The Autism News | English

Autistic Boy Left on Bus: MyFoxNY.com

MYFOXNY.COM – Imagine you get a phone call that your first grader was left on the bus. That is exactly what happened to one mother in Carle Place, Long Island. The mother says a guardian angel was looking out for her son.

Sean Feldt is a 6-year-old first grader with autism. He has been known to fall asleep on his 30-minute bus ride to school.

Monday morning, he slept so soundly on the bus that he never even knew his bus driver dropped off all the kids at school and left him on the bus.
Crystal Feldt said her heart dropped and panic overcame her.

According to the district superintendent, neither the bus driver nor the aide on board checked the bus before drop-off. Checking the bus is a Board of Regents requirement.

Only when Sean’s teacher realized he wasn’t in class did the school realize there was a problem.

“We are concerned and disappointed that this happened in the first place. Disappointed in our employee and employee of bus company and we are working hard to make sure his doesn’t happen again,” said David Flatley, the superintendent of the Carle Place School District.

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The Autism News | English

SUWANEE, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News obtained the arrest warrants for a woman Suwanee police said stole thousands of dollars from a major non-profit while she was executive director.

Cynthia Pike, 47, a Lawrenceville resident, ran the Autism Society of America Georgia Chapter since 2007.

Pike’s attorney called her an innocent and honest mother. But police say she is a thief, now charged with 16 felony counts of theft by conversion.

According new Executive Director Latoisha Stephens, the national office stepped in after spotting issues with the bookkeeping last August.

“The chapter’s board of directors conducted an internal audit with a third party accountant firm and immediately took those findings to the police department,” Stephens told Channel 2′s Kerry Kavanaugh.

Police launched an investigation in late January.

According to the arrest warrants issued Feb.1, Pike was cutting herself checks for unauthorized extra salary payments and bonuses. Police said she also used the nonprofit’s funds to pay for her personal cellphone. That alone added up to $17,000 over the four years.

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The Autism News | English


When they got the news in April, Faith Creighton’s parents were thrilled to tell their 7-year-old daughter she was finally getting her own puppy.

And this wasn’t just any puppy. Bella the blue-eyed husky would be specially trained to protect Faith and ameliorate some symptoms of her autism. An organization based in downstate Illinois, Animals for Autism, would provide the dog at a fraction of the usual cost, which typically starts at about $15,000.

“When we got pictures of Bella by email, (Faith) saw them and fell instantly in love,” said her mom, Allison. The family, which lives near Seattle, sent in a down payment right away.

Around the same time, Animals for Autism founder Lea Kaydus entered the Pepsi Refresh Project grant competition with the stated intention of placing 10 free service dogs with 10 lucky families.

Kaydus urged families in the autism community to vote 10 times a day for the project, to buy Pepsi products bearing codes so they could cast “power votes” and to get friends and families to do the same. “We need the support of the ENTIRE autism community to succeed,” Kaydus wrote in emails that parents provided to the Tribune.

It worked. Families sent in extensive applications — including a video of their child — in hopes of winning a dog, and by June the Animals for Autism project had scored a $50,000 grant from Pepsi. Soon the 10 winning families, including the Creightons, received pictures of puppies that Kaydus said would join their families by spring 2012.

“I cannot possibly describe how excited we are,” one Wisconsin family wrote to Kaydus.

“It is such a wonderful feeling to bring so much joy and hope to so many amazing families!” Kaydus wrote back.

That was the high point of a relationship that has degenerated so much that many of the families worry their kids may never see the promised dogs.

By August, “the organization had stopped sending us any updates,” Creighton wrote on a blog. “No pictures nor any real training updates. When we would ask, they said they were too busy, but maybe later.”

Frustrated by the lack of communication, the families started looking more closely at Animals for Autism (now based in Glenarm, near Springfield) and began sharing information. Among their discoveries:

Chicago Tribune

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The Autism News | English


 

Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has signed a bill — again — to provide insurance coverage for families with autistic children, according to his office.

McDonnell (R) had originally signed a bill into law last spring mandating coverage, but Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) determined that the legislation contained imprecise language that legislators needed to correct.

Since then, families who expected insurance coverage have continued to pay out of pocket — if they can afford it — or forgo treatments they say could help their children learn basic skills such as walking and talking.

The bill will require health insurers to pay for specialized treatment — called applied behavioral analysis — as well as occupational, speech and other therapies for children ages 2 to 6. The maximum benefit was capped at $35,000 each year.

