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Community Calendar: KindTree Support
Group / Mask Making
Fun-Raiser Activism: National_Autism_Association_Newsletter
/Bobby Kennedy Interview Flash! January, 2004 / Flash! April, 2004 / Flash! May, 2004 Visit www.escrip.com
GREETINGS, Kindtree has had a busy Spring and Summer. But this weekend
will see our last big event of the year - our Fall Fun-Raiser
- a Mask Making Party. We've gone all out to create a really
fun afternoon for you and all your freinds. For just a few
dollars you can make something truly unique for this Halloween
- or just for fun. So come on down and join us. Make a mask,
eat some pizza, maybe win a NEW KITCHEN, dance to a great
band (Glen Jones, Michelle's father, is their leader!) and
help us pay the bills. Even though this is our last big event of the year, we won't be hibernating. We are still refurbishing computers, running the support group, and marketing the beautiful art our freinds with autism create. Check them out here. (The image on the right is from Kendall Stewart - he offers a bunch of eerie Halloween images.) Why not order some today? Some of you may have noticed it's a pretty heated election this year. I urge all of you to get registered and vote. (The registration deadline is just a few days away.) Many of the issues autism advocates face can be addressed in the political arena, and some politicians will be more responsive to our needs than others. Please take some time to learn their positions. It's with education in mind that I've included a link to a recent article by Bobby Kennedy Jr in this Flash! He speaks about mercury and our government's response to the dangers it may pose to preganent women and the child they are carrying. (See information about mercury here.) I hope you will find it informative. Our president, Mary-Minn Sirag, is appearing at two Autism Conferences in the next few weeks. She's emerging as a great speaker and spokeswoman for the Autism Community. If you have the chance to see her make a presentation, don't miss it! So Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, Go Vote, and come join us this Sunday. We'll be so glad to see you it'll make you feel warm all over. Thanks - Tim Mueller KindTree - Autism Rocks Giving Opportunities HELP US OUT!!! 1) Order an Autism Rocks T-shirt. These shirts are going fast, though most sizes should still be available, from kids medium to adult XXX large, in black, natural, and our new color - Forest Green! These are $15 each plus $4.50 shipping (unless you live close enough to come pick up? 521 7208). And don't forget our beautiful Note Cards! 2) Visit our online store at OregonLive CaféPress. This site features Autism Rocks logo items as well as clothing, bags, hats, baby things, the popular "hoodie" sweatshirt, and more printed with autist's art. Check it out today. 3) Sign up for Escrip! PLEASE
SIGN UP! THIS IS WORKING!! This program can send
a percentage of each purchase you make at a participating
merchant to KindTree Productions! Just go to www.escrip.com
and enroll. It took me about 5 minutes. Enter our ID # 153141696
or Eugene or search for KindTree. It's pretty simple. Participating
merchants include: 4) Send KindTree a personal donation. Your contributions are tax deductible and much appreciated. We need your help. Thanks. You Can Do
It!
KINDTREE CALENDAR: Mask Making Party October 10th, 3:30 - 7 PM Cozmic Pizza $5 - $10 sliding scale / $20 per family "KindTree Productions, Inc. "Autism Rocks" present another family "fun-raiser" to benefit the Autism Community. Everyone is welcome to come and create your own special mask for Halloween. Choose from a variety of templates to start, then add glitter, paint, feathers, buttons, whatever you want, to make a unique and fun mask. Local Mask Master Jeff Lake and friends will be there to help you out, and "Southbound", a group of local country rockers from way back, will keep you entertained with rockabilly, gospel, country and rock'n'roll tunes. A special raffle is planned with a kids' kitchen set as the prize, and we'll have other fun games, too. The party will conclude with a "Mask Parade" across the stage so everyone has their moment in the spotlight. All proceeds from this fun-raiser go to support Autism Rocks and the Autism Community: Art Programs, Summer Camp / Retreat, Computer Exchange Program, and more. The need is great - Lane County supports more than four times the national average population of people with autism. Please help out - and have a great time. KindTree Productions is a Charter Member of the Autism Society of Oregon, Lane County Chapter."
