to adapt and change during a child’s first few years of life and is the reason families should not give up hope.

Lytel did not give up hope; she gave up everything else. Abandoning her career, she concentrated, full-time on addressing the autism in Leo in hopes that she could stop the progression of the condition and reverse its effects. During her four-year odyssey, she ran into mean moms, including a mother who kicked her out of a birthday party for her 5-year-old daughter because Leo cried after a magic show. Another mother snubbed her at a birthday party by not giving her son a piece of cake because he could ask for one.

For treatment, Lytel stuck with an intervention plan guided by research except for when she strayed and tried homeopathy. She turned her back on alternative treatments after a homeopathic practitioner asked her about her advanced age and whether she wanted to have her son.

Lytel also sought support that is available from the government, to discover that it can take weeks, months and more to obtain the services and funds that are so immediately necessary. She fought back, taking the District of Columbia Public School System to court twice — and won.

Act Early Against Autism blends her personal story with practical advice, making it an empowering book for parents of newly diagnosed children on the autism spectrum. One practical tip: To toilet train a child on the autism spectrum, squirt blue food coloring into the toilet and show how the water turns green, which can motivate autistic children who like cause and effect.

Far from being defeated by her experience with her son, Lytel has become invigorated and inspired to address this problem that affects one child in every 150 in the United States, alone. She has founded and heads the Early Intervention Network: Enabling Families to Act Early Against Autism at The Early Intervention Network: Enabling Families to Act Early Against Autism The nonprofit helps change the lives of young children affected by this disorder by bridging a critical gap between diagnosis and the realization of public support.

For review copies of the book, please contact Lytel or publicist Mary Ann Zissimos at 212-366-2737 or visit the author’s website at Act Early Against Autism The author’s website also has before and after videos of Leo as well as audio clips of Leo talking about relationships.

ACT EARLY AGAINST AUTISM:
Give Your Child a Fighting Chance from the Start
by Jayne Lytel
Perigee Trade Paperback Original
ISBN 978-0-399-53394-5; $14.95
Publication Date: March 4, 2008

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has published the results of a study looking into gene research as it may pertain to autistic savants.  The article, published in the February 13 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, explains that “mice lacking a certain brain protein learn some tasks better but also forget faster.”  This research is promising with regards to explaining why autistic savants function as they do. 

“These opposite effects on different types of learning are reminiscent of the mixed features of autistic patients, who may be disabled in some cognitive areas but show enhanced abilities in others,” said Albert Y. Hung, a postdoctoral associate at the Picower Institute, staff neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and co-author of the study. “The superior learning ability of these mutant mice in a specific realm is reminiscent of human autistic savants.”

Autistic savants usually have an unusually exceptional talent in a specific area - art, music, and mathematics are a few examples of areas in which this talent may occur.  The lead character from the film “Rain Man” was an autistic savant. 

Source:  MIT

The University of California at Davis’ M.I.N.D. Institute has just published the results of a study looking into the maternal immune system as it relates to autism, most notably the regressive type of autism.  In a news release, the M.I.N.D. Institute announced that the complete findings will be published in the March 2008 issue of Neurotoxicology.

“Antibodies in the blood of mothers of children with autism bind to fetal brain cells, potentially interrupting healthy brain development. The study authors also found that the reaction was most common in mothers of children with the regressive form of autism…”

This unique study gives scientists and parents hope that a definitive cause may be determined for this type of autism.  Regressive autism occurs after a period of normal development - children will lose speech and language skills, toileting abilities, etc; some parents and advocacy groups consider regressive autism the most catastrophic to families.

Source:  UC Davis News Release

ScienceDaily (2008-02-10) — Contrary to popular notions, people at the high end of the autism spectrum disorder continuum suffer most from an inability to model “self” rather than impaired ability to respond to others, according to a novel research study. This inability to model “self” can disrupt an individual’s ability to understand the world as a whole, according to researchers. … > read full article

Posted with permission from Greg Chivers.

I’m a documentary maker and I’m doing some reasearch for a series of films for the British broadcaster Channel 4.

The films are about people overcoming personal obstacles to learn to drive and one of the issues we’re looking at is Asperger’s and
autistic spectrum disorders.

I’m very keen to get in touch with parents (Specifically British families) who have run into problems with driving tuition or who are
keen for their kids to start learning.

I’d really appreciate it if anyone interested in talking to me about their/ their kids thoughts/experiences of learning to drive could
contact me at the e mail address below.

That’s gregchivers@fireflyproductions.tv

Many Thanks

Greg Chivers
Producer/Director
Firefly Film and Television Productions Ltd
gregchivers@fireflyproductions.tv
W: www.fireflyproductions.tv