“After years of hard work and coordination, hundreds of children will finally get the help they need to make a real difference in the treatment of autism spectrum disorders,’’ Del. Tag Greason (R-Loudoun). “I’m appreciative of all the help I’ve received over the last two years from my colleagues in the House of Delegates and advocates from across the Commonwealth.”

The bill directs the state to write regulations within 280 days for those who teach applied behavior analysis to autistic children. That means coverage should start by the end of the year.

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The Autism News | English


Performances of the Disney musicals “Mary Poppins” and “The Lion King” will be the next Broadway shows to be presented by the Autism Theater Initiative, a program of the Theater Development Fund, the nonprofit organization that runs the TKTS discount ticket booths in New York. The “Mary Poppins” performance is on April 29 at 1 p.m. at the New Amsterdam Theater; The “Lion King” performance will be on Sept. 30 at 1 p.m. at the Minskoff Theater.

The theater fund’s program started last year with a sold-out matinee performance of “The Lion King.” It was the first time a Broadway show had sponsored an event specifically for autistic children and their families.

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The Autism News | English

GREAT FALLS- Leighton Larsen of Great Falls struggled to communicate with his parents just six months ago.

“He repeats everything back that you would say. He wouldn’t have a conversation with you, he would just repeat. You would say, ‘We are going to the store,’ and he’d say ‘We’re going to the store’,” his mother Gay recalled.

But after months of a variety of different autism therapies, his family is seeing major improvements.

“Now we say, ‘We are going to the store,’ and he says, ‘Well what store?’ Or you know, ‘I want to go to Shopko to look at the toys.’ So he is actually communicating back and being receptive,” Gay said.

The Larsen family uses a combination of speech, occupational, and physical therapy, along with applied behavior analysis (ABA) and the PLAY project, all aimed at helping Leighton function with autism.

“It’s not like a diagnosis of any other type of disease when there is an algorithm that says you start with this, then you go there and if that doesn’t work you move over to this thing. You kind of have to ‘cookie cutter’ the therapies based on your child,” Gay explained.

Three days a week, Leighton works with ABA autism trainer Erin Faulkner, focusing on learned skills and behaviors.

“Whereas in school they might get asked only one time what letter this is, we are going to ask them over and over and over again. And we reinforce all the correct answers, so we are providing prompting and reinforcing at different levels to be able to increase the response that we want,” Faulkner said.

KAJ18

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The Autism News | Français

Surcharge de travail, salaire insuffisant, crise du recrutement: les médecins scolaires dont les missions sont fondamentales pour prévenir les troubles de l’apprentissage et déceler la souffrance des élèves ont demandé mardi une revalorisation de leur carrière.
Ils ont décidé de faire grève et de manifester à Paris, à l’appel des syndicats SNMSU-Unsa Education, SNAMSPEN-UCMSF et du SMEDEN-FO, alors qu’une délégation était reçue au ministère par la directrice générale des ressources humaines.
Interrogé, le ministère n’a pas souhaité réagir.
“Nous sommes persuadés du bien-fondé de cette cause. Au fond, même nos responsables en sont persuadés. Maintenant il faut passer aux actes, il y a urgence, nous attendons les actes”, a dit le Dr Corinne Vaillant lors d’une conférence de presse.
“Ce n’est pas dans notre nature de descendre dans la rue mais il nous paraît très urgent d’alerter la population, nos responsables et nos dirigeants car nous avons suffisamment d’éléments pour dire aujourd’hui que la médecine scolaire est en grande difficulté”, a-t-elle dit.
Des rapports de la Cour des comptes et du Comité d’évaluation et de contrôle des politiques publiques “préconisent une médecine scolaire renforcée et rénovée”, rappellent les médecins présents à la conférence de presse, derrière une banderole proclamant “Médecine scolaire, non à sa disparition”.

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The Autism News | Français

Qu’est-ce qu’un documentaire éthique ? Deux exemples récents y répondent par la négative mais de façon différente. Sophie Robert, la réalisatrice du documentaire sur l’autisme, Le Mur, a été condamnée par le tribunal de grande Instance de Lille à en retirer de longs extraits et à verser des indemnités aux trois psychanalystes qui ont porté plainte. Le tribunal a fondé sa décision sur la comparaison entre les interview initiales et le documentaire final laissant apparaître une distorsion préjudiciable aux auteurs. Sophie Robert a fait appel. Ici, c’est clairement la manipulation qui est pointée comme non-éthique.