COMMUNITY CALENDAR: October 8 & 9 Asperger
Advocacy Coalition Conference Featured Speakers: Mary-Minn Sirag, Keynote Speaker Rebekah Heinrichs Kari Dunn Buron
Sessions on Saturday include how to assess SCD, where social cognitive breakdowns occur, how SCD affect a person, and more. Practical strategies for home and school will also be shared. · learn strategies to prevent bullying. · learn the unique social challenges of children with AS as they relate to bullying · develop skills to individualize bullying prevention for children with AS · acquire an understanding of the nature of social cognition · learn how to identify social cognitive deficits and their effects on individuals with ASD · learn how to address social cognitive deficits through educational strategies Early Bird Registration Deadline September 22, 2004! From $50.00 You may fax, phone, or mail your registrations to: P.O. Box 23173 Shawnee Mission, KS 66283-0173 Phone (913) 897-1004 Fax: (913) 681-9473 October 19 Bridgeway House dinner and auction fundraiser at Koho Bistro. 345 0805 for more info. October 16 NWAF presents: Preparing for Adult Life Topics: Independent living and housing issues; employment and work-readiness; college assistance; financial planning for folks with special needs. Location: 519 15th Street, Oregon City, OR Cost: $25 requested donation Phone 503/557-2111 Fax 503/557-2156 www.autismnwaf.org Schedule: 8¬-8:55 a.m.: Registration. 9¬-10:30 a.m.: Mary-Minn Sirag. Personal and anecdotal talk about autism in the workplace, housing situations, and academic settings. 10:40¬-11:30 a.m.: Bobbie Kurek (Shangri-La Court) supported employment. 11:30¬-11:40 a.m.: James (self-advocate) on his successes working at Jack in the Box. 11:40 a.m.¬12:30 p.m.: Scott Pelham (OTAC) 12:30¬1:15 p.m. : Lunch (on your own). 1:15¬2:15 p.m. : Nancy Hart (Lane Community College) on college assistance programs. 2:15¬2:30 p.m.: Break. 2:30¬4:00 p.m.: Douglas Richards on special needs trusts, guardianships, family and legal issues, and planning/needs analysis. He created the Conduit Trust, a life planning program around special needs. 4:00¬5:00 p.m.: Discussion. November 12 The Arc of Oregon Annual Awards Banquet Lane Community College, Building 19 For more information click here or call Pam Ring at 343-5256. November 20th When: Saturday, November 20th, 9:00 a.m-5:00 p.m. Temple Grandin, Ph.D. is an autistic adult who speaks to audiences about how to navigate the world around them. Despite her disability, she is an accomplished animal scientist, assistant Professor at Colorado State University and the author of numerous books. Stanley D. Klein, Ph.D. is a frequent lecturer to health care and education professionals about communicating with parents of children with disabilities, particularly delivering the difficult news of a new diagnosis. Dr. Klein is a the author of numerous books including "Reflections from a Different Journey, What Adults with Disabilities Want All Parent to Know". He is also the co-founder of Exceptional Parent Magazine. Jonathan Mooney is dyslexic and did not learn to read until he was 12 years old. He graduated with an honors degree in English literature and has published Learning Outside the Lines, which has established him as one of the foremost leaders in LD/ADHD and alternative education. Coleen Salley is a master storyteller, professor emeritus, scholar and a children's book author. As the grandmother of a special needs child, she understands the importance of storytelling and reading to a visual learner. Her lively speaking style is engaging, funny and entertaining. November 19 - 20 ANCA® FOUNDATION PRESENTS… FURTHER BEYOND THE WALL: SPECIAL CONFERENCE AND FUND RAISER November 19 & 20, 2004 Speakers: Stephen Shore, ABD For registration information, contact: NEWS: Maybe you can help me. I'm interested in speaking with other parents of autistic children and/or adult autists who might be interested in helping co-create a spiritual/metaphysically-aligned school for autististic children. I'm new to the area so don't have any connections. Thank you for any help you can give! Love in the Highest!!! ~Satina Call to Artists (reprinted as received...) I will be assisting put together and at book with artists who are autistic. Would love to know of any artists that might be interested in participating and any help you can provide. Many thanks, Robin Zendell 25 Broad Street # 9T NYC 10004
Just a few months after the nations' top medical adviser rejected a link between vaccines and autism, a mouse study has reignited the debate and raised new fears among parents considering vaccinations and flu shots for their kids. For years, a cadre of parents and physicians have contended that thimerosal, an ethyl-mercury compound that has been one of the most widely used vaccine preservatives, is partly responsible for an apparent rise in autism in recent decades. But broad population studies haven't supported the claim. In May, a major report from the Institute of Medicine's Immunization Safety Review Committee, sought to put the debate to rest, rejecting a link between autism and vaccines. But tomorrow, a congressional committee will review a June study from Columbia University, which found that a mercury preservative used in vaccines can indeed cause autism-like symptoms in a specific strain of mice. The research raises important questions about whether some people might be genetically vulnerable to the effects of thimerosal. The study also raises questions about a new push by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to add flu shots to the immunization schedule for school-age kids. Thimerosal has been mostly phased out of childhood vaccines, which include shots for whooping cough and other illnesses. But the vast majority of flu shots given to both adults and children still contain the preservative. In addition, it's widely believed that many unexpired vials of thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines remain on the shelves of pediatricians' offices. None of this is to say that parents should stop having their children vaccinated. Instead, critics of thimerosal say parents should insist on thimerosal-free vaccines and ask to check the label themselves before a child receives a shot. Many researchers believe increased use of vaccines with thimerosal may help explain the alarming rise in autism in the U.S, which was just 1 in 2,500 children 20 years ago. Now CDC studies show the rate for autistic disorders in some areas to be as high as 1 in 150. But the IOM report said an exhaustive review of the evidence doesn't support the claim that vaccines are to blame. The finding has sparked the ire of many autism researchers as well as parents who are convinced that vaccinations triggered autism in their kids. Among them is Congressman Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican, whose grandson developed autism five years ago after receiving shots containing thimerosal. Rep. Burton is chairman of the subcommittee that this week will hold hearings on the mouse study and other research. "We just need to get the mercury out of vaccinations," says Rep. Burton.
The new mouse study bolsters the theory that genes involved in the immune system might make some people vulnerable to mercury -- explaining why the vast majority of kids do fine after vaccines while a small number develop problems. In the Columbia study, researchers administered thimerosal to four strains of young mice, injecting them with amounts comparable to those given to kids. Three of the mice strains were unaffected by thimerosal, but the fourth developed problems consistent with autism such as delayed growth, social withdrawal and brain abnormalities. The vulnerable mice were known to have a specific genetic susceptibility to mercury. While a mouse study is far from conclusive, it's important to know that mice have long been a useful proxy for understanding human health. The researchers are close to developing a blood test to look for similar patterns in autistic children to see if the research translates to humans. Until more is known, says Mady Hornig, associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. "I think we should err on the side of caution and more thimerosal-free vaccine should be available." Other experts say the mouse study offers little insight into the issue, but is needlessly upsetting parents and could undermine the nation's childhood vaccination program. Unproven worries about autism and vaccines are "hypothetical" compared to "a very real risk of disease," notes Marie McCormick, professor of maternal and child health at Harvard School of Public Health and chairwoman of the IOM committee. Parents concerned that a pediatrician may have an old vial of thimerosal-containing vaccine can politely ask to see the label. Most doctors understand that parents can be nervous about vaccinations, says Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Immunopathogenesis and Infectious Diseases at Columbia University and co-author of the mouse study. Typically, single-dose vials won't contain thimerosal. In addition, you can check Food and Drug Administration charts listing the names of vaccines, whether they ever contained thimerosal and when they stopped using it at www.fda.gov/cber/vaccine/thimerosal.htm4. Many doctors and clinics may not have a supply of thimerosal-free flu shots. Calling in advance may give a doctor enough time to obtain a single-dose syringe. Another option is to ask for Flu-Mist, a nasal mist vaccine that doesn't contain thimerosal. * E-mail healthjournal@wsj.com5 and read my responses in
Health Mailbox6. "If not now, when?" ACTIVISM: Bobby Kennedy, Jr. Speaks in Eugene The October 1 Eugene Weekly printed an interview with this well known environmental attorney and activist. What follows in an excerpt of special interest to people dealing with the challenges of autism. Read the entire story here. "...Last week the federal EPA announced that in 19 states it's now unsafe to eat any freshwater fish because of mercury contamination. In 48 states it's now unsafe to eat at least some of the fish or most of the fish, and Oregon is one of those. We know a lot about mercury now that we didn't know 10 years ago. We know that one out of every six American women now has so much mercury in her womb that her children are at risk for autism, blindness, mental retardation, cognitive impairment, heart, liver and kidney disease. I have so much mercury in my body — I got levels tested recently — that I was told by Dr. David Carpenter who's a national authority on mercury contamination that a woman with my levels, which are three times the safe levels, would have a child with cognitive impairment. He estimated a permanent IQ loss of 5 to 7 points in her children. He said the science is very certain. Today there are 630,000 children born in this country every year who've been exposed to dangerous levels of mercury in the womb. Clinton, recognizing this catastrophic national epidemic, reclassified mercury as a hazardous pollutant under the Clean Air Act, which triggered a requirement that those plants remove 90 percent of the mercury within three and a half years. It would have cost them less than 1 percent of revenues and it would have solved the problem. Well, this is the same industry that's given that $100 million to the president, and eight weeks ago President Bush announced that he was scrapping the Clinton-era regs, substituting instead regulations that the industry never has to clean up their mercury contamination...." National Autism Association Newsletter The National Autism Association Weekly E-Newsletter. Thanks for Listening. October 5, 2004 Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurobiological disorder of development. It causes problems with the way a person processes, uses and organizes information. ASD affects a person's abilities in Communication, Social Interaction and Sensory Processing. People with ASD may also have restricted, repetitive behavior, interests, and activities that can affect how they learn. |
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