Seeing as April is Autism Awareness Month, more media attention is being paid to the autism spectrum of disorders than at any other time.  As a result, many of these articles are about the rise of autism.  Is it an epidemic or simply a rise in diagnoses?  Today, Autism News Direct will provide you links to several different stories that address this question from a variety of viewpoints.
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The following announcement was sent out by the Autism Research Institute.

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For more than 41 years, St. Madeleine Sophie’s Center (SMSC) - a non-profit non-denominational organization in the San Diego area - has helped people with developmental disabilities, their families and communities, discover, explore, and nurture potential - giving thousands a chance to live life to the fullest.
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Blooming Kids Software (BloomingKids), a company that creates computer programs designed to teach children who have Autism, PDD and other needs requiring early intervention, has created eight additional educational programs. These programs were made in response to requests from parents and educators who asked BloomingKids to extend their product line in particular directions.

( PRWEB ) March 10, 2008 — Blooming Kids Software (BloomingKids), a company that creates computer programs designed to teach children who have Autism, PDD and other needs requiring early intervention, has created eight additional educational programs. These programs were made in response to requests from parents and educators who asked BloomingKids to extend their product line in particular directions.

These programs teach students to read a calendar, tell time, use a computer keyboard to learn basic typing, and to familiarize the student with months of the year, weather, seasons, days of the week, and times of the day.

The programs (Twenty nine of them) that were released on 2006 have been upgraded with customer feedback, new interface, new voice, new animations, and other features. Presently these revised versions and the eight new programs can be purchased on the web.

Many of the programs offer internal testing and reporting capabilities. All of the programs use colorful animations, pictures and music to help children to learn with enthusiasm and attention. Each exercise in the program rewards and encourages. Every correct answer earns positive reinforcement.

For more information, visit www.bloomingkids.com to view online demos of each program.

BloomingKids wants to help parents and schools. If any order goes above $200, BloomingKids will deduct 15% of all purchases beyond $200. The deduction will be retuned to the buyer as a refund after the purchase is made. Please make use of this good will offer before March 31, 2008, as it will not be available after this date.

About Blooming Kids Software, LLC.
BloomingKids is a software company based in Scarsdale, New York. The company, founded in 2004, is specifically designed to facilitate learning for children diagnosed with learning disabilities, Autism and PDD. BloomingKids will customize any product in order to meet the learner’s individual needs as identified by therapists, teachers and parents. The company’s mission is to deliver the highest quality, most effective and affordable educational software. For more information, please visit www.bloomingkids.com.

Contact Information:
Blooming Kids Software, LLC.
36 Lincoln Road
Scarsdale, NY 10583
914-713-4440

Wisconsin Senators are set to vote on a bill that would require mandated insurance coverage for autism spectrum disorders, including Asperger’s Syndrome and PDD-NOS.  The Senate will be voting on Tuesday, February 26, 2008.  There are some interesting requirements listed in the bill; per an article appearing in the Sunday edition of The Journal Times Online:

According to Senate Bill 178, the treatment must be provided by a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a social worker who is certified or licensed to practice psychotherapy, a paraprofessional working under the supervision of any of those three types of providers, or a professional working under the supervision of an outpatient mental health clinic.

Only a handful of states currently require this mandated insurance coverage of autism spectrum disorders.  Arizona is working on an autism insurance bill and parents in Florida are starting to drum up support for similar legislation.

Source: The Journal Times Online

The following statement was released by Autism United in response to the controversy surrounding Big Brother contestant Adam Jasinski’s reference to autistic children as “retards”.

Autism United has received a statement from the Lowe’s Companies that they will be no longer advertise with the CBS program Big Brother in response to a broadcast last week that referred to people with autism as “retards.”

Karen Cobb, a spokeperson for Lowe’s, said in a statement:

“Lowe’s has strict guidelines that govern the placement of our advertising. Our company advertises primarily in national, network prime-time television programs and on a variety of cable outlets.

Lowe’s constantly reviews advertising buys to make certain they are consistent with its policy guidelines. Lowe’s doesn’t routinely advertise on the show “Big Brother” and has taken steps to ensure that our advertising isn’t appearing on future shows.”

Lowe’s is the second largest home improvement retailer in the US.

CBS has not apologized for the incident nor have they taken responsibility for the content of their own broadcast. Autism United and a nationwide coalition of autism and developmental disability groups will be mobilizing families affected by autism to call upon advertisers with Big Brother, including Taco Bell, Saturn, Geico, and others to follow the leadership shown by Lowe’s Companies and withdraw their support for Big Brother. Details of the campaign will be released later today.

John Gilmore
Executive Director
Autism United
www.autismunited.org
(516) 933-4050

If you have been hiding under a rock these past few days then you haven’t heard about Adam Jasinski, a contestant on Big Brother 9, and his comment calling people with autism “retards.”  This has created an absolute media storm, as well as it should have.  It is likely that the contestant, Jasinski, is in the dark about what is going on out here in the “real world.”  Big Brother is a real-time show and as of today Jasinski is still in the house.  Contestants are completely sheltered from any and all news/media while in the house. 

Here are some interesting posts on the topic:

Adam Jasinski From Big Brother Sticks His Foot in His Mouth

More on Adam Jasinski and the United Autism Foundation

United Autism Foundation Apology by Olaf Hampel

A new article has been published on the website Suite101 detailing Autism and Intelligence Levels.  Perhaps this article should be high on Jasinski’s “to-read” list upon his eviction from the house.

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

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