Un autre documentaire, diffusé le 7 mai 2010 sur Arte, Sainte Anne, hôpital psychiatrique, a entraîné, dix-huit mois plus tard, des sanctions sévères de la chambre disciplinaire du Conseil de l’Ordre des médecins d’Île-de-France, à l’encontre des deux chefs de service où le film a été réalisé : interdiction d’exercice d’un an dont 9 mois avec sursis pour Gérard Massé et de 3 mois dont 2 avec sursis pour François Petitjean. Les médecins peuvent faire appel avant l’application de la sanction. Elle porte sur plusieurs manquements à la déontologie médicale comme la mention du nom de certains patients et de leur traitement, le non respect de leur dignité et des pratiques contestables.

Sainte Anne, hôpital psychiatrique est un titre trompeur puisque le film ne montre la vie quotidienne que de deux secteurs fermés accueillant des personnes en crise hallucinatoire, dépressive ou persécutive, sans aucun commentaire. Le spectateur s’identifie au plus faible, le patient, tandis que les médecins et le personnel soignant sont les méchants, ceux qui imposent à un adulte, contre sa volonté, un enfermement, une contention ou des traitements médicamenteux parfois présentés comme une menace ou une punition ce qui est évidemment regrettable pour ne pas dire plus. D’autres documentaires célèbres comme ceux du cinéaste américain Frederick Wiseman ou de Raymond Depardon ont déjà montré le visage violent de la psychiatrie confrontée à la folie en crise.

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The Autism News | Español

El Comité de Entidades Representantes de Personas con Discapacidad de la Comunidad de Madrid (Cermi Comunidad de Madrid) celebra hoy en la capital un seminario sobre las necesidades que tienen las personas con discapacidad de la región en el ámbito educativo.

Según han informado sus impulsores, el encuentro está organizado por la Comisión de Educación del Cermi Madrid, coordinada por la Federación Autismo, y pretende mejorar la calidad educativa de los alumnos con discapacidad, siempre en el ámbito de la integración.

El seminario, titulado “Camino hacia la inclusión educativa del alumnado con discapacidad en la Comunidad de Madrid”, quiere servir también para ayudar a la comunidad educativa a comprender la importancia que tiene la organización adecuada de los recursos y las estrategias para este tipo de alumnos.

En cualquier caso, el objetivo último de la jornada y del trabajo de Cermi Comunidad de Madrid en este ámbito es que el alumnado con discapacidad cuente con todos los apoyos que precisa para que su proceso educativo tenga las mismas oportunidades de culminar con éxito que el de sus compañeros sin discapacidad “en un modelo inclusivo”.

Los participantes en el seminario aprovecharán la ocasión para trasladar a las autoridades regionales las propuestas de mejora para el alumnado con necesidades educativas específicas por discapacidad que estudia en la Comunidad de Madrid.

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The Autism News | Español

Ciertas anomalías del sistema inmunitario, que se parecen mucho a lo observado en los trastornos del espectro autista, han sido relacionadas por unos científicos con la proteína precursora de amiloide (APP por sus siglas en inglés).

El estudio, realizado con modelos de autismo en ratones, sugiere que los niveles elevados de un fragmento de APP que circula en la sangre, podrían explicar las alteraciones en las poblaciones de células inmunitarias y en su función, ambas observadas en algunos pacientes con autismo.

Los autores del estudio, de la Universidad del Sur de Florida, han llegado a la conclusión de que el fragmento de proteína podría ser tanto un biomarcador del autismo como un nuevo objetivo de investigación para conocer mejor la fisiología del trastorno.

El autismo es hoy una enfermedad bastante común, que ha experimentado un notable auge de casos en los últimos tiempos. En Estados Unidos, por ejemplo, el autismo, en mayor o menor grado, afecta ya a 1 de cada 110 niños.

La proteína precursora amiloidea suele ser el centro de atención de casi toda investigación relacionada con la enfermedad de Alzheimer. Sin embargo, recientes informes científicos han identificado niveles elevados de un fragmento en particular de la proteína, llamado sAPP-a, en la sangre de niños autistas. El fragmento es un conocido factor de crecimiento para los nervios, y hay estudios que indican que desempeña también un papel en la respuesta inmunitaria de las células T.